Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s5.t1: § 74. Mat and Basket Makers
Indische Paläographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s5.t1
- Language
- German
Contents
- c48.s5.t1.6 — 4 parts
- c48.s5.t1.7 — 6 parts
§ 74. Mat and Basket Makers
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These callings, as just mentioned, are often, if not usually, the cover for less reputable means of livelihood, amongst which fortune-telling is one of the more respectable. Most of them admit recruits from higher castes, a form of accretion which generally arises from illicit connections with women of the caste, some of whom appear to be specially attractive even to those far above them in rank. Thus all the larger bodies are much subdivided, and the general tie between the communities is very loose. The Kanjar, for instance, of upper India, has a section which has never emerged from the jungle or hunting stage, whilst others never go far from the villages, and make their living by the manufacture of weavers' brushes, winnowing fans and the reed-mats used for their own tents and the tilts of the peasants' waggons during the rains. They also cut querns like the Khūmrā, and make leaf-platters like the Bārī, and stretch the skins of small animals for drums. They are said to reserve a certain number of their girls for marriage within the community and to prostitute the rest. As a rule, they haunt the Jamnā valley and the east Panjāb, but gangs are found to the south, whither they penetrated by way of Central India, and enjoy a reputation even worse than in the north. As in all castes of this description, the women enjoy a position of much authority, owing, it is said, to the frequent absence of their husbands in the seclusion of the district Jail. If the incarceration be for a long period, a temporary connection with another member of the caste is formed to bridge the interval. Most of the castes are Brāhmanist of a low type, worshipping the local goddesses, and not troubling the Brāhman. In the south, the great gipsy tribes are the Koraca, Korava or Kuṛavan and the Yerukala. These used to be considered identical, and no doubt they come from the same Telugu stock. They are now separate, however, in both customs and intercourse. Of the two, the Yerukala, of Telingāna, are the more respectable, though the difference is not great. They have considerable repute as fortune-tellers in addition to their skill at reed and cane work, but their habit of travelling with a considerable herd of pack-animals and sometimes pigs, like the Kanjar, renders them unwelcome visitors in the neighbourhood of the village crops, which suffer from their depredations. One of the larger subdivisions of the Koraca derives its title from the carriage of salt from the coast, and still travels to some extent in that line. They are superior to the northern tribes in regard to the chastity of their women, so far as outsiders are concerned, though their facilities for divorce inside their own body have on several occasions been brought to the notice of the Civil Courts of the Madras Presidency. The Thōrī of Gujarāt are few in number and probably allied to the Vāghrī, a hunting tribe from the north. They make and sell bedsteads and mat-work, and live about in small tents, like the Koraca, using the ass as their means of transport. The Kaikāḍī are probably a north Dekkan branch of the Koraca.
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§ 75. **Mimes etc.** (48,000). Owing to the subdivisions of these castes and the uncertainty as to their origin the figures obtained from the Census are probably far from accurate. The Bahurūpiyā, for instance, or the caste of many faces, is merely a functional body in the Panjab, and the caste going by that title is a division of the Mahtam, a hunting caste, which is said to have got the name from the variety of the ways in which it picks up its living. In the Ganges valley, on the other hand, the Bahurūpiyā is a sub-caste of the Banjārā, and takes brides from the Naṭ, another gipsy tribe, but gives none in return. The Mahtam too, are connected with the Labāṇā of the Panjāb, so it is not unlikely that the Bahurūpiyā are really of the latter blood. This caste stands much higher than the Bhāṇḍ, or Buffoon, who plies his trade about the mansions of the great, like the jesters of old, and with even greater freedom of speech. Indeed, the ill-temper of the Bhāṇḍ is proverbial, mainly because of the peculiarly offensive manner in which he gives vent to it. In the Panjāb the caste is recruited largely from the Mīrāsī, whose name is sometimes retained as well as that of the trade. The Bhavaīō of Gujarāt, is an acting caste, and performs comedies at weddings or other festivals before any village audience subscribing for it. The company is often attached to the village, as part of the establishment. They have the tradition of having once held a higher position in the north, but are now a purely local institution, and owing to confusion of nomenclature, perhaps, their full strength has not been recorded. The Gōndhaḷī of the Marāṭhā country is an itinerant ballad-singer, and dances a special set of figures in honour of a goddess at weddings and private entertainments.
