The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India
Chapter 234 : 4. The Doms.The Doms appear to be one of the chief aboriginal tribes of northern India

4. The Doms.

The Doms appear to be one of the chief aboriginal tribes of northern India, who were reduced to servitude like the Mahars and Chamars. Sir H. M. Elliot considered them to be "One of the original tribes of India. Tradition fixes their residence to the north of the Ghagra, touching the Bhars on the east in the vicinity of the Rohini. Several old forts testify to their former importance, and still retain the names of their founders, as, for instance, Domdiha and Domingarh in the Gorakhpur district. Ramgarh and Sahukot on the Rohini are also Dom forts." [321] Sir G. Grierson quotes Dr. Fleet as follows: "In a south Indian inscription a king Rudradeva is said to have subdued a certain Domma, whose strength evidently lay in his cavalry. No clue is given as to who this Domma was, but he may have been the leader of some aboriginal tribe which had not then lost all its power"; and suggests that this Domma may have been a leader of the Doms, who would then be shown to have been dominant in southern India. As already seen there is a Domaru caste of Telingana, with whom Mr. Kitts identified the Berias or Kolhatis. In northern India the Doms were reduced to a more degraded condition than the other pre-Aryan tribes as they furnished a large section of the sweeper caste. As has been seen also they were employed as public executioners like the Mangs. This brief mention of the Doms has been made in view of the interest attaching to them on account of the above suggestions, and because there will be no separate article on the caste.

5. The criminal Kanjars.

In Berar two main divisions of the Kanjars may be recognised, the Kunchbandhia or those who make weavers' brooms and are comparatively honest, and the other or criminal Kanjars. [322] The criminal Kanjars may again be divided into the Marwari and Deccani groups. They were probably once the same, but the Deccanis, owing to their settlement in the south, have adopted some Maratha or Gujarati fas.h.i.+ons, and speak the Marathi language; their women wear the angia or Maratha breast-cloth fastening behind, and have a gold ornament shaped like a flower in the nose; [323] while the Marwari Kanjars have no breast-cloth and may not wear gold ornaments at all. The Deccani Kanjars are fond of stealing donkeys, their habit being either to mix their own herds with those of the village and drive them all off together, or, if they catch the donkeys unattended, to secrete them in some water-course, tying their legs together, and if they remain undiscovered to remove them at nightfall. The animals are at once driven away for a long distance before any attempt is made to dispose of them. The Marwari Kanjars consider it derogatory to keep donkeys and therefore do not steal these animals. They are preeminently cattle-lifters and sheep-stealers, and their encampments may be recognised by the numbers of bullocks and cows about them. Their women wear the short Marwari petticoat reaching half-way between the knees and ankles. Their hair is plaited over the forehead and cowrie sh.e.l.ls and bra.s.s ornaments like b.u.t.tons are often attached in it. Bead necklaces are much worn by the women and bead and horse-hair necklets by the men. A peculiarity about the women is that they are confirmed snuff-takers and consume great quant.i.ties of the weed in this form. The women go into the towns and villages and give exhibitions of singing and dancing; and picking up any information they can acquire about the location of property, impart this to the men. Sometimes they take service, and a case was known in Jubbulpore of Kanjar women hiring themselves out as pankha-pullers, with the result that the houses in which they were employed were subsequently robbed. [324]

It is said, however, that they do not regularly break into houses, but confine themselves to lurking theft. I have thought it desirable to record here the above particulars of the criminal Kanjars, taken from Major Gunthorpe's account; for, though the caste is, as already stated, identical with the Sansias, their customs in Berar differ considerably from those of the Sansias of Central India, who are treated of in the article on that caste.

6. The Kunchband Kanjars.

We come, finally, to the Kunchband Kanjars, the most representative section of the caste, who as a body are not criminals, or at any rate less so than the others. The name Kunchband or Kuchband, by which they are sometimes known, is derived from their trade of making brushes (kunch) of the roots of khas-khas gra.s.s, which are used by weavers for cleaning the threads entangled on the looms. This has given rise to the proverb 'Kori ka bigari Kunchbandhia' or 'The Kunchbandhia must look to the Kori (weaver) as his patron'; the point being that the Kori is himself no better than a casual labourer, and a man who is dependent on him must be in a poor way indeed. The Kunchbandhias are also known in northern India as Sankat or Patharkat, because they make and sharpen the household grinding-stones, this being the calling of the Takankar Pardhis in the Maratha Districts, and as Goher because they catch and eat the goh, the large lizard or iguana. [325]

Other divisions are the Dhobibans or washerman's race, the Lakarhar or wood-cutters, and the Untwar or camelmen.

