Chapter VIII: Part 8

In former times the Gosains often became soldiers and entered the service of different military chiefs. The most famous of these fighting priests were the Naga Gosains of the Jaipur State of Rajputana, who are said to have been under an obligation from their guru or religious chief to fight for the Raja of Jaipur whenever required. They received rent-free lands and pay of two pice (1/2d.) a day, which latter was put into a common treasury and expended on the purchase of arms and ammunition whenever needed for war. They would also lend money, and if a debtor could not pay would make him give his son to be enrolled in the force. The 7000 Naga Gosains were placed in the vanguard of the Jaipur army in battle. Their weapons were the bow, arrow, shield, spear and discus. The Gosain proprietor of the Deopur estate in Raipur formerly kept up a force of Naga Gosains, with which he used to collect the tribute from the feudatory chiefs of Chhattisgarh on behalf of the Raja of Nagpur. It is said that he once invaded Bastar with this object, where most of the Gosains died of cholera. But after they had fasted for three days, the goddess Danteshwari appeared to them and promised them her protection. And they took the goddess away with them and installed her in their own village in Raipur. Forbes records that in Gujarat an English officer was in command of a troop known as the Gosain's wife's troops. These Naga Gosains wore only a single white garment, like a sleeveless shirt reaching to the knees, and hence it is said that they were called naked. The Gosains and Bairagis, or adherents of Siva and Vishnu, were often engaged in religious quarrels on the merits of their respective deities, and sometimes came to blows. A favourite point of rivalry was the right of bathing first in the Ganges on the occasion of one of the great religious fairs at Allahabad or Hardwar. The Gosains claim priority of bathing, on the ground that the Ganges flows from the matted locks of Siva; while the Bairagis assert that the source of the river is from Vishnu's foot. In 1760 a pitched battle on this question ended in the defeat of the Bairagis, of whom 1800 were slain. Again in 1796 the Gosains engaged in battle with the Sikh pilgrims and were defeated with the loss of 500 men. [110] During the reign of Akbar a combat took place in the Emperor's presence between the two Sivite sects of Gosains, or Sanniasis and Jogis, having been apparently arranged for his edification, to decide which sect had the best ground for its pretensions to supernatural power. The Jogis were completely defeated. [111]

10. Burial.

A dead Sanniasi is always buried in the sitting attitude of religious contemplation with the legs crossed. The grave may be dug with a side receptacle for the corpse so that the earth, on being filled in, does not fall on it. The corpse is bathed and rubbed with ashes and clad in a new reddish-coloured shirt, with a rosary round the neck. The begging-wallet with some flour and pulse are placed in the grave, and also a gourd and staff. Salt is put round the body to preserve it, and an earthen pot is put over the head. Sometimes cocoanuts are broken on the skull, to crack it and give exit to the soul. Perhaps the idea of burial and of preserving the corpse with salt is that the body of an ascetic does not need to be purified by fire from the appetites and passions of the flesh like that of an ordinary Hindu; it is already cleansed of all earthly frailty by his austerities, and the belief may therefore have originally been that such a man would carry his body with him to the afterworld or to absorption with the deity. The burial of a Sanniasi is often accompanied with music and signs of rejoicing; Mr. Oman describes such a funeral in which the corpse was seated in a litter, open on three sides so that it could be seen; it was tied to the back of the litter, and garlands of flowers partly covered the body, but could not conceal the hideousness of death as the unconscious head rolled helplessly from side to side with the movement of the litter. The procession was headed by a European brass band and by men carrying censers of incense. [112]

11. Sexual indulgence.

Celibacy is the rule of the Gosain orders, and a man's property passes in inheritance to a selected chela or disciple. But the practice of keeping women is very common, even outside the large section of the community which now recognises marriage. Women could be admitted into the order, when they had to shave their heads, assume the ochre-coloured shirt and rub their bodies with ashes. Afterwards, with the permission of the guru and on payment of a fine, they could let their hair grow again, at least temporarily. These women were supposed to remain quite chaste and live in nunneries, but many of them lived with men of the order. It is not known to what extent women are admitted at present. The sons born of such unions would be adopted as chelas or disciples by other Gosains, and made their heirs by a reciprocal arrangement. Women who are convicted of some social offence, or who wish to leave their husbands, often join the order nominally and live with a Gosain or are married into the caste. Many of the wandering mendicants lead an immoral life, and scandals about their enticing away the wives of rich Hindus are not infrequent. [113] During their visits to villages they also engage in intrigues, and a ribald Gond song sung at the Holi festival describes the pleasure of the village women at the arrival of a Gosain owing to the sexual gratification which they expected to receive from him.

12. Missionary work.

Nevertheless the wandering Gosains have done much to foster and maintain the Hindu religion among the people. They are the gurus or spiritual preceptors of the middle and lower castes, and though their teaching may be of little advantage, it perhaps quickens and maintains to some extent the religious feelings of their clients. In former times the Gosains travelled over the wildest tracts of country, proselytising the primitive non-Aryan tribes, for whose conversion to Hinduism they are largely responsible. On such journeys they necessarily carried their lives in their hands, and not infrequently lost them.

