The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India Volume III Part 29

Julaha

Julaha, Momin.--A low Muhammadan caste of weavers resident mainly in Saugor and Burhanpur. They numbered about 4000 persons in 1911. In Nagpur District the Muhammadan weavers generally call themselves Momin, a word meaning 'orthodox.' In northern India and Bengal Julahas are very numerous and the bulk of them are probably converted Hindus. Mr. (Sir Denzil) Ibbetson remarks: "We find Koli-Julahas, Chamar-Julahas, Morhi-Julahas, Ramdasi-Julahas, and so forth; and it is probable that after a few generations these men will drop the prefix which denotes their low origin and become Julahas pure and simple." [228] The Julahas claim Adam as the founder of their craft, inasmuch as when Satan made him realise his nakedness he taught the art of weaving to his sons. And they say that their ancestors came from Arabia. In Nimar the Julahas or Momins a.s.sert that they do not permit outsiders to be admitted as members of the caste, but the accuracy of this is doubtful, while in Saugor any Muhammadan who wishes to do so may become a Julaha. They follow the Muhammadan laws of marriage and inheritance. Unions between relatives are favoured, but a man may not marry his sister, niece, aunt or foster-sister. The Julaha or Momin women observe no purda, and are said to be almost unique among Muhammadans in this respect.

"The Musalman [229] weaver or Julaha," Sir G. Grierson writes, "is the proverbial fool of Hindu stories and proverbs. He swims in the moonlight across fields of flowering linseed, thinking the blue colour to be caused by water. He hears his family priest reading the Koran, and bursts into tears to the gratification of the reader. When pressed to tell what part affected him most, he says it was not that, but that the wagging beard of the old gentleman so much reminded him of a favourite goat of his which had died. When forming one of a company of twelve he tries to count them and finding himself missing wants to perform his own funeral obsequies. He finds the rear peg of a plough and wants to set up farming on the strength of it. He gets into a boat at night and forgets to pull up the anchor. After rowing till dawn he finds himself where he started, and concludes that the only explanation is that his native village could not bear to lose him and has followed him. If there are eight weavers and nine huqqas, they fight for the odd one. Once on a time a crow carried off to the roof of the house some bread which a weaver had given his child. Before giving the child any more he took the precaution of removing the ladder. Like the English fool he always gets unmerited blows. For instance, he once went to see a ram-fight and got b.u.t.ted himself, as the saying runs:

Karigah chhor tamasa jay Nahak chot Julaha khay.

'He left his loom to see the fun and for no reason got a bruising.' Another story (told by Fallon) is that being told by a soothsayer that it was written in his fate that his nose would be cut off with an axe, the weaver was incredulous and taking up an axe, kept flouris.h.i.+ng it, saying--

Yon karba ta gor katbon Yon karba ta hath katbon Aur yon karba tab na----

'If I do so I cut off my leg, if I do so I cut off my hand, but unless I do so my no----,' and his nose was off. Another proverb Julaha janathi jo katai, 'Does a weaver know how to cut barley,'

refers to a story (in Fallon) that a weaver unable to pay his debt was set to cut barley by his creditor, who thought to repay himself in this way. But instead of reaping, the stupid fellow kept trying to untwist the tangled barley stems. Other proverbs at his expense are; 'The Julaha went out to cut the gra.s.s at sunset, when even the crows were going home.' 'The Julaha's brains are in his backside.' His wife bears an equally bad character, as in the proverb: 'A wilful Julahin will pull her own father's beard.'"

Kachera

1. Origin of the caste.

Kachera, [230] Kachara (from kanch, gla.s.s).--The functional caste of makers of gla.s.s bangles. The Kacheras numbered 2800 persons in the Central Provinces in 1911, of whom 1800 were found in the Jubbulpore District. The caste say that in former times gla.s.s bangles were made only by Turk or Muhammadan Kacheras. The present name of Turkari is probably derived from Turk. But when Gauri Parvati was to be married to Mahadeo, she refused to wear the bangles made by a Turkari. So Mahadeo constructed a vedi or furnace, and from this sprang the first Hindu Kachera, who was employed to make bangles for Parvati. A later variant of the legend, having a sufficiently obvious deduction, is that Mahadeo did not create a man, but caught hold of a Kshatriya who happened to be present and ordered him to make the bangles. His descendants followed the new profession and thus came to be known as Kacheras. It is a possible conclusion from the story that the art of making gla.s.s bangles was introduced by the Muhammadans and, as suggested in the article on Lakhera, it may be the case that Hindu women formerly wore ornaments made of lac.

