The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India, Volume 3

3. Internal structure: subcastes

The caste have local divisions known as Bastarha, Chhattīsgarhia and Marethia, according as they live in Bastar, Chhattīsgarh, or Bhandāra and the other Marātha Districts. The last two groups, however, intermarry, so only the Bastar Halbas really form a separate subcaste. But the caste is also everywhere divided into two groups of pure and mixed Halbas. These are known in Bastar and Chhattīsgarh as Purāit or Nekha, and Surāit or Nāyak, respectively, and in Bhandāra as Barpangat and Khālpangat or those of good and bad stock. The Surāits or Khālpangats are said to be of mixed origin, born from Halba fathers and women of other castes. But in past times unions of Halba mothers and men of other castes were perhaps not less frequent. These two sets of groups do not intermarry. A Surāit Halba will take food from a Purāit, but the Purāits do not return the compliment; though in some localities they will accept food which does not contain salt. The two divisions will take water from each other and exchange leaf-pipes. In Bhandāra the Barpangat or pure Halbas have now further split into two groups, the zamīndāri families having constituted themselves into a separate subdivision; they practise hypergamy with the others, taking daughters from them in marriage but not giving their daughters to them. This is simply of a piece with their claim to be Rājpūts, hypergamy being a custom of northern India.

4. Exogamous sections

The exogamous sections of the caste afford further evidence of their mixed origin. Many of the names recorded are those of other castes, as Baretha (a washerman), Bhoyar (Bhoi or bearer), Rāwat (herdsman), Barhai (carpenter), Mālia (Māli or gardener), Dhākar (Vidūr or illegitimate Brāhman), Bhandāri (barber), Pardhān (Gond), Mānkar (title of various tribes), Sahara (Saonr), Kanderi (turner), Agri (Agarwāla Bania), Baghel (a sept of Rājpūts), Elmia (from Velama, Telugu cultivators), and Chalki and Ponwār (Chalukya and Panwār Rājpūts). It may be concluded that these groups are descended from ancestors of the caste after which they are named. There are also a number of territorial and titular names of the usual type, and many totemistic names, as Ghorapatia (a horse), Kawaliha (lotus), Aurila (tamarind), Lendia (a tree), Gohi (a lizard), Manjur (a peacock), Bhringrāj (a blackbird) and so on. In Bastar they revere the animal or plant after which their sept is named and will not kill or injure it. If a man accidentally kills his devak or sacred animal he will tear off a small piece of his cloth and throw it away to make a shroud for the corpse. A few of them will break their earthen pots as if a relative had died in their house, but this is not general. In Bastar the totemistic groups are named barags, and many men also belong to a thok, having some titular name which they use as a surname. Nowadays marriage is avoided by persons having the same thok or surname as well as between those of the same barag.