13. The Gosain caste.

The majority of the Gosains are, however, now married and form an ordinary caste. Buchanan states that the ten different orders became exogamous groups, the members of which married with each other, but it is doubtful whether this is the case at present. It is said that all Giri Gosains marry, whether they are mendicants or not, while the Bharthi order can marry or not as they please. They prohibit any marriage between first cousins, but permit widow remarriage and divorce. They eat the flesh of all clean animals and also of fowls, and drink liquor, and will take cooked food from the higher castes, including Sunars and Kunbis. Hence they do not rank high socially, and Brahmans do not take water from them, but their religious character gives them some prestige. Many Gosains have become landholders, obtaining their estates either as charitable grants from clients or through moneylending transactions. In this capacity they do not usually turn out well, and are often considered harsh landlords and grasping creditors.

Gowari

1. Origin of the caste.

Gowari. [114]--The herdsman or grazier caste of the Maratha country, corresponding to the Ahirs or Gaolis. The name is derived from gai or gao, the cow, and means a cowherd. The Gowaris numbered more than 150,000 persons in 1911, of whom nearly 120,000 belonged to the Nagpur division and nearly 30,000 to Berar. In localities where the Gowaris predominate, Ahirs or Gaolis, the regular herdsman caste, are found only in small numbers. The honorific title of the Gowaris is Dhare, which is said to mean 'One who keeps cattle.' The Gowaris rank distinctly below the Ahirs or Gaolis. The legend of their origin is that an Ahir, who was tending the cows of Krishna, stood in need of a helper. He found a small boy in the forest and took him home and brought him up. He then gave to the boy the work of grazing cows in the jungle, while he himself stayed at home and made milk and butter. This boy was the ancestor of the Gowari caste. His descendants took to eating fowls and peacocks and drinking liquor, and hence were degraded below the Gaolis. But the latter will allow Gowaris to sit at their feasts and eat, they will carry the corpse of a Gowari to the grave, and they will act as members of the panchayat in readmitting a Gowari who has been put out of caste. In the Maratha country any man who touches the corpse of a man of another caste is temporarily excommunicated, and the fact that a Gaoli will do this for a Gowari demonstrates the close relationship of the castes. The legend, in fact, indicates quite clearly and correctly the origin of the Gowaris. The small boy in the forest was a Gond, and the Gowari caste is of mixed descent from Ahirs and Gonds. The Ahirs or Gaolis of the Maratha country have largely abandoned the work of grazing cattle in the forest, and have taken to the more profitable business of making milk and ghi. The herdsman's duties have been relegated to the mixed class of Gowaris, produced from the unions of Ahirs and Gonds in the forests, and not improbably including a considerable section of pure Gond blood. At present only Gaolis and no other caste are admitted into the Gowari community, though there is evidence that the rule was not formerly so strict.

2. Subcastes.

The Gowaris have three divisions, the Gai Gowari, Inga, and Maria or Gond Gowari. The Gai or cow Gowaris are the highest and probably have more Gaoli blood in them. The Inga and Maria or Gond Gowaris are more directly derived from the Gonds. Maria is the name given to a large section of the Gond tribe in Chanda. Both the other two subcastes will take cooked food from the Gai Gowaris and the Gond Gowaris from the Inga, but the Inga subcaste will not take it from the Gond, nor the Gai Gowaris from either of the other two. The Gond Gowaris have been treated as a distinct caste and a separate article is given on them, but at the census Mr. Marten has amalgamated them with the Gowaris. This is probably more correct, as they are locally held to be a branch of the caste. But their customs differ in some points from those of the other Gowaris. They will admit outsiders from any respectable caste and worship the Gond gods, [115] and there seems no harm, therefore, in allowing the separate article on them to remain.

3. Totemism and exogamy.

The Gowaris have exogamous sections of the titular and totemistic types, such as Chachania from chachan, a bird, Lohar from loha iron, Ambadare a mango-branch, Kohria from the Kohri or Kohli caste, Sarwaina a Gond sept, and Rawat the name of the Ahir caste in Chhattisgarh. Some septs do not permit intermarriage between their members, saying that they are Dudh-Bhais or foster-brothers, born from the same mother. Thus the Chachania, Kohria, Senwaria, Sendua (vermilion) and Wagare (tiger) septs cannot intermarry. They say that their fathers were different, but their mothers were related or one and the same. This is apparently a relic of polyandry, and it is possible that in some cases the Gonds may have allowed Ahirs sojourning in the forest to have access to their wives during the period of their stay. If this was permitted to Ahirs of different sections coming to the same Gond village in successive years, the offspring might be the ancestors of sections who consider themselves to be related to each other in the manner of the Gowari sections.

Marriage is prohibited within the same section or kur, and between sections related to each other as Dudh-Bhais in the manner explained above. A man can marry his daughter to his sister's son, but cannot take her daughter for his son. The children of two sisters cannot be married.