7. Marriage and religion.

In the Central Provinces there are other divisions, as the Jat and Multani Kanjars. They say they have two exogamous divisions, Kalkha and Malha, and a member of either of these must take a wife from the other division. Both the Kalkhas and Malhas are further divided into kuls or sections, but the influence of these on marriage is not clear. At a Kanjar marriage, Mr. Crooke states, the gadela or spade with which they dig out the khas-khas gra.s.s and kill wolves or vermin, is placed in the marriage pavilion during the ceremony. The bridegroom swears that he will not drive away nor divorce his wife, and sometimes a mehar or dowry is also fixed for the bride. The father-in-law usually, however, remits a part or the whole of this subsequently, when the bridegroom goes to take food at his house on festival occasions. Mr. Nesfield states that the princ.i.p.al deity of the Kanjars is the man-G.o.d Mana, who was not only the teacher and guide, but also the founder and ancestor of the tribe. He is buried, as some Kanjars relate, at Kara in the Allahabad District, not far from the Ganges and facing the old city of Manikpur on the opposite bank. Mana is wors.h.i.+pped with special ceremony in the rainy season, when the tribe is less migratory than in the dry months of the year. On such occasions, if sufficient notice is circulated, several encampments unite temporarily to pay honour to their common ancestor. The wors.h.i.+ppers collect near a tree under which they sacrifice a pig, a goat, a sheep, or a fowl, and make an offering of roasted flesh and spirituous liquor. Formerly, it is said, they used to sacrifice a child, having first made it insensible with fermented palm-juice or toddy. [326] They dance round the tree in honour of Mana, and sing the customary songs in commemoration of his wisdom and deeds of valour.

8. Social customs.

The dead are usually buried, both male and female corpses being laid on their faces with the feet pointing to the south. Kanjars who become Muhammadans may be readmitted to the community after the following ceremony. A pit is dug and the convert sits in it and each Kanjar throws a little curds on to his body. He then goes and bathes in a river, his tongue is touched or branded with heated gold and he gives a feast to the community. A Kanjar woman who has lived in concubinage with a Brahman, Rajput, Agarwal Bania, Kurmi, Ahir or Lodhi may be taken back into the caste after the same ceremony; but not one who has lived with a Kayasth, Sunar or Lohar or any lower caste. A Kanjar is not put out of caste for being imprisoned, nor for being beaten by an outsider, nor for selling shoes. If a man touches his daughter-in-law even accidentally he is fined the sum of Rs. 2-8.

9. Industrial arts.

The following account of the industries of the vagrant Kanjars was written by Mr. Nesfield in 1883. In the Central Provinces many of them are now more civilised, and some are employed in Government service. Their women also make and retail string-net purses, b.a.l.l.s and other articles.

"Among the arts of the Kanjar are making mats of the sirki reed, baskets of wattled cane, fans of palm-leaves and rattles of plaited straw: these last are now sold to Hindu children as toys, though originally they may have been used by the Kanjars themselves (if we are to trust to the a.n.a.logy of other backward races) as sacred and mysterious implements. From the stalks of the munj gra.s.s and from the roots of the palas [327] tree they make ropes which are sold or bartered to villagers in exchange for grain and milk. They prepare the skins of which drums are made and sell them to Hindu musicians; though, probably, as in the case of the rattle, the drum was originally used by the Kanjars themselves and wors.h.i.+pped as a fetish; for even the Aryan tribes, who are said to have been far more advanced than the indigenous races, sang hymns in honour of the drum or dundubhi as if it were something sacred. They make plates of broad leaves which are ingeniously st.i.tched together by their stalks; and plates of this kind are very widely used by the inferior Indian castes and by confectioners and sellers of sweetmeats. The mats of sirki reed with which they cover their own movable leaf huts are models of neatness and simplicity and many of these are sold to cart-drivers. The toddy or juice of the palm tree, which they extract and ferment by methods of their own and partly for their own use, finds a ready sale among low-caste Hindus in villages and market towns. They are among the chief stone-cutters in Upper India, especially in the manufacture of the grinding-mill which is very widely used. This consists of two circular stones of equal diameter; the upper one, which is the thicker and heavier, revolves on a wooden pivot fixed in the centre of the lower one and is propelled by two women, each holding the same handle. But it is also not less frequent for one woman to grind alone." It is perhaps not realised what this business of grinding her own grain instead of buying flour means to the Indian woman. She rises before daybreak to commence the work, and it takes her perhaps two or three hours to complete the day's provision. Grain-grinding for hire is an occupation pursued by poor women. The pisanhari, as she is called, receives an anna (penny) for grinding 16 lbs. of grain, and can get through 30 lbs. a day. In several localities temples are shown supposed to have been built by some pious pisanhari from her earnings. "The Kanjars," Mr. Nesfield continues, "also gather the white wool-like fibre which grows in the pods of the semal or Indian cotton tree and twist it into thread for the use of weavers. [328]

