The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India, Volume 4

6. Social rules and occupation

The Vidurs employ Marātha Brāhmans for religious and ceremonial purposes, while their gurus are either Brāhmans or Bairāgis. They have two names, one for ceremonial and the other for ordinary use. When a child is to be named it is placed in a cradle and parties of women sit on opposite sides of it. One of the women takes the child in her arms and passes it across the cradle to another saying, ‘Take the child named Rāmchandra’ or whatever it may be. The other woman passes the child back using the same phrase, and it is then placed in the cradle and rocked, and boiled wheat and gram are distributed to the party. The Vidurs burn the dead, and during the period of mourning the well-to-do employ a Brāhman to read the Garud Purān to them, which tells how a sinner is punished in the next world and a virtuous man is rewarded. This, it is said, occupies their minds and prevents them from feeling their bereavement. They will take food only from Marātha Brāhmans and water from Rājpūts and Kunbis. Brāhmans will, as a rule, not take anything from a Vidur’s hand, but some of them have begun to accept water and sweetmeats, especially in the case of educated Vidurs. The Vidurs will not eat flesh of any kind nor drink liquor. The Brāhman Vidurs did not eat in kitchens in the famine. Their dress resembles that of Marātha Brāhmans. The men do not usually wear the sacred thread, but some have adopted it. In Bombay, however, boys are regularly invested with the sacred thread before the age of ten.720 In Nāgpur it is stated that the Vidurs like to be regarded as Brāhmans.721 They are now quite respectable and hold land. Many of them are in Government service, some being officers of the subordinate grades and others clerks, and they are also agents to landowners, patwāris and shopkeepers. The Vidurs are the best educated caste with the exception of Brāhmans, Kāyasths and Banias, and this fact has enabled them to obtain a considerable rise in social status. Their aptitude for learning may be attributed to their Brāhman parentage, while in some cases Vidurs have probably been given an education by their Brāhman relatives. Their correct position should be a low one, distinctly beneath that of the good cultivating castes. A saying has it, ‘As the amarbel creeper has no roots, so the Vidur has no ancestry.’ But owing to their education and official position the higher classes of Vidurs have obtained a social status not much below that of Kāyasths. This rise in position is assisted by their adherence in matters of dress, food and social practice to the customs of Marātha Brāhmans, so that many of them are scarcely distinguishable from a Brāhman. A story is told of a Vidur Tahsīldār or Naib-Tahsīldār who was transferred to a District at some distance from his home, and on his arrival there pretended to be a Marātha Brāhman. He was duly accepted by the other Brāhmans, who took food with him in his house and invited him to their own. After an interval of some months the imposture was discovered, and it is stated that this official was at a short subsequent period dismissed from Government service on a charge of bribery. The Vidurs are also considered to be clever at personation, and one or two stories are told of frauds being carried out through a Vidur returning to some family in the character of a long-lost relative.

Wāghya

Wāghya, 722 Vāghe, Murli.—An order of mendicant devotees of the god Khandoba, an incarnation of Siva; they belong to the Marātha Districts and Bombay where Khandoba is worshipped. The term Wāghya is derived from vāgh, a tiger, and has been given to the order on account of the small bag of tiger-skin, containing bhandār, or powdered turmeric, which they carry round their necks. This has been consecrated to Khandoba and they apply a pinch of it to the foreheads of those who give them alms. Murli, signifying ‘a flute’ is the name given to female devotees. Wāghya is a somewhat indefinite term and in the Central Provinces does not strictly denote a caste. The order originated in the practice followed by childless mothers of vowing to Khandoba that if they should bear a child, their first-born should be devoted to his service. Such a child became a Wāghya or Murli according as it was a boy or a girl. But they were not necessarily severed from their own caste and might remain members of it and marry in it. Thus there are Wāghya Telis in Wardha, who marry with other Telis. The child might also be kept in the temple for a period and then withdrawn, and nowadays this is always done. The children of rich parents sometimes simply remain at home and worship Khandoba there. But they must beg on every Sunday from at least five persons all their lives. Another practice, formerly existing, was for the father and mother to vow that if a child was born they would be swung. They were then suspended from a wooden post on a rope by an iron hook inserted in the back and swung round four or five times. The sacred turmeric was applied to the wound and it quickly healed up. Others would take a Wāghya child to Mahādeo’s cave in Pachmarhi and let it fall from the top of a high tree. If it lived it was considered to be a Rāja of Mahādeo, and if it died happiness might confidently be anticipated for it in the next birth. Besides the children who are dedicated to Khandoba, a man may become a Wāghya either for life or for a certain period in fulfilment of a vow, and in the latter case will be an ordinary member of his own caste again on its termination. The Wāghyas and Murlis who are permanent members of the order sometimes also live together and have children who are brought up in it. The constitution of the order is therefore in several respects indefinite, and it has not become a self-contained caste, though there are Wāghyas who have no other caste.

