Chapter D (4)

“The Dogars are supposed to be converted Chauhân Râjputs from the neighbourhood of Delhi. They migrated first to the neighbourhood of Pâk Pattan, whence they spread gradually along the banks of the Sutlej, and entered the Fîrozpur district about one hundred years ago. The Fîrozpur Dogars are all descended from a common ancestor named Bahlol, but they are called Mâhu Dogars, from Mâhu, the grandfather of Bahlol. Bahlol had three sons, Bambu, Langar, and Sammu. The Dogars of Fîrozpur and Mullanwâla are the descendants of Bambu; those of Khai the descendants of Langar; the descendants of Sammu live in the Qasûr territory. There are many other sub-castes of the Dogars in other districts along the banks of the Sutlej, as the Parchat, the Topara, the Chopara, etc. The Chopara Dogars occupy Mandot. The Fîrozpur Dogars consider themselves superior in rank and descent to the other sub-castes. They are very particular to whom they give their daughters in marriage, though they take wives from all the other families. At one time infanticide is said to have prevailed among them, but I do not think there is much trace of it at the present day.

2. Sir H. Lawrence, who knew the Dogars well, writes of them that they are “tall, handsome, and sinewy, and are remarkable for having almost without exception, large, aquiline noses; they are fanciful and violent, and tenacious of what they consider their rights, though susceptible to kindness, and not wanting in courage, they appear to have been always troublesome subjects, and too fond of their own free form of life to willingly take service as soldiers. The Jewish face which is found among the Dogars, and in which they resemble the Afghâns, is very remarkable, and makes it probable that there is very little Chauhân blood in their veins, notwithstanding the fondness with which they attempt to trace their connection with that ancient family of Râjputs. Like the Gûjars and Naipâlis they are great thieves, and prefer pasturing cattle to cultivating. Their favourite crime is cattle-stealing. There are, however, some respectable persons among them, especially in the Fîrozpur Ilâqa. It is only within the last few years that the principal Dogars have begun to wear any covering for the head; formerly the whole population, as is the case with the poor classes still, wore their long hair over their shoulders without any covering either of sheet or turban. Notwithstanding the difference of physiognomy, however, the Dogars preserve evident traces of some connection with the Hindus in most of their family customs, in which they resemble the Hindus much more than the orthodox Muhammadans.”

3. Mr. Ibbetson adds:—“The Râjput origin of the Dogars is probably very doubtful, and is strenuously denied by their Râjput neighbours, though I believe that Dogar or perhaps Doghar (doghla, probably Persian daghol, dagh, “a stain”) is used in some parts of the Province to denote one of mixed blood. Another derivation of the name is doghgar or “milkman.” The Dogars seem to be originally a pastoral rather than an agricultural tribe, and still to retain a strong liking for cattle, whether their own or other people’s. They are often classed with Gûjars, whom they much resemble in their habits. In Lahore and Fîrozpur they are notorious cattle thieves, but further north they seem to have settled down and become peaceful husbandmen. They are not good cultivators. Their social standing seems to be about that of a low class Râjput; they are practically all Musalmâns. Their chief clans in the Panjâb are Mattar; China; Tagra; Mâhu, and Chokra.” In these Provinces they are all Musalmâns.

DISTRIBUTION OF THE DOGARS ACCORDING TO THE CENSUS OF 1891.

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Districts. |Number.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~
Sahâranpur | 1
Muzaffarnagar | 338
+~~~~~~~
Total | 339
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Dom; [339] Domra; Domahra (Sans. Doma; Dama; Domba), a Dravidian menial caste found scattered throughout these Provinces, regarding whose origin and ethnological affinities there has been much speculation. To the east of the Province they are usually known as Dom, but are sometimes called Jallâd, “executioner,” Hatyâra, “murderous, blood-thirsty,” or Supach, which is, as we shall see, traditionally the name of the founder of the tribe, and who also enters into the legends of the Bhangis. The name seems to represent the Svapâka or “cooker of dogs,” a man of a degraded and outcast tribe, the son of an Ugra woman by a Kshatriya. He is required to live outside towns like the Chandâla, to eat his food in broken vessels, to wear the clothes of the dead, and to be excluded from all intercourse with other tribes; he can possess no other property than asses and dogs, and his only office is to act as public executioner or to carry out the bodies of those who die without kindred. His kinsman, the Chandâla, according to Manu, [340] ranks in impurity with the town boar, the dog, a woman in her courses, and an eunuch, none of whom must a Brâhman allow to see him when eating. According to Dr. Caldwell [341] they are the surviving representatives of an older, ruder, and blacker race who preceded the Dravidians in India. Sir H. M. Elliot [342] considers them to be “one of the original tribes of India. Tradition fixes their residence to the north of the Ghâgra, 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. Râmgarh and Sahnkot, on the Rohini, are also Dom forts.” Attempts have, also, been made to connect them in some way with the Domkatâr or Domtikâr Râjputs of Gorakhpur, and with the Domwâr Bhuînhârs. [343] All this discussion is, as Mr. Risley says, somewhat profitless; but out of it seems to emerge “a general consensus of opinion that the Doms belong to one of the races whom, for convenience of expression, we may call the aborigines of India. Their personal appearance bears out this opinion.” Mr. Beames [344] describes the Doms of Champâran as “small and dark, with long tresses of unkempt hair, and the peculiar glassy eye of the non-Aryan autochthon,” and Mr. Sherring [345] remarks that “dark-complexioned, low of stature, and somewhat repulsive in appearance, they are readily distinguished from all the better castes of Hindus.” “The type, however,” Mr. Risley adds, “as is the case with most widely-diffused castes, seems to display appreciable variations. In Eastern Bengal, according to Dr. Wise, the Dom’s hair is long, black, and coarse, while his complexion is oftener of a brown than a black hue; and among the Magahiya Doms, whom I have seen in Bihâr, only a small portion struck me as showing any marked resemblance to the aborigines of Chota Nâgpur, who are, I suppose, among the purest specimens of the non-Aryan races of India. On the whole, however, the prevalent type of physique and complexion seems to mark the caste as not of Aryan descent, although evidence is wanting to connect it with any compact aboriginal tribe of the present day. The fact that for centuries they have been condemned to the most menial duties, and have served as the helots of the entire village community, would, of itself, be sufficient to break down whatever tribal spirit they may once have possessed, and to obliterate all structural traces of their true origin.”