In the manufacture of brushes for the cleaning of cotton-yarn the Kanjars enjoy almost a complete monopoly. In these brushes a stiff ma.s.s of horsehair is attached to a wooden handle by sinews and strips of hide; and the workmans.h.i.+p is remarkably neat and durable. [329]

Another complete or almost complete monopoly enjoyed by Kanjars is the collection and sale of sweet-scented roots of the khas-khas gra.s.s, which are afterward made up by the Chhaparbands and others into door-screens, and through being continually watered cool the hot air which pa.s.ses through them. The roots of this wild gra.s.s, which grows in most abundance on the outskirts of forests or near the banks of rivers, are dug out of the earth by an instrument called khunti. This has a handle three feet long, and a blade about a foot long resembling that of a knife. The same implement serves as a dagger or short spear for killing wolves or jackals, as a tool for carving a secret entrance through the clay wall of a villager's hut in which a burglary is meditated, as a spade or hoe for digging snakes, field-rats, and lizards out of their holes, and edible roots out of the earth, and as a hatchet for chopping wood."

Kapewar

Kapewar, [330] Munurwar.--A great cultivating caste of the Telugu country, where they are known as Kapu or Reddi, and correspond to the Kurmi in Hindustan and the Kunbi in the Maratha Districts. In the Central Provinces about 18,000 persons of the caste were enumerated in the Chanda District and Berar in 1911. The term Kapu means a watchman, and Reddi is considered to be a corruption of Rathor or Rashtrakuta, meaning a king, or more properly the headman of a village. Kapewar is simply the plural form of Kapu, and Munurwar, in reality the name of a subcaste of Kapewars, is used as a synonym for the main caste in Chanda. They are divided into various occupational subcastes, as the Upparwars or earth-diggers, from uppar, earth; the Gone, who make gonas or hemp gunny-bags; the Elmas, who are household servants; the Gollewars, who sell milk; and the Gamadis or masons. The Kunte or lame Kapewars, the lowest group, say that their ancestor was born lame; they are also called Bhiksha Kunte or lame beggars and serve as the bards of the caste besides begging from them. They are considered to be of illegitimate origin. No detailed account of the caste need be given here, but one or two interesting customs reported from Chanda may be noted. Girls must be married before they are ten years old, and in default of this the parents are temporarily put out of caste and have to pay a penalty for readmission. But if they take the girl to some sacred place on the G.o.davari river and marry her there the penalty is avoided. Contrary to the usual custom the bride goes to the bridegroom's house to be married. On the fourth night of the marriage ceremony the bridegroom takes with him all the parts of a plough as if he was going out to the field, and walks up the marriage-shed to the further end followed by the bride, who carries on her head some cooked food tied up in a cloth. The skirts of the couple are knotted together. On reaching the end of the shed the bridegroom makes five drills in the ground with a bullock-goad and sows cotton and juari seeds mixed together. Then the cooked food is eaten by all who are present, the bridal couple commencing first, and the seed is irrigated by was.h.i.+ng their hands over it. This performance is a symbolical portrayal of the future life of the couple, which will be spent in cultivation. In Chanda a number of Kapewars are stone-masons, and are considered the most proficient workers at this trade in the locality. Major Lucie Smith, the author of the Chanda Settlement Report of 1869, thought that the ancestors of the caste had been originally brought to Chanda to build the fine walls with ramparts and bastions which stretch for a length of six or seven miles round the town. The caste are sometimes known as Telugu Kunbis. Men may be distinguished by the single dot which is always tattooed on the forehead during their infancy. Men of the Gowari caste have a similar mark.