Wāghya mendicants

The following description of the dedication of children to Khandoba is taken from the Bombay Gazetteer723. When parents have to dedicate a boy to Khandoba they go to his temple at Jejuri in Poona on any day in the month of Chaitra (March-April). They stay at a Gurao’s house and tell him the object of their visit. The boy’s father brings offerings and they go in procession to Khandoba’s temple. There the Gurao marks the boy’s brow with turmeric, throws turmeric over his head, fastens round his neck a deer-or tiger-skin wallet hung from a black woollen string and throws turmeric over the god, asking him to take the boy. The Murlis or girls dedicated to the god are married to him between one and twelve years of age. The girl is taken to the temple by her parents accompanied by the Gurao priest and other Murlis. At the temple she is bathed and her body rubbed with turmeric, with which the feet of the idol are also anointed. She is dressed in a new robe and bodice, and green glass bangles are put on her wrists. A turban and sash are presented to the god, and the guru taking a necklace of nine cowries (shells) fastens it round the girl’s neck. She then stands before the god, a cloth being held between them as at a proper wedding, and the priest repeats the marriage verses. Powdered turmeric is thrown on the heads of the girl and of the idol, and from that day she is considered to be the wife of Khandoba and cannot marry any other man. When a Murli comes of age she sits by herself for four days. Then she looks about for a patron, and when she succeeds in getting one she calls a meeting of her brethren, the Wāghyas, and in their presence the patron says, ‘I will fill the Murli’s lap.’ The Wāghyas ask him what he will pay and after some haggling a sum is agreed on, which thirty years ago varied between twenty-five and a hundred rupees. If it is more than Rs. 50 a half of the money goes to the community, who spend it on a feast. With the balance the girl buys clothes for herself. She lives with her patron for as long as he wishes to keep her, and is then either attached to the temple or travels about as a female mendicant. Sometimes a married woman will leave her home and become a Murli, with the object as a rule of leading a vicious life.

A man who takes a vow to become a Wāghya must be initiated by a guru, who is some elder member of the order. The initiation takes place early on a Sunday morning, and after the disciple is shaved, bathed and newly clad, the guru places a string of cowries round his neck and gives him the tiger-skin bag in which the turmeric is kept. He always retains much reverence for his guru, and invokes him with the exclamation, ‘Jai Guru,’ before starting out to beg in the morning. The following articles are carried by the Wāghyas when begging. The dapdi a circular single drum of wood, covered with goat-skin, and suspended to the shoulder. The chouka consists of a single wire suspended from a bar and passing inside a hollow wooden conical frame. The wire is struck with a stick to produce the sound. The ghāti is an ordinary temple bell; and the kutumba is a metal saucer which serves for a begging-bowl. This is considered sacred, and sandalwood is applied to it before starting out in the morning. The Wāghyas usually beg in parties of four, each man carrying one of these articles. Two of them walk in front and two behind, and they sing songs in praise of Khandoba and play on the instruments. Every Wāghya has also the bag made of tiger-skin, or, if this cannot be had, of deer-skin, and the cowrie necklace, and a seli or string of goat-hair round the neck. Alms, after being received in the kutumba or saucer, are carried in a bag, and before setting out in the morning they put a little grain in this bag, as they think that it would be unlucky to start with it empty. At the end of the day they set out their takings on the ground and make a little offering of fire to them, throwing a pinch of turmeric in the air in the name of Khandoba. The four men then divide the takings and go home. Marāthas, Murlis and Telis are the castes who revere Khandoba, and they invite the Wāghyas to sing on the Dasahra and also at their marriages. In Bombay the Wāghyas force iron bars through their calves and pierce the palms of their hands with needles. To the needle a strip of wood is attached, and on this five lighted torches are set out, and the Wāghya waves them about on his hand before the god.724 Once in three years each Wāghya makes a pilgrimage to Khandoba’s chief temple at Jejuri near Poona, and there are also local temples to this deity at Hinganghāt and Nāgpur. The Wāghyas eat flesh and drink liquor, and their social and religious customs resemble those of the Marāthas and Kunbis.

