The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India Volume III Part 30

After a birth neither the mother nor child are given anything to eat the first day; and on the second they bring a young calf and give a little of its urine to the child, and to the mother a little sugar and the half of a cocoanut. In the evening of this day they buy all kinds of hot spices and herbs from a Bania and make a cake with them and give it to the mother to eat. On the second day the child begins to drink its mother's milk. The navel-string is cut and buried in the room on the first day, and over it a fire is kept burning continuously during the period of impurity. The small piece which falls from the child's body is buried beneath the mother's bed. The period of impurity after the birth of a girl lasts for four days and five days for a boy. On the sixth day the mother is given rice to eat. Twelve days after a child is born the barber's wife cuts its nails for the first time and throws the clippings away.

5. Ear-piercing

The ears of boys and girls are pierced when they are four or five years old; until this is done they are not considered as members of the caste and may take food from anyone. The ear is always pierced by a Sunar (goldsmith), who travels about the country in the pursuit of this calling. A bra.s.s pin is left in the ear for fifteen days, and is then removed and a strip of wood is subst.i.tuted for it in a boy's ear and a peac.o.c.k's feather in that of a girl to enlarge the hole. Girls do not have their nostrils pierced nor wear nose-rings, as the Kachhis are a comparatively low caste. They are tattooed before or after marriage with patterns of a scorpion, a peac.o.c.k, a discus, and with dots on the chin and cheek-bones. During the period of her monthly impurity a girl is secluded in the house and does not eat flesh or fish. When the time is finished she goes to the river and bathes and dresses her hair with earth, which is a necessary ceremony of purification.

6. Disposal of the dead.

The bodies of children under five and of persons dying from smallpox, snake-bite or cholera are buried, and those of others are cremated. In Chhindwara they do not wash or anoint the corpses of the dead, but sprinkle on them a little turmeric and water. On the day of the funeral or cremation the bereaved family is supplied with food by friends. The princ.i.p.al deity of the Kachhis is Bhainsasur, who is regarded as the keeper of the vegetable garden and is represented by a stone placed under a tree in any part of it. He is worshipped once a year after the Holi festival with offerings of vermilion, areca-nuts and cocoanuts, and libations of liquor. The Kachhis raise all kinds of vegetables and garden crops, the princ.i.p.al being chillies, turmeric, tobacco, garlic, onions, yams and other vegetables. They are diligent and laborious, and show much skill in irrigating and manuring their crops.

Kadera

1. Historical notice.

Kadera, Kandera, Golandaz, Bandar, Hawaidar. [233]--A small occupational caste of makers of fireworks. The Kaderas numbered 2200 persons in 1911, and were most numerous in the Narsinghpur District. They consider themselves to have come from Bundelkhand, where the caste is also found, but it is in greatest strength in the Gwalior State. In former times Kaderas were employed to manufacture gunpowder and missiles of iron, and serve cannon in the Indian armies. The term Golandaz or 'ball-thrower' was also applied to native artillerymen. The Bandar or 'rocket-throwers' were a separate cla.s.s, who fired rockets containing missiles, the name being derived from van, an arrow. With them may be cla.s.sed the Deg-andaz or 'mortar-throwers,' who used thick earthenware pots filled with powder and having fuses attached, somewhat resembling the modern bomb--missiles which inflicted dreadful wounds. [234] Mr. Irvine writes of the Mughal artillery as follows: "The fire was never very rapid. Orme speaks of the artillery firing once in a quarter of an hour. In 1721 the usual rate of fire of heavy guns was once every three hours. Artillery which fired once in two gharis or forty-four minutes was praised for its rapidity of action. The guns were usually posted behind the clay walls of houses; or they might take up a commanding position on the top of a brick-kiln; or a temporary entrenchment might be formed out of the earthen bank and ditch which usually surround a grove of mango-trees." Hawaidar is a term for a maker of fireworks, while the name Kandera itself may perhaps be derived from kand, an arrow.

2. Subdivisions.

In Narsinghpur the Kaderas have three subcastes, Rajput or Dangiwara, Dhunka, and Matwala. The first claim to be Rajputs, but the alternative name of Dangiwara indicates that they are a mixed group, perhaps partly of Rajput descent like the Dangis of Saugor. It is by no means unlikely that the lower cla.s.ses of Rajputs should have been employed in the avocations of the Kaderas. The term Dhunka signifies a cotton-cleaner, and some of the Kaderas may have taken up this calling, when they could no longer find employment in the native armies. Matwala means a drinker of country liquor, in which members of this group indulge. But with the exception of the Rajput Kaderas in Narsinghpur, other members of the caste also drink it.