5. Theory of the origin of the caste

In view of the information available the most probable theory of the origin of the Halbas is that they were a mixed caste, born of irregular alliances between the Uriya Rājas and their retainers with the women of their household servants and between the different servants themselves. Mr. Gokul Prasād points out that many of the names of Halba sections are those of the haguas or household menials of the Uriya chiefs. The Halbas, according to their own story, came here in attendance on one of the chiefs, and are still employed as household servants in Kānker and Bastar. They are clearly a caste of mixed origin as they still admit women of other castes married by Halba men into the community, and one of their two subcastes in each locality consists of families of impure descent. The Dhākars of Bastar are the illegitimate offspring of Brāhmans with women of the country who have grown into a caste, and Mr. Panda Baijnāth quotes a proverb, saying that ‘The Halbas and Dhākars form two portions of a bedsheet.’ Instances of other castes similarly formed are the Audhelias of Bilāspur, who are said to be the offspring of Daharia Rājpūts by their kept women, and the Bargāhs, descended from the nurses of Rājpūt families. The name Halba might be derived from hal, a plough, and be a variant for harwāha, the common term for a farmservant in the northern Districts. This derivation they give themselves in one of their stories, saying that their first ancestor was created from a sod of earth on the plough of Balarām or Haladhara, the brother of Krishna; and it has also the support of Sir G. Grierson. The caste includes no doubt a number of Gonds, Rāwats (herdsmen) and others, and it may be partly occupational, consisting of persons employed as farmservants by the Hindu settlers. The farmservant in Chhattīsgarh has a very definite position, his engagement being permanent and his wages consisting always in a fourth share of the produce, which is divided among them when several are employed. The caste have a peculiar dialect of their own, which Dr. Grierson describes as follows:142 “Linguistic evidence also points to the fact that the Halbas are an aboriginal tribe, who have adopted Hinduism and an Aryan language. Their dialect is a curious mixture of Uriya, Chhattīsgarhi and Marāthi, the proportions varying according to the locality. In Bhandāra it is nearly all Marāthi, but in Bastar it is much more mixed and has some forms which look like Telugu.” If the home of the Halbas was in the debateable land between Chhattīsgarh and the Uriya country to the east and south of the Mahānadi, their dialect might, as Mr. Hīra Lāl points out, have originated here. They themselves give the ruined but once important city of Sihāwa on the banks of the Mahānadi in this tract as that of their first settlement; and Uriya is spoken to the east of Sihāwa and Marāthi to the west, while Chhattīsgarhi is the language of the locality itself and of the country extending north and south. Subsequently the Halbas served as soldiers in the armies of the Ratanpur kings and their position no doubt considerably improved, so that in Bastar they became an important landholding caste. Some of these soldiers may have migrated west and taken service under the Gond kings of Chānda, and their descendants may now be represented by the Bhandāra zamīndārs, who, however, if this theory be correct, have entirely forgotten their origin. Others took up weaving and have become amalgamated with the Koshti caste in Bhandāra and Berār.

6. Marriage

Girls are not usually married until they are above ten years old, or nearly adult as age goes in India; but there is no rule on the subject. Many girls reach twenty without entering wedlock. If the parents are too poor to pay for their daughter’s marriage the neighbours will subscribe. In Bastar, however, the Uriya custom prevails, and an unmarried girl in whom the signs of puberty appear is put out of caste. In such a case her father marries her to a mahua tree. The strictness of the rule on this subject among the Uriyas is probably due to the strength of Brāhmanical influence, the priestly caste possessing more power and property in Sambalpur and Orissa than in almost any part of India. If a death occurs in the family of the bridegroom just before the date fixed for the wedding, and the ceremonies of purification cannot be completed prior to it, the bride is formally wedded to an achar143 or mahua tree;144 the marriage crown is tied on to the tree, and the bride walks round it seven times. After the bridegroom’s purification the couple are taken to the same tree, and here the forehead of the bridegroom is marked with turmeric paste and rice. The couple sit one on each side of the tree, and the Tikāwan ceremony or presentation of gifts by the relatives and friends is performed, and the marriage is considered to be complete. If an unmarried girl goes wrong with an outsider of low caste she is expelled from the community; but if with a member of a caste from whom a Halba can take water she may be readmitted to caste, provided she has not eaten food cooked in an earthen pot from the hands of her seducer; but not if she has done so. If there be a child of the seducer she must wait until it be weaned and either taken by the putative father or given away to a Chamār or Gond. The girl can then be given in marriage to any Halba as a widow. Women of other castes married by Halbas are admitted into the community. This happens most frequently in the case of women of the Rāwat (herdsman) caste.

7. Importance of the sister’s son

A match which is commonly arranged where practicable is that of a brother’s daughter to a sister’s son. And a man always shows a special regard and respect for his sister’s son, touching his feet as to a superior, while, whenever he desires to make a gift as an offering of thanks or atonement or as a meritorious action, the sister’s son is the recipient. At his death he usually leaves a substantial legacy, such as one or two buffaloes, to his sister’s son, the remainder of the property going to his own family. This recognition of a special relationship is probably a survival of the matriarchate, when property descended through women, and a sister’s son would be his uncle’s heir. Thus a man would naturally desire to marry his daughter to his nephew in order that she might participate in his property, and hence arose the custom of making this match, which is still the most favoured among the Halbas and Gonds, though the reasons which led to it have been forgotten for several centuries.