4. Marriage customs.

Girls are usually married after attaining maturity, and a bride-price is paid which is normally two khandis (800 lbs.) of grain, Rs. 16 to 20 in cash, and a piece of cloth. The auspicious date of the wedding is calculated by a Mahar Mohturia or soothsayer. Brahmans are not employed, the ceremony being performed by the bhanya or sister's son of either the girl's father or the boy's father. If he is not available, any one whom either the girl's father or the boy's father addresses as bhanja or nephew in the village, according to the common custom of addressing each other by terms of relationship, even though he may be no relative and belong to another caste, may be substituted; and if no such person is available a son-in-law of either of the parties. The peculiar importance thus attached to the sister's son as a relation is probably a relic of the matriarchate, when a man's sister's son was his heir. The substitution of a son-in-law who might inherit in the absence of a sister's son perhaps strengthens this view. The wedding is held mainly according to the Maratha ritual. [116] The procession goes to the girl's house, and the bridegroom is wrapped in a blanket and carries a spear, in the absence of which the wedding cannot be held. A spear is also essential among the Gonds. The ancestors of the caste are invited to the wedding by beating a drum and calling on them to attend. The original ancestors are said to be Kode Kodwan, the names of two Gond gods, Baghoba (the tiger-god), and Meghnath, son of Rawan, the demon king of Ceylon, after whom the Gonds are called Rawanvansi, or descendants of Rawan. The wedding costs about Rs. 50, all of which is spent by the boy's father. The girl's father only gives a feast to the caste out of the amount which he receives as bride-price. Divorce and the remarriage of widows are permitted.

5. Funeral rites.

The dead are either buried or burnt, burial being more common. The corpse is laid with head to the south and feet to the north. On returning from the funeral they go and drink at the liquor-shop, and then kill a cock on the spot where the deceased died, and offer some meat to his spirit, placing it outside the house. The caste-fellows sit and wait until a crow comes and pecks at the food, when they think that the deceased has enjoyed it, and begin to eat themselves. If no crow comes before night the food may be given to a cow, and the party can then begin to eat. When the next wedding is held in the family, the deceased is brought down from the skies and enshrined among the deified ancestors.

6. Religion.

The principal deities of the Gowaris are the Kode Kodwan or deified ancestors. They are worshipped at the annual festivals, and also at weddings. When a man or woman dies without children their spirits are known as Dhal, and are worshipped in the families to which they belonged. A male Dhal is represented by a stick of bamboo with one cross-piece at the top, and a female Dhal by a stick with two others crossing each other lashed to it at the top. These sticks are worshipped at the Diwali festival, and carried in procession. Dudhera is a godling worshipped for the protection of cattle. He is represented by a clay horse placed near a white ant-hill. If a cow stops giving milk her udder is smoked with the burning wood of a tree called sanwal, and this is supposed to drive away the spirits who drink the milk from the udder. All Gowaris revere the haryal, or green pigeon. They say that it gives a sound like a Gowari calling his cows, and that it is a kinsman. They would on no account kill this bird. They say that the cows will go to a tree from which green pigeons are cooing, and that on one occasion when a thief was driving away their cows a green pigeon cooed from a tree, and the cows turned round and came back again. This is like the story of the sacred geese at Rome, who gave warning of the attack of the Goths.

7. Caste rules and the panchayat.

The head of the caste committee is known as Shendia, from shendi, a scalp-lock or pig-tail, perhaps because he is at the top of the caste as the scalp-lock is at the top of the head. The Shendia is elected, and holds office for life. He has to readmit offenders into caste by being the first to eat and drink with them, thus taking their sins on himself. On such occasions it is necessary to have a little opium, which is mixed with sugar and water, and distributed to all members of the caste. If the quantity is insufficient for every one to drink, the man responsible for preparing it is fined, and this mixture, especially the opium, is indispensable on all such occasions. The custom indicates that a sacred or sacrificial character is attributed to the opium, as the drinking of the mixture together is the sign of the readmission of a temporary outcaste into the community. After this has been drunk he becomes a member of the caste, even though he may not give the penalty feast for some time afterwards. The Ahirs and Sunars of the Maratha country have the same rite of purification by the common drinking of opium and water. A caste penalty is incurred for the removal of bital or impurity arising from the usual offences, and among others for touching the corpse of a man of any other caste, or of a buffalo, horse, cow, cat or dog, for using abusive language to a casteman at any meeting or feast, and for getting up from a caste feast without permission from the headman. For touching the corpse of a prohibited animal and for going to jail a man has to get his head, beard and whiskers shaved. If a woman becomes with child by a man of another caste, she is temporarily expelled, but can be readmitted after the child has been born and she has disposed of it to somebody else. Such children are often made over for a few rupees to Muhammadans, who bring them up as menial servants in their families, or, if they have no child of their own, sometimes adopt them. On readmission a lock of the woman's hair is cut off. In the same case, if no child is born of the liaison, the woman is taken back with the simple penalty of a feast. Permanent expulsion is imposed for taking food from, or having an intrigue with a member of an impure caste as Madgi, Mehtar, Pardhan, Mahar and Mang.

8. Social customs.

The Gowaris eat pork, fowls, rats, lizards and peacocks, and abstain only from beef and the flesh of monkeys, crocodiles and jackals. They will take food from a Mana, Marar or Kohli, and water from a Gond. Kunbis will take water from them, and Gonds, Dhimars and Dhobis will accept cooked food. All Gowari men are tattooed with a straight vertical line on the forehead, and many of them have the figures of a peacock, deer or horse on the right shoulder or on both shoulders. A man without the mark on the forehead will scarcely be admitted to be a true Gowari, and would have to prove his birth before he was allowed to join a caste feast. Women are tattooed with a pattern of straight and crooked lines on the right arm below the elbow, which they call Sita's arm. They have a vertical line standing on a horizontal one on the forehead, and dots on the temples.

