The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India, Volume 1

Khadra,458 Khadura or Kharura.—A small Uriya caste whose occupation is to make brass ornaments. They are immigrants from Cuttack and say that they are called there Sankhāri, so that the Khadras may not improbably be an offshoot of the Sankhāri caste of shell-cutters of Bengal. According to their traditions their original ancestor was created by Viswakarma, the celestial architect, for the business of making a pinnacle for the temple of Jagannāth at Puri, in which eight metals had to be combined. He left two sons, one of whom became the ancestor of the Khadras, and the other of the Kasārs, with whom the Khadras thus claim affinity. They have no subcastes but four gotras or clans called after the Nāg or cobra, the Singh or lion, and Kāsyap and Kachchap, both derived from the tortoise. They also have four bargas or family names, which are Pātra (a term of respect), Dās (slave), Sao (banker) and Mahāranā (artificer). The groups are supposed to be descended from four families who migrated from Curtack. Neither bargas nor gotras are now considered in the arrangement of marriages, which are prohibited between blood relatives for three generations. Marriage is infant, and a girl arriving at puberty while still unwed is permanently expelled from the caste. The Khadras still follow the old rule of writing the lagun or date of the marriage on a palm-leaf, with which they send Rs. 10–4 as a bride-price to the girl’s father, the acceptance of this constituting a confirmation of the betrothal. The marriage ceremony resembles that of the other Uriya castes, and the Khadras have the rite called badapāni or breaking the bachelorhood. A little water brought from seven houses is sprinkled over the bridegroom and his loin-cloth is then snatched away, leaving him naked. In this state he runs towards his own house, but some boys are posted at a little distance who give him a new cloth. Widow-marriage and divorce are permitted, but the hand of a widow must not be sought so long as she remains in her late husband’s house, and does not return to her father. When a bachelor marries a widow he must first perform the regular ceremony with a leaf-cup filled with flowers, after which he can take the widow as his second wife. All important agreements are confirmed by a peculiar custom called heskāni. A deer-skin is spread on the ground before the caste committee, and the person making the agreement bows before it a number of times. To break an agreement made by the heskāni rite is believed to involve terrible calamities. The Khadras eat the flesh of animals and fish but not that of birds, and they do not drink country liquor. When an estate is to be partitioned the eldest son first takes a tenth of the whole in right of primogeniture and the remainder is then divided equally. The Khadras rank as an artisan caste of somewhat low status.

Khadura.—Synonym of Khadra.

Khaijrāha.—(A resident of Khaira, a town in Central India.) Subcaste of Chamār.

Khair, Khaira.—(From khair, catechu or the catechu tree. A maker of catechu.) Synonym for Khairwār.

Khairchura.—(Carechu preparer.) A subcaste of Khairwār.

Khaire.—A subcaste of Are (Gondhali), Kanbi and Oraon.

Khairwār.—A catechu-making caste. A section of Chamār.

Khaiyawāre.—(Khai, ditch; owing to their houses having been originally built on the ditch of Hatta fort.) A section of Beldār Sonkars in Damoh.

Khāki.—(From khāk, ashes.) A class of Bairagi, or religious mendicants.

Khalīfa.—(Lord.) An honorific title for Darzis or tailors, and Muhammadan barbers.

Khaltaha.—Subcaste of Ghasia.

Khaltāti.—(Illegitimate.) Subcaste of Andh.

Khaltia.—Subcaste of Basdewa.

Khamari.—(Farmservant.) A section of Kolta.

Khambi.—(One who hides behind the graveyard.) A sept of Korku.

Khanda.—(A sword.) A section of Panka and Mahār.

Khandait.—(A swordsman.) An Uriya caste. A subcaste of Sānsia, Taonla and Chasa. Also a name of Koltas in Cuttack.

Khandapatra.—(One who cleans swords.) A section of Khandwāl.

Khandapi.—(Khanda, a sword.) A sept of the Dhurwa clan of Sahdeve or six-god Gonds in Betūl, named after the sword of Rāja Durga Shāh by which a victory was gained over the Muhammadans.

Khandele.—(From khanda, sword.) A section of Rāghuvansi Rājpūts in Hoshangābād.

Khandelwāl.—A subcaste of Bania.

Khāndeshi.—(A resident of Khāndesh.) A territorial subcaste of Darzi, Joshi, Mahār and Māng.

Khanne, Khanna.—A subdivision of Chārgarh Sāraswat Brāhmans in Hoshangābād, probably deriving their name from being priests of the Khanna section of Khatris. A section of Khatri.

Khanonkha.—(A kind of basket to catch birds with.) A totemistic sept of Rautia Kawars in Bilāspur.

