The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India Volume IV Part 19

"To recover an arrear of pay there is but one known mode which is universally adopted in all native services, the Mughal as well as the Maratha; this is called Dharna, [222] which consists in putting the debtor, be he who he will, into a state of restraint or imprisonment, until satisfaction be given or the money actually obtained. Any person in the Sirkar's service has a right to demand his pay of the Prince or his minister, and to sit in Dharna if it be not given; nor will he meet with the least hindrance in doing so; for none would obey an order that interfered with the Dharna, as it is a common cause; nor does the soldier incur the slightest charge of mutiny for his conduct, or suffer in the smallest manner in the opinion of his Chief, so universal is the custom. The Dharna is sometimes carried to very violent lengths and may either be executed on the Prince or his minister indifferently, with the same effect; as the Chief always makes it a point of honour not to eat or drink while his Diwan is in duress; sometimes the Dharna lasts for many days, during which time the party upon whom it is exercised is not suffered to eat or drink or wash or pray, or in short is not permitted to move from the spot where he sits, which is frequently bare-headed in the sun, until the money or security be given; so general is this mode of recovery that I suppose the Maratha Chiefs may be said to be nearly one-half of their time in a state of Dharna.

15. The infantry

"In the various Maratha services there are very little more than a bare majority who are Marathas by caste, and very few instances occur of their ever entering into the infantry at all. The sepoys in the pay of the different princes are recruited in Hindustan, and princ.i.p.ally of the Rajput and Purbia caste; these are perhaps the finest race of men in the world for figure and appearance; of lofty stature, strong, graceful and athletic; of acute feelings, high military pride, quick, apprehensive, brave, prudent and economic; at the same time it must be confessed they are impatient of discipline, and naturally inclined to mutiny. They are mere soldiers of fortune and serve only for their pay. There are also a great number of Musalmans who serve in the different Maratha armies, some of whom have very great commands.

16. Character of the Maratha armies

"The Maratha cavalry at times make very long and rapid marches, in which they do not suffer themselves to be interrupted by the monsoon or any violence of weather. In very pressing exigencies it is incredible the fatigue a Maratha horseman will endure; frequently many days pa.s.s without his enjoying one regular meal, but he depends entirely for subsistence on the different corn-fields through which the army pa.s.ses: a few heads of juari, which he chafes in his hands while on horseback, will serve him for the day; his horse subsists on the same fare, and with the addition of opium, which the Marathas frequently administer to their cattle, is enabled to perform incredible marches."

The above a.n.a.lysis of the Maratha troops indicates that their real character was that of freebooting cavalry, largely of the same type as, though no doubt greatly superior in tone and discipline to the Pindaris. Like them they lived by plundering the country. "The Marathas," Elphinstone remarked, "are excellent foragers. Every morning at daybreak long lines of men on small horses and ponies are seen issuing from their camps in all directions, who return before night loaded with fodder for the cattle, with firewood torn down from houses, and grain dug up from the pits where it had been concealed by the villagers; while other detachments go to a distance for some days and collect proportionately larger supplies of the same kind." [223] They could thus dispense with a commissariat, and being nearly all mounted were able to make extraordinarily long marches, and consequently to carry out effectively surprise attacks and when repulsed to escape injury in the retreat. Even at Panipat where their largest regular force took the field under Sadasheo Rao Bhao, he had 70,000 regular and irregular cavalry and only 15,000 infantry, of whom 9000 were hired sepoys under a Muhammadan leader. The Marathas were at their best in attacking the slow-moving and effeminate Mughal armies, while during their period of national ascendancy under the Peshwa there was no strong military power in India which could oppose their forays. When they were by the skill of their opponents at length brought to a set battle, their fighting qualities usually proved to be distinctly poor. At Panipat they lost the day by a sudden panic and flight after Ibrahim Khan Gardi had obtained for them a decided advantage; while at Argaon and a.s.saye their performances were contemptible. After the recovery from Panipat and the rise of the independent Maratha states, the a.s.sistance of European officers was invoked to discipline and train the soldiery. [224]

