The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India Part 28

_Bendiwala_.--Name of a minor Vishnuite order. See Bairagi.

_Benetiya, Benatia_.--Subcaste of Chasa and Sansia.

_Bengali_.--Bengali immigrants are usually Brahmans or Kayasths.

_Bengani_.--(Brinjal.) One of the 1444 sections of Oswal Bania.

_Benglah_.--An immigrant from Bengal. Subcaste of Bharbhunja.

_Beora Basia_.--(Hawk.) A totemistic sept of Bhatra.

_Beraria_, _Beradia_.--(Belonging to Berar.) A subcaste of Bahna, Barai, Barhai, Chamar, Dhangar, Dhimar, Kasar and Kunbi.

_Beria_.--A caste of gipsies and vagrants, whose women are prost.i.tutes. Hence sometimes used generally to signify a prost.i.tute. A subcaste of Nat.

_Besra_.--(Hawk.) A totemistic sept of Bhatra and Rawat (Ahir).

_Besta_.--A Telugu caste of fishermen. They are also called Bhoi and Machchnaik, and correspond to the Dhimars. They are found only in the Chanda District, where they numbered 700 persons in 1911, and their proper home is Mysore. They are a low caste and rear pigs and eat pork, crocodiles, rats and fowls. They are stout and strong and dark in colour. Like the Dhimars they also act as palanquin-bearers, and hence has arisen a saying about them, 'The Besta is a great man when he carries shoes,' because the head of a gang of palanquin-bearers carries the shoes of the person who sits in it. At their marriages the couple place a mixture of c.u.mmin and jaggery on each other's heads, and then gently press their feet on those of the other seven times. Drums are beaten, and the bridegroom places rings on the toes of the bride and ties the _mangal-sutram_ or necklace of black beads round her neck. They are seated side by side on a plough-yoke, and the ends of their cloths are tied together. They are then taken outside and shown the Great Bear, the stars of which are considered to be the spirits of the seven princ.i.p.al Hindu Saints, and the pole-star, Arundhati, who represents the wife of Vasishtha and is the pattern of feminine virtue. On the following two days the couple throw flowers at each other for some time in the morning and evening. Before the marriage the bridegroom's toe-nails are cut by the barber as an act of purification. This custom, Mr. Thurston [422] states, corresponds among the Sudras to the shaving of the head among the Brahmans. The Bestas usually take as their princ.i.p.al deity the nearest large river and call it by the generic term of Ganga. On the fifth day after a death they offer cooked food, water and sesamum to the crows, in whose bodies the souls of the dead are believed to reside. The food and water are given to satisfy the hunger and thirst of the soul, while the sesamum is supposed to give it coolness and quench its heat. On the tenth day the ashes are thrown into a river. The beard of a boy whose father is alive is shaved for the first time before his marriage. Children are tattooed with a mark on the forehead within three months of birth, and this serves as a sect mark. A child is named on the eleventh day after birth, and if it is subsequently found to be continually ailing and sickly, the name is changed under the belief that it exercises an evil influence on the child.

_Betala_.--(Goblin.) One of the 1444 sections of Oswal Bania.

_Bhadauria_.--(From Bhadawar in Gwalior State.) A clan of Rajputs. A clan of Dangi in Saugor from whom Rajputs take daughters in marriage, but do not give daughters to them. A surname of Sanadhia Brahman.

_Bhadonia_.--Subcaste of Dangi.

_Bhadoria_.--(A drum-beater.) Subcaste of Chamar.

_Bhadri_, _Bhaddari_.--A synonym for Joshi, having a derogatory sense, as of one who begs with deceit or fraud.

_Bhadune_.--(From the month Bhadon.) A section of Kalar.

_Bhagat_.--(Devotee.) A section of Ahir or Gaoli, Barai and Panwar Rajput.

_Bhains-Mara_.--(Killer of the buffalo.) A section of Kanjar.

