The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India Volume II Part 56

[464] The above is an abridgment of the description in Mr. Trench's _Monograph_, to which reference may be made for further details.

[465] _Monograph on the Leather Industries_, pp. 10, 11.

[466] _Melia indica._

[467] _Berar Census Report_ (1881), p. 149.

[468] _Rasmala_, i. 395, quoting from the _Ain-i-Akbari_.

[469] From papers by Mr. Parmeshwar Misra, Settlement Superintendent, Rairakhol, and Mr. Rasanand, Sireshtedar, Bamra.

[470] _Tribes and Castes of Bengal_, art. Chasa.

[471] This article is based princ.i.p.ally on notes taken by Mr. Hira Lal at Bhatgaon.

[472] _Bombay Gazetteer_, _Hindus of Gujarat_, p. 178.

[473] A corruption for Viswakarma, the divine artificer and architect.

[474] The story, however, really belongs to northern India. Usha is the G.o.ddess of dawn.

[475] Krishna's mother.

[476] Little white flowers like jasmine. This simile would be unlikely to occur to the ordinary observer who sees a Hindu child crying.

[477] _Tori balayan leun._ For explanation see above.

[478] Commencement of the agricultural year.

[479] This article is partly based on a paper by Mr. Bijai Bahadur, Naib-Tahsildar, Balaghat.

[480] _Bombay Ethnographic Survey_, draft article on Chitrakathi.

[481] May-June. The Akhatij is the beginning of the agricultural year.

[482] _Berar Census Report_ (1881), paragraph 206. The pa.s.sage is slightly altered and abridged in reproduction.

[483] Vol. ix. part. ii. _Muhammadans of Gujarat_, p. 57.

[484] _Rajasthan_, ii. p. 292.

[485] _Bombay Gazetteer, l.c._

[486] In recording this point Mr. Faridi gives the following note: "In 1847 a case occurred which shows how firmly the Memans cling to their original tribal customs. The widow of Haji Nur Muhammad of the Lakariya family demanded a share of her deceased husband's property according to Muhammadan law. The _jama-at_ or community decided that a widow had no claim to share her husband's estates under the Hindu law. Before the High Court, in spite of the ridicule of other Sunnis, the elders of the Cutchi Memans declared that their caste rules denied the widow's claim. The matter caused and is still (1896) causing agitation, as the doctors of the Sunni law at Mecca have decided that as the law of inheritance is laid down by the holy Koran, a wilful departure from it is little short of apostasy. The Memans are contemplating a change, but so far they have not found themselves able to depart from their tribal practices."

[487] This article is based on papers by Mr. Vithal Rao, Naib-Tahsildar, Bilaspur, and Messrs. Kanhya Lal and Pyare Lal Misra of the Gazetteer office.

[488] Crooke, _Tribes and Castes_, art. Kol.

[489] _Aegle Marmelos._

[490] _Butea frondosa._

[491] _Nag_, a cobra.

[492] Kept woman, a term applied to a widow.

[493] Moor's _Hindu Infanticide_, p. 133.

[494] James Forbes, _Oriental Memoirs_, i. p. 313.

[495] Rajendra Lal Mitra, _Indo-Aryans_, i. p. 263.

[496] _Journal of Indian Art and Industry_, xvi., April 1912, p. 3.

[497] Dr. Jevons, _Introduction to the History of Religion_, p. 60.

[498] _Private Life of an Eastern King_, p. 294.

[499] _Hobson-Jobson, s.v._ 'Roundel.'

[500] Old English ma.n.u.script quoted by Sir R. Temple in _Ind. Ant._ (December 1904), p. 316.

[501] _Hobson-Jobson, s.v._ 'Kittysol.'

[502] _Hobson-Jobson, s.v._ 'Roundel.'

[503] _Hobson-Jobson, ibidem._

[504] W. W. Skeat, _The Past at our Doors_.

[505] Skeat, _ibidem_, p. 95.

[506] This article is compiled from papers by Mr. Bahmanji Muncherji, Extra a.s.sistant Commissioner; Mr. Jeorakhan Lal, Deputy Inspector of Schools, and Pandit Pyare Lal Misra, ethnographic clerk. The historical notice is mainly supplied by Mr. Hira Lal.

[507] Tod's _Rajasthan_, i. p. 128.

[508] This article is based on notes taken by Pandit Pyare Lal Misra in Wardha, and Mr. Hira Lal in Bhandara.

[509] _Proper Names of the Punjabis_, p. 74.

[510] _Punjab Census Report_ (1881), para. 645.

[511] Crooke's _Tribes and Castes_, art. Darzi.

[512] Buchanan's _Eastern India_, Martin's edition, ii. pp. 417, 699.

[513] _Ibidem_, p. 977.