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§ 76. **Drummers** (206,200). The ceremonial drummer of a village or temple has been referred to as usually belonging to one of the resident low castes, and is generally upon the village staff. There are others, however, who are more strictly professional upon this instrument, and wander about for their living. The Dafālī, for instance, and the Nagarcī, of the Ganges valley, are Muslim, with a sort of religious flavour about their performances. The former expel spirits as well as extorting alms. The Dhōlī of Rājputāna, like the Bajānīā of Gujarāt, are Brahmanist functional
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castes, recruited from the village menial and scavenging classes. The Turāhā blow horns and are only found in Bengal.
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**§ 77. Jugglers and Acrobats etc.** (235,800). There are numerous bodies of jugglers, tumblers, snake-charmers and the like, each with a different name, but all connected, at least in upper India, under the general title of Naṭ or Bāzīgar. It is difficult to say how far the former is the designation of a caste or of a function. In the Panjāb, for instance, Naṭ is usually held to be a caste, and Bāzīgar the branch of it which takes to juggling and tumbling. In the Gangetic region, again, the Bāzīgar is a subdivision of the Naṭ, like Badī, Sāpērā, Kabūtarā, denoting different performances. Then, in Bengal, the Naṭ or Nār is a caste of trained musicians and dancers of much higher position and accomplishments, and quite distinct from the nomad of the same name. Further to the south, there are the Dombar or Dommara, of the Telugu country, who are identical with the Kōlhāṭī of the Dekkan, both sharing the occupations and traditions of the Naṭ of the north. In addition to their acrobatic and similar performances, the greater portion of these communities live by the manufacture of horn articles, by hunting the wild pig and by prostituting their women. They hold themselves above the Dōm and village tanner, but almost invariably feed on vermin or carrion. Except in the Panjāb, their appearance is that of the dark races of the Central Belt, and, indeed, a good many of the clans say that their original home was amongst the Gōṇḍ tribes of the eastern parts of the Central Provinces. There are, necessarily, different grades amongst them and the distinctions are strictly maintained, but most will admit members of higher castes upon payment of a caste-feast or other means of establishing a footing. They are not by any means all criminal, though most are credited with the propensity to break into houses and steal fowls and cattle when the opportunity occurs. The small section of the Gōpāl, for instance, of the Dekkan, is a notorious cattle-lifter. In some of the sub-castes of Naṭ only the men perform. In others the women are kept for the tribe, and do not prostitute themselves to outsiders. This, however, is exceptional. In one of the sections, the women are experts in tattooing, and act as professionals in this art for other castes, as the Koraca do in the south. About three fourths of the Naṭ are Brāhmanists of a low type, with their own special deities and forms of worship. Occasionally they obtain the good offices of Brāhmans, if only to fix the lucky day for their ceremonies. Their jungle origin is indicated in a good many cases by their knowledge of roots and herbs as medicines, together with their possession of secret preparations of repute as aphrodisiacs, love-philters and the means of procuring abortion, for all of which there is a certain and constant demand amongst the better classes.
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**§ 78. Thieves** (133,500). Along with the above may be taken the castes which have little or no means of livelihood except stealing. In some cases this general condemnation must be qualified, as the same caste may be criminal in one locality but innocent in another. The Bāvariyā, for instance, is simply a fowling caste in the Panjāb, where it is most numerous in that capacity; but the Bāvarī or Bāgariyā of Central India and the north Dekkan, where it has several sub-titles, is always under the eye of the police during its travels. The Bēḍiyā, again, bears a very bad character along the Jamnā and in Oudh, but has quite respectable sub-castes in Bengal, where many have accepted Islām. Another sub-caste, however, the Māl, is closely connected with the Kōl race, and is credited, indeed, with the parentage of the whole Bēḍiyā community. In upper India that relationship is obscured if not contradicted by the affinity of all these castes, such as the Bēḍiyā, Habūrā and the like, with the Saṅsiyā, the thief par excellence, of the north. The exploits of the last-named community have given it a celebrity which is not justified by its numerical strength, though owing to its subdivisions it is difficult to ascertain the latter. The Saṅsiyā stands in curious relationship to the Jāṭ tribe, each family of which has its Saṅsī genealogist. When a question arises in connection with pedigree it is said that the word of the Saṅsī is accepted in preference to that of the Mīrāsī.