2. To this must be added another point which cannot be left out of consideration in dealing with these menial races. The tribes of scavengers, such as the Bhangi and Dom, have for many generations formed a sort of Cave of Adullam for the outcastes of the higher races, and the notorious immoral character of the women of these tribes must have had a powerful effect in modifying the physique and appearance of castes such as these. If the Dom varies in physical character from one part of the Province to another, it is only what might naturally be expected. On the whole it may perhaps be safer to regard the Doms, not as a single, individual aggregate, but as a more or less mixed body of menials, who have been for ages in a state of the utmost degradation, and whose appearance and physique have been largely modified by the rigour of their occupation and environment.

[Tradition of origin—Eastern Doms.] 3. The origin of the Dom to the east of the Province is thus told by themselves. In the good old times all people were equally well-to-do and happy. The Brâhmans had no property and built no houses for themselves. When Parameswar desired to appear in the world he took the form of a Brâhman. Then intending to divide men into castes, he went about begging as a Brâhman, wishing to ascertain what occupation each family followed. As he begged for alms no man gave him aught but silver and gold. At last he reached the house of a man who had killed a cow and was preparing to feed on the beef. He begged for alms, and the cow-killer brought from his house a handful of gold coins. Parameswar refused the money and asked for a little barley. The Domin, or woman of the house, went inside and found a place in the courtyard which had been trampled into mud by the feet of the cow in her death struggle, and there a few ears of barley had suddenly sprouted up. The woman plucked the grain and offered it to Parameswar, who asked her where she had found it. She told him how the grain had sprouted in her courtyard. Parameswar asked where was the cow which had prepared the ground in which the grain had grown. She replied that it had been killed by her husband. Then Parameswar was wroth and cursed her husband: “Thou and thy posterity shall kill animals and remain beggars for ever.” Then the Domin cursed Parameswar in the form of a Brâhman—

Jahân Brâhman jâwê,
Châr dhakka khâwê,
Ek pichhâri, chhattîs gantha.

“Wherever the Brâhman goes he shall receive four pushes. Thirty-six knots in a single sheet.” So ever since Doms are beggars and slayers of animals, and Brâhmans are poor and live on alms. This legend, of course, cannot be of any great antiquity, as the feeling of respect for the cow is of comparatively modern origin.

4. According to the Panjâb legend the ancestor of the Doms was a Brâhman named Malludant. He was the youngest of the family, and his elder brothers expelled him. One day the calf of their cow died, and they asked Malludant to take away the carcass and bury it. When he did so he was treated as an outcast, and was obliged ever after to make his living by skinning and burying dead animals. This legend, under a slightly different form, is told also in connection with the Bhangis.

5. Another story, again, makes the Doms the descendants of Râja Ben or Vena, and from him one of their sub-castes has taken the name Benbansi. The legend of this king suggests that he was some early reformer who made himself obnoxious to Brâhmans. When he became king he issued a proclamation,—“Men must not sacrifice nor give gifts nor present oblations. Who else but myself is the object of sacrifice? I am for ever the lord of offerings.” The sages remonstrated respectfully with him, but in vain. They admonished him in sterner terms, and when he persisted in his piety they slew him with blades of the sacred kusa grass. After his death the sages beheld clouds of dust, and on inquiry found that they arose from the bands of men who had taken to plundering because the land was left without a king. As Vena was childless, the sages rubbed his thigh, and from it there came a man “like a charred log, with flat face and extremely short.” The sages told him to sit down (nishâda). He did so, and hence was called Nishâda, from whom sprang the “Nishâdas dwelling in the Vindhyan mountains, distinguished by their wicked deeds.” It may be noted that Benbans is the title of a modern Râjput sept which is of obvious Kharwâr origin. By another account the name is derived by the Doms from their trade in making fans (bena, Sans. vyajana).

[Internal structure.] 6. As might have been expected in the case of a tribe which is obviously composed of various elements their internal structure is most intricate. Under the general term Dom there are in these Provinces at least three distinct classes of people. There are, first, the wandering race of houseless thieves and vagrants who infest Bihâr and the eastern districts of the North-Western Provinces. Some of these have gradually raised themselves above the degraded status of their vagabond brethren. Some of them have settled down on the outskirts of towns and villages, and have taken to scavengering or industries connected with cane-work and basket-making. Such are the Dharkâr and Bânsphor or Basor, whom it is more convenient to discuss separately. Next come the Doms of the Himalayan districts, who deny all connection with the eastern branch of the tribe, and have gained a fairly respectable position as husbandmen and artisans. Lastly come the Dom or Dûm Mirâsi, who are singers and musicians, and are treated of under the head Mirâsi.