GUJAR

List of Paragraphs

1. Historical notice of the caste.
2. The Gujars and the Khazars.
3. Predatory character of the Gujars in Northern India.
4. Subdivisions.
5. Marriage.
6. Disposal of the dead.
7. Religion.
8. Character.

1. Historical notice of the caste.

Gujar.--A great historical caste who have given their name to the Gujarat District and the town of Gujaranwala in the Punjab, the peninsula of Gujarat or Kathiawar and the tract known as Gujargarh in Gwalior. In the Central Provinces the Gujars numbered 56,000 persons in 1911, of whom the great majority belonged to the Hoshangabad and Nimar Districts. In these Provinces the caste is thus practically confined to the Nerbudda Valley, and they appear to have come here from Gwalior probably in the middle of the sixteenth century, to which period the first important influx of Hindus into this area has been ascribed. But some of the Nimar Gujars are immigrants from Gujarat. Owing to their distinctive appearance and character and their exploits as cattle-raiders, the origin of the Gujars has been the subject of much discussion. General Cunningham identified them with the Yueh-chi or Tochari, the tribe of Indo-Scythians who invaded India in the first century of the Christian era. The king Kadphises I. and his successors belonged to the Kushan section of the Yueh-chi tribe, and their rule extended over north-western India down to Gujarat in the period 45-225 A.D. Mr. V. A. Smith, however, discards this theory and considers the Gujars or Gurjaras to have been a branch of the white Huns who invaded India in the fifth and sixth centuries. He writes: [117] "The earliest foreign immigration within the limits of the historical period which can be verified is that of the Sakas in the second century B.C.; and the next is that of the Yueh-chi and Kushans in the first century A.D. Probably none of the existing Rajput clans can carry back their genuine pedigrees so far. The third recorded great irruption of foreign barbarians occurred during the fifth century and the early part of the sixth. There are indications that the immigration from Central Asia continued during the third century, but, if it did, no distinct record of the event has been preserved, and, so far as positive knowledge goes, only three certain irruptions of foreigners on a large scale through the northern and north-western passes can be proved to have taken place within the historical period anterior to the Muhammadan invasions of the tenth and eleventh centuries. The first and second, as above observed, were those of the Sakas and Yueh-chi respectively, and the third was that of the Hunas or white Huns. It seems to be clearly established that the Hun group of tribes or hordes made their principal permanent settlements in the Punjab and Rajputana. The most important element in the group after the Huns themselves was that of the Gurjaras, whose name still survives in the spoken form Gujar as the designation of a widely diffused middle-class caste in north-western India. The prominent position occupied by Gurjara kingdoms in early mediaeval times is a recent discovery. The existence of a small Gurjara principality in Bharoch (Broach), and of a larger state in Rajputana, has been known to archaeologists for many years, but the recognition of the fact that Bhoja and the other kings of the powerful Kanauj dynasty in the ninth, tenth and eleventh centuries were Gurjaras is of very recent date and is not yet general. Certain misreadings of epigraphic dates obscured the true history of that dynasty, and the correct readings have been established only within the last two or three years. It is now definitely proved that Bhoja (circ. A.D. 840-890), his predecessors and successors belonged to the Pratihara (Parihar) clan of the Gurjara tribe or caste, and, consequently, that the well-known clan of Parihar Rajputs is a branch of the Gurjara or Gujar stock." [118]

2. The Gujars and the Khazars.

Sir J. Campbell identified the Gujars with the Khazar tribe of Central Asia: [119] "What is known of the early history of the Gujaras in India points to their arrival during the last quarter of the fifth or the first quarter of the sixth century (A.D. 470-520). That is the Gujaras seem to have formed part of the great horde of which the Juan-Juan or Avars, and the Ephthalites, Yetas or White Hunas were leading elements. The question remains: How far does the arrival of the Gujara in India, during the early sixth century, agree with what is known of the history of the Khazar? The name Khazar appears under the following forms: Among Chinese as Kosa, among Russians as Khwalisses, among Byzantines as Chozars or Chazars, among Armenians as Khazirs and among Arabs as Khozar. Other variations come closer to Gujara. These are Gazar, the form Kazar takes to the north of the sea of Asof; Ghysar, the name for Khazars who have become Jews; and Ghusar, the form of Khazar in use among the Lesghians of the Caucasus. Howarth and the writer in the Encyclopædia Britannica follow Klaproth in holding that the Khazars are the same as the White Hunas....

