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

95

A small millet.

96

Every twelfth year when the planet Jupiter is in conjunction with the constellation Sinh (Leo).

97

Butea Frondosa.

98

This is known as lodha.

99

The Rājjhars are a low caste of farmservants and labourers, probably an offshoot of the Bhar tribe.

100

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

101

Dowson, Classical Dictionary, s.v.

102

In Uriya the term, Ghantrabela means a person who has illicit intercourse with another. The Ghantra Lohārs are thus probably of bastard origin, like the groups known as half-castes and others which are frequently found.

103

Punjab Census Report (1881), para. 624. (Ibbetson.)

104

Tribes and Castes of Bengal, art. Lohār

105

About 15 acres.

106

Berār Census Report, 1881 (Kitts).

107

Punjāb Ethnography, para. 624.

108

Bombay Gazetteer, xvi. 82.

109

This article is partly based on papers by Mr. P.B. Telang, Munsiff Seoni-Mālwa, and Mr. Wāman Rao Mandloi, nāib-tahsīldār, Harda.

110

This derivation is also negatived by the fact that the name Mahāratta was known in the third century B.C., or long before the Rāstrakūtas became prominent.

111

Bombay Gazetteer; Gujarāt Hindus, p. 338.

112

Ibbetson, Punjab Census Report (1881).

113

Bombay Gazetteer, l.c. text and footnote by R. v. J. S. Taylor.

114

Kitts’ Berār Census Report (1881), p. 143.

115

See article on Panwār Rājpūt.

116

Berār Census Report (1881), p. 144.

117

Kitts’ Berār Census Report p. 144.

118

Described in the articles on Kurmi and Kunbi.

119

Loc. cit.

120

Bombay Gazetteer, Gujarāt Hindus, loc. cit.

121

In Berār for ten days—Kitts’ Berār Census Report, l.c.

122

3rd Baisākh (April) Sudi, commencement of agricultural year.

123

Berār Census Report, l.c.

124

Berār Census Report, l.c.

125

Bombay Gazetteer, Gujarat Hindus.

126

It was formerly suggested that the fact of the Mahars being the chief worshippers at the shrines of Sheikh Farīd indicated that the places themselves had been previously held sacred, and had been annexed by the Muhammadan priests; and the legend of the giant, who might represent the demonolatry of the aboriginal faith, being slain by the saint might be a parable, so to say, expressing this process. But in view of the way in which the Mehtars worship Musalmān saints, it seems quite likely that the Mahārs might do so for the same reason, that is, because Islām partly frees them from the utter degradation imposed by Hinduism. Both views may have some truth. As regards the legends themselves, it is highly improbable that Sheikh Farid, a well-known saint of northern India, can ever have been within several hundred miles of either of the places with which they connect him.

127

From Mr. C. Brown’s notes.

128

C.P. Police Gazette.

129

Kitts, l.c.

130

Ibidem.

131

Stated by Mr. C. Brown.

132

Vol. ii. p. 237.

133

Bombay Gazetteer, vol. xii. p. 175.

134

Rev. A. Taylor in Bombay Gazetteer, Gujarāt Hindus, p. 341 f.

135

The following passage is taken from Forbes, Rāsmāla, i. p. 112.

136

Bombay Gazetteer, vol. xi p. 73.

137

Bombay Gazetteer, vol. xi. p. 73.

138

Grant Duff; History of the Marāthas, vol. i. p. 24.

139

Nāgpur Settlement Report (1899), p. 29.

140

This article consists of extracts from Sir H. Risley’s account of the caste in the Tribes and Castes of Bengal.

141

See lists of exogamous septs of Mahli, Sandāl, Munda and Puri in Appendix to Tribes and Castes cf Bengal.

142

Ethnology of Bengal, p. 326.

143

This article is based on papers by Mr. Hīra Lāl and Suraj Baksh Singh, Assistant Superintendent, Udaipur State, with references to Mr. Crooke’s exhaustive article on the Majhwārs in his Tribes and Castes.

144

Crooke, art Majhwār, para. 1.

145

Tribes and Castes of Bengal, art. Mānjhi.

146

Crooke, Tribes and Castes of Bengal, art. Mānjhi, para. 4.

147

Crooke, Tribes and Castes of Bengal, art. Mānjhi, para. 63.

148

Ibidem, para. 54.