Kharādi.—(A turner, one who turns woodwork on a lathe.) A synonym of Kundera and Barhai.

Kharchi.—Bastard Marāthas forming a separate division as distinguished from the Khasi or pure Marāthas.

Khare.—A subdivision of Srivāstab, Gaur and Saksena Kāyasths, meaning those of pure descent.

Khari Bind Kewat.—Title of the Murha caste.

Kharodia.—(A resident of Kharod in Bilāspur.) A subcaste of Nunia.

Kharsisjha.—(Maker of cowdung cakes.) A section of Māli.

Kharwade.—(Refuse.) A subcaste of Simpi or Marātha Darzi (tailor) originally formed of excommunicated members of the caste, but now occupying a position equal to other subcastes in Nāgpur.

Kharwār.—Synonym of the Khairwār tribe. Subcaste of Chero and Kol.

Khasi.—A subdivision of Marāthas, meaning those born in wedlock.

Khasua.—(A eunuch.) Synonym of Hijra.

Khāti.—(From the Sanskrit kskatri, one who cuts.) A subcaste of Barhai and Lohār.

Khatīk.—A caste. Synonym of Chikwa. A subcaste of Pāsi in Saugor, said to have originated in a cross between a Bauri and a Khatīk woman.

Khatkudia.—(Illegitimate.) A section of Teli in Betūl.

Khatri.—A caste. A subcaste of Chhīpa and of Sunār in Narsinghpur.

Khatua.—(Having a cot.) A section of the Hatwa caste.

Khatulha or Khatola.—A subtribe of Gond.

Khatulwār.—A subtribe of Gonds in Chānda, the same as the Khatulha of the northern Districts.

Khawās.—A title of Nai or barber. A subcaste of Dhuri. A section of Halba.

Khedāwāl.—A subcaste of Gujarāti Brāhmans. They take their name from Kheda or Kaira, a town in Gujarāt.

Khedule.—From kheda, a village. Subcaste of Kunbi.

Khendro.—Subcaste of Oraon.

Kheralawāla.—An immigrant from Kherāla in Mālwa. Subcaste of Rangrez.

Kherāwāl.—See Khedāwāl.

Kheti.—(Cultivation.) A section of Dumāl.

Khewat.—Synonym of Kewat.

Khīchi.—A clan of Rājpūts, a branch of the Sesodia clan.

Khoba.—(Sticks for fencing the grain-store.) A sept of Kawar; they abstain from using these sticks.

Khoksa.—(A kind of fish.) A totemistic sept of Rautia Kawar in Bilāspur.

Khuntia.—A subcaste of Agaria. One who uses a khunti or peg to fix the bellows in the ground for smelting iron. A sept of Savars. (Those who bury their dead on a high place.)

Khursām.—A sept of Pardhān and Dhur Gond.

Khutha.—(Impure.) A section of Tamera in Mandla.

Khyaurokar.—(One who shaves, from kshaur, to shave.) A synonym of Nai or Bhandāri.

Kilanāya.—(Kilna, a dog-house.) A nickname section of Ahīr.

Kilkila.—(The kingfisher.) A sept of Khairwār.

Killibusum.—(One who eats dead animals.) A sept of Korku.

Kindra.—(One who hides behind a tree.) A sept of Korku.

Kirachi or Karachi.—A sept of Gonds of Raipur and Betūl.

Kirād.—Synonym of Kirār.

Kirāhiboijir.—(A kind of fruit.) A section of Teli in Nāndgaon.

Kirār.—A caste. Synonym Dhākar. A subcaste of Kāchhi. A section of Khatīk.

Kirnakha.—A sept of Gonds in Chānda.

Kirvant or Kilvant.—A subdivision of Maharāshtra Brāhmans in Khairagarh. The name is said to be derived from kīra, an insect, because they kill insects in working their betel-vine gardens. Another explanation is that the name is really Kriyavant, and that they are so called because they conducted kriya or funeral services, an occupation which degraded them. A third form of the name is Kramwant or reciters of the Veda.

Kisān.—(A cultivator.) Oraons are commonly known by this name in Chota Nāgpur and Gonds in Mandla and other Districts. A section of Marār, Rāwat or Ahīr, and Savar.

Koathia.—A section of Bais Rājpūts.

Kochia.—Perhaps a name for Bahnas or cotton cleaners.

Kodjet.—(A conqueror of crores of people.) A section of Bhulia.

Kohistāni.—(A dweller on mountains.) A section of Pathān.

Kohkatta.—A sept of Gonds in Khairagarh.