"Admitting that the Khazar and White Huna are one, it must also be the case that the Khazars included two distinct elements, a fair or Ak-Khazar, the Akatziroi or Khazaroi of Byzantine historians, and a dark or Kara Khazar. The Kara Khazar was short, ugly and as black as an Indian. He was the Ughrian nomad of the steppes, who formed the rank and file of the army. The White Khazar or White Huna was fair-skinned, black-haired and beautiful, their women (in the ninth and tenth centuries) being sought after in the bazars of Baghdad and Byzantium. According to Klaproth, a view adopted by the writer in the Encyclopædia Britannica, the White Khazar represented the white race which, since before Christ has been settled round the Caspian. As White Hunas, Ephthalites, [120] White Ughrians and White Bulgars, this white race were the carriers between Europe and East Asia; they were also the bearers of the brunt of the Tartar inroads. A trace both of the beautiful and coarse clans seems to survive in the complimentary Marwar proverb, 'Handsome as a Huna,' and in the abusive Gujarat proverb, 'Yellow and short as a Huna's beard.' Under its Hindu form Gurjara, Khazar appears to have become the name by which the great bulk of the sixth-century horde was known." Sir J. Campbell was of opinion that the Sesodia or Gahlot Rajputs, the most illustrious of all the clans, were of Gujar stock, as well as the Parihar, Chauhan, and Chalukya or Solanki; these last were three of the Agnikula clans or those created from the firepit, [121] and a Solanki dynasty ruled in Gujarat. He also considered the Nagar Brahmans of Gujarat to be derived from the Gujars and considerable sections of the Ahir and Kunbi castes. The Badgujar (great Gujar) clan of Rajputs is no doubt also an aristocratic branch of the caste. In Ajmere it is said that though all Gujars are not Rajputs, no Rajput becomes a hero unless he is suckled by a Gujar woman. Gujarika dudh, nahari ka dudh; or 'Gujar's milk is tiger's milk.' A Rajput who has not been suckled by a Gujar woman is a gidar or jackal. [122]

3. Predatory character of the Gujars in northern India.

The fact of the White Huns being tall and of fine features, in contrast to the horde which invaded Europe under Attila, accounts for these characteristics being found among the highest Rajput clans, who, as has been seen, are probably derived from them. The Gujar caste generally is now, however, no doubt of mixed and impure blood. They were distinguished in the past as vagrant and predatory marauders, and must have assimilated various foreign elements. Mr. Crooke writes of them: [123] "The Gujars as a tribe have always been noted for their turbulence and habit of cattle-stealing. Babar in his Memoirs describes how the commander of the rearguard captured a few Gujar ruffians who followed the camp, decapitated them and sent their heads to the Emperor. The Gujars of Pali and Pahal became exceedingly audacious while Sher Shah was fortifying Delhi, and he marched to the hills and expelled them so that not a vestige of their habitations was left. Jahangir remarks that the Gujars live chiefly on milk and curds and seldom cultivate land; and Babar says: 'Every time I entered Hindustan the Jats and Gujars have regularly poured down in prodigious numbers from the hills and wilds to carry off oxen and buffaloes. These were the wretches that really inflicted the chief hardships and were guilty of the chief oppression in the country.' They maintained their old reputation in the Mutiny when they perpetrated numerous outrages and seriously impeded the operations of the British Army before Delhi." In northern India the Gujars are a pastoral caste. The saying about them is--

Ahir, Gadaria, Gujar,
E tinon tâken ujar,

or, 'The Ahir, Gadaria and Gujar want waste land'; that is for grazing their flocks. In Kangra the Gujars generally keep buffaloes. Here they are described as "A fine, manly race with peculiar and handsome features. They are mild and inoffensive in manner, and in these hills are not distinguished by the bad pre-eminence which attaches to their race in the plains." [124] Sir D. Ibbetson had a very unfavourable opinion of the Gujars of the plains, of whom he wrote as follows: [125] "The Gujar is a fine stalwart fellow, of precisely the same physical type as the Jat; and the theory of aboriginal descent which has been propounded is to my mind conclusively negatived by his cast of countenance. He is of the same social standing as the Jat, or perhaps slightly inferior; but the two eat and drink in common without any scruple, and the proverb says: 'The Jat, Gujar, Ahir and Gola are all hail fellow well met.' But he is far inferior in both personal character and repute to the Jat. He is lazy to a degree, and a wretched cultivator; his women, though not secluded, will not do field-work save of the lightest kind; while his fondness for cattle extends to those of other people. The difference between a Gujar and a Rajput cattle-thief was once explained to me thus by a Jat: 'The Rajput will steal your buffalo. But he will not send his old father to say he knows where it is and will get it back for Rs. 20, and then keep the Rs. 20 and the buffalo too. The Gujar will.'"

4. Subdivisions.

The Gujars of the Central Provinces have, however, entirely given up the predatory habits of their brethren in northern India and have developed into excellent cultivators and respectable law-abiding citizens. In Hoshangabad they have three subcastes, Lekha, Mundle and Jadam. The Mundle or 'Shaven' are so called because they take off their turbans when they eat and expose their crowns bare of hair, while the Lekha eat with their turbans on. The Mundle are also known as Rewe, from the Rewa or Nerbudda, near which they reside. The Jadam are probably an offshoot from the cultivating caste of Hoshangabad of that name, Jadam being a corruption of Jadubansi, a tribe of Rajputs. The Badgujars, who belong to Nimar, consider themselves the highest, deriving their name from bara or 'great' Gujar. As already seen, there is a Badgujar clan of Rajputs. The Nimar Badgujars, however, were formerly engaged in the somewhat humble calling of clearing cotton of its seeds, and on this account they are also known as Ludhare, the word lodhna meaning to work the hand-ginning machine (charkhi). It seems possible that the small caste of Lorhas of the Hoshangabad District, whose special avocation is to grow san-hemp, may be derived from these Ludhare Gujars. The Kekre or Kanwe subcaste are the lowest and are of illegitimate descent. They are known as Kekre or 'Crabs,' but prefer their other name. They will take food from the other subcastes, but these do not return the compliment. Another group in the Sohagpur Tahsil of Hoshangabad are the Lilorhia Gujars. They say that their ancestors were grazing calves when some of them with their herdsmen were stolen by Brahma. Then Krishna created fresh cowherds and the Lilorhias were made from the sweat of his forehead (lilat). Afterwards Brahma restored the original cowherds, who were known as Murelia, because they were the first players on the murli or flute. [126] The Badgujars or highest branch of the clan are descendants of these Murelias. The caste have also a set of exogamous groups, several of which bear the names of Rajput clans, while others are called after villages, titles or nicknames or natural objects. A man is not permitted to marry any one belonging either to his own sept or that of his mother or grandmother.