Karan

Karan, [331] Karnam, Mahanti.--The indigenous writer caste of Orissa. In 1901 a total of 5000 Karans were enumerated in Sambalpur and the Uriya States, but the bulk of these have since pa.s.sed under the jurisdiction of Bihar and Orissa, and only about 1000 remain in the Central Provinces. The total numbers of the caste in India exceed a quarter of a million. The poet Kalidas in his Raghuvansa describes Karans as the offspring of a Vaishya father and a Sudra mother. The caste fulfils the same functions in Orissa as the Kayasths elsewhere, and it is said that their original ancestors were brought from northern India by Yayati Kesari, king of Orissa (A.D. 447-526), to supply the demand for writers and clerks. The original of the word Karan is said to be the Hindi karani, kiran, which Wilson derives from Sanskrit karan, 'a doer.' The word karani was at one time applied by natives to the junior members of the Civil Service--'Writers,' as they were designated. And the 'Writers'

Buildings' of Calcutta were known as karani kibarik. From this term a corruption 'Cranny' came into use, and was applied in Bengal to a clerk writing English, and thence to the East Indians or half-castes from whom English copyists were subsequently recruited. [332] The derivation of Mahanti is obscure, unless it be from maha, great, or from Mahant, the head of a monastery. The caste prefer the name of Karan, because that of Mahanti is often appropriated by affluent Chasas and others who wish to get a rise in rank. In fact a proverb says: Jar nahin Jati, taku bolanti Mahanti, or 'He who has no caste calls himself a Mahanti.' The Karans, like the Kayasths, claim Chitragupta as their first ancestor, but most of them repudiate any connection with the Kayasths, though they are of the same calling. The Karans of Sambalpur have two subcastes, the Jhadua or those of the jhadi or jungle and the Utkali or Uriyas. The former are said to be the earlier immigrants and are looked down on by the latter, who do not intermarry with them. Their exogamous divisions or gotras are of the type called eponymous, being named after well-known Ris.h.i.+s or saints like those of the Brahmans. Instances of such names are Bharadwaj, Parasar, Valmik and Vasishtha. Some of the names, however, are in a manner totemistic, as Nagas, the cobra; Kounchhas, the tortoise; Bachas, a calf, and so on. These animals are revered by the members of the gotra named after them, but as they are of semi-divine nature, the practice may be distinguished from true totemism. In some cases, however, members of the Bharadwaj gotra venerate the blue-jay, and of the Parasar gotra, a pigeon. Marriage is regulated according to the table of prohibited degrees in vogue among the higher castes. Girls are commonly married before they are ten years old, but no penalty attaches to the postponement of the ceremony to a later age. The binding portion of the marriage is Hastabandhan or the tying of the hands of the couple together with kusha gra.s.s, [333] and when this has been done the marriage cannot be annulled. The bride goes to her husband's house for a few days and then returns home until she attains maturity. Divorce and remarriage of widows are prohibited, and an unfaithful wife is finally expelled from the caste. The Karans wors.h.i.+p the usual Hindu G.o.ds and call themselves Smarths. Some belong to the local Parmarth and k.u.mbhipatia sects, the former of which practises obscene rites. They burn their dead, excepting the bodies of infants, and perform the shraddh ceremony. The caste have a high social position in Sambalpur, and Brahmans will sometimes take food cooked without water from them. They wear the sacred thread. They eat fish and the flesh of clean animals but do not drink liquor. Bhandaris or barbers will take katcha food from a Karan. They are generally engaged in service as clerks, accountants, schoolmasters or patwaris. Their usual t.i.tles are Patnaik or Bohidar. The Karans are considered to be of extravagant habits, and one proverb about them is--

Mahanti jati, udhar paile kinanti hathi,

or, 'The Mahanti if he can get a loan will at once buy an elephant.' Their shrewdness in business transactions and tendency to overreach the less intelligent cultivating castes have made them unpopular like the Kayasths, and another proverb says--

Patarkata, Tankarkata, Paniota, Gaudini mai E chari jati ku vishwas nai,

or, 'Trust not the palm-leaf writer (Karan), the weaver, the liquor-distiller nor the milk-seller.'

KASAI

List of Paragraphs

1. General notice of the caste.

2. The cattle-slaughtering industry.

3. Muhammadan rite of zibah or halal.

4. Animism.

5. Animal-G.o.ds. The domestic animals.

6. Other animals.

7. Animals wors.h.i.+pped in India.

8. The sacrificial meal.

9. Primitive basis of kins.h.i.+p.

10. The bond of food.

11. The blood-feud.