[The Doms of the Eastern districts.] 7. Like so many of the lower castes the Eastern Doms profess to have seven endogamous sub-castes. According to the Mirzapur enumeration these are,—Magahiya; Bânsphor; Litta; Domra or Domahra; Jallâd or Hatyâra; Dharkâr; and Harchanni; which last take their name from the famous Râja Harischandra, whose legend is given in connection with the Bhangis. Again, in Bânda, we have a list of so-called exogamous sections or gotras inasmuch as they will not give a bride to a section from which within memory they have taken a bride. These sections are Tarkiya; Gepar; Gemar or Gaymar; Pesadeli, Barhel; Hazâriya; Usarbarsa; Kundahor; Dharkâl or Dharkâr; Chamrel; Chureliya; Satchuliha; Samand; Asrent; Mahtama; Naharkârei; Mungariya; Nanet; Kaithel; Suador; Jugin; Nagarband; Dhaunsiya; Birha; Sarkhiya; Baksariya; Gujariya; Lungtaya or Langotiya. Some of these names probably denote some connection with other tribes, as the Chamrel with Chamârs, Kaithel with Kâyasths, and Gujariya with Gûjrat. Others are perhaps occupational or totemistic; but we know at present too little of the origin or metamorphosis of these section names to make any speculations as to their meaning of any value.

8. From Gorakhpur, again, we have another enumeration which is thus described by Mr. J. Kennedy:—“The Doms say that they formerly cultivated and owned the land, but when pressure came the Magahiyas divided into two great sub-divisions—the Magahiyas and the Bânsphors. The Magahiyas took to thieving, while the Bânsphors were content to weave baskets and cultivate what land they could. These two sub-divisions do not intermarry, and it must be remembered that my notes relate to the thieving class alone, Magahiyas proper, who count themselves the true, original stock. They always describe themselves as sub-divided into seven distinct families; but excluding the Bânsphors, of whom I have spoken, there are really six—Sâwant; Balgai; Chaudhari; Chauhân; Bihâri, and Hazâri. The most of these names are taken from the Hindus, and as Hazâri is a Muhammadan title of honour, this division into families is probably of a comparatively recent date. Chaudhari and Chauhân are evidently also meant as honorific titles, and at the time the division was first made it must have been purely artificial. The families have no recollection of any common ancestor, nor have they any cult in memory of the founder. The Bânsphors, I am told, have no such sub-divisions. The recent and artificial origin of the six sub-divisions is, therefore, tolerably certain; they are imitations of Hinduism, and the only use to which they are put is to regulate marriage. Neither Magahiyas nor Bânsphors can marry their first cousins by blood, and this was probably the original rule. Besides this no Sâwant can marry a Sâwant or a Balgai, but any of the six families can intermarry with any other. The wandering gangs of Magahiyas are composed indiscriminately of men belonging to each clan family; but each gang has its own leader and the office is hereditary in the leader’s family. An outsider is never selected unless the family stock has failed.” At the same time it may be urged that this form of sectional exogamy is probably much more primitive than Mr. Kennedy is disposed to believe. It is, of course, possible that the names of the exogamous sections may have been changed under Hindu or Muhammadan influence, but it seems also certain that this form of exogamy is one of the primitive institutions of the caste.

9. The Magahiya Doms take their name from the ancient kingdom of Magadha or South Bihâr. Curiously enough the Mirzapur Magahiyas have lost all traditions of any connection with Magadha, and say that their name means “vagrant” from the Hindi mag, Sanskrit marga, “a road.” They have been identified with the Maccocalingae of Pliny, [346] and they are found as far south as Madras. [347] In their original state the Magahiyas are vagrants pure and simple, who have not even mats or tents to cover themselves in rainy or cold weather. In this respect they are in a lower grade than nomads like the Sânsyas or Hâbûras. They frequent the jungles, but seem to have no aptitude for hunting or fishing. They live by burglary and theft, while the women prostitute themselves. In dry weather they sleep under trees, and in the rains or chill of winter they slink into outhouses or crouch under a thatch or any other shelter they can find. In their depredations they never use the sabari or “jemmy” used by the ordinary Indian burglar. Their characteristic weapon is the curved knife (bânka), with which they are supposed to split the bamboo for making baskets, which with begging are their ostensible occupations. But this knife is generally used for making holes beside doorposts (baghli). In cold weather they carry about at night an earthen pot full of hot coals, over which they crouch and warm themselves; and this, when closely beset, they fling with great accuracy at their assailants, often causing severe wounds.

10. Various attempts have been made to reform this branch of the tribe. To quote a note by Mr. D. T. Roberts, prepared for the last Police Commission:—“In Gorakhpur almost every scheme possible to think of has been considered over and over again and rejected as hopeless, the prevailing opinion being that nothing short of confinement between four walls would do any good. In 1873, and again in 1880, the question of bringing them under the Criminal Tribes Act was considered, and the conclusion come to in 1880 was that no special measures for the reclamation of this tribe seem likely to be successful, and there was no use proclaiming them under the Act, because they have no means of earning their livelihood honestly, and the only thing to be done was to keep them under unceasing surveillance, and to punish with severity on commission of crime.

