The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India
Chapter 267 : [473] Tribes and Castes of Bengal.[474] From bhuj, an arm, and jangh, a thigh. These a

[473] Tribes and Castes of Bengal.

[474] From bhuj, an arm, and jangh, a thigh. These are Hindi words, and the whole story is obviously a Brahmanical legend. Balrai seems a corruption of Balaram, the brother of Krishna.

[475] Estate held on feudal tenure.

[476] Religion and Folklore of Northern India, vol. ii. p. 170.

[477] Crooke, Tribes and Castes.

[478] Saccharum spontaneum.

[479] Tribes and Castes, art. Birhor.

[480] The above instances are reproduced from Sir J. G. Frazer's Psyche's Task (London, 1909). These cases are all of homicide, but it seems likely that the action of the Khairwars may be based on the same motives, as the fear of ghosts is strong among these tribes.

[481] Risley, loc. cit.

[482] Ethnology of Bengal, pp. 128, 129.

[483] Crooke's Tribes and Castes, art. Khairwa. Quoting from Bombay Gazetteer, x. 48 and iii. 310.

[484] Loc. cit.

[485] Tribes and Castes of Bengal, art. Khandait. In 1911, after the transfer of Sambalpur, only 18 Khandaits remained in the Central Provinces.

[486] The following particulars are from a paper by Mr. Kas.h.i.+nath Bohidar, a.s.sistant Settlement Superintendent, Sonpur.

[487] Compiled princ.i.p.ally from a paper by Kanhya Lal, clerk in the Gazetteer Office.

[488] Carthamus tinctorius.

[489] In the Ethnographic Appendices to the India Census Report of 1901 a slightly different version of the story is given by Captain Luard. The Dangis, it must be remembered, are a high caste ranking just below Rajputs.

[490] This article is mainly based on notes taken by Rai Bahadur Hira Lal at Raigarh, with extracts from Colonel Dalton's and Sir H. Risley's accounts of the tribe.

[491] Tribes and Castes of Bengal, art. Kharia.

[492] Saccharum spontaneum. This gra.s.s infests cultivated fields and is very difficult to eradicate.

[493] Melia indica.

[494] Ethnology of Bengal.

[495] Jungle Life in India, p. 89.

[496] Linguistic Survey, vol. iv. Munda and Dravidian Languages, p. 22.

[497] Ibidem, p. 129.

[498] Mr. Crooke's Tribes and Castes, art. Khatik.

[499] Census Report (1881), para. 502.

[500] This statement does not apply to the Chamars of the Central Provinces.

[501] Tribes and Castes of Bengal, art. Khatik.

[502] Bombay Gazetteer, Hindus of Gujarat, pp. 55, 56.

[503] Tribes and Castes, art. Khatri.

[504] Bombay Gazetteer, Hindus of Gujarat, p. 55.

[505] Bombay Gazetteer, Hindus of Gujarat, p. 189.

[506] Ibidem, pp. 58, 59.

[507] Hindus of Gujarat, pp. 58, 59.

[508] This article consists mainly of extracts from Mr. F. L. Faridi's full account of the Khojahs in the Bombay Gazetteer, Muhammadans of Gujarat.

[509] Kandh is the Uriya spelling, and Kond or Khond that of the Telugus.

[510] Linguistic Survey of India.

[511] Narsingha means a man-lion and is one of Vishnu's incarnations; this subsept would seem, therefore, to have been formed since the Khonds adopted Hinduism.

[512] In Orissa, however, relations.h.i.+p through females is a bar to marriage, as recorded in Sir H. Risley's article.

[513] Report on the Khonds, p. 56.

[514] Report, p. 59.

[515] Sir H. Risley notes that the elephant represented the earth-G.o.ddess herself, who was here conceived in elephant form. In the hill tracts of Gumsur she was represented in peac.o.c.k form, and the post to which the victim was bound bore the effigy of a peac.o.c.k. Macpherson also records that when the Khonds attacked the victim they shouted, 'No sin rests on us; we have bought you with a price.'

[516] Golden Bough, 2nd ed. vol. ii. p. 241 sq.

[517] Pages 517-519. Published 1906.

[518] Journal, A. S. of Bengal, 1898.

[519] Sir G. A. Grierson's Linguistic Survey, Munda and Dravidian Languages.

[520] This article is compiled princ.i.p.ally from a paper by Pandit Sakharam, Revenue Inspector, Hoshangabad District.

[521] Tod's Rajasthan, vol. ii. p. 327.

[522] Elliott's Hoshangabad Settlement Report, p. 60.