Kohri.—A synonym for the Kohli caste.

Koi.—A class of Gonds.

Koikopāl.—A subcaste of Gond.

Koilabhūt or Koilabhūti.—A subtribe of Gonds. Their women are prostitutes.

Koiri.—A synonym of the Murao caste.

Koitur.—A synonym for Gond. The name by which the Gonds call themselves in many Districts.

Kokonasth or Chitpāvan.—A subcaste of Mahārāshtra Brāhmans inhabiting the Konkan country. Chitpāvan means the pure in heart.

Koksinghia.—(Koka, the Brāhmani duck.) A subsection of the Pardhān section of Koltas.

Kol.—A tribe. Subcaste of Dahāit.

Kolabhūt.—A name for Gonds.

Kolām.—A tribe. A subtribe of Gonds in Chanda.

Kolchar.—A clan of Marātha.

Kolia.—(From kolu, oil-press.) A section of Teli in Betūl.

Koliha.—(Jackal.) A section of Panwār Rājpūt, Chamār and Kawar.

Kolita, Kulta.—Synonyms of Kolta.

Kolta.—A caste. A subcaste of Chasa.

Kolya.—(One who hides behind a jackal-hole.) A sept of Korku.

Komalwār.—(Komal, soft.) A section of Kurumwār.

Komati.—Synonym of Komti.

Kommu.—(A story-teller.) Subcaste of Mādgi.

Kondawār.—(Konda, a mountain.) A section of Pālewār Dhīmar and Koshti in Chānda.

Kondwān or Kundi.—A name of a tract south of the Mahānadi which is called after the Khond tribe, and was formerly owned by them. Subcaste of Baiga.

Korai.—A subcaste of Ahīr or Rāwat in Bilāspur.

Korāku.—(Young men.) Subcaste of Korwa.

Koratkul.—A section of Komti; they do not eat the kumhra or pumpkin.

Korava.—Synonym of Yerūkala.

Korchamār.—A descendant of alliances between Chamārs and Koris or weavers. Subcaste of Chamār.

Kori.—A caste. A subcaste of Balāhi, Jaiswāra Chamār and Katia.

Korku.—A tribe. A subtribe of Nahal.

Korre.—(Residents of the Korai hill-tract in Seoni.) Subcaste of Injhwār.

Kosaria.—A subcaste of Rāwat or Ahīr, Barai, Dhobi, Kalār, Māli, Panka and Teli; a section of Chamār and Gond.

Koshti, Koshta.—A caste of weavers. See article. A subcaste of Katia and Bhulia.

Koskāti.—A subcaste of Koshti.

Kothari—(A store-keeper, from kotha, a store-room.) A section of Oswāl and Maheshri Banias.

Kotharya.—(A store-keeper.) Subcaste of Chitrakathi.

Kotwāl.—(Keeper of a castle, or a village watchman.) Honorific title of the Khangār caste. A surname of Yajurvedi Brāhmans in Saugor. A section of Halba.

Kotwār.—A person holding the office of village watchman. This post is usually assigned to members of the lowest or impure castes derived from the aboriginal tribes, such as the Māhars, Rāmosis, Gāndas, Pankas, Mīnas and Khangārs. Some of these were or still are much addicted to crime. The name kotwār appears to be a corruption of kotwāl, the keeper or guardian of a kot or castle. Under native rule the kotwāl was the chief of police in important towns, and the central police office in some towns is still called the kotwāli after him. In some villages there are still to be found both a kotwāl and a kotwār; in this case the former performs the duties of watch and ward of the village, and the latter has the menial work of carrying messages, collecting supplies and so on. Both are paid by fixed annual contributions of grain from the cultivators. In Hoshangābād the kotwār is allowed to glean for a day in the fields of each tenant after the crop has been removed. It would appear that the kotwār was chosen from the criminal castes as a method of insurance. The kotwār was held responsible for the good behaviour of his caste-fellows, and was often under the obligation of making good any property stolen by them. And if a theft occurred in another village and the thief was traced into the borders of the kotwār’s village he was bound to take up the pursuit and show that the thief had passed beyond his village, or to pay for the stolen property. Thieves were sometimes tracked by the kotwār, and sometimes in Gujarāt and Central India by a special official called Paggal,459 who measured their footprints with a string, and in this way often followed them successfully from village to village.460 The rule that the kotwār had to make good all thefts occurring in his village or perpetrated by criminals belonging to it, can only have been enforced to a very partial extent, as unless he could trace the property he would be unable to pay any substantial sum out of his own means. Still, it apparently had a considerable effect in the protection of property in the rural area, for which the regular police probably did very little. It was similarly the custom to employ a chaukidār or night-watchman to guard private houses when the owners could afford it, and this man was taken from a criminal caste on the same principle.