2. Exogamous groups.

The exogamous sections of the Kacheras show that the caste is of very mixed origin. Several of them are named after other castes, as Bharia (forest tribe), Gadaria (shepherd), Sunar, Naua (Nai), Thakurel (Thakur or Rajput), Kachhwaha and Chauhan (septs of Rajputs), and Kuria or Kori (weaver), and indicate that members of these castes took to the profession of bangle-making and became Kacheras. It may be surmised that, in the first instance perhaps, when the objection to using the product of the Muhammadan workman arose, if the theory of the prior use of lac bangles be correct, members of different castes took to supplying bangles for their own community, and from these in the course of time the Kachera caste was developed. Other names of sections worth mentioning are Jharraha, one who frets or worries; Kharraha, a choleric person; Dukesha, one who carries a begging-bowl; Thuthel, a maimed man, and Khajha, one suffering from the itch.

3. Social customs.

The exogamous sections are known as baink. The marriage of persons belonging to the same section and of first cousins is forbidden. Girls are generally married at an early age, as there is a scarcity of women in the caste, and they are snapped up as soon as available. As a natural consequence a considerable bride-price is paid, and the desire of the Kachera to make a profit by the marriage of his daughter is ridiculed in the following saying, supposed to be his prayer: "O G.o.d, give me a daughter. In exchange for her I shall get a pair of bullocks and a potful of rupees, and I shall be rich for the rest of my life. As her dowry I shall give her a sickle, a hoe and a spinning-machine, and these will suffice for my daughter to earn her livelihood." The usual sum paid for a girl is Rs. 50. The marriage ceremony is performed by walking round the sacred pole, and after it the couple try their strength against each other, the bride trying to push a stone pestle on to a slab with her foot and the groom pus.h.i.+ng it off with his. At the end of the wedding an omen is taken, a silver ornament known as dhal [231] which women wear in the ear being fixed on to a wall and milk poured over it. If the ornament is displaced by the stream of milk and falls down, it is considered that the union will be a happy one. The proceeding perhaps symbolises roughly the birth of a child. The marriage of widows is permitted, and in consequence of the scarcity of women the widow is usually married to her late husband's younger brother, if there be one, even though he may be only a child. Divorce is permitted. Liaisons within the caste are usually overlooked, but a woman going wrong with an outsider is expelled from the community. The Kacheras commonly burn the dead. They employ Brahmans for ceremonial purposes, but their social status is low and no high caste will take water from them. They eat flesh and fish, and some of them drink liquor, while others have given it up. They have a caste committee or panchayat for the punishment of social offences, which is headed by officials known as Malik and Diwan. Their favourite deity is Devi, and in her honour they sow the Jawaras or pots of wheat corresponding to the gardens of Adonis during the nine days prior to the Ramnaomi and Dasahra festivals in March and September. Some of them carry their devotion so far as to grow the plants of wheat on their bodies, sitting in one posture for nine days and almost giving up food and drink. At the Diwali festival they wors.h.i.+p the furnace in which gla.s.s bangles are made.

4. Occupation.

The traditional occupation of the caste is the manufacture of gla.s.s bangles. They import the gla.s.s in lumps from northern India and melt it in their furnace, after which the colouring matter is applied and the ring is turned on a slab of stone. Nearly all Hindu married women have gla.s.s bangles, which are broken or removed if their husbands die. But the rule is not universal, and some castes do not wear them at all. Marwari women have bangles of ivory, and Dhangar (shepherd) women of cocoanut-sh.e.l.l. Women of several castes who engage in labour have gla.s.s bangles only on the left wrist and metal ones on the right, as the former are too fragile. Low-caste women sometimes wear the flat, black bangles known as khagga on the upper arm. In many castes the gla.s.s bangles are also broken after the birth of a child. Bangles of many colours are made, but Hindus usually prefer black or indigo-blue. Among Hindus of good caste a girl may wear green bangles while she is unmarried; at her wedding black bangles are put on her wrists, and thereafter she may have them of black, blue, red or yellow, but not green. Muhammadans usually wear black or dark-green bangles. A Hindu woman has the same number of bangles on each wrist, not less than five and more if she likes. She will never leave her arms entirely without bangles, as she thinks this would cause her to become a widow. Consequently when a new set are purchased one or two of the old ones are kept on each arm. Similarly among castes who wear lac bangles like Banjaras, five should be worn, and these cover the greater part of the s.p.a.ce between the wrist and the elbow. The men of the caste usually stay at home and make the bangles, and the women travel about to the different village markets, carrying their wares on little ponies if they can afford them. It is necessary that the seller of bangles should be a woman, as she has to a.s.sist her customers to work them on to their wrists, and also display her goods to high-caste women behind the purda in their homes.

