The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India
Chapter 278 : s.h.i.+kare Hunter.Nahar Tiger.Gursaraiyan Gursarai, a town.Bardia A village.Sandia Sa

s.h.i.+kare Hunter.

Nahar Tiger.

Gursaraiyan Gursarai, a town.

Bardia A village.

Sandia Sand, a bull.

Sirwaiyan Sirwai, a village.

Itguhan A village.

Sengaiyan or Singaiyan Sengai, a village.

Harkotia Harkoti, a village.

Noria Norai, a village.

Larent Lareti, a village.

Rabia Rabai, a village.

Lakhauria (Lakori village. It is said that whoever utters the name of this section early in the morning is sure to remain hungry the whole day, or at least will get into some trouble that day.) Dhandkonya Dhandakna, to roll.

Badgaiyan Badagaon, a large village.

Kotia Kot, a fort Bilwar Billi, cat Thutha Stump of a tree.

Sections of the Kanaujia subcaste:

Tidha.--From Tidha, a village. This section is subdivided into (a) Ghureparke (of the cow-dung hill); (b) Dwarparke (of the door); and (c) Jangi (warrior).

Chamania--From Chamyani (village). This is also subdivided into:

(a) Gomarkya (b) Mathuria (Muttra town).

Chaudhri (caste headman). This is divided as follows:

(a) Majhgawan A village.

(b) Purva thok Eastern group.

(c) Pashchim thok Western group.

(d) Bamurya A village.

Rawat t.i.tle.

Malha Perhaps sailor or wrestler.

Chilolian Chiloli, a village.

Dhanuiyan Dhanu Kheda, a village.

Lakhera

List of Paragraphs

1. _General notice_.

2. _Social customs_.

3. _The lac industry_.

4. _Lac bangles_.

5. _Red, a lucky colour_.

6. _Vermilion and spangles_.

7. _Red dye on the feet_.

8. _Red threads_.

9. _Lac toys_.

1. General notice

_Lakhera, Laheri._--The small caste whose members make bangles and other articles of lac. About 3000 persons were shown as belonging to the caste in the Central Provinces in 1911, being most numerous in the Jubbulpore, Chhindwara and Betul Districts. From Berar 150 persons were returned, chiefly from Amraoti. The name is derived from the Sanskrit _laksha-kara_, a worker in lac. The caste are a mixed functional group closely connected with the Kacheras and Patwas; no distinction being recognised between the Patwas and Lakheras in some localities of the Central Provinces. Mr. Baillie gives the following notice of them in the _Census Report of the North-Western Provinces_ (1891): "The accounts given by members of the caste of their origin are very various and sometimes ingenious. One story is that like the Patwas, with whom they are connected, they were originally Kayasths. According to another account they were made from the dirt washed from Parvati before her marriage with Siva, being created by the G.o.d to make bangles for his wife, and hence called Deobansi. Again, it is stated, they were created by Krishna to make bangles for the Gopis or milkmaids. The most elaborate account is that they were originally Yaduvansi Rajputs, who a.s.sisted the Kurus to make a fort of lac, in which the Pandavas were to be treacherously burned. For this traitorous conduct they were degraded and compelled eternally to work in lac or gla.s.s."

2. Social customs

The bulk of these artisan and manufacturing castes tell stories showing that their ancestors were Kayasths and Rajputs, but no importance can be attached to such legends, which are obviously manufactured by the family priests to minister to the harmless vanity of their clients. To support their claim the Lakheras have divided themselves like the Rajputs into the Surajvansi and Somvansi subcastes or those who belong to the Solar and Lunar races. Other subdivisions are the Marwari or those coming from Marwar in Rajputana, and the Tarkhera or makers of the large earrings which low-caste women wear. These consist of a circular piece of wood or fibre, nearly an inch across, which is worked through a large hole in the lobe of the ear. It is often the stalk of the _ambari_ fibre, and on the outer end is fixed a slab decorated with little pieces of gla.s.s. The exogamous sections of the Lakheras are generally named after animals, plants and natural objects, and indicate that the caste is recruited from the lower cla.s.ses of the population. Their social customs resemble those of the middle and lower Hindustani castes. Girls are married at an early age when the parents can afford the expense of the ceremony, but no penalty is incurred if the wedding is postponed for want of means. The remarriage of widows and divorce are permitted. They eat flesh, but not fowls or pork, and some of them drink liquor, while others abstain. Rajputs and Banias will take water from them, but not Brahmans. In Bombay, however, they are considered to rank above Kunbis.