5. Marriage.

At a Gujar wedding four plough-yokes are laid out to form a square under the marriage booth, with a copper pot full of water in the centre. At the auspicious moment the bride's hand is placed on that of the bridegroom, and the two walk seven times round the pot, the bridegroom leading for the first four rounds and the bride for the last three. Widows are allowed to remarry, and, as girls are rather scarce in the caste, a large price is often paid for the widow to her father or guardian, though this is not willingly admitted. As much as Rs. 3000 is recorded to have been paid. A widow marriage is known as Natra or Pat. A woman is forbidden to marry any relative of her first husband. When the marriage of a widow is to take place a fee of Rs. 1-4 must be paid to the village proprietor to obtain his consent. The Gujars of the Bulandshahr District of the United Provinces furnish, Mr. Crooke says, [127] perhaps the only well-established instance of polyandry among the Hindus of the plains. Owing to the scarcity of women in the caste it was customary for the wife of one brother, usually the eldest, to be occasionally at the disposal of other unmarried brothers living in the house. The custom arose owing to the lack of women caused by the prevalence of female infanticide, and now that this has been stopped it is rapidly dying out, while no trace of it is believed to exist in the Central Provinces.

6. Disposal of the dead.

The bodies of unmarried persons are buried, and also of those who die of any epidemic disease. Others are cremated. The funeral of an elderly man of good means and family is an occasion for great display. A large feast is given and the Brahman priests of the caste go about inviting all the Gujars to attend. Sometimes the number of guests rises to three or four thousand. At the conclusion of the feast one of the hosts claps his hands and all the guests then get up and immediately depart without ceremony or saying farewell. Such an occasion is known as Gujarwada, and the Gujars often spend as much, or more, on a funeral as on a wedding, in the belief that the outlay is of direct benefit to the dead man's spirit. This idea is inculcated and diligently fostered by the family priests and those Brahmans who receive gifts for the use of the dead, the greed of these cormorants being insatiable.

7. Religion.

The household goddess of the caste is known as Kul Devi, the word kul meaning family. To her a platform is erected inside the house, and she must be worshipped by the members of the family alone, no stranger being present. Offerings of cocoanuts, rice, turmeric and flowers are made to her, but no animal sacrifices. When a son of the family dies unmarried, an image of him, known as Mujia, is made on a piece of silver, copper or brass, and is worshipped on Mondays and Fridays during the month of Magh (January). On one of these days also a feast is given to the caste. Each member of the caste has a guru or spiritual preceptor, who visits him every second or third year and receives a small present of a cocoanut or a piece of cloth. But he does not seem to perform any duties. The guru may belong to any of the religious mendicant castes. A man who is without a guru is known as Nugra and is looked down on. To meet him in the morning is considered unlucky and portends misfortune. Sir C. Elliot [128] characterised the Mundle Gujars as "A very religious race; they never plough on the new moon nor on the 8th of the month, because it is Krishna's birthday. Their religious and social head is the Mahant of the Ramjidas temple at Hoshangabad." In Nimar many of the Gujars belong to the Pirzada sect, which is a kind of reformed creed, based on a mixture of Hinduism and Islam.

8. Character.

The Gujars wear the dress of northern India and their women usually have skirts (lahenga) and not saris or body-cloths. Married women have a number of strings of black beads round the neck and widows must change these for red ones. As a rule neither men nor women are tattooed. The men sometimes have their hair long and wear beards and whiskers. The Gujars are now considered the best cultivators of the Nimar District. They are fond of irrigation and sink unfaced wells to water their land and get a second crop off it. They are generally prosperous and make good landlords. Members of the caste have the custom of lending and borrowing among themselves and not from outsiders, and this no doubt conduces to mutual economy and solvency. Like keen cultivators elsewhere, such as the Panwars and Kurmis, the Gujar sets store by having a good house and good cattle. The return from a Mundle Gujar's wedding, Captain Forsyth wrote, [129] is a sight to be seen. Every Gujar from far and near has come with his whole family in his best bullock-cart gaily ornamented, and, whatever the road may be, nothing but a smash will prevent a breakneck race homewards at full gallop, cattle which have won in several such races acquiring a much coveted reputation throughout the District.

GURAO

List of Paragraphs

1. Origin of the caste.
2. Internal structure.
3. Marriage and ceremonies of adolescence.
4. Birth customs.
5. The sacred thread.
6. Funeral customs.
7. Social position.
8. The Jain Guraos.