11. “In 1884, Mr. Kennedy, the Magistrate of Gorakhpur, again applied himself to the task. Some of the Doms were collected in the city and employed as sweepers, taught brick-making, and made to work on the roads, and others were settled in larger or smaller groups in different villages, and received assignments of land, and up to date this scheme, supported by an annual grant of Rs. 1,500, is being carried on. Some Doms do regular work as sweepers; none of them have as yet acquired any handicraft, even the simple one of brick-making. No work can be got out of them except under incessant supervision. Their fields are cultivated only when some one is standing over them, and when assistance is rendered by other cultivators.

12. “Nevertheless, on a comparison of the earlier with the later reports, a certain advance is observable. The Doms no longer skulk in fields and forests. They are all settled in some village or another which they recognise as their home. Whereas formerly Doms said that they could not sleep under a roof because ghosts troubled them, they now take kindly enough to living in houses, and will complain, not of ghosts, but of the roof leaking. It is something to have restrained their wandering propensities to this extent, and to have given them some appreciation of a settled and civilised life.”

[Eastern Doms; tribal traditions.] 13. According to one story Mahâdeva and Pârvati invited all the castes to a feast. Supach Bhagat, the ancestor of the tribe, came late; and being very hungry ate the leavings of the others. Since that time they have been degraded, and eat the leavings of the other people.

14. Another legend connects them with Râja Râmchandra, in whose camp one of their ancestors committed theft; hence the deity cursed them with a life of begging and stealing.

15. A third legend tells that once upon a time the gods held a council for the distribution of the nectar among themselves. A demon came and stole some of the nectar and was detected by Vishnu, who severed his head from his body; but as the demon had eaten the nectar he had become immortal, the two pieces of his body became the demons, Râhu and Ketu, who periodically devour the moon and cause eclipses. As the Doms, who worship these demons are able to induce them to release the moon, pious people give alms to this caste at eclipses in order to secure their good offices to release the moon.

16. By another story Râmchandra once blessed Supach Bhagat, and said that if any one were cremated with fire, received from him or any of his descendants he would go straight to heaven. Since then the descendants of Supach Bhagat supply fire at cremation grounds.

17. Lastly, a story explains the hatred of the Magahiya Doms for Dhobis. Supach Bhagat once put up at the house of a Dhobi who, when he was drunk, fed his guest on the dung of his ass. Supach Bhagat cursed him and his kin for ever, and since that time no Dom will touch an ass or a Dhobi. In the Bihâr form of the legend, as told by Mr. Risley, Supach Bhagat had a quarrel with a Dhobi and killed and ate his ass. He subsequently cursed the Dhobi. Mr. Risley suggests that the legend may perhaps be a distorted version of some primitive taboo in which Dhobis and donkeys somehow played a part, but it is perhaps equally possible that the story may have been invented to explain why the general Hindu taboo against the Dhobi and his ass is followed by a caste so little scrupulous as the Doms.

[The Bânsphor Doms.] 18. The Bânsphor branch of the Eastern Doms forms the subject of a special article, and they need not be discussed more specially here.

[The Litta Doms.] 19. The Litta branch of the Doms are said to derive their name from some word which means “wanderer.” They may perhaps be connected with the Let sub-caste of the Bengal Bâgdis, who are probably akin to the Doms. These people have no home and live by begging.

[The Domra branch of the Eastern Doms.] 20. The term Domra or Domahra, which is applied to the whole tribe, is also apparently sometimes used in the more restricted sense as designating those Doms who supply fire at cremation grounds.

[The Jallâd or Hatyâra branch of the Eastern Doms.] 21. The term Jallâd, which is an Arabic term for “a public flogger,” and Hatyâra (Sans. hatya, “murder”) is more specially applied to those Doms who are employed in cities to kill ownerless dogs and to act as public executioners.

[The Dharkâr branch of the Eastern Doms.] 22. The Dharkâr branch of the Eastern Doms has been treated of in a separate article.

[The Harchanni branch of the Eastern Doms.] 23. The Harchanni branch of the Eastern Doms claim their name and descent from the celebrated Râja Harischandra who, as told in connection with the Bhangis, gave away all his wealth in charity and was reduced to become the slave of a Dom. In return for the kindness of his master the Râja converted the whole tribe to his religion, which they followed ever since.

[The tribal council of the Eastern Doms.] 24. Writing of the Magahiyas of Gorakhpur Mr. Kennedy says:—“All disputes are settled by the panchâyat, but the longest term of exclusion from the brotherhood is twelve years. During that period no companionship can be held with the outlaw even in a theft. Outlawry is, however, redeemable by a fine and feast. The abduction of a Domra girl by force and the introduction of foreign women into the camp are a frequent cause of panchâyats. I am told that murder of any human being or of a cow is also severely punished; but this is about the boundary line of Domra morality with regard to outsiders. Strangers are occasionally adopted by the Magahiyas. Two or three Chamârs, a Muhammadan, an Ahîr, and a Teli, who had turned Domras, were lately among the inmates of the jail. It is the women who chiefly attract these recruits.” Another frequent cause of meetings of the Domra council is interference with the begging beat of one camp. These beats are carefully recognised, and are sometimes given as a dowry at marriage. Any strange Domra who begs or steals in the beat of another is liable to excommunication, and the Domra of that beat will have no hesitation in giving up to the Police a stranger of the tribe who steals within his jurisdiction.