Mehtar

[_Bibliography_: Mr. R. Greeven's _Knights of the Broom, Benares_ 1894 (pamphlet); Mr. Crooke's _Tribes and Castes_, art. Bhangi; Sir H. Risley's _Tribes and Castes_, art. Hari; Sir E. Maclagan's _Punjab Census Report_, 1891 (Sweeper Sects); Sir D. Ibbetson's _Punjab Census Report_, 1881 (art. Chuhra); _Bombay Gazetteer, Hindus of Gujarat_, Mr. Bhimbhai Kirparam.]

List of Paragraphs

1. _Introductory notice_.

2. _Caste subdivisions_.

3. _Social organisation_.

4. _Caste punishments_.

5. _Admission of outsiders_.

6. _Marriage customs_.

7. _Disposal of the dead_.

8. _Devices for procuring children_.

9. _Divination of s.e.x_.

10. _Childbirth_.

11. _Treatment of the mother_.

12. _Protecting the lives of children_.

13. _Infantile diseases_.

14. _Religion. Valmiki_.

15. _Lalbeg_.

16. _Adoption of foreign religions_.

17. _Social status_.

18. _Occupation_.

19. _Occupation_ (_continued_).

1. Introductory notice

_Mehtar, Bhangi, Hari, [225] Dom, Lalbegi._--The caste of sweepers and scavengers. In 1911 persons returning themselves as Mehtar, Bhangi and Dom were separately cla.s.sified, and the total of all three was only 30,000. In this Province they generally confine themselves to their hereditary occupation of scavenging, and are rarely met with outside the towns and large villages. In most localities the supply of sweepers does not meet the demand. The case is quite different in northern India, where the sweeper castes--the Chuhra in the Punjab, the Bhangi in the United Provinces and the Dom in Bengal--are all of them of great numerical strength. With these castes only a small proportion are employed on scavengers' work and the rest are labourers like the Chamars and Mahars of the Central Provinces. The present sweeper caste is made up of diverse elements, and the name Mehtar, generally applied to it, is a t.i.tle meaning a prince or leader. Its application to the caste, the most abject and despised in the Hindu community, is perhaps partly ironical; but all the low castes have honorific t.i.tles, which are used as a method of address either from ordinary politeness or by those requiring some service, on the principle, as the Hindus say, that you may call an a.s.s your uncle if you want him to do something for you. The regular caste of sweepers in northern India are the Bhangis, whose name is derived by Mr. Crooke from the Sanskrit _bhanga,_ hemp, in allusion to the drunken habits of the caste. In support of this derivation he advances the Beria custom of calling their leaders Bhangi or hemp-drinker as a t.i.tle of honour. [226] In Mr. Greeven's account also, Lalbeg, the patron saint of the sweepers, is described as intoxicated with the hemp drug on two occasions. [227]

Mr. Bhimbhai Kirparam suggests [228] that Bhangia means broken, and is applied to the sweepers because they split bamboos. In Kaira, he states, the regular trade of the Bhangias is the plaiting of baskets and other articles of split bamboo, and in that part of Gujarat if a Koli is asked to split a bamboo he will say, 'Am I to do Bhangia's work?' The derivation from the hemp-plant is, however, the more probable. In the Punjab, sweepers are known as Chuhra, and this, name has been derived from their business of collecting and sweeping up sc.r.a.ps (_chura-jharna_) Similarly, in Bombay they are known as Olganas or sc.r.a.p-eaters. The Bengal name Hari is supposed to come from _haddi_, a bone; the Hari is the bone-gatherer, and was familiar to early settlers of Calcutta under the quaint designation of the 'harry-wench,' [229] In the Central Provinces sections of the Ghasia, Mahar and Dom castes will do sweepers' work, and are therefore amalgamated with the Mehtars. The caste is thus of mixed const.i.tution, and also forms a refuge for persons expelled from their own societies for social offences. But though called by different names, the sweeper community in most provinces appears to have the same stock of traditions and legends. The name of Mehtar is now generally employed, and has therefore been taken as the designation of the caste.