149

Ficus glomerata.

150

Based entirely on Colonel Dalton’s account in the Ethnology of Bengal, and Sir H. Risley’s in the Tribes and Castes of Bengal.

151

See The Khāndesh Bhīl Corps, by Mr. A. H. A. Simcox, p. 62.

152

Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, ed. 1897, pp. 25, 26.

153

Page 130.

154

Hinduism, in ‘Religions Ancient and Modern’ Series, p. 26.

155

This article is based principally on Mr. Low’s description of the Marārs in the Bālāghāt District Gazetteer and on a paper by Major Sutherland, I.M.S.

156

C.P. Census Report (1891), para. 180.

157

Schröder, Prehistoric Antiquities, 121, quoted in Crooke’s Tribes and Castes, art. Māli.

158

Punjab Census Report (1881), para. 483.

159

Ibidem, para. 484.

160

Bālāghāt District Gazetteer, para. 59.

161

Mr. Napier’s Bhandara Settlement Report, quoted in article on Kohli.

162

Tribes and Castes of Bengal, art. Māli.

163

Brief View of the Caste System, p. 15.

164

La Cité antique, 21st ed., p. 181.

165

The Antiquity of Oriental Carpets, Sir G. Birdwood (Society of Arts, 6th November 1908).

166

The derivations of chaplet and rosary are taken from Ogilvy’s Dictionary.

167

Bālāghāt District Gazetteer (C.E. Low), para. 59.

168

Ibidem, loc. cit.

169

Bālāghāt District Gazetteer, para. 59.

170

Hindu Castes, vol. i. p. 327.

171

Bālāghāt District Gazetteer, loc. cit.

172

This article is based on papers by Mr. Shyāmācharan, B.A., B.L., Pleader, Narsinghpur, and Pyāre Lāl Misra, Ethnographic clerk.

173

Crooke’s Tribes and Castes of the N. W. P. and Oudh, art. Mallāh.

174

This article is based on papers by Mr. Hīra Lāl and G. Padaya Naidu of the Gazetteer Office.

175

Papers on the Aboriginal Tribes of the Central Provinces, p. 6.

176

Rev. A. Wood in Chānda District Gazetteer, para. 96.

177

This article is compiled from notes on the caste drawn up by Colonel Mackenzie and contributed to the Pioneer newspaper by Mrs. Horsburgh; Captain Mackintosh’s Account of the Manbhaos (India Office Tracts); and a paper by Pyāre Lāl Misra, Ethnographic clerk.

178

Berār Census Report (1881), p. 62.

179

Dattātreya was a celebrated Sivite devotee who has been deified as an incarnation of Siva.

180

Berār Census Report (1881), p. 62.

181

This article is based partly on a paper by Mr. Achyut Sitārām Sāthe, Extra Assistant Commissioner.

182

P. 389.

183

See also separate article Māng-Garori.

184

Berār Census Report (1881), p. 147.

185

Lectures on the Criminal Tribes of the Central Provinces, p. 79.

186

Cynodon dactylon.

187

Dr, Murray Mitchell’s Great Religions of India, p. 63.

188

From a note by Mr. Hīra Lāl.

189

Times Press, Bombay, 1882.

190

Kennedy, Criminal Classes of the Bombay Presidency, p. 122.

191

Lectures on some Criminal Tribes of India.

192

This passage is quoted by Mr. Gayer from the Supplement to the Central Provinces Police Gazette of 24th January 1905.

193

Hutton’s Thugs, Dacoits and Gang-robbers of India (1857), pp. 164–168, quoting an account by Captain Barr.

194

This article is based on papers by Rai Sāhib Nānakchand, B.A., Headmaster, Saugor High School, and Munshi Pyāre Lāl Misra of the Gazetteer office.

195

Brief View, p. 30.

196

The tāzias are ornamental representations of the tomb of Hussain, which the Muhammadans make at the Muharram festival.

197

This article is based on a note furnished by Mr. M. Aziz, Officiating Nāib-Tahsīldār, Sironcha.

198

From a glossary published by Mr. Gupta, Assistant Director of Ethnology for India.

199

Generally the paternal aunt’s son.

200

Bassia latifolia.

201

Sir H. Risley’s India Census Report (1901), Ethnographic Appendices, p. 93.