[Marriage rules.] 25. Among the Doms of Mirzapur the endogamous sub-castes have exogamous sections, some of which are territorial or titular, and some apparently totemistic; but no Dom can give even an approximately correct list of his sections. If he is asked all he says is,—“The Panch know.” This rule of exogamy is reinforced by the prohibition of marriage in the family of the maternal uncle, the father’s sister, or their own sisters, as long as there is any remembrance of relationship, which is usually about three or perhaps four generations. Polygamy is prohibited except the first wife be barren, in which case a man, with the previous sanction of the council, may take a second wife. But there seems no restriction in regard to concubinage. Sahây, the famous Dom executioner at Gorakhpur, used to keep four women. In Mirzapur if an unmarried girl is detected in an intrigue with a member of the tribe, her lover has to pay a fine of five rupees and a sheet to her father, and he then takes her over as his recognised wife with the sanction of the council. They practise adult marriage, the usual age for the marriage of a girl being eleven or twelve. The marriage is arranged by the Chharidâr or “wandsman,” who is the assistant of the Chaudhari or headman. The consent of the parents is said to be necessary, but runaway matches appear not to be uncommon. The bride-price among the settled Doms of Mirzapur is five rupees, five sers of treacle, a sheet, five lumps of tobacco, and five packets of betel leaf. The persons of both bride and bridegroom are carefully examined, and any physical defects which may subsequently appear are not sufficient grounds for annulling the marriage. After betrothal if the bride’s friends refuse to make her over they are obliged to refund the bride-price, and if the man fail to perform the engagement he is severely punished by the council. Divorce is allowed when habitual adultery is proved to the satisfaction of the council, but, as a rule, only the direct evidence of eye-witnesses is considered sufficient. Divorced women can marry again by the lower or Sagâi form. Bastard children follow the caste of the father; but a man who intrigues with a woman not a member of the tribe, if the union has not been recognised, must pay a fine of two-and-a-half rupees and give a feast of pork and rice to the clansmen. Widows can marry by the Sagâi form, and are generally married to widowers. The bridegroom has to make over eight rupees and one hundred cakes (pûri) to the father of the woman. He then gives a feast to the clansmen, in the course of which the relatives of the deceased husband come forward and claim the woman. Then the assembled clansmen direct the woman’s father to make over the compensation he has received to the relatives of her first husband. When this is done the man takes the woman home, puts red lead on the parting of her hair and palm leaf ornaments (tarki) in her ears. After he does this and feeds the clansmen on rice and pork the marriage is considered valid.

The levirate under the usual restrictions is admitted; but there is no fiction that the children of the levir are attributed to the deceased brother. Adoption is, of course, unusual; but if a man adopts, he generally adopts the son of his brother.

26. In Gorakhpur it appears that the bride-price is always spent on the marriage, and it is alleged that if either party after marriage become blind, crippled, or leprous, the marriage may be annulled.

[Eastern Doms: birth ceremonies.] 27. Among the Doms of Mirzapur the mother is attended by the Chamârin midwife and the ceremonies of purification common to the menial castes are performed. On the twelfth day after birth the hair of the baby is shaved to remove that last taint of the birth pollution. The child is named by the senior man in the family a year after birth. When a man’s children have died in succession the next baby is sold to some one for a nominal sum; and then is called Pachkauri, Chhakauri, “he that was sold for five or six cowries,” or by some other opprobrious epithet. In Gorakhpur the services of the Chamârin midwife are dispensed with on the sixth day.

The Barahi or twelfth-day ceremony is done on the tenth day. The mother and child are bathed; her hair is smeared with vermilion, and the relatives are feasted, then a little liquor is sprinkled over the woman, and after that she is considered pure.

28. Of the Magahiyas of Gorakhpur Mr. Kennedy writes:—“The birth of a Domra is always celebrated by a sacrifice to Gandak and Samaiya. Marriages are contracted when the boy is about ten years old. The matter is settled by a go-between. The boy’s father pays for the marriage feast and gives presents to the father of the girl; but the Magahiyas deny that there is any idea of purchase. No religious ceremony accompanies the marriage. A panchâyat is assembled, a feast held, and the girl henceforth resides with her father-in-law. A man is not restricted in the number of his wives, and concubinage is also permitted, but the concubine is held in somewhat less esteem than the wife. A woman is apparently allowed to leave her husband and transfer herself to another; but in that case she becomes a concubine. The panchâyat will not restore a wife who has decamped, but they will give back any property she took away. The frequent residence of the Magahiyas in jail often obliges women to transfer themselves to other husbands for support, and makes polygamy advantageous. Polyandry is unknown.”