The kotwār was also the guardian of the village boundaries, and his opinion was often taken as authoritative in all cases of disputes about land. This position he perhaps occupied as a representative of the pre-Aryan tribes, the oldest residents of the country, and his appointment may have also been partly based on the idea that it was proper to employ one of them as the guardian of the village lands, just as the priest of the village gods of the earth and fields was usually taken from these tribes.

In some localities those members of an impure caste such as the Mahārs, who hold the office of village watchman, obtain a certain rise in status on account of the office, and show a tendency to marry among themselves. Similarly persons of the impure Gānda caste, who joined the Kabīrpanthi sect and now form a separate and somewhat higher caste under the name of Panka, usually work as village watchmen in preference to the Gāndas. Under British rule the kotwār has been retained as a village policeman, and his pay increased and generally fixed in cash. Besides patrolling the village, he has to report all cognisable crime at the nearest police post as well as births and deaths occurring in the village, and must give general assistance to the regular police in the detection of crime. Kotwār is used in Saugor as a synonym for the Chadār caste. It is also a subcaste of the Kori caste.

Kowa.—(A crow.) A section of Tamera and of Gond in Chānda.

Koya A subtribe of Gond in Bastar.

Koyudu.—A synonym of Gond in Chānda used by Telugus.

Kramikul.—A section of Komti. They do not use the black radish.

Kshatriya.—Name of the second Hindu classical caste or the warrior caste. Synonym for Rājpūt.

Kshirsāgar.—(Ocean of Milk.) A section of Panwār Rājpūt, and a proper name of Marātha Brāhmans.

Kuch.—(A weaver’s brush.) A section of Rāghuvansi Rājpūts in Hoshangābād.

Kuchbandhia, Kunchbandhia.—(A maker of weavers’ brushes.) Synonym and subcaste of Beldār in Chhattīsgarh.

Kudaiya.—(Kodon, a small millet.) A section of Ahīr.

Kudappa.—A sept of Gonds in Raipur and Khairagarh.

Kudarbohna.—A Hindu Bhana.

Kudaria.—(Kudāli, a pickaxe.) A section of the Bharia tribe.

Kukra.—(A dog.) A totemistic sept of Bhatra Gonds. A section of Kumhār.

Kukuta.—(Cock.) A sept of Gonds in Raipur.

Kulatia.—A section of Basor. From kulara, a somersault, because they perform somersaults at the time of the maihir ceremony, or eating the marriage cakes.

Kuldip.—(The lamp of the family.) A section of Panka in Raipur.

Kuldiya.—(Those who stop eating if the lamp goes out at supper.) A section of Ghasia.

Kulin.—(Of high caste.) A well-known class of Bengali Brāhmans. A subdivision of Uriya Mahantis. A section of Panka.

Kulshreshta.—(Of good family.) A subcaste of Kāyasth.

Kūmān.—Subcaste of Barai.

Kumarrha or Kumarra.—(A bird.) A sept of Sahdeve or six-god Gonds. In Betūl the members of this sept do not eat or kill a goat or sheep, and throw away any article smelt by one.

Kumarshishta.—A section of Komti. They do not use mehndi or henna leaves.

Kumbhār.—(Potter.) Marāthi synonym for Kumhār. A section of Gānda and Bhulia.

Kumbhoj.—(Born of a pitcher, a Rishi or saint.) An eponymous section of Agharia.

Kumbhira.—(Crocodile.) A totemistic sept of Bhulia.

Kumbhwār.—(Kumbh, a pot.) A surname of Gandli in Chānda.

Kumhārbans.—(Descended from a potter.) A section of Ghasia.

Kumrayete.—(Yete, a goat.) A sept of the Uika clan of Sahdeve or six-god Gonds in Betūl. They do not eat goats, and are said to have offered human sacrifices in ancient times.

Kunbi.—A caste. Subcaste of Dāngri, Gondhali and Marātha.