8. The wedding ceremony

Matches are usually arranged on the initiative of the boy’s father through a mutual friend who resides in the girl’s village, and is known as the Mahālia or matchmaker. When the contract is concluded the boy’s father sends a present of fixed quantities of grain to the girl, which are in the nature of a bride-price, and subsequently on an auspicious day selected by the family priest he and his friends proceed to the girl’s village. The girl meets them, standing at the entrance of the principal house, dressed in the new clothes sent on behalf of the bridegroom, and holding out her cloth for the reception of presents. The boy’s father goes up to her and smooths her hair with his hand, chucks her under the chin with his right hand, and makes a noise with his lips as if he were kissing her. He then touches her feet, places a rupee on the skirt of her cloth, and retires. The other members of his party follow his example, giving small presents of copper, and afterwards the women of the girl’s party treat the bridegroom in the same manner, but they actually kiss him (chūmna). Betrothals can be held only in the five months from Māgh (January) to Jeth (May), while marriages may be celebrated during the eight dry months. The auspicious date is selected by the Joshi or caste-priest, who is chosen by the community for his personal qualities. If the names of the couple do not point to an auspicious union the bridegroom’s name may be changed either temporarily or permanently. The Joshi takes two pieces of cloth, which should be torn from the scarf of the boy’s father, and ties up in each of them some rice, areca nuts, turmeric and dūb grass (Cynodon dactylon). One of these is marked with red lead, and is intended for the bride, and the other, which is left plain, is for the bridegroom. At the wedding some of this rice with pulse is placed with a twig of mahua in a hole in the marriage-shed and addressed: ‘You are the goddess Lachhmi; you have come to assist in the marriage.’

The Halbas, like the other lower castes of Chhattīsgarh, have two forms of wedding, known as the ‘Small’ and ‘Large,’ the former being held at the bridegroom’s house with curtailed ceremonies, and being much cheaper than the latter or Hindu marriage proper, which is held at the bride’s house. The ‘small’ wedding is more popular among the Halbas, and for this the bride, accompanied by some of her girl and boy friends, arrives at the bridegroom’s village in the evening, her parents following her only on the third day. On entering the lands of the village her party begin singing obscene songs filled with abuse of the bridegroom’s parents and relatives. Nobody goes to receive or welcome them, and on reaching the bridegroom’s house they enter it without ceremony and sit down in the room where the family gods are kept. All this time they continue singing, and the musicians keep up a deafening din in accompaniment. Subsequently the bride’s party are shown to their lodging, known as the Dulhi-kuria or bride’s apartments, and here the bridegroom’s father visits her and washes her big toes first with milk and then with water. The practice of washing the feet of guests, which strikes strangely on our minds when we meet it in Scripture, was obviously a welcome attention when travellers went bare-footed, or at most wore sandals, and arrived at their journey’s end with the feet soiled and bruised by the rigours of the way. Another of the bridegroom’s friends pretends to act as a barber, and shaves all the bride’s men friends with a piece of straw as if it were a razor. For the marriage ceremony proper the bride and bridegroom stand facing each other by the marriage hut with a sheet held between them; the Joshi or caste-priest takes two lamps and mingles their flames, and the cloth between the couple being pulled down the bridegroom drags the bride over to him. If the wedding is held on a Sunday, Tuesday or Saturday the bridegroom stands facing the east, and if on a Monday, Thursday or Friday, to the north. After this the cloths of the couple are tied together, or the end of the bridegroom’s scarf is tucked in the bride’s waistcloth, and they go round the marriage-post seven times, the bride following the bridegroom throughout. A plough-yoke is then brought and placed close by the marriage-post and the couple take their seats on it, the bride sitting on the left of the bridegroom. The bundles of rice consecrated by the Joshi are given to them and they throw it over each other. The bridegroom takes some red lead and smears the bride’s face with it, making a line from the end of her nose up across her forehead and along the parting of her hair. He says her name aloud and covers her head with her cloth. This signifies that she is a married woman, as in Chhattīsgarh unmarried girls go about with the head bare. After this the mother and father of the bride come and wash the feet of the couple with milk and water. This ceremony is known as Dharam Tīka, and after its completion the bride’s parents will take food in the bridegroom’s house, which they abstain from doing from the date of the betrothal up to this washing of the feet. It is on this account that they do not accompany the bride but only follow her on the third day, but the reason for the rule is by no means clear. On the following day more ceremonies are performed, and the friends of the couple touch their foreheads with rice and make presents to them of cowries. Last of all the bride’s parents come and give them cattle and other articles according to their means. These gifts are known as Tikāwan and remain the separate property of the bride which she can dispose of as she pleases. The ceremonies usually extend over four days, the wedding itself taking place on the third. The bride’s party then go home, leaving her with her husband, and after a week or so they return and take the couple to the bride’s house for the ceremony known as Pinar Dhawai or getting their yellow wedding clothes washed. The bridegroom stays here two or three weeks, and during this time he must work at building or repairing the walls of his father-in-law’s house. The custom of serving for a wife still obtains among the Halbas, and the above rule may perhaps indicate that it was once more general. At the end of the bridegroom’s visit his father-in-law gives him a new cloth and pair of shoes and sends him back to his parents’ house with his wife. The expenses of the wedding average about fifty rupees for the bridegroom’s family and from five to thirty rupees for the bride’s family.

