Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s6.6.4

c48.s6.6.4

One of the most civilised tribes of this group is the Kharvār, to which belong more than one of the local Chiefs who have been accepted as equals by Rājputs, on payment, however, of unusually heavy dowries. The Kharvār appear to be without traditions of immigration from further than the south east of the Cutiā Nāgpur table-land, from which they spread northwards and down into south Bihār. Here their rank seems to depend much upon their connection with the land. Those who hold large estates claim to be Rājputs, and the middle classes employ S'akadvīpī Brāhmans and retain only the more important of their tribal ceremonies. Even amongst these classes the influence of the Baigā, or tribal priest, is by no means extinct. Indeed, the reputation of the tribe for supernatural powers is such that a section bears the name of Baigā, and is so returned in the Central Provinces and Baghelkhaṇḍ, from which it may be inferred that the Kharvār is regarded by its neighbours in that direction as being of an older stock than themselves. On the other hand, sections of the Kharvār now employ a priest of the Korvā, or even a lower tribe. The respect shown by the Kharvār for the Khar grass, which they say they take their name, seems to indicate that they were once a totemistic branch of a larger community, but no traces of this have been ascertained, and the tribe holds itself to be superior to all around it, except, perhaps the Cēru.