[Marriage ceremonies: Eastern Doms.] 29. In Mirzapur the marriage is arranged by the sister’s husband of the boy’s father. The betrothal (barrekhi) is done in the usual way by the interchange of two leaf platters full of liquor, into one of which the boy’s father puts a couple of rupees, which he passes on to the representative of the bride. They have the ordinary matmangara ceremony, with the difference that the lucky earth brought from the village claypit is used for constructing a large fireplace with a single opening on which the women of the family cook a mess of rice and pulse, which is placed on a leaf mat in the place where the marriage is performed. This is an offering to the Manes, and the phrase used is pitr charhâna. The usual anointing of bride and bridegroom follows, which is begun by the two fathers, who sprinkle a little turmeric and oil on the ground and invoke the sainted dead to assist them in bringing the marriage to a successful conclusion. It is a peculiarity of the tribe that both men and women join in the marriage procession. No Brâhman is employed. The boy’s father repeats the names of his ancestors for five generations, and the father of the bride does the same for her. Then the pair are seated close together on a mat made of leaves. The husband of the sister of the bride’s father drops water on her hands and says:—”Bar kanya chiranjîva rahen”—“May the bride and bridegroom live long.” This is done five times. The prominent part taken by the sister’s husband is possibly a survival of the matriarchate. Then the garments of the pair are knotted together, and they walk round a branch of the cotton tree (semal), planted in the middle of the company, five times. After this the boy puts red lead on the parting of the bride’s hair, and this constitutes the binding part of the ceremony. They then go into a retiring room (kohabar) or behind some bushes close by, and there a good deal of coarse merriment goes on—an obvious survival of the habit of immediate consummation of the marriage. Besides this, the respectable form of marriage among the settled Doms, which is known as charhauwa, there is another form called gurâwat, where two persons exchange sisters, and a still lower form of the dola type, where the girl is merely taken by her father to the house of her husband and lives with him as his wife after a dinner has been given to the brethren. The temporary connections of women whose husbands are in jail with other men are also fully recognised. In addition to this almost any kind of runaway match is allowed; in fact it would be hard to say what form of sexual intercourse is not recognised as a marriage.

[Death ceremonies: Eastern Doms.] 30. “According to Dr. Wise it is universally believed in Bengal that Doms do not burn or bury their dead, but dismember the corpse at night, like the inhabitants of Tibet, placing the pieces in a pot and sinking them in the nearest river or reservoir. This horrid idea probably arose from the old Hindu law which compelled the Doms to bury their dead at night.” [348] This idea does not seem to prevail in these Provinces. The Doms appear to have no settled usage as regards the disposal of the corpse. Those who are fairly well off cremate the corpse, but unlike Hindus, take with them from the house the fire which is applied to the pyre. The poorer and vagrant Doms either bury, or sometimes cremate in a very rude and perfunctory way, or, when it is more convenient, throw the corpse into running water. Bodies of unmarried children are always thrown into a river or buried. The Magahiya Doms of Gorakhpur often leave the body in the jungle. Among the settled Doms of Mirzapur after a cremation they return to the house of the deceased, light a little oil in the courtyard and warm their feet in the smoke, the object apparently being to bar the return of the ghost. Some of them, once the corpse is burnt, do not take any trouble about the ashes, but leave them where the cremation took place. Others who are more scrupulous collect them on the third day and throw them into a neighbouring stream. Then they fix upon the bank a few blades of grass as a refuge for the wandering spirit, on which a little water is poured daily. Others lay out a little platter of food for the use of the departed during the days of mourning. On the tenth day they assemble at a tank, shave themselves, bathe, and offer three balls (pinda) of flour. At these ceremonies the sister’s husband of the chief mourner officiates as priest. This seems to be another survival of the matriarchate. The same rule applies in the Bihâr branch of the tribe:—“The son of a deceased man’s sister or of his female cousin officiates as priest at his funeral and recites appropriate texts (mantra), receiving a fee for his services when the inheritance comes to be divided. Some Doms, indeed, assured me that the sister’s son used formerly to get a share of the property, and that this rule had only recently fallen into disuse; but their statements did not seem to be definite enough to carry entire conviction, and I have met with no corroborative evidence bearing on the point. So also in marriage the sister’s son or occasionally the sister (suâsin) repeats mantras and acts generally as priest. Failing either of these the head of the household officiates. No other indications of an extinct custom of female kinship appear to exist, and the fact that in Western Bengal the eldest son gets an extra share on the division of an inheritance seems to show that kinship by males must have been in force for a very long time past.” [349]

[Religion: Eastern Doms.] 31. The religious practices of the tribe vary with the social status of the sub-castes, and there is no standard type of worship because they are not controlled by Brâhmans. Of the Magahiya Doms of Gorakhpur Mr. Kennedy writes:—“The Magahiya Domras have two special divinities of their own; the chief is Gandak, whose grave is to be found at Karmaini Garhi, two days’ journey to the east of Motihâri, in Bengal. According to their traditions Gandak was hanged for theft a long time ago, and when dying he promised always to help the Magahiyas in trouble. He is worshipped by the whole tribe and is invoked on all important occasions; but he is pre-eminently the patron god of thefts. A successful theft is always celebrated by a sacrifice and feast in his honour. They also worship Samaiya, a female divinity. She is without any special history, and there is no sharp distinction between her sphere and Gandak’s. Her functions apparently relate chiefly to birth and illness, etc.

32. “The Magahiyas sacrifice young pigs and wine with sugar and spices to these two deities. Every Magahiya is capable of performing the sacrifice, and the remains are divided among the company, when a vow is made to Samaiya, e.g., on the birth of a child or when it is teething, or on the occasion of an illness a special pig is chosen and devoted to her, and is sacrificed in the fulfilment of the vow. The Magahiyas have neither altars nor idols, nor do they erect any platform (chabûtra) for worship. A spot is cleared and plastered in the middle of a field, and the sacrifice is then offered.