9. Going-away ceremony

After the wedding if the bride is grown up she lives with her husband at once; but if she is a child she goes back to her parents until her adolescence, when the ceremony of Pathoni or ‘Going away’ is performed. On this occasion some people from the bridegroom’s home go to fetch her and their number must be even, so that when she returns with them the party may be an odd one, which is lucky. They take a new cloth for the bride and stay the night at her house; next morning the bride’s parents put some rice, pulse, oil and a comb in a basket for her, and she sets out with the party, wearing her new cloth. But when she gets outside the village this is taken off her and placed in the basket, which she has to carry on her head as far as her husband’s house. As she enters his village the people stretch a rope across the way and prevent her passage until her father-in-law gives them a present. On arriving at his house her feet are washed by her mother-in-law, and she is then made to cook the food brought in her basket. After a fortnight she again goes back to her parents’ house and stays with them for another year, before finally taking up her abode with her husband. It has been remarked that this return of a married woman to her parents’ house for such lengthened periods is likely to be a pregnant source of immorality, and the advantage of the custom has been questioned; the explanation may perhaps be that it is an outcome of the joint family system by which young married couples live with the bridegroom’s parents, and that the object is to accustom the girl gradually to the habits of a fresh household and the yoke, necessarily irksome, of her mother-in-law. The proverb with reference to a young wife, ‘If your husband loves you your mother-in-law can do nothing,’ indicates how formidable this may be in the event of any cooling of marital affection; and it is well known that if she does not please her husband’s family a young wife may be treated as little better than a slave. To throw a young girl, therefore, into a family of complete strangers is probably too severe a trial, and this is the reason of the goings and returnings of the bride after her wedding between her husband’s home and her own.

10. Widow-marriage and divorce

The remarriage of a widow must be held during the bright fortnight of the month, and on any odd day of the fortnight excluding the first. The couple are seated together on a yoke in a part of the courtyard cleaned with cowdung, and their clothes are tied together, while the husband rubs vermilion on his wife’s hair. A bachelor should not take a widow in marriage, and if he does so he must at the same time also wed a maiden with the regular ceremony, as otherwise he is likely after death to become a masāan or evil spirit. In order to avoid this contingency a bachelor who espouses a widow in Kānker is first wedded to a spear. Turmeric and oil are rubbed on his body and on the spear, and he walks round it seven times. Divorce is freely permitted in Chhattīsgarh at the instance of either party and for the most trivial reasons, as a mere allegation of disagreement; but if a husband puts away his wife when she has not been unfaithful to him he must give her something for her support. In some localities no ceremony is performed at all, but a wife or husband who tires of wedlock simply leaves the other as the case may be. In Bastar a wife cannot divorce her husband. A divorced woman does not break her glass bangles until she marries again, when new ones are given to her by her second husband.