_Bhainsa_.--(Buffalo.) A section of Chamar, Dhanwar, Ganda, Kawar, Kanjar, Mali, Panka and Rawat (Ahir).

_Bhairon_.--(The G.o.d Bhairon.) A section of Panwar Rajput.

_Bhaiya_.--(Brother.) One of the 72 1/2 sections of Maheshri Bania.

_Bhala_.--(Spear.) One of the 72 1/2 sections of Maheshri Bania.

_Bhaldar_.--(A spear-man.) A cla.s.s of Dahaits, who have commonly been employed as village watchmen.

_Bhale Sultan_.--(Lords of the spear.) A clan of Rajputs.

_Bhamti_, _Bhamtia_.--Synonyms of Bhamta.

_Bhanare_.--Named after the town of Bhandara in the Central Provinces. Subcaste of Dhimar.

_Bhand_, _Bhanr_. [423]--A small caste of story-tellers and buffoons. The name is derived from the Sanskrit Bhanda, a jester, and the caste are also known as Naqqal or actor. Only a trifling number of Bhands are shown by the census as belonging to the Central Provinces. Mr. Crooke remarks: "The Bhand is sometimes employed in the courts of Rajas and native gentlemen of rank, where he amuses the company at entertainments with buffoonery and a burlesque of European and native manners, much of which is of a very coa.r.s.e nature. The Bhand is quite separate from and of a lower professional rank than the Bahrupia. The bulk of the caste are Muhammadans, but they have exogamous sections, some of which, as Kaithela (Kayasth), Bamhaniya (Brahman), Gujartha (Gujar), Nonela (Lunia), and so on, are derived from those of Hindu castes, and indicate that the caste is a heterogeneous community recruited from different sources. There are two recognised endogamous subcastes--the Chenr, which seems to mean little (Hindi, _Chenra_), and the Kashmiri. The former trace their origin to the time of Tamarlane, who, on the death of his son, gave himself over to mourning for twelve years. Then one Sayyid Hasan, a courtier of the Emperor, composed a humorous poem in Arabic, which gained him the t.i.tle of Bhanr. Sayyid Hasan is regarded as the founder of the caste. Though he was a Sayyid the present Bhanrs are either Shaikhs or Mughals; and the difference of faith, Sunni and Shiah, is a bar to intermarriage. The Kashmiri Bhanrs are said to be of quite recent origin, having been invited from Kashmir by Nasir-ud-Din Haidar, king of Oudh." The Bhands perform their marriages by the Nikah form, in which a Kazi officiates. In virtue of being Muhammadans they abstain from pork and liquor. Dr. Buchanan [424]

quaintly described them as "Impudent fellows, who make long faces, squeak like pigs, bark like dogs, and perform many other ludicrous feats. They also dance and sing, mimicking and turning into ridicule the dancing boys and girls, on whom they likewise pa.s.s many jokes, and are employed on great occasions." The Bhand, in fact, seems to correspond very nearly to the court jester of the Middle Ages.

_Bhandari_.--(A barber, also a cook in the Uriya country.) A synonym for Nai. A subcaste of Gondhali. A section of Oswal Bania and Halba. t.i.tle of the deputies of the chief _guru_ of the Satnami sect.

_Bhangi_.--(Hemp-smoker.) Synonym of Mehtar.

_Bhanr_.--Synonym of Bhand, a story-teller.

_Bhanwar_.--(A bee, also honey.) A section of Gadaria and Kawar.

_Bhaosar_.--Synonym of Chhipa.

_Bharadwaj_.--(A skylark. Name of a great Brahman Rishi or saint.) One of the common eponymous sections of Brahmans. Also a section of Joshi, Lohar, Prabhu, Sunar, and of several clans of Rajputs.

_Bharewa_.--(From _bharat_, a mixture of copper and lead.) A group of bra.s.s or bell-metal workers cla.s.sed with the Kasar caste, but of lower social standing than the Kasars. A subcaste of Sunar in Raipur.