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It is not easy to trace the origin of this parasitic attachment of the degraded caste to the undoubtedly pure and foreign body, especially as this is the only function of the Saṅsiyā which does not bring the caste into unfriendly contact with the police. The women, no doubt, sell roots and herbs, but their object in so doing is said to be merely to get access to the inside of the domicile, and thus obtain information conducive to burglary by their husbands. In contradistinction to the practice of the Naṭ, the Saṅsiyā women are said to be chaste in their relations with outsiders, like the European gipsies, and very staunch in their defence of their male relatives when trouble is imminent. They thus enjoy much influence in the tribal councils, and, owing to the natural timidity of the caste in applying for the protection of the law, these councils practically regulate all the affairs and disputes of the community. It is hardly necessary to say that their religion is of the most simple, and that they feel bound to call in outside spiritual aid only in cases where the ghost or demon of the locality has caused serious illness or bad luck. A few of them have been converted to Islām, but one large section asserts its Rājput origin and keeps aloof from the rest of the tribe.
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On the other hand, it has been found advisable to form a subdivision to meet the case of the half-breeds, sprung from outsiders who have been admitted into Saṅsiship, generally owing to devotion to a girl of the tribe. The small caste of the Habūrā, along the upper Ganges and Jamnā, is allied to the so-called Rājput section of the Saṅsiyā, and keeps up regular Rājput sept divisions. It resembles the parent tribe in its care of the women and disregard of the rights of property, but it seems to be rather more Brāhmanised in its customs and is less given to crimes of violence. In the thieves' latin of all these criminal tribes of the north, it is interesting to trace the strong element of corrupt Gujarātī found throughout, and the same feature is noticeable in the slang of the north Dekkan tribes of this class, as if the western Vindhya had been the nucleus of errant criminality among the Kōl races. In the Dekkan itself and the Karnatic, the only tribes of this class are the small communities of Bhāmṭiyā, Uclī or Ganṭicōr, habitual pilferers, but not further advanced in crime. They are settled in some strength in Poona and its neighbourhood, where their calling has proved so lucrative that several have become large landholders. The railway has been the making of them, as they travel in disguise over the length and breadth of the country, cutting purses and slitting up bundles and carpet bags on their way.
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They are of Teliṅgāna origin, and still keep up their worship of Yellama, the Earth-goddess, of their home. The Sanaurhiyā, another travelling fraternity of the same pursuits, do not appear in the Census returns, since they return themselves as Sanādh Brāhmans. They are a composite community recruited from all sorts of castes, but now bound together by the usual caste regulations, including one prohibiting all crimes of violence. Their head-quarters are in Bundēlkhaṇḍ, but they are mostly on the move in disguise, with a few of their more wealthy members established in the chief towns to act as receivers of the goods obtained on the journey. Herein they differ from the Saṅsiyā, who will not venture into the town, but concert a meeting in the open field with a Sōnār or other respectable member of society, with whom the bargain is made, and the goods delivered accordingly.