3. Social customs.

They celebrate their marriages by walking round the sacred post. Divorce and the remarriage of widows are permitted. They have a caste committee, with a headman called Chaudhri or Mehtar, and an inferior officer known as Diwan. When a man has been put out of caste the Chaudhri first takes food with him on readmission, and for this is ent.i.tled to a fee of a rupee and a turban, while the Diwan receives a smaller cloth. These offices are hereditary. The Kaderas have no purda system, and a wife may speak freely to her father-in-law. They bury the milk-teeth of children below the ghinochi, or stand for water-pots, with the idea probably of preventing heat and inflammation in the gums. A child's jhala or birth-hair is usually cut for the first time on the occasion of some marriage in the family, and is thrown into the Nerbudda or buried at a temple. Names are given by the Brahman on the day of birth or soon afterwards, and a second pet name is commonly used in the family. If a child sees a lamp on the chhati or sixth day after its birth they think that it will squint.

4. Religion and occupation.

The caste employ Brahmans for religious ceremonies, but their social position is low, and they rank with castes from whom a Brahman cannot take water. On the tenth day of Jeth (May) they worship Lukman Hakim, a personage whom they believe to have been the inventor of gunpowder. He is popularly identified with Solomon, and is revered with Muhammadan rites in the shop and not in the house. A Fakir is called in who sacrifices a goat, and makes an offering of the head, which becomes his perquisite; sugar-cakes and sweet rice are also offered and given away to children, and the flesh of the goat is eaten by the family of the worshipper. Since the worship is paid only in the shop it would appear that Lukman Hakim is considered a deity foreign to the domestic religion, and is revered as having invented the substance which enables the caste to make their livelihood; and since he is clearly a Muhammadan deity, and is venerated according to the ritual of this religion by the Kaderas, who are otherwise Hindus, a recognition seems to be implied that as far at least as the Kaderas are concerned the introduction of gunpowder into India is attributed to the Muhammadans. It is not stated whether or not the month of May was selected of set purpose for the worship of the inventor of gunpowder, but it is at any rate a most appropriate season in India. At present the Kadera makes his own gunpowder and manufactures fireworks, and in this capacity he is also known as Atashbaz. The ingredients for gunpowder in Narsinghpur are a pound of saltpetre, two ounces of sulphur, and four ounces of charcoal of a light wood, such as saleh [235] or the stalks of arhar. [236] Water is sprinkled on the charcoal and the ingredients are pounded together in a mortar, a dangerous proceeding which is apt to cause occasional vacancies in the family circle. a.r.s.enic and potash are also used for different fireworks, and sesamum oil is added to prevent smoke. Fireworks form a very popular spectacle in India, and can be obtained of excellent quality even in small towns. Bharbhunjas or grain-parchers now also deal in them.

Kahar

1. Origin and statistics.

Kahar, [237] Bhoi.--The caste of palanquin-bearers and watermen of northern India. No scientific distinction can be made between the Kahars and Dhimars, both names being applied to the same people. In northern India the term Kahar is generally used, and Mr. Crooke has an article on Kahar, but none on Dhimar. In the Central Provinces the latter is the more common name for the caste, and in 1911 23,000 Kahars were returned as against nearly 300,000 Dhimars. Berar had also 27,000 Kahars. The social customs of the caste are described in the article on Dhimar, but a short separate notice is given to the Kahars on account of their special social interest. Some Kahars refuse to clean household cooking-vessels and hence occupy a slightly higher social position than the Dhimars generally. Mr. Crooke derives the name of the caste from the Sanskrit Skandha-kara, or 'One who carries things on his shoulder.' The Brahmanical genealogists represent the Kahar as descended from a Brahman father and a Chandal or sweeper mother, and this is typical of the position occupied by the caste, who, though probably derived from the primitive non-Aryan tribes, have received a special position on account of their employment as household servants, so that all cla.s.ses may take water and cooked food at their hands. As one of Mr. Crooke's correspondents remarks: "This caste is so low that they clean the vessels of almost all castes except menials like the Chamar and Dhobi, and at the same time so high that, except Kanaujia Brahmans, all other castes eat pakki and drink water at their hands." Sir D. Ibbetson says of the Kahar: "He is a true village menial, receiving customary dues and performing customary service. His social standing is in one respect high; for all will drink water at his hands. But he is still a servant, though the highest of his cla.s.s." This comparatively high degree of social purity appears to have been conferred on the Kahars and Dhimars from motives of convenience, as it would be intolerable to have a palanquin-bearer or indoor servant from whom one could not take a drink of water.