1. Origin of the caste.

Gurao. [130]--A caste of village priests of the temples of Mahadeo in the Maratha Districts. They numbered about 14,000 persons in the Central Provinces and Berar in 1911. The Guraos say that they were formerly Brahmans and worshippers of Siva, but for some negligence or mistake in his ritual they were cursed by the god and degraded from the status of Brahmans, though subsequently the god relented and permitted them to worship him and take the offerings made to him.

It is related that a certain Brahman, who was a votary of Siva, had to go on a journey. He left his son behind and strictly enjoined on him to perform the worship of the god at midday. The son had bathed and purified himself for this purpose, when shortly before midday his wife came to him and so importuned him to have conjugal intercourse with her that he was obliged to comply. It was then midday and in his impure condition the son went to the shrine of the god to worship him. But Siva cursed him and said that his descendants should be degraded from the status of Brahmans, though he afterwards relented so far as to permit of their continuing to act as his priests; and this was the origin of the Guraos. It seems doubtful, however, whether the caste are really of Brahman origin. They were formerly village priests, and Grant-Duff gives the Gurao as one of the village menials in the Maratha villages. They have the privilege of taking the Naivedya or offerings of cooked food made to the god Mahadeo, which Brahmans will not accept. They also sell leaf-plates and flowers and bel leaves [131] which are offered at the temples of Mahadeo; and on the festival of Shivratri and during the month of Shrawan (July) they take round the bel leaves which the cultivators require for their offerings and receive presents in return. In Wardha the Guraos get small gifts of grain from the cultivators at seed-time and harvest. They also act as village musicians and blow the conch-shell, beat the drum and play other musical instruments for the morning and evening worship at the temple. They play on the cymbals and drums at the marriages of Brahmans and other high castes. In the Bombay Presidency [132] some are astrologers and fortune-tellers, and others make the basing or coronet of flowers which the bridegroom wears. Sometimes they play on the drum or fiddle for their spiritual followers, the dancing-girls or Kalavants. When a dancing-girl became pregnant she worshipped the Gurao, and he, in return, placed the missi or tooth-powder made from myrobalans on her teeth. If this was not done before her child was born, a Kalavantin was put out of caste. In some localities the Guraos will take food from Kunbis. And further, as will be seen subsequently, the caste have no proper gotras or exogamous sections, but in arranging their marriages they simply avoid persons having a common surname. All these considerations point to the fact that the caste is not of Brahmanical origin but belongs to a lower class of the population. Nevertheless in Wardha they are known as Shaiva Brahmans and rank above the Kunbis. They may study the Sama Veda only and not the others, and may repeat the Rudra Gayatri or sacred verse of Siva. Clearly the Brahmans could not accept the offerings of cooked food made at Siva's shrine; though the larger temples of this deity have Brahman priests. It seems uncertain whether Siva or Mahadeo was first a village deity and was subsequently exalted to the position of a member of the supreme Hindu Trinity, or whether the opposite process took place and the Guraos obtained their priestly functions on his worship being popularised. But in any case it would appear that they were originally a class of village priests regarded as the servants of the cultivating community, by whose gifts and offerings they were maintained. Grant-Duff in enumerating the village servants says: "Ninth, the Gurao, who is a Sudra employed to wash the ornaments and attend the idol in the village temples, and on occasions of feasting to prepare the patraoli or leaves which the Hindus substitute for plates. They are also trumpeters by profession and in this capacity are much employed in Maratha armies." [133]

2. Internal structure.

The caste has several subdivisions which are principally of a territorial nature, as Warade from Berar; Jhade, inhabitants of the forest or rice country; Telanga, of the Telugu country; Dakshne, from the Deccan; Marwari, from Marwar, and so on. Other subcastes are the Ahir and Jain Guraos, of whom the former are apparently Ahirs who have adopted the priestly profession, while the Jain Guraos are held in Bombay to be the descendants of Jain temple servants who entered the caste when their own deities were thrown out and their shrines annexed by the votaries of Siva. [134] In Bombay, Mr. Enthoven states "That the Koli and Maratha ministrants at the temples of Siva and other deities often describe themselves as Guraos, but they have not formed themselves into separate castes and are members of the general Koli or Maratha community. They cease to call themselves Guraos when they cease to minister at temples." [135] In the Central Provinces one of the subcastes is known as Vajantri because they act as village musicians. The caste have no regular exogamous sections, but a number of surnames which answer the same purpose. These are of a professional type, as Lokhandes, an iron-dealer; Phulzares, a maker of fireworks; Sontake, a gold-merchant; Gaikwad, a cowherd; Nakade, long-nosed, and so on. They say they all belong to the same gotra, Sankhiayan, named after Sankhiaya Rishi, the ancestor of the caste.