202

P. 48, footnote.

203

Nāsik Gazetteer, ibidem. Elphinstone’s History, p. 246.

204

The proper spelling is Bhosle, but Bhonsla is adopted in deference to established usage.

205

Bombay Census Report (1901), pp. 184–185.

206

Rājasthān, i. 269.

207

Ibidem, ii. 420.

208

Sholapur Gazetteer, p. 87.

209

Satāra Gazetteer, p. 64.

210

Ibidem, p. 75.

211

Bombay Census Report (1907), ibidem.

212

Letter on the Marāthas (India Office Tracts).

213

Satāra Gazetteer, p. 75.

214

Grant-Duff, 4th edition (1878), vol. i. pp. 70–72.

215

Forsyth, Nimār Settlement Report.

216

Bombay Gazetteer, vol. xviii. part i. pp. 413–414.

217

Elliott, Hoshangābād Settlement Report.

218

The following description is taken from the Ethnographic Appendices to Sir H.H. Risley’s India Census Report of 1901.

219

Irvine’s Army of the Mughals, p. 82.

220

Ibidem, p. 232. Gopāl is a name of Krishna.

221

Lit. armour-bearers. Colonel Tone writes: “I apprehend from the meaning of this term that it was formerly the custom of this nation, as was the case in Europe, to appear in armour. I have frequently seen a kind of coat-of-mail worn by the Marātha horsemen, known as a beuta, which resembles our ancient hauberk; it is made of chain work, interlinked throughout, fits close to the body and adapts itself to all its motions.”

222

In order to obtain redress by Dharna the creditor or injured person would sit starving himself outside his debtor’s door, and if he died the latter would be held to have committed a mortal sin and would be haunted by his ghost; see also article on Bhāt. The account here given must be exaggerated.

223

Elphinstone’s History, 7th ed. p. 748.

224

Ibidem, p. 753.

225

Some information has been obtained from a paper by Mr. Harbans Rai, Clerk of Court, Damoh.

226

Rājendrā Lāl Mitra, quoted in art. on Beria.

227

Greeven, op. cit. pp. 29, 33.

228

Op. cit p. 334.

229

Greeven, p. 66, quoting from Echoes of Old Calcutta.

230

Crooke, op. cit.

231

Crooke, op. cit. para. 52.

232

Ibbetson, op. cit. para. 227.

233

Greeven, op. cit. p. 21.

234

The fruit of the achār (Buchanamia latifolia).

235

Acacia arabica.

236

Acacia catechu.

237

Some writers consider that Bālmik, the sweeper-saint, and Vālmīki, the author of the Rāmāyana, are not identical.

238

Page 38.

239

Page 8.

240

Page 54.

241

Punjab Census Report (1881), para. 599.

242

Sir H. Risley, l.c., art. Dom.

243

Institutes, x. 12–29–30.

244

Ibidem, iv. 239, quoted by Mr. Crooke, art. Dom.

245

Probably not within the house but in the veranda or courtyard.

246

Ibidem.

247

Crooke, Tribes and Castes, art. Dom, para. 34.

248

Bombay Gazetteer, l.c.

249

Ibidem.

250

Punjab Census Report (1881), and Bombay Gazetteer, l.c.

251

Hindu Tribes and Castes, quoted by Sir H. Risley, art. Dom.

252

Bombay Gazetteer, l.c.

253

Ibbetson, l.c. para. 596.

254

Ibidem, para. 601.

255

L.c. pp. 25, 26.

256

Rājputāna Gazetteer, vol. i. p. 165.

257

A Muhammadan form of marriage.

258

Elliott’s Hoshangābād Settlement Report, p. 63.

259

Cunningham’s Archaeological Survey Reports, xx. p. 24.

260

Ibidem.

261

General Cunningham’s enumeration of the pāls is as follows: Five Jādon clans—Chhirkilta, Dalāt, Dermot, Nai, Pundelot; five Tuar clans—Balot, Darwār, Kalesa, Lundāvat, Rattāwat; one Kachhwāha clan—Dingāl; one Bargjūar clan—Singāl. Besides these there is one miscellaneous or half-blood clan, Palakra, making up the common total of 12½ clans.

262

Ibbetson’s Punjab Census Report, para. 582. Sir D. Ibbetson considered it doubtful, however, whether the expression referred to the Mīna caste.