2. The doli or palanquin.

The proper occupation of the Kahar is that of doli or litter-bearer. When carts could not travel owing to the absence of roads this was the regular mode of conveyance of those who could afford it and did not ride. Buchanan remarks: "Few or none except some chief native officers of Government keep bearers in constant pay; but men of large estates give farms at low rents to their bearers, who are ready at a call and receive food when employed." [238] A superior kind of litter used by rich women had a domed roof supported on eight pillars with side-boards like Venetian blinds; and was carried on two poles secured to the sides beneath the roof. This is perhaps the progenitor of the modern Calcutta ghari or four-wheeler, just as the body of the hansom-cab was modelled on the old sedan-chair. It was called Kharkhariya in imitation of the rattling of the blinds when in motion. [239] The palki or ordinary litter consisted of a couch slung under a long bamboo, which formed an arch over it. Over the arch was suspended a tilt made of cloth, which served to screen the pa.s.senger from sun and rain. A third kind was the Chaupala or square box open at the sides and slung on a bamboo; the pa.s.senger sat doubled up inside this. If as was sometimes the case the Chaupala was hung considerably beneath the bamboo the pa.s.senger was miserably draggled by dust and mud. Nowadays regular litters are so little used that they are not to be found in villages; but when required because one cannot ride or for travelling at night they are readily improvised by slinging a native wooden cot from two poles by strings of bamboo-fibre. Most of the Kahars and Dhimars have forgotten how to carry a litter, and proceed very slowly with frequent stops to change shoulders or subst.i.tute other bearers. But the Kols of Mandla still retain the art, and will do more than four miles an hour for several hours if eight men are allowed. Under native governments the privilege of riding in a palanquin was a mark of distinction; and a rule was enforced that no native could thus enter into the area of the forts in Madras and Bombay without the permission of the Governor; such permission being recorded in the order book at the gates of the fort and usually granted only to a few who were lame or otherwise incapacitated. When General Medows a.s.sumed the office of Governor of Bombay in 1788 some Parsis waited on him and begged for the removal of this restriction; to which the Governor replied, "So long as you do not force me to ride in this machine he may who likes it"; and so the rule was abrogated. [240]

A pa.s.sage from Hobson-Jobson, however, shows that the Portuguese were much stricter in this respect: "In 1591 a proclamation of the Viceroy, Matthias d'Albuquerque, ordered: 'That no person of what quality or condition soever, shall go in a palanquy without my express licence, save they be over sixty years of age, to be first proved before the Auditor-General of Police ... and those who contravene this shall pay a penalty of 200 cruzados, and persons of mean estate the half, the palanquys and their belongings to be forfeited, and the bois or moucos who carry such palanquys shall be condemned to His Majesty's galleys.'" [241] The meaning of the last sentence appears to be that the bearers were considered as slaves, and were forfeited to the king's service as a punishment to their owner. As the unauthorised use of this conveyance was so severely punished it would appear that riding in a palanquin must have been a privilege of n.o.bility. Similarly to ride on a horse was looked upon in something of the same light; and when a person of inferior consequence met a superior or a Government officer while riding, he had to dismount from his horse as a mark of respect until the other had pa.s.sed. This last custom still obtains to some extent, though it is rapidly disappearing.

As a means of conveyance the litter would be held sacred by primitive people, and Mr. Crooke gives an instance of the regard paid to it: "At the Holi festival eight days before Diwali in the western Districts the house is plastered with cowdung and figures of a litter (doli) and bearers are made on the walls with four or five colours, and to them offerings of incense, lights and flowers are given." [242] Even after pa.s.sable roads were made tongas or carts drawn by trotting-bullocks were slow in coming into general use owing to the objection felt by the Hindus to harnessing the sacred ox.

3. Female bearers.

At royal courts women were employed to carry the litters of the king and the royal ladies into the inner precincts of the palace, the male bearers relinquishing their charge outside. "Another cla.s.s of attendants at the palace peculiar to Lucknow were the female bearers. Their occupation was to carry the palanquins and various covered conveyances of the king and his ladies into the inner courts of the harem. These female bearers were also under military discipline. They had their officers, commissioned and non-commissioned. The head of them, a great masculine woman of pleasing countenance, was an especial favourite of the king. The badinage which was exchanged between them was of the freest possible character--not fit for ears polite, of course; but the extraordinary point in it was that no one hearing it or witnessing such scenes could have supposed it possible that a king and a slave stood before him as the two chief disputants." [243] Similarly female sepoys were employed to guard the harem, dressed in ordinary uniform and regularly drilled and taught to shoot. [244] A battalion of female troops for guarding the zenana is still maintained in Hyderabad. [245]