11. Religion

A large proportion of the Halbas of Chhattīsgarh belong to the Kabīrpanthi sect. These are known as Kabīrhas and abjure the consumption of flesh and alcoholic liquor; while the others who indulge in these articles are known as Sakatha or Sakta, that is, a worshipper of Devi or Durga. These latter, however, also revere all the village godlings of Chhattīsgarh.

12. Disposal of the dead

The dead are always buried by the Kabīrpanthis and usually by other Halbas, cremation being reserved by the latter as a special mark of respect for elders and heads of families. A dead body is wrapped in a new white cloth and laid on an inverted cot. The Kabīrpanthis lay plantain leaves at the sides of the cot and over the body to cover it. One of the mourners carries a burning cowdung cake with the party. Before burial the thread which every male wears round his waist is broken, the clothes are taken off the corpse and given to a sweeper, and the body is wrapped in the shroud and laid in the grave, salt being sprinkled under and over it. If the dead body should be touched by any person of another caste, the deceased’s family has to pay a fine or give a penal caste-feast. After the interment the mourners bathe and return to the deceased’s house in their wet clothes. Before entering it they wash their feet in water, which is kept for that purpose at the door, and chew the leaves of the nīm tree (Melia indica). They smoke their chongis or leaf-pipes and console the deceased’s family and then return home, washing their feet again and changing their clothes at their own houses. On the third day, known as Tīj Nahān, the male members of the family with the relatives and mourners walk in Indian file to a river or tank, where they are all shaved by the barber, the sons of the dead man or woman having the entire head and face cleared of hair, while in the case of other relatives, the scalp-lock and moustache may be left, and the mourning friends are only shaved as on ordinary occasions. For his services the barber receives a cow or a substantial cash present, which he divides with the washerman. The latter subsequently washes all clothes worn at the funeral and on this occasion. On the Akti festival, or commencement of the agricultural year, libations of water and offerings of urad145 cakes are made to the spirits of ancestors. A feast is given to women in honour of all departed female ancestors on the ninth day of the Pitripaksh or mourning fortnight of Kunwār (September), and feasts for male ancestors may be held on the same day of the fortnight as that on which they died at any other time of the year.146 Such observances are practised only by the well-to-do. Nothing is done for persons who die before their marriage or without children, unless they trouble some member of the family and appear in a dream to demand that these honours be paid to them. During an epidemic of cholera all funeral and mourning ceremonies are suspended, and a general purification of the village takes place on its conclusion.

13. Propitiating the spirits of those who have died a violent death

If a person has been killed by a tiger, the people go out, and if any remains of the body are found, these are burnt on the spot. The Baiga is then invoked to bring back the spirit of the deceased, a most essential precaution as will shortly be seen. In order to do this he suspends a copper ring on a long thread above a vessel of water and then burns butter and sugar on the fire, muttering incantations, while the people sing songs and call on the spirit of the dead man to return. The thread swings to and fro, and at length the copper ring falls into the pot, and this is taken as a sign that the spirit has come and entered the vessel. The mouth of this is immediately covered and it is buried or kept in some secure place. The people believe that unless the dead man’s spirit is secured it will accompany the tiger and lure solitary travellers to destruction. This is done by calling out and offering them tobacco to smoke, and when they proceed in the direction of the voice the tiger springs out and kills them. And they think that a tiger directed in this manner grows fiercer and fiercer with every person whom it kills. When somebody has been killed by a tiger the relatives will not even remove the ornaments from the corpse, for they think that these would constitute a link by which its spirit would cause the tiger to track them down. The malevolence thus attributed to persons killed by tigers is explained by their bitter wrath at having encountered such an untimely death and consequent desire to entice others to the same.

14. Impurity of women