2. Caste subdivisions

Mr. Greeven gives seven main subdivisions, of which the Lalbegis or the followers of Lalbeg, the patron saint of sweepers, are the most important. The Rawats appear to be an aristocratic subdivision of the Lalbegis, their name being a corruption of the Sanskrit Rajputra, a prince. The Shaikh Mehtars are the only real Muhammadan branch, for though the Lalbegis worship a Musalman saint they remain Hindus. The Haris or bone-gatherers, as already stated, are the sweepers of Bengal. The Helas may either be those who carry baskets of sweepings, or may derive their name from _hela_, a cry; and in that case they are so called as performing the office of town-criers, a function which the Bhangi usually still discharges in northern India [230]. The other subcastes in his list are the Dhanuks or bowmen and the Bansphors or cleavers of bamboos. In the Central Provinces the Shaikh Mehtars belong princ.i.p.ally to Nagpur, and another subcaste, the Makhia, is also found in the Maratha Districts and in Berar; those branches of the Ghasia and Dom castes who consent to do scavengers'

work now form separate subcastes of Mehtars in the same locality, and another group are called Narnolia, being said to take their name from a place called Narnol in the Punjab. The Lalbegis are often considered here as Muhammadans rather than Hindus, and bury their dead. In Saugor the sweepers are said to be divided into Lalbegis or Muhammadans and Doms or Hindus. The Lalbegi, Dom or Dumar and the Hela are the princ.i.p.al subcastes of the north of the Province, and Chuhra Mehtars are found in Chhattisgarh. Each subcaste is divided into a number of exogamous sections named after plants and animals.

3. Social organisation

In Benares each subdivision, Mr. Greeven states, has an elaborate and quasi-military organisation. Thus the Lalbegi sweepers have eight companies or _berhas_, consisting of the sweepers working in different localities; these are the Sadar, or those employed by private residents in cantonments; the Kali Paltan, who serve the Bengal Infantry; the Lal Kurti, or Red-coats, who are employed by the British Infantry; the Teshan (station), or those engaged at the three railway stations of the town; the Shahar, or those of the city; the Ramnagar, taking their name from the residence of the Maharaja of Benares, whom they serve; the Kothiwal, or Bungalow men, who belong to residents in the civil lines; and lastly the Genereli, who are the descendants of sweepers employed at the military headquarters when Benares was commanded by a General of Division. This special organisation is obviously copied from that of the garrison and is not found in other localities, but deserves mention for its own interest. All the eight companies are commanded by a Brigadier, the local head of the caste, whose office is now almost hereditary; his princ.i.p.al duty is to give two dinners to the whole caste on election, with sweetmeats to the value of fourteen rupees. Each company has four officers--a Jamadar or president, a Munsif or spokesman, a Chaudhari or treasurer and a Naib or summoner. These offices are also practically hereditary, if the candidate ent.i.tled by birth can afford to give a dinner to the whole subcaste and a turban to each President of a company. All the other members of the company are designated as Sipahis or soldiers. A caste dispute is first considered by the inferior officers of each company, who report their view to the President; he confers with the other Presidents, and when an agreement has been reached the sentence is formally confirmed by the Brigadier. When any dispute arises, the aggrieved party, depositing a process-fee of a rupee and a quarter, addresses the officers of his company. Unless the question is so trivial that it can be settled without caste punishments, the President fixes a time and place, of which notice is given to the messengers of the other companies; each of these receives a fee of one and a quarter annas and informs all the Sipahis in his company.