4. Indoor servants.

From being a palanquin-bearer the Kahar became the regular indoor servant of Hindu households. Originally of low caste, and derived from the non-Aryan tribes, they did not object to eat the leavings of food of their masters, a relation which is naturally very convenient, if not essential, in poor Hindu houses. Sir H. Risley notes, however, that in Bengal a Kahar engaged in personal service with a Brahman, Rajput, Babhan, Kayasth or Agarwal, will only eat his master's leavings so long as he is himself unmarried. [246] It seems that the marriage feast may be considered as the sacrificial meal conferring full membership of the caste, after which the rules against taking food from other castes must be strictly observed. Slaves were commonly employed as indoor servants, and hence the term Kahar came to be almost synonymous with a slave. "In the eighteenth century the t.i.tle Kahar was at Patna the distinctive appellation of a Hindu slave, as Maulazadah was of a Muhammadan, and the tradition in 1774 was that the Kahar slavery took its rise when the Muhammadans first invaded northern India." [247]

As the Kahar was the common indoor servant in Hindu houses so apparently he came to be employed in the same capacity by the English. But he was of too high a caste to serve the food of a European, which would have involved touching the cooked flesh of the cow, and thus lost him his comparatively good status and social purity among the Hindus. Hence arose the anomaly of a body servant who would not touch his master's food, and confined himself to the duties of a valet; while the name of bearer given to this servant indicates clearly that he is the successor of the old-time Kahar or palanquin-bearer. The Uriya bearers of Bengal were well known as excellent servants and most faithful; but in time the inconvenience of their refusal to wait at table has led to their being replaced by low-caste Madrasis and by Muhammadans. The word 'boy' as applied to Indian servants is no doubt of English origin, as it is also used in China and the West Indies; but the South Indian term boyi or Hindi bhoi for a palanquin-bearer also appears to have been corrupted into boy and to have made this designation more common. The following instances of the use of the word 'boy' from Hobson-Jobson [248] may be quoted in conclusion: "The real Indian ladies lie on a sofa, and if they drop their handkerchief they just lower their voices and say 'Boy,' in a very gentle tone" (Letters from Madras in 1826). 'Yes, Sahib, I Christian Boy. Plenty poojah do. Sunday time never no work do'

(Trevelyan, The Dawk Bungalow, in 1866). The Hindu term Bhoi or bearer is now commonly applied to the Gonds, and is considered by them as an honorific name or t.i.tle. The hypothesis thus appears to be confirmed that the Kahar caste of palanquin-bearers was const.i.tuted from the non-Aryan tribes, who were practically in the position of slaves to the Hindus, as were the Chamars and Mahars, the village drudges and labourers. But when the palanquin-bearer developed into an indoor servant, his social status was gradually raised from motives of convenience, until he grew to be considered as ceremonially pure, and able to give his master water and prepare food for cooking. Thus the Kahars or Dhimars came to rank considerably above the primitive tribes from whom they took their origin, their ceremonial purity being equal to that of the Hindu cultivating castes, while the degrading status of slavery which had at first attached to them gradually fell into abeyance. And thus one can understand why the Gonds should consider the name of Bhoi or bearer as a designation of honour.

Kaikari

1. Origin and traditions.

Kaikari, Kaikadi (also called Bargandi by outsiders). [249]--A disreputable wandering tribe, whose ostensible profession is to make baskets. They are found in Nimar and the Maratha Districts, and number some 2000 persons in the Central Provinces. The Kaikaris here, as elsewhere, claim to have come from Telingana or the Deccan, but there is no caste of this name in the Madras Presidency. They may not improbably be the caste there known as Korva or Yerukala, whose occupations are similar. Mr. Kitts [250] has stated that the Kaikaris are known as Koravars in Arcot and as Korvas in the Carnatic. The Kaikaris speak a gipsy language, which according to the specimen given by Hislop [251] contains Tamil and Telugu words. One derivation of Kaikari is from the Tamil kai, hand, and kude, basket, and if this is correct it is in favour of their identification with the Korvas, who always carry their tattooing and other implements in a basket in the hand. [252] The Kaikaris of the Central Provinces say that their original ancestor was one Kan.o.ba Ramjan who handed a twig to his sons and told them to earn their livelihood by it. Since then they have subsisted by making baskets from the stalks of the cotton-plant, the leaves of the date-palm and gra.s.s. They themselves derive their name from Kai, standing for Kan.o.ba Ramjan and kadi, a twig, an etymology which may be dismissed with that given in the Berar Census Report [253]