Kumrawat, 461 Patbina, Dāngur.—A small caste of san-hemp growers and weavers of sacking. They are called Kumrāwat in the northern Districts and Patbina (pat pattī, sacking, and binna, to weave) in Chhattīsgarh. A small colony of hemp-growers in the Betūl District are known as Dāngur, probably from the dāng or wooden steelyard which they use for weighing hemp. Both the Kumrāwats and Dāngurs claim Rājpūt origin, and may be classed together. The caste of Barais or betel-vine growers have a subcaste called Kumrāwat, and the Kumrāwats may be an offshoot of the Barais, who split off from the parent body on taking to the cultivation of hemp. As most Hindu castes have until recently refused to grow hemp, the Kumrāwats are often found concentrated in single villages. Thus a number of Patbinas reside in Darri, a village in the Khujji zamīndāri of Raipur, while the Dāngurs are almost all found in the village of Māsod in Betūl; in Jubbulpore Khāpa is their principal centre, and in Seoni the village of Deori. The three divisions of the caste known by the names given above marry, as a rule, among themselves. For their exogamous groups the Dāngurs have usually the names of different Rājpūt septs, the Kumrāwats have territorial names, and those of the Patbinas are derived from inanimate objects, though they have no totemistic practices.

The number of girls in the caste is usually insufficient, and hence they are married at a very early age. The boy’s father, accompanied by a few friends, goes to the girl’s father and addresses a proposal for marriage to him in the following terms: “You have planted a tamarind tree which has borne fruit. I don’t know whether you will catch the fruit before it falls to the ground if I strike it with my stick.” The girl’s father, if he approves of the match, says in reply, ‘Why should I not catch it?’ and the proposal for the marriage is then made. The ceremony follows the customary ritual in the northern Districts. When the family gods are worshipped, the women sit round a grinding-stone and invite the ancestors of the family by name to attend the wedding, at the same time placing a little cowdung in one of the interstices of the stone. When they have invited all the names they can remember they plaster up the remaining holes, saying, ‘We can’t recollect any more names.’ This appears to be a precaution intended to imprison any spirits which may have been forgotten, and to prevent them from exercising an evil influence on the marriage in revenge for not having been invited. Among the Dāngurs the bride and bridegroom go to worship at Hanumān’s shrine after the ceremony, and all along the way the bride beats the bridegroom with a tamarind twig. The dead are both buried and burnt, and mourning is observed during a period of ten days for adults and of three days for children. But if another child has been born to the mother after the one who has died, the full period of mourning must be observed for the latter; because it is said that in this case the mother does not tear off her sāri or body-cloth to make a winding-sheet for the child as she does when her latest baby dies. The Kumrāwats both grow and weave hemp, though they have no longer anything like a monopoly of its cultivation. They make the gons or double bags used for carrying grain on bullocks. In Chhattīsgarh the status of the Patbinas is low, and no castes except the most debased will take food or water from them. The Kumrāwats of Jubbulpore occupy a somewhat more respectable position and take rank with Kāchhis, though below the good cultivating castes. The Dāngurs of Betūl will take food from the hands of the Kunbis.

Kumrayete.—(Yete, a goat.) A sept of the Uika clan of Sahdeve or six-god Gonds in Betūl. They do not eat goats, and are said to have offered human sacrifices in ancient times.

Kunbi.—A caste. Subcaste of Dāngri, Gondhali and Marātha.

Kundera.—A caste. A subcaste of the Larhia Beldārs.

Kundera, Kharādi.—A small caste of wood-turners akin to the Barhais or carpenters. In 1911 the caste numbered 120 persons, principally in Saugor. When asked for the name of their caste they not infrequently say that they are Rājpūts; but they allow widows to remarry, and their social customs and position are generally the same as those of the Barhais. Both names of the caste are functional, being derived from the Hindi kund, and the Arabic kharāt, a lathe. Some of them abstain from flesh and liquor, and wear the sacred thread, merely with a view to improve their social position. The Kunderas make toys from the dūdhi (Holarrhena antidysenterica) and huqqa stems from the wood of the khair or catechu tree. The toys are commonly lacquered, and the surface is smoothed with a dried leaf of the kevara tree.462 They also make chessmen, wooden flutes and other articles.

Kundgolakar.—A subdivision of degraded Marātha Brāhmans, the offspring of adulterous connections.

Kunjām.—A sept of Solāha in Raipur. A section of Basor and Bhunjia. A sept of Gond and Pardhān.

Kunnatya—(Rope-dancer.) A name applied to Nats.

Kunti or Kunte.—(Kunti, lame.) A subcaste of Kāpewar, synonym Bhiksha Kunti or lame beggars.

Kunwar.—(Prince.) A title of Rājpūt ruling families. A section of Rājpūt and Kawar.

Kura Sasura.—Husband’s elder brother. Title of Kharia.

Kurathiya, Kuratia.—(From kur, a fowl, which they have given up eating.) A subtribe of Gonds in Khairagarh.

Kurha or Sethia.—Title of the Sonkar caste headman.

Kurkere.—One who moulds his vessels on a stone slab revolving on a stick and not on a wheel. Subcaste of Kumhār.