3. The lac industry

The traditional occupation of the Lakheras is to make and sell bangles and other articles of lac. Lac is regarded with a certain degree of superst.i.tious repugnance by the Hindus because of its red colour, resembling blood. On this account and also because of the sin committed in killing them, no Hindu caste will propagate the lac insect, and the calling is practised only by Gonds, Korkus and other primitive tribes. Even Gonds will often refuse employment in growing lac if they can make their living by cultivation. Various superst.i.tions attach to the propagation of the insects to a fresh tree. This is done in Kunwar (September) and always by men, the insects being carried in a leaf-cup and placed on a branch of an uninfected tree, usually the _kusum_. [84] It is said that the work should be done at night and the man should be naked when he places the insects on the tree. The tree is fenced round and n.o.body is allowed to touch it, as it is considered that the crop would thus be spoiled. If a woman has lost her husband and has to sow lac, she takes her son in her arms and places the cup containing the insects on his head; on arriving at the tree she manages to apply the insects by means of a stick, not touching the cup with her own hands. All this ritual attaches simply to the infection of the first tree, and afterwards in January or February the insects are propagated on to other trees without ceremony. The juice of onions is dropped on to them to make them healthy. The stick-lac is collected by the Gonds and Korkus and sold to the Lakheras; they clear it of wood as far as possible and then place the incrusted twigs and bark in long cotton bags and heat them before a fire, squeezing out the gum, which is spread out on flat plates so as to congeal into the shape of a pancake. This is again heated and mixed with white clay and forms the material for the bangles. They are coloured with _chapra_, the pure gum prepared like sealing-wax, which is mixed with vermilion, or a.r.s.enic and turmeric for a yellow colour. In some localities at least only the Lakheras and Patwas and no higher caste will sell articles made of lac.

4. Lac bangles

The trade in lac bangles has now greatly declined, as they have been supplanted by the more ornamental gla.s.s bangles. They are thick and clumsy and five of them will cover a large part of the s.p.a.ce between the elbow and the wrist. They may be observed on Banjara women. Lac bangles are also still used by the Hindus, generally on ceremonial occasions, as at a marriage, when they are presented to and worn by the bride, and during the month of Shrawan (July), when the Hindus observe a fast on behalf of the growing crops and the women wear bangles of lac. For these customs Mr. Hira Lal suggests the explanation that lac bangles were at one time generally worn by the Hindus, while gla.s.s ones are a comparatively recent fas.h.i.+on introduced by the Muhammadans. In support of this it may be urged that gla.s.s bangles are largely made by the Muhammadan Turkari or Sisgar, and also that lac bangles must have been worn prior to gla.s.s ones, because if the latter had been known the clumsy and unornamental bracelet made of lac and clay could never have come into existence. The wearing of lac bangles on the above occasions would therefore be explained according to the common usage of adhering on religious and ceremonial occasions to the more ancient methods and accessories, which are sanctified by a.s.sociation and custom. Similarly the Holi pyre is often kindled with fire produced by the friction of wood, and temples are lighted with vegetable instead of mineral oil.

5. Red, a lucky colour

It may be noted, however, that lac bangles are not always worn by the bride at a wedding, the custom being unknown in some localities. Moreover, it appears that gla.s.s was known to the Hindus at a period prior to the Muhammadan invasions, though bangles may not have been made from it. Another reason for the use of lac bangles on the occasions noticed is that lac, as already seen, represents blood. Though blood itself is now repugnant to the Hindus, yet red is pre-eminently their lucky colour, being worn at weddings and generally preferred. It is suggested in the _Bombay Gazetteer_ [85]

that blood was lucky as having been the first food of primitive man, who learnt to suck the blood of animals before he ate their flesh. But it does not seem necessary to go back quite so far as this. The earliest form of sacrifice, as shown by Professor Robertson Smith, [86] was that in which the community of kinsmen ate together the flesh of their divine or totem animal G.o.d and drank its blood. When the G.o.d became separated from the animal and was represented by a stone at the place of wors.h.i.+p and the people had ceased to eat raw flesh and drink blood, the blood was poured out over the stone as an offering to the G.o.d. This practice still obtains among the lower castes of Hindus and the primitive tribes, the blood of animals offered to Devi and other village deities being allowed to drop on to the stones representing them. But the higher castes of Hindus have abandoned animal sacrifices, and hence cannot make the blood-offering. In place of it they smear the stone with vermilion, which seems obviously a subst.i.tute for blood, since it is used to colour the stones representing the deities in exactly the same manner. Even vermilion, however, is not offered to the highest deities of Neo-Hinduism, Siva or Mahadeo and Vishnu, to whom animal sacrifices would be abhorrent. It is offered to Hanuman, whose image is covered with it, and to Devi and Bhairon and to the many local and village deities. In past times animal sacrifices were offered to Bhairon, as they still are to Devi, and though it is not known that they were made to Hanuman, this is highly probable, as he is the G.o.d of strength and a mighty warrior. The Manbhao mendicants, who abhor all forms of bloodshed like the Jains, never pa.s.s one of these stones painted with vermilion if they can avoid doing so, and if they are aware that there is one on their road will make a circuit so as not to see it. [87] There seems, therefore, every reason to suppose that vermilion is a subst.i.tute for blood in offerings and hence probably on other occasions. As the places of the G.o.ds were thus always coloured red with blood, red would come to be the divine and therefore the propitious colour among the Hindus and other races.

6. Vermilion and spangles