33. “The Magahiyas naturally believe in ghosts and spirits. When a man dies, my informant told me, he turns into an evil spirit (shaitân). The godlings (deota) also, he added, were innumerable. In most villages of this district there is a special altar for all the local ghosts and deities, which may reside within the village boundaries, and the Magahiyas are always ready to share in the sacrifices of the villagers to them. They also reverence trees and platforms consecrated by Hindus in passing, but pay no further homage. They acknowledge the village Kâli and sometimes sacrifice to her; but the sacrifices do not differ from those of the Hindus. They do not acknowledge Mahâdeva or any other divinity, but they share the general Hindu belief in Parameswar, the giver and destroyer of life and the author of good and evil. He created the Magahiyas, they say, and ordered them to be filth and outcasts among the Hindus. They somehow resort to a Brâhman for the reading of the Vedas (katha). My informant had given a katha in this way on the last occasion of his release from jail. In these cases the Magahiyas go to the Brâhman’s house, but I could not find any other trace of special reverence for the Brâhmans, nor have they any necessity for them.”

34. In Mirzapur Doms of the better class worship Bhawâni, to whom at the Naurâtra of Chait they make an offering of hogs, cakes (pûri), gruel (lapsi), and wreaths of flowers. The Bhawâni, if appeased, keeps off illness from her votaries. They have a vague idea of an all-powerful deity, Parameswar, who punishes the guilty, and of a hell, but what it is and how sinners are punished they know not. The scavenger Doms, like the Jallâd, have a special female deity called Kukarmari, “the killer of dogs,” to whom a sacrifice of a young pig and some spirits is offered outside the village as a propitiation for the death of these animals. In the same way when a Dom hangman is tying the rope round the neck of a criminal, he shouts out Dohâi Mahârâni, Dohâi Sarkâr, Dohâi Judge Sâhib. “Help O great Queen! Help O Government! Help Mr. Judge!” in order to free himself from any guilt attaching to the death. They worship the collective local gods (deohâr) at marriages; but the wandering, vagrant habits of the tribe prevent them possessing any real respect for the village deities. Women have no worship special to themselves. On the last day of the first fortnight of Kuâr they make ten lumps (pinda) of flour and throw them into a river, and when they come home they put some cakes and sweetened rice on a leaf-platter, and lay it in a field to propitiate the dead. Some fast on Sunday in the name of the Sun god Sûraj Nârâyan, but these practises prevail only among the more Hinduised Doms in the neighbourhood of towns.

35. In Gorakhpur, besides the worship described above, they also venerate their Guru who is said to have had his head-quarters at Bhojpur, in the Ballia District, and to his shrine they make occasional pilgrimages and make an offering of a pig at least four years old, wine, and flowers. To a goddess named Juthaiya Bhawâni, of whose functions they can give no account, they offer a young pig and some red lead, with a lock of their hair, a forehead spangle, and a cake of flour boiled with pulse.

[Demonology.] 36. Their demonology is much of the usual type common to the lower castes by whom they are surrounded. They believe that trees are inhabited by evil spirits, and unless they bow down to trees of this kind, their ghosts revenge themselves by bringing disease and death upon them. To such malignant ghosts they offer a young pig, which is eaten by the worshippers. In Mirzapur the chief Dom festivals are the Kajari and Phagua or Holi. At the Kajari in the month of Sâwan they get drunk, dance, and sing. It is the regular woman’s saturnalia, and on this occasion gross sexual license is tolerated. At the Phagua or Holi the same is the case. In Gorakhpur, besides the Holi, they observe the Jiutiya on the eighth of the dark half of Kuâr, and the Khichari on the day the sun enters the sign of Makar. On the Jiutiya the women fast in order to ensure long life to their husbands, and the Khichari they beg boiled rice and pulse from door to door.

37. The Eastern Doms are particularly afraid of the ghosts of drowned people who are called Bûrna (bûrna “to be drowned”). These malignant ghosts drag under the water and drown boys who bathe in tanks and rivers infested by them. [350] Fields are in charge of Mari Masân, the deity which haunts cremation grounds, and Kukarmari, the dog goddess, already mentioned. They are ever in dread of the ghosts of the dead, which torment them in dreams if not propitiated with an annual sacrifice. If neglected they appear in their original shapes and demand a sacrifice. Women are tattooed on the arms, wrists, breasts, and cheeks. If a woman not tattooed attempt to enter heaven the gate-keeper of Parameswar pitches her down to the earth again. They have the usual omens of meeting. Many of their women, as in the case of all solitary and uncanny races such as they are, are said to practise witchcraft. One way such persons acquire influence over a man is by throwing a cowry shell at him. They believe firmly in the Evil Eye. When children have been overlooked and pine away, the cure is to wave some garlic and pepper pods round the child’s head on a Tuesday or Sunday, and then to throw them into the fire. The evil influence is supposed to pass away with the filthy smoke.

