The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India, Volume 2

468

Rāsmāla, i. 395, quoting from the Ain-i-Akbari.

469

From papers by Mr. Parmeshwar Misra, Settlement Superintendent, Rairakhol, and Mr. Rasānand, Sireshtedār, Bāmra.

470

Tribes and Castes of Bengal, art. Chasa.

471

This article is based principally on notes taken by Mr. Hīra Lāl at Bhatgaon.

472

Bombay Gazetteer, Hindus of Gujarāt, p. 178.

473

A corruption for Viswakarma, the divine artificer and architect.

474

The story, however, really belongs to northern India. Usha is the goddess of dawn.

475

Krishna’s mother.

476

Little white flowers like jasmine. This simile would be unlikely to occur to the ordinary observer who sees a Hindu child crying.

477

Tori balayān leun. For explanation see above.

478

Commencement of the agricultural year.

479

This article is partly based on a paper by Mr. Bijai Bahadur, Naib-Tahsīldār, Bālāghāt.

480

Bombay Ethnographic Survey, draft article on Chitrakathi.

481

May-June. The Akhatīj is the beginning of the agricultural year.

482

Berār Census Report (1881), paragraph 206. The passage is slightly altered and abridged in reproduction.

483

Vol. ix. part. ii. Muhammadans of Gujarāt, p. 57.

484

Rājasthān, ii. p. 292.

485

Bombay Gazetteer, l.c.

486

In recording this point Mr. Farīdi gives the following note: “In 1847 a case occurred which shows how firmly the Memans cling to their original tribal customs. The widow of Hāji Nūr Muhammad of the Lakariya family demanded a share of her deceased husband’s property according to Muhammadan law. The jamā-at or community decided that a widow had no claim to share her husband’s estates under the Hindu law. Before the High Court, in spite of the ridicule of other Sunnis, the elders of the Cutchi Memans declared that their caste rules denied the widow’s claim. The matter caused and is still (1896) causing agitation, as the doctors of the Sunni law at Mecca have decided that as the law of inheritance is laid down by the holy Korān, a wilful departure from it is little short of apostasy. The Memans are contemplating a change, but so far they have not found themselves able to depart from their tribal practices.”

487

This article is based on papers by Mr. Vithal Rao, Naib-Tahsīldār, Bilāspur, and Messrs. Kanhya Lāl and Pyāre Lāl Misra of the Gazetteer office.

488

Crooke, Tribes and Castes, art. Kol.

489

Aegle Marmelos.

490

Butea frondosa.

491

Nāg, a cobra.

492

Kept woman, a term applied to a widow.

493

Moor’s Hindu Infanticide, p. 133.

494

James Forbes, Oriental Memoirs, i. p. 313.

495

Rajendra Lāl Mitra, Indo-Aryans, i. p. 263.

496

Journal of Indian Art and Industry, xvi., April 1912, p. 3.

497

Dr. Jevons, Introduction to the History of Religion, p. 60.

498

Private Life of an Eastern King, p. 294.

499

Hobson-Jobson, s.v. ‘Roundel.’

500

Old English manuscript quoted by Sir R. Temple in Ind. Ant. (December 1904), p. 316.

501

Hobson-Jobson, s.v. ‘Kittysol.’

502

Hobson-Jobson, s.v. ‘Roundel.’

503

Hobson-Jobson, ibidem.

504

W. W. Skeat, The Past at our Doors.

505

Skeat, ibidem, p. 95.

506

This article is compiled from papers by Mr. Bahmanji Muncherji, Extra Assistant Commissioner; Mr. Jeorākhan Lāl, Deputy Inspector of Schools, and Pandit Pyāre Lāl Misra, ethnographic clerk. The historical notice is mainly supplied by Mr. Hīra Lāl.

507

Tod’s Rājasthān, i. p. 128.

508

This article is based on notes taken by Pandit Pyāre Lāl Misra in Wardha, and Mr. Hirā Lāl in Bhandāra.

509

Proper Names of the Punjābis, p. 74.

510

Punjab Census Report (1881), para. 645.

511

Crooke’s Tribes and Castes, art. Darzi.

512

Buchanan’s Eastern India, Martin’s edition, ii. pp. 417, 699.

513

Ibidem, p. 977.

514

Vol. i. pp. 178–184.

515

Webb’s Heritage of Dress, p. 33.

516

Bombay Gazetteer, Hindus of Gujarāt, p. 180, quoting from Ovington, Voyage to Surat, p. 280.