The Kacheras' bangles are very cheap, from two to fourteen being obtainable for a pice (farthing), according to quality. Many are also broken, and the seller has to bear the loss of all those broken when the purchaser is putting them on, which may amount to 30 per cent. And though an improvement on the old lac bangles, the colours are very dull, and bracelets of better and more transparent gla.s.s imported from Austria now find a large sale and tend to oust the indigenous product. The Kachera, therefore, is, as a rule, far from prosperous. The incessant bending over the furnace tends to undermine his const.i.tution and often ruins his eyesight. There is in fact a Hindi saying to the effect that, "When the Kachera has a son the rejoicings are held in the Kundera's (turner's) house. For he will go blind and then he will find nothing else to do but turn the Kundera's lathe."

KACHHI

List of Paragraphs

1. General notice.

2. Subdivisions.

3. Marriage customs.

4. Child-birth.

5. Ear-piercing.

6. Disposal of the dead.

1. General notice.

Kachhi.--An important cultivating caste of the northern Districts, who grow vegetables and irrigated crops requiring intensive cultivation. The distinction between the Kachhis and Malis of the Hindustani Districts is that the former grow regular irrigated crops, while the latter confine their operations to vegetables and flower-gardens; whereas the Mali or Marar of the Maratha country is both a cultivator and a gardener. The Kachhis numbered about 120,000 persons in 1911, and resided mainly in the Saugor, Damoh, Jubbulpore and Narsinghpur Districts. The word Kachhi may be derived from kachhar, the name given to the alluvial land lying on river banks, which they greatly affect for growing their vegetables. Another derivation is from kachhni, a term used for the process of collecting the opium from the capsules of the poppy. [232] The caste are probably an offshoot of the Kurmis. Owing to the resemblance of names they claim a connection with the Kachhwaha sept of Rajputs, but this is not at all probable.

2. Subdivisions.

The caste is divided into a number of subcastes, most of which take their names from special plants which they grow. Thus the Hardia Kachhis grow haldi or turmeric; the Alias cultivate the al or Indian madder, from which the well-known red dye is obtained; the Phulias are flower-gardeners; the Jirias take their name from jira or c.u.min; the Murai or Murao Kachhis are called after the muli or radish; the Pirias take their name from the piria or basket in which they carry earth; the Sanias grow san or hemp; the Mor Kachhis are those who prepare the maur or marriage-crown for weddings; and the Lilia subcaste are called after the indigo plant (il or nil). In some localities they have a subcaste called Kachhwahi, who are considered to have a connection with the Rajputs and to rank higher than the others.

3. Marriage customs.

The social customs of the Kachhis resemble those of the Kurmis. The descendants of the same parents do not intermarry for three generations. A man may have two sisters to wife at the same time. In the Damoh District, on the arrival of the bridegroom's party, the bride is brought into the marriage-shed, and is there stripped to the waist while she holds a leaf-cup in her hand; this is probably done so that the bridegroom may see that the bride is free from any bodily defect. Girls are usually married before they are ten years old, and if the parents are too poor to arrange a match for their daughter, the caste-fellows often raise a subscription when she attains this age and get her married. The bridegroom should always be older than the bride, and the difference is generally from five to ten years. The bridegroom wears a loin-cloth and long coat reaching to the ground, both of which are stained yellow with turmeric; the bride wears a red cloth or one in which red is the main colour. The girl's father gives her a dowry of a cow or jewels, or at least two rupees; while the boy's father pays all the expenses of the wedding with the exception of one feast. The bridegroom gives the bride a present of three shoulder-cloths and three skirts, and one of these is worn by her at the wedding; this is the old northern method of dress, but married women do not usually adhere to it and have adopted the common sari or single body-cloth. The princ.i.p.al ceremony is the bhanwar or walking round the sacred post. While the bride and bridegroom are engaged in this the parents and elderly relatives shut themselves into the house and weep. During the first four rounds of the post the bride walks in front bowing her head and the bridegroom places his right hand on her back; while during the last three the bridegroom walks in front holding the bride by her third finger. After this the bride is hidden somewhere in the house and the bridegroom has to search for her. Sometimes the bride's younger sister is dressed up in her clothes and the bridegroom catches her in mistake for his wife, whereupon the old women laugh and say to him, 'Do you want her also?' If finally he fails to find the bride he must give her some ornament.

After the wedding the bridegroom's marriage-crown is hung to the roof in a basket. And on the sixth day of the following month of Bhadon (August), he again dresses himself in his wedding clothes, and taking his marriage-crown on a dish, proceeds to the nearest stream or river accompanied by his friends. Here he throws the crown into the water, and the wedding coat is washed clean of the turmeric and unsewn and made up into ordinary clothes. This ceremony is known as moschatt and is common to Hindu castes generally. Widows are permitted to marry again, and the most usual match is with the younger brother of the deceased husband. Divorce is allowed at the instance either of the husband or wife, and may be effected by a simple declaration before the caste committee.

4. Childbirth.