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§ 79. **Hunters and Fowlers** (977,600). This is a group which in one direction is merged in that of the lower cultivators and field-labourers, and in the other undoubtedly tends towards that of the petty criminal. The same caste may have a branch in one province entirely devoted to settled village life, whilst in another part of the country it is still in the jungle or nomadic stage. So far as upper India is concerned, there seems reason to think that most of the hunting castes of the present day take their origin amongst the dark race of the western Vindhya. Their own traditions point, as a rule, to north Rājputāna as their native country, but as the south is approached, the hills of Mālva and the west assert their influence, and relationship to the Bhīl or other Kōl tribe is claimed. Several of the tribes take their name from some implement of their trade, usually the net or noose, as in the case of the Vāghrī, Valaiyan and Bāvariyā, and the Phāṅsī-Pārdhī, of the west, without any indication of their parentage. The Bāvariyā is a particularly varied community. It has all the appearance of Kōl descent, even in the Panjāb, where it has long been established. Here the caste is said to have come from Mēvāḍ and Ajmer. It is subdivided into three sections, only one of which still gets its living by the noose. Of the rest, one has taken to cultivation, and the other to vagrancy and petty crime.
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They are all by heredity good trackers, and though foul in their diet, not badly looked upon by their neighbours when they are settled. Along the Jamnā, however, their character deteriorates, or more correctly perhaps, has not yet risen to the level it reaches further from its native haunts. It is, however, fairly well Brāhmanised, though it keeps to its own worship. The higher castes are, as usual, admitted on payment of the cost of a feast, or even by eating with the members of the tribe. One of the subdivisions, the Mōghiyā, is often considered a separate caste, but it seems to be no more than the Central Indian variety of the main body. The Bāvariyā of the eastern parts of the upper Ganges valley are apparently quite distinct. They assert Rājput origin and came from Baisvāra, and employ the Pāṇṛē Brāhman of their former residence. In spite of their dark complexion and non-Āryan appearance generally they are not connected by their neighbours with any of the local hill-tribes, and are received on terms of equality by the peasantry and others. The Ahēṛiyā, a tribe found both in the Panjāb and along the Jamnā, is similarly divided. In the north they are hunters and reed-workers and occasionally settle down to life in connection with, but outside, the village community, without any suspicion of criminal tendencies. Along the Jamnā, however, their reputation is that of potential burglars under the guise of mat-makers and collectors of jungle produce.
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They were formerly renowned for the well-planned gang-robberies they effected at long distances from their homes, and like the Bhīls, for the expedition with which a large body could be got together from many different quarters, and melt away imperceptibly as soon as its purpose was served. In the present day, they use the railway, and organise expeditions far away in Bengal and the Panjāb. The caste is peculiar in having no subdivisions, endogamous or exogamous, and the conversion of one of its members to Islām makes no difference in his social position. The Bahēliyā is another example of the same name being borne by separate communities. In Bengal, the caste is said to be akin to the Bēdiyā, mentioned above, and is almost exclusively occupied in hunting and fowling. In Bihār, the Bahēliyā, or Bhūlā, is called a sub-caste of the Dōsādh, but will not hold social intercourse with the latter. In the Ganges valley, again, this caste is said to belong to the Pāsī, whilst in the west, it is affiliated to the Bhīl, and is claimed as kin by the Ahēriyā. In spite of their occupation of fowling, they are not amongst the impure, and though unattached to most of the ordinary Brāhmanic forms of worship, they observe the orthodox festivals and employ the village Brāhman for their own sacrifices. Comparatively few of them are Muslim. So many are now resident in villages that they are no longer to be counted amongst the nomad tribes.
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The same may be said of the Mahtam, a hunting caste of the Panjāb, chiefly found in the Satlaj valley. Only a section of them still live by their traditional use of the noose, and the others are settled cultivators and labourers, with a good reputation for industry and quiet behaviour. Portions of both sections have changed their religion to Islam or the Sikh creed, but preserve withal much of their original habits. There is another community of the same name in the submontane tract of the Panjāb, which seems to be a branch of the Banjarā or Labaṇā caste, and to have made its way from the east, whereas the hunting Mahtam reached the Satlaj from Rājputāna. There is thus no connection between the two. One other caste of the Vindhya belongs to this group, namely the Sahariyā, of Bundēlkhaṇḍ and the neighbourhood. It is said to derive its title from the Savara, a name now reserved to a tribe of the south Orissa hills, but applied by Sanskrit writers to any of the Dasyu tribes of the Central Belt. Beyond a common darkness of colour and similarity in feature, there is no link between the two traceable in the present day. The Sahariyā do not wander about the country more than is necessary to give them a good supply of the jungle produce which they live by selling, and their criminality is confined to petty thefts and an occasional gang-robbery. The caste seems to be subdivided on totemistic lines into a number of exogamous sections.