Yerūkala

Yerūkala.—A vagrant gipsy tribe of Madras of whom a small number are returned from the Chānda District. They live by thieving, begging, fortune-telling and making baskets, and are usually treated as identical with the Koravas or Kuravas, who have the same occupations. Both speak a corrupt Tamil, and the Yerūkalas are said to call one another Kurru or Kura. It has been supposed that Korava was the Tamil name which in the Telugu country became Yerukalavāndlu or fortune-teller. Mr. (Sir H.) Stewart thought there could be no doubt of the identity of the two castes,725 though Mr. Francis points out differences between them.726 The Yerūkalas are expert thieves. They frequent villages on the pretence of begging, and rob by day in regular groups under a female leader, who is known as Jemādārin. Each gang is provided with a bunch of keys and picklocks. They locate a locked house in an unfrequented lane, and one of them stands in front as if begging; the remainder are posted as watchers in the vicinity, and the Jemādārin picks the lock and enters the house. When the leader comes out with the booty she locks the door and they all walk away. If any one comes up while the leader is in the house the woman at the door engages him in conversation by some device, such as producing a silver coin and asking if it is good. She then begins to dispute, and laying hold of him calls out to her comrades that the man has abused her or been taking liberties with her. The others run up and jostle him away from the door, and while they are all occupied with the quarrel the thief escapes. Or an old woman goes from house to house pretending to be a fortune-teller. When she finds a woman at home alone, she flatters and astonishes her by relating the chief events in her life, how many children she has, how many more are coming, and so on. When the woman of the house is satisfied that the fortune-teller has supernatural powers, she allows the witch to cover her face with her robe, and shuts her eyes while the fortune-teller breathes on them, and blows into her ears and sits muttering charms. Meanwhile one or two of the latter’s friends who have been lurking close by walk into the house and carry away whatever they can lay their hands on. When they have left the house the woman’s face is uncovered and the fortune-teller takes her fee and departs, leaving her dupe to find out that her house has been robbed.727 The conjugal morals of these people are equally low. They sell or pledge their wives and unmarried daughters, and will take them back on the redemption of the pledge with any children born in the interval, as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened. When a man is sentenced to imprisonment his wife selects another partner for the period of her husband’s absence, going back to him on his release with all her children, who are considered as his. Mr. Thurston gives the following story of a gang of Koravas or Yerūkalas in Tinnevelly: “One morning, in Tinnevelly, while the butler in a missionary’s house was attending to his duties, an individual turned up with a fine fowl for sale. The butler, finding that he could purchase it for about half the real price, bought it, and showed it to his wife with no small pride in his ability in making a bargain. But he was distinctly crestfallen when his wife pointed out that it was his own bird, which had been lost on the previous night. The seller was a Korava.”728 In Madras they have also now developed into expert railway thieves. They have few restrictions as to food, eating cats and mice, though not dogs.729 The Yerūkalas practised the custom of the Couvade as described by the Rev. John Cain, of Dumagudem:730 “Directly the woman feels the birth-pangs she informs her husband, who immediately takes some of her clothes, puts them on, places on his forehead the mark which the women usually place on theirs, retires into a dark room where there is only a very dim lamp, and lies down on the bed, covering himself up with a long cloth. When the child is born it is washed and placed on the cot beside the father. Asafoetida, jaggery and other articles are then given, not to the mother but to the father. During the days of ceremonial impurity the man is treated as other Hindus treat their women on such occasions. He is not allowed to leave his bed, but has everything needful brought to him.

“The Yerūkalas marry when quite young. At the birth of a daughter the father of an unmarried little boy often brings a rupee and ties it in the cloth of the father of a newly-born girl. When the girl is grown up he can then claim her for his son.”

The End

1

Tribes and Castes of Bengal, art. Kumhār.

2

Gods and demons.

3

Hāth, hand and garhna to make or mould.

4

Gora, white or red, applied to Europeans.

5

History of the Marāthas, edition 1878, vol. i. p. 26.

6

The above description is taken from the Central Provinces Monograph on Pottery and Glassware by Mr. Jowers, p. 4.

7

Golden Bough, ii. pp. 299, 301.

8

Rājasthān, ii. p. 524.

9

Orphèus, p. 152.

10

The sacrifice is now falling into abeyance, as landowners refuse to supply the buffalo.

11

Dr. Jevons, Introduction to the History of Religion, p. 368.

12

Vide article on Lakhera.

13

Rāsmāla, i. p. 100.

14

Ibidem, p. 241.

15

Khāndesh Gazetteer, p. 62.

16

Bombay Gazetteer, vol. i. part ii. p. 34.

17

From jihār, a tree or shrub.

18

Acacia catechu.

19

Dhan properly means wealth, cf. the two meanings of the word stock in English.

20

Berār Census Report (1881), para. 180.

21

Ibidem.