517

Bombay Gazetteer, Hindus of Gujarāt, p. 180.

518

Bombay Gazetteer, Nasik, p. 50.

519

According to another account Nāmdeo belonged to Mārwār. Mr. Maclagan’s Punjab Census Report (1891), p. 144.

520

Berār Census Report (1881), para. 231.

521

This article is partly based on a note by Mr. Gokul Prasād, Tahsīldār, Dhamtari.

522

This article is based entirely on a paper by Rai Bahādur Panda Baijnāth, Superintendent, Bastar State.

523

Compiled mainly from a paper by Kanhya Lāl, clerk in the Gazetteer office.

524

Cf. the two meanings of the word ‘stock’ in English.

525

Tribes and Castes of Bengal, art. Dhānuk.

526

Eastern India, i. 166, as quoted in Crooke’s Tribes and Castes.

527

Cf. the two perfectly distinct groups of Paīks or foot-soldiers found in Jubbulpore and the Uriya country.

528

Tribes and Castes of the N. W. P. and Oudh, art. Basor.

529

The following particulars are from a paper by Kanhyā Lāl, a clerk in the Gazetteer office belonging to the Educational Department.

530

This article is based almost entirely on a monograph by Mr. Jeorākhan Lāl, Deputy Inspector of Schools, Bilāspur.

531

Grewia vestita.

532

The term brother’s brother-in-law is abusive in the same sense as brother-in-law (sāla) said by a man.

533

See commencement of this article.

534

Cynodon dactylon.

535

Shorea robusta.

536

This article is based partly on papers by Mr. Govind Moreshwar, Head Clerk, Mandla, and Mr. Pancham Lāl, Naib-Tahsīldār, Sihora. Much of the interesting information about the occupations of the caste was given to the writer by Bābu Kāli Prasanna Mukerji, Pleader, Saugor.

537

As a rule a husband and wife never address each other by name.

538

Among Hindus it is customary to give a little more than the proper sum on ceremonial occasions in order to show that there is no stint. Thus Rs. 1–4 is paid instead of a rupee.

539

Berār Census Report (1881), p. 133.

540

Ibidem, l.c.

541

Ibidem, l.c.

542

Anthocephalus kadamba.

543

From ghāt, a steep hillside or slope; hence a river-crossing because of the banks sloping down to it.

544

Trapa bispinosa.

545

Jungle Life in India, p. 137.

546

Berār Census Report (1881), p. 132.

547

The following notice of caste offences is from Mr. Govind Moreshwar’s paper.

548

Not probably on account of the commission of a crime, but because being sentenced to imprisonment involves the eating of ceremonially impure food. These rules are common to most Hindu castes, and the Dhīmars are taken only as a typical example. They seem to have little or no connection with ordinary morality. But in Jhānsi Mr. Crooke remarks that a Kahār is put out of caste for theft in his master’s house. This again, however, might be considered as an offence against the community, tending to lower their corporate character in their business, and as such deserving of social punishment.

549

This article is partly based on an account of the caste furnished by Mr. H. F. E. Bell and drawn up by Mr. F. R. R. Rudman in the Mandla District Gazetteer.

550

Folklore of Northern India, vol. ii. p. 8.

551

Sherring’s Hindu Castes, i. 342–3.

552

Tribes and Castes, art. Dhobi.

553

Annals and Antiquities of Rājasthān.

554

Berār Census Report (1881), p. 155.

555

Central Provinces Census Report (1891), p. 202.

556

Loc. cit.

557

Bihār Peasant Life, s.v. Dhobi.

558

Ethnographic Notes in Southern India, p. 226.

559

Behind the Bungalow.

560

This article is mainly compiled from papers by Mr. Gokul Prasād, Naib-Tahsīldār, Dhamtari, and Pyāre Lāl Misra, a clerk in the Gazetteer office.

561

Tribes and Castes of Bengal, art. Kāndu.

562

This article is taken almost entirely from a paper drawn up by Mr. Hīra Lāl, Extra Assistant Commissioner.

563

This article is mainly compiled from Sir E. D. Maclagan’s Punjab Census Report (1891), pp. 192–196, the article on Fakīr in the Rev. T. P. Hughes’ Dictionary of Islām, and the volume on Muhammadans of Gujarāt in the Bombay Gazetteer, pp. 20–24.

564

Hughes, p. 116.

565

Punjab Census Report (1891), p. 196.

566

Hughes’ Dictionary of Islam, art. Fakīr.