3. Marriage and ceremonies of adolescence.

Marriage is avoided between persons having the same surname and those within six degrees of descent from a common ancestor whether male or female. The marriage ceremony generally resembles that of the Brahmans. Before the wedding the bridegroom's father prepares an image of Siva from rice and til-seed, [136] covers it with a cloth and sends it to the bride's house. In return her mother prepares and sends back a similar image of Gauri, Siva's consort. Girls are married as infants, and when a woman arrives at adolescence the following ritual is observed: She goes to her husband's house and is there secluded for three or four days while her impurity lasts. On its termination she is bathed and clothed in a green dress and yellow choli or breast-cloth, and seated in a gaily decked wooden frame. Her lap is filled with wheat and a cocoanut, and her female friends and relatives and father and father-in-law give her presents of sweets and clothes. This is known as the Shantik ceremony and is practised by the higher castes in the Maratha country. It may continue for as long as sixteen days. Finally, on an auspicious day the bride and bridegroom are given delicate food and dressed in new clothes. The fire sacrifice is offered and they are taken into a room where a bed, the gift of the bride's parents, has been prepared for them, and left to consummate the marriage. This is known as Garbhadhan. Next day the bride's parents give new clothes and a feast to the bridegroom's family; this feast is known as Godai, and after giving it the bride's parents may eat at their daughter's house. A girl seduced by a man of the caste may be properly married to him after her parents have performed Prayaschit or atonement. But if she has a child out of wedlock, he is relegated to the Vidur or illegitimate group. Even if a girl be seduced by a stranger, provided he be of higher or equal caste, as the Kunbis and Marathas, she may be taken back into the community.

4. Birth customs.

If a child is born at an unlucky season, they take two winnowing-fans and tie the baby between them with a thread wound many times round about. A cow is brought and made to lick the child, which is thus supposed to have been born again from it as a calf, the evil omen of the first birth being removed. The father performs the fire sacrifice, and a human figure is made from cooked rice and worshipped. A burning wick is placed in its stomach and it is taken out and left at cross-roads, this being probably a substitute for the member of the family whose death was presaged by the untimely birth of the child. Similarly if any one dies at the astronomical period known as Panchak, they make five figures of wheat-flour and burn or bury them with the body, as it is thought that otherwise five members of the family would die.

5. The sacred thread.

Boys are invested with the sacred thread at the age of five, seven or nine years, and until that time they are considered to be Sudras and not members of the caste. From a hundred to three hundred rupees may be spent on the investiture. On the day before the ceremony a Brahman and his wife are invited to take food, and a yellow thread with a mango leaf is tied round the boy's wrist. The spirits of other boys who died before their thread ceremony was performed and of women of the family who died before their husbands are invited to attend. These are represented by young boys and married women of other families who come to the house and are bathed and anointed with turmeric and oil, and given presents of sugar and new clothes. Next day the initiate is seated on a platform in a shed erected for the purpose and puts on the sacred thread made of cotton and also a strip of the skin of the black-buck with a silk apron and cap. The boy's father takes him on his lap and whispers or, as the Hindus say, blows the Gayatri mantra or sacred text into his ear. A sacrifice is performed, and the friends and fellow-castemen of the family make presents to the boy of copper and silver coin. The amount thus given is not used by the parents, but is spent on the boy's education or on the purchase of an ornament for him. On the conclusion of the ceremony the boy mounts a wooden model of a horse and pretends to set out for Benares. His paternal uncle then says to him, 'Why are you going away?' And the boy replies, 'Because you have not married me.' His uncle then promises to find a bride for him and he gives up his project. The part played by the maternal uncle in this ceremony is probably a survival of the period of the matriarchate, when a man's property descended to his sister's son. He would thus naturally claim the boy as a husband for his own daughter, and such a marriage apparently became customary and in course of time acquired binding force. And although all recollection of the rule of inheritance through women has long been forgotten, the marriage of a brother's daughter to a sister's son is still considered peculiarly suitable, and the idea that it is the duty of the maternal uncle to find a bride for his nephew appears to be simply a development of this. The above account also gives reason for supposing that the investiture with the sacred thread was originally a ceremony of puberty.

6. Funeral customs.

The dead are burnt and the ashes thrown into water or carried to the Ganges. A small piece of gold, two or three small pearls, and some basil leaves are put into the mouth, and flowers, red powder and betel leaves are spread over the corpse. The son or male heir of the deceased walks in front carrying fire in an earthen pot. At a small distance from the burning-ground, when the bearers change places, he picks up a stone, known as the life-stone or jivkhada. This is afterwards buried at the burning-ghat until the priest comes to effect the purification of the mourners on the tenth day. It is then dug up, set up and worshipped, and thrown into a well. A man is burnt naked; a woman in a robe and bodice. The heads of widows are not shaved as a rule, but on the tenth day after her husband's death a widow is asked whether she would like her head shaved; if she refuses, the people conclude that she intends to marry again. But if the deceased left no male heir to carry behind his bier the burning wood with which the funeral pyre is to be kindled, then the widow must be shaved before the funeral starts and perform this duty. If there is no male relative and no widow, the pot containing fire is tied to the bier. When the corpse of a woman who has died in child-bed is being carried to the burning-ground various rites are observed to prevent her spirit from becoming a Churel and troubling the living. A lemon charmed by a magician is buried under the corpse and a man follows the body strewing the seeds of rala, while nails are driven into the threshold of the house. [137]

7. Social position.

The caste has now a fairly high social status and ranks above the Kunbis. They abstain from all flesh and from liquor and will take food only from the hands of a Maratha Brahman, while Kunbis and other cultivating and serving castes will accept food from their hands. They worship Siva principally on Mondays, this day being sacred to the deity, who carries the moon as an ornament on his head, crowning the matted locks from which the Ganges flows.

8. The Jain Guraos.