4. Caste punishments

Only worthy members of the caste, Mr. Greeven continues, are allowed to sit on the tribal matting and smoke the tribal pipe (huqqa). The proceedings begin with the outspreading (usually symbolic) of a carpet and the smoking of a water-pipe handed in turn to each clansman. For this purpose the members sit on the carpet in three lines, the officers in front and the private soldiers behind. The parties and their witnesses are heard and examined, and a decision is p.r.o.nounced. The punishments imposed consist of fines, compulsory dinners and expulsion from the caste; expulsion being inflicted for failure to comply with an order of fine or entertainment. The formal method of outcasting consists in seating the culprit on the ground and drawing the tribal mat over his head, from which the turban is removed; after this the messengers of the eight companies inflict a few taps with slippers and birch brooms. It is alleged that unfaithful women were formerly tied naked to trees and flogged with birch brooms, but that owing to the fatal results that occasionally followed such punishment, as in the case of the five kicks among Chamars (tanners) and the scourging with the clothes line which used to prevail among Dhobis (washer men), the caste has now found it expedient to abandon these practices. When an outcaste is readmitted on submission, whether by paying a fine or giving a dinner, he is seated apart from the tribal mat and does penance by holding his ears with his hands and confessing his offence. A new huqqa, which he supplies, is carried round by the messenger, and a few whiffs are taken by all the officers and Sipahis in turn. The messenger repeats to the culprit the council's order, and informs him that should he again offend his punishment will be doubled. With this warning he hands him the water-pipe, and after smoking this the offender is admitted to the carpet and all is forgotten in a banquet at his expense.

5. Admission of outsiders

The sweepers will freely admit outsiders into their community, and the caste forms a refuge for persons expelled from their own societies for s.e.xual or moral offences. Various methods are employed for the initiation of a neophyte; in some places he, or more frequently she, is beaten with a broom made of wood taken from a bier, and has to give a feast to the caste; in others a slight wound is made in his body and the blood of another sweeper is allowed to flow on to it so that they mix; and a gla.s.s of sherbet and sugar, known as the cup of nectar, is prepared by the priest and all the members of the committee put their fingers into it, after which it is given to the candidate to drink; or he has to drink water mixed with cowdung into which the caste-people have dipped their little fingers, and a lock of his hair is cut off. Or he fasts all day at the shrine of Lalbeg and in the evening drinks sherbet after burning incense at the shrine; and gives three feasts, the first on the bank of a tank, the second in his courtyard and the third in his house, representing his gradual purification for membership; at this last he puts a little water into every man's cup and receives from him a piece of bread, and so becomes a fully qualified caste-man. Owing to this reinforcement from higher castes, and perhaps also to their flesh diet, the sweepers are not infrequently taller and stronger as well as lighter in colour than the average Hindu.

6. Marriage customs

The marriage ceremony in the Central Provinces follows the ordinary Hindu ritual. The _lagan_ or paper fixing the date of the wedding is written by a Brahman, who seats himself at some distance from the sweeper's house and composes the letter. This paper must not be seen by the bride or bridegroom, nor may its contents be read to them, as it is believed that to do so would cause them to fall ill during the ceremony. Before the bridegroom starts for the wedding his mother waves a wooden pestle five times over his head, pa.s.sing it between his legs and shoulders. After this the bridegroom breaks two lamp-saucers with his right foot, steps over the rice-pounder and departs for the bride's house without looking behind him. The _sawasas_ or relatives of the parties usually officiate at the ceremony, but the well-to-do sometimes engage a Brahman, who sits at a distance from the house and calls out his instructions. When a man wishes to marry a widow he must pay six rupees to the caste committee and give a feast to the community. Divorce is permitted for incompatibility of temper, or immorality on the part of the wife, or if the husband suffers from leprosy or impotence. Among the Lalbegis, when a man wishes to get rid of his wife he a.s.sembles the brethren and in their presence says to her, 'You are as my sister,' and she answers, 'You are as my father and brother.' [231]

7. Disposal of the dead