22

Bāwan = fifty-two.

23

Bombay Gazetteer, Hindus of Gujarāt p. 490, App. B, Gūjar.

24

Eugenia jambolana.

25

Ficus glomerata.

26

See the article entitled ‘An Anthropoid.’

27

Bombay Gazetteer; Nāsik p. 26.

28

This is the rule in the Nāgpur District.

29

From a note by Mr. A. K. Smith, C.S.

30

Circle Inspector Ganesh Prasād.

31

Semicarpus anacardium.

32

‘Oh, Lord Mahābīr, give me a child, only one child.’

33

Beast and Man in India, p. 44. But, according to the same writer, the Hindus do say, ‘Drunk as an owl’ and also ‘Stupid as an owl.’

34

Crotalaria juncea.

35

The 3rd Baisākh (May) Sudi, the commencement of the agricultural year. The name means, ‘The day of immortality.’

36

Furnished by Inspector Ganesh Prasād.

37

Dam: breath or life.

38

These paragraphs are largely based on a description of a Wardha village by Mr. A.K. Smith, C.S.

39

Nāgpur Settlement Report, para. 45.

40

The references to English farming in this paragraph are taken from an article in the Saturday Review of 22nd August 1908.

41

Report on the Territories of the Rāja of Nāgpur.

42

Rāsmālā, ii. 242.

43

A freebooting tribe who gave their name to Kāthiawār.

44

This article is partly based on papers by Nanhe Khān, Sub-Inspector of Police, Khurai, Saugor, and Kesho Rao, Headmaster, Middle School, Seoni-Chhapāra.

45

Literally ‘The Month of Separatica.’ It is the eighth month of the Muhammadan year and is said to be so called because in this month the Arabs broke up their encampments and scattered in search of water. On the night of Shab-i-Barāt God registers all the actions of men which they are to perform during the year; and all the children of men who are to be born and die in the year are recorded. Though properly a fast, it is generally observed with rejoicings and a display of fireworks. Hughes’ Dictionary of Islam, p. 570.

46

Tribes and Castes of the N.W.P., art. Kunjra.

47

Tribes and Castes of Bengal, ibidem.

48

This article is compiled from notes taken by Mr. Hīra Lāl and by Pyāre Lāl Misra, Ethnographic clerk.

49

North Arcot Manual, vol. i. p. 220.

50

Vol. i. p. 224.

51

Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies.

52

In this article some account of the houses, clothes and food of the Hindus generally of the northern Districts has been inserted, being mainly reproduced from the District Gazetteers.

53

Tribes and Castes of Bengal, art. Kurmi.

54

Indian Folk Tales, p. 8.

55

Crotalaria juncea. See article on Lorha for a discussion of the Hindus’ prejudice against this crop.

56

There are several Chaurāsis, a grant of an estate of this special size being common under native rule.

57

Boswellia serrata.

58

Eugenia Jambolana.

59

2 lbs.

60

Elliot, Hoshangābād Settlement Report, p. 115.

61

The custom is pointed out by Mr. A. K. Smith, C.S.

62

Central Provinces Census Report (1911), p. 153.

63

C.P. Census Report (1911), p. 153.

64

Or his big toe.

65

C.P. Census Report (1911), p. 158.

66

In Indian Folk Tales.

67

Ficus R.

68

He is also known as Katia or Kattaha Brāhman and as Mahāpātra.

69

Indian Folk Tales, p. 54.

70

Sorghum vulgare, a large millet.

71

Dr. Jevons, Introduction to the History of Religion, p. 365.

72

A measure of 400 lbs.

73

Butea frondosa.

74

A measure containing 9 lb. 2 oz. of rice.

75

Ficus glomerata.

76

From Ganga, or the Ganges, and āla a pot.

77

Cajanus indicus.

78

Phaseolus mungo.

79

Phaseolus radiatus.

80

Bombax malabaricum.

81

Acacia arabica.

82

Cassia tora.

83

Punjab Census Report (1881), p. 340.

84

Schleichera trijuga.

85

Hindus of Gujarat, App., art. Vaghri, footnote.

86

Religion of the Semites.

87

Mackintosh, Report on the Mānbhaos..

88

See articles on Khairwār and Kewat.

89

Colonel Ward’s Mandia Settlement Report p. 29.

90

Brief View of the Caste System, p. 14.

91

Symplocos racemosa.

92

Rāja Lachman Singh’s Bulandshahr Memo, p. 182, quoted in Mr. Crooke’s Tribes and Castes, art. Lodha.

93

Narsinghpur Settlement Report (1866), p. 28.

94

Nagpur Settlement Report, p. 24.