[Occupations and social position of the Eastern Doms.] 38. The occupation and social position of the Eastern Doms differ much according to the sub-castes. One duty of the ordinary Dom is to supply fire for cremation. Mr. Sherring [351] describes the custom at Benares as follows:—“On the arrival of the dead body at the place of cremation, which in Benares is at the base of one of the steep stairs (ghât) called the Burning Ghât, leading down from the streets above to the bed of the River Ganges, the Dom supplies five logs of wood, which he lays in order upon the ground, the rest of the wood being given by the family of the deceased. When the pile is ready for burning, a handful of lighted fire is brought by the Dom, and applied by one of the chief members of the family to the wood. The Dom is the only person who can furnish the light for this purpose; and if, from any circumstance, the services of one cannot be obtained, great delay and inconvenience are apt to occur. The Dom exacts his fee for three things, namely, first, for the five logs, secondly, for the bunch of straw, and thirdly, for the light.” There is no fixed fee, and as the Dom naturally makes the best of his position and raises his demands according to the position and wealth of his customers, this class of Dom, who is known as Kâshiwâla or “he of Benares,” has a bad reputation for insolence and extortion.

39. From his business and environment the Dom is, of course, regarded by all respectable Hindus with contempt, fear, and abhorrence. No one will touch food or water from his hands. The Magahiya Dom of Gorakhpur will eat anything except the flesh of the monkey, serpent, and lizard. Mr. Kennedy says that they eat most things, including carrion; but certain animals, beasts of prey, cats, and dogs, etc., they will not eat. In Mirzapur I have seen them squabbling over the carcass of a dead horse in an obvious condition of advanced decomposition. They are always on the look out for tiger flesh, but they say that they stew it down more than once, as it is very heating. They will, as already stated, refuse the leavings of a Dhobi, and to this the more settled Doms of Mirzapur add those of the Hela, Musahar, and Chamâr. Doms who have adopted more cleanly occupations than their vagrant and scavenger brethren, such as basket-making, are naturally becoming more Hinduised and more careful in matters of diet. Those Doms who have settled down, like the Bânsphor and the Dharkâr, to working in cane, and the Jallâd to scavenging and acting as public executioners, are fairly respectable, industrious people. Those who work in cane use a peculiar curved knife known as bânki. They make fans (bena), baskets (dauri), boxes (petâra), scales (tarâzu), winnowing fans (sûp), lampstands (dîwat), irrigation baskets (dala), and betel boxes (belhara). These workers in cane are known in cities by the Persian title of Bedbâf [352] (Pers. bed, “cane;” bâftan, “to weave”). They split the cane into eight strips (târ), with an instrument (taraunthi) like a lemon-slicer. The outside cuttings he sells to bakers for making the mould (sâncha) used for applying cakes to the walls of the ovens. The Bedbâf weaves the backs and seats of chairs and makes baskets, etc. The Bânsphor makes baskets, but works only in bamboo. He splits the bamboo into strips (patta), which are soaked and woven into baskets. The allied people known as Kori Chhapparband make door-screens (chiq, tatti) and thatches (chhappar). They work in bamboos and the reed grass known as sentha (saccharum sara). The Parchhatti and Gudariya make stools (mondha), and the Dharkâr fine furniture, fine door-screens, baskets, fans, etc., from bamboo, but he works in bamboo and they in reed.

40. Of the Gorakhpur Magahiyas Mr. Kennedy writes:—“They eat cow’s flesh readily, but they will not kill the cow. They also offer milk, like Hindus, to snakes at the Nâgpanchami, but have no reverence for tigers or other animals. They express some reverence for the great rivers, Ganga and Nârâyani, etc. This, I think, nearly marks the extent to which they have been Hinduised. The pîpal is the only sacred tree, and no Magahiya will pluck its leaves. They hold this superstition so firmly that I suspect it is aboriginal. No reverence is paid to the banyan or any other sacred Hindu tree or plant. They have a special superstition about iron, and will not use it for certain purposes. A Magahiya who commits burglary with an iron instrument will not only be excluded from the brotherhood, but his eyes will some day start out of his head. Their most solemn oath is celebrated after the following fashion: A piece of ground is cleared and plastered as if for sacrifice. A piece of iron, a dish of water, some leaves of the pîpal, and a particular kind of Tarâi grass with some lighted charcoal are all put separately on the ground. On the top a pice is placed, and the oath is taken over it. An oath by the Dhobi is also particularly binding.”

Other oaths of the Eastern Doms are on the altar of the deities they worship, on a pîpal leaf, on a knife stuck in the ground, with the fingers of the right hand resting on a vessel full of spirits, or with some cow-dung fixed on the horn of a dead cow. They use none of the ordinary forms of salutation, but simply join their hands as a mark of respect.

[The Doms of the Himalayas.] 41. The Doms of Kumâun have been thought to be akin to the aboriginal Râjis; but the latter repudiate the idea and profess the very greatest contempt for the Doms; so that if one of that class enter the dwelling of a Râji, the place must be purified with water brought from twenty-two different sources. They are supposed to be the relics of the original inhabitants of the country, corresponding to the Dhiyar or ore-smelters of Jammu, the Bâtal of the Kashmîr Valley, the Bem of Ladâkh, the Newâr of Nepâl. In Garhwâl they appear to have been enslaved by the immigrant Khasiyas. Under the name of Dûm they are described in Jammu [353] as “dark in colour, small in limb, and their countenance is of a much lower type than that of the Dogras generally, though one sees exceptions, due no doubt to an admixture of blood, for, curiously, the separation of them from the daily life of the others does not prevent an occasional intercourse that tends in some degree to assimilate the races.” In the Himalayan Districts of these Provinces the Dom has been recognised as a descendant of the Dasyus of the Veda, who are supposed to have held Upper India before the advent of the Nâga or Khasa race.