263

Major Powlett, Gazetteer of Alwar.

264

Asiatic Studies, vol. i. p. 162.

265

Quoted in Dowson’s Elliott’s History of India, iii. p. 103.

266

Dowson’s Elliott, iv. pp. 60, 75, 283, quoted in Crooke’s Tribes and Castes.

267

Census Report (1881), para. 582.

268

Tribes and Castes of the N.W.P. art. Meo.

269

Rājasthān, i. p. 589.

270

Archaeological Reports. vol. xx. p. 26.

271

Tribes and Castes of the North-Western Provinces, vol. iii. p. 496.

272

Baden Powell’s Land Systems of British India, vol. iii. p. 116.

273

Punjab Ethnography, p. 289.

274

Brief View, p. 43.

275

Crooke, loc. cit.

276

This article is partly based on papers by Mr. Gopal Parmanand, Deputy Inspector of Schools, Saugor, and Mr. Shamsuddīn, Sub-Inspector, City Police, Saugor.

277

Brief View.

278

Bombay Ethnographic Survey Draft Monograph on Jīngar.

279

Tribes and Castes of Bengal, art. Mochi.

280

Eastern India, vol. iii. p. 105.

281

Rājendra Lāl Mitra, Indo-Aryans, vol. i. pp. 222, 223.

282

Ethnology of Bengal, p. 326.

283

Tribes and Castes of Bengal, art. Bind.

284

Crooke’s Tribes and Castes, art. Bind.

285

Tribes and Castes of Bengal, loc. cit.

286

The clever writer referred to in the preceding line.

287

Breast-cloth.

288

This article is mainly compiled from papers by Mr. Hīra Lāl and Bābu Gulāb Singh, Superintendent of Land Records, Betūl.

289

Berār Census Report (1881), p. 158.

290

Butea frondosa.

291

Phyllanthus emiblica.

292

This article is compiled from papers by Mr. Chatterji, retired E.A.C., Jubbulpore; Professor Sadāshiva Jairām, M.A., Hislop College, Nagpur; and Mr. C. Shrinivas Naidu, First Assistant Master, Sironcha, Chānda; and from the Central Provinces District Gazetteers.

293

Mr. Crooke’s Tribes and Castes, art. Nai.

294

Tribes and Castes, art. Nai, para. 5.

295

The following account is largely taken from Mr. Nesfield’s Brief View of the Caste System, pp. 42, 43.

296

Eighteenth Century Middle-Class Life, by C.S. Torres, in the Nineteenth Century and After, Sept. 1910.

297

Private Life of an Eastern King, p. 17.

298

Ibidem, p. 107.

299

Private Life of an Eastern King, p. 330.

300

In the Bālāghāt District Gazetteer.

301

D.B. Pandiān, Indian Village Life, under Barber.

302

Quoted in Malcolm’s Sketch of the Sikhs, Asiatic Researches, vol. xi., 1810, p. 289.

303

Quoted in Sir D. Ibbetson’s account of the Sikhs in Punjab Census Report (1881).

304

Sketch of the Sikhs, ibidem, pp. 284, 285.

305

Professor Blümners, Home Life of the Ancient Greeks, translation, p. 455.

306

Golden Bough, 2nd ed. vol. iii. p. 370.

307

Hendley, Account of the Bhīls, J.A.S.B. vol. xxxiv., 1875, p. 360.

308

Bombay Gazetteer, Hindus of Gujarāt, p. 528.

309

S.C. Roy, The Mundas and their Country, p. 369.

310

W. Kirkpatrick in J.A.S.B., July 1911, p. 438.

311

Golden Bough, 3rd ed. vol. viii. p. 153.

312

G.B., 3rd ed., Balder the Beautiful, vol. ii. p. 103.

313

Dr. Jevons, Introduction to the History of Religion, p. 45.

314

Golden Bough, 2nd ed. vol. i. p. 234.

315

Ibidem, vol. i. p. 242.

316

Ibidem, vol. i. pp. 368, 369.

317

Dalton, Ethnology of Bengal, p. 270.

318

Bombay Gazetteer, Parsis of Gujarāt, p. 226.

319

Religion of the Semites, note i. pp. 483, 484.

320

Bombay Gazetteer, Muhammadans of Gujarāt, p. 52.

321

Golden Bough, 2nd ed. vol. i. p. 368.