_Bhargava_.--(Born of Bhrigu Rishi.) A subcaste of Kanaujia Brahmans. A section of Maratha Brahmans. Bhargava Dhusar is a subcaste of Bania. See Bania-Dhusar.

_Bharia_.--(From the Bhar tribe.) A tribe. A subcaste of Baiga in Mandla, and of Kol.

_Bharia-Bhumia_.--Synonym of Bharia.

_Bharotia_ or _Mudia_.--(Shaven.) Subcaste of Baiga, also of Ahir.

_Bharthi_.--Name of one of the ten orders of Gosains.

_Bhatia_.--A commercial caste of Sind and Gujarat, a few of whom settle temporarily in the Central Provinces. Sir D. Ibbetson writes of them: [425] "The Bhatias are a cla.s.s of Rajputs, originally coming from Bhatner, Jaisalmer and the Rajputana desert, who have taken to domestic pursuits. The name would seem to show that they were Bhatis (called Bhatti in the Punjab); but be that as it may, their Rajput origin seems to be unquestioned. They stand distinctly below the Khatri, and perhaps below the Arora, and are for the most part engaged in petty shopkeeping, though the Bhatias of Dera Ismail Khan are described as belonging to a widely-spread and enterprising mercantile community. They are very strict Hindus, far more so than the other trading cla.s.ses of the western Punjab; and eschew meat and liquor. They do not practise widow-marriage."

Mr. Crooke's account [426] leaves little doubt that the Bhatias are a branch of the Bhatti or Yaduvansi Rajputs of Jaisalmer who have gone into trade; and Colonel Tod expresses the same view: "The Bhattiah is also one of the equestrian order converted into the commercial, and the exchange has been to his advantage. His habits are like those of the Arora, next to whom he ranks as to activity and wealth." [427] "The chief occupation of the Bhatias," Mr. Crooke states, "is moneylending, and to this they add trade of all kinds, agriculture, landholding and Government service. Many of them go on expeditions to Arabia, Kabul, Bokhara and other distant places of business. Many in Bombay carry on trade with Zanzibar, Java and the Malay Peninsula."

_Bhatnagar_.--A subcaste of Kayasth.

_Bhatpagar_.--(Wage of rice.) A section of Katia.

_Bhikshakunti_.--(_Bhiksha_, begging; _kunti_, lame.) A subcaste of Kapewar who are the Bhats or bards of the caste.

_Bhil_.--A tribe. A subcaste of Pardhi.

_Bhilaophod_.--(Those who extract oil from the _bhilawa_ nut, _Semecarpus anacardium_.) Subcaste of Kol.

_Bhilsaiyan_, _Bhilsia_, _Bhilasia_.--(From Bhilsa, a town in Gwalior State.) A section and surname of Jijhotia Brahmans. A section of Purania Sunar and of Rathor Teli and Teli.

_Bhima_.--A small caste belonging to the Mandla and Seoni Districts. They are musicians of the Gond tribe and dance and beg at their weddings. The caste are an offshoot of the Gonds, their exogamous septs having Gond names, as Marabi, Markam, Dhurwa, Parteti, Tekam and so on; but they now marry among themselves. They worship the Gond G.o.d, Bura Deo, their own elders serving as priests. At their performances the men play and dance, wearing hollow anklets of metal with little b.a.l.l.s of iron inside to make them tinkle. The women are dressed like Hindu women and dance without ornaments. Their instrument is called Tuma or gourd. It consists of a hollow piece of bamboo fixed horizontally over a gourd. Over the bamboo a string is stretched secured to a peg at one end and pa.s.sing over a bridge at the other. Little k.n.o.bs of wax are made on the bamboo so that the string touches them during its vibrations. The gourd acts as a sounding-board.

_Bhogta_.--Subcaste of Khairwar.