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They profess Brāhmanism, but worship chiefly their local demons without the intervention of Brāhmans. There is no tradition amongst them of having immigrated from any other part of the country. The other side of the Vindhya presents but few hunting tribes, and those mostly of northern origin. The Vāghrī of Gujarāt, who are apparently the Bāghrī of Central India, say that they are kinsfolk of the Sañsiya of the Panjāb, and came from north Rājputāna. They are now, however, naturalised in the west. In that part of the country they are subdivided according to function, and, where they are numerous, according to geographical sections which do not intermarry. They are still great hunters and bird-snarers. In the latter capacity, they have struck out a new and lucrative line of business with the Jain and other Vāniā, who set a very high value upon animal life. The Vāghrī makes his catch of birds, takes them in cages to the house of the trader, and there offers to kill them or let them be ransomed, knowing that the merit to be acquired by the latter process will outweigh the cost in the mind of the orthodox. They also keep fowls, and rent fruit and other productive trees by the year, selling the crop. Most of them wander during the fair season, but a good many have settled down near villages. They have their own priests or clan-elders (Bhūvā), who perform their ceremonies and regulate the caste generally.
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The Vāghrī, though not quite in the ranks of the criminal castes, has a bad reputation among villagers for theft. In the north Dekkan, indeed, this caste is credited with a good deal of the crime against property, but it is not certain that the sub-castes which operate in that region are not from Central India. Linguistic evidence seems to indicate a Gujarātī origin, but, as stated above, this peculiarity is found in the dialects of tribes far separated from that province. The Phānsī-Pārdhī, however, or snarers of bird and beast, seem to be really a branch of the Vāghrī who have made their home in the Marāṭhā country, where they are occasionally found in the capacity of village watchmen.
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§ 80. It can be easily inferred from what has been set forth in the course of this survey that the importance in the ethnology of India of the pre-Āryan inhabitants can scarcely be overrated. There is, on the one hand, the gradual extension among them of the foreign forms of speech; on the other, the assimilation of their forms of belief into the religious system of those who have dispossessed them of their territory and position. In the preceding portion of this work, too, instances are given over and over
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Up to a certain point all the hunting castes in the Dekkan assert their origin to have bèen in the north. After that, the corresponding castes claim to have come up from the south. The Bēraḍ or Bēḍar have been classed with the watchmen, and so have the Tamil castes now so engaged; but there seems reason to think that all these castes are connected in some way or another with the Vēḍan, Valaiyan, Vēṭṭuvan and similar bodies, the majority of which belong to the hunting or fowling order. What the connection really is has not yet been ascertained. There is, however, a sub-caste of Ambalakkāran bearing the name of Vēḍan, and the whole body claims to be descended from a Vēḍan, and the Valaiyan say that this same hero was the founder of their caste also. The Vēṭṭuvan hold their heads higher, and add the title Vellāḷan to their caste-name, saying that they were imported by the Kongu Chiefs to assist them in the conquest of Kērala. The Vēḍan say they were originally natives of Ceylon, and the Vēṭṭuvan worship Kaṇḍi-amman, the goddess of Kandy, as well as their seven Kannimar, or tribal deities, worshipped also by the Īrula, a more primitive tribe. The Vēṭṭuvan of the interior, again, are distinct from the caste in Malabar bearing the same title. Another small hunting caste in Malabar is the Kuṟiccan, confined chiefly to the Vaināḍ. The former stand higher than the latter, though both are jungle-haunters. The Kuṟiccan, too, have the same abhorrence of contact with the Brāhman that the Paṟaiyan have, and worship a tribal god of their own. It would seem, therefore, that except in the west, these castes are more settled and likely to rise in position than any of those found in the north, and that the members or families which continue to follow the traditional occupation are being gradually relegated to sub-castes below the general level of the rest.