The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India Volume III Part 33

13. Customs in connection with drinking.

The country liquor, consisting of spirits distilled from the flowers of the mahua tree, is an indispensable adjunct to marriage and other ceremonial feasts among the lower castes of Hindus and the non-Aryan tribes. It is usually drunk before the meal out of bra.s.s vessels, cocoanut-sh.e.l.ls or leaf-cups, water being afterwards taken with the food itself. If an offender has to give a penalty feast for readmission to caste but the whole burden of the expense is beyond his means, other persons who may have committed minor offences and owe something to the caste on that account are called upon to provide the liquor. Similarly at the funeral feast the heir and chief mourner may provide the food and more distant relatives the liquor. The Gonds never take food while drinking, and as a rule one man does not drink alone. Three or four of them go to the liquor-shop together and each in turn buys a whole bottle of liquor which they share with each other, each bottle being paid for by one of the company and not jointly. And if a friend from another village turns up and is invited to drink he is not allowed to pay anything. In towns there will be in the vicinity of the liquor-shop retailers of little roasted b.a.l.l.s of meat on sticks and cakes of gram-flour fried in salt and chillies. These the customers eat, presumably to stimulate their thirst or as a palliative to the effects of the spirit. Illicit distillation is still habitual among the Gonds of Mandla, who have been accustomed to make their own liquor from time immemorial. In the rains, when travelling is difficult and the excise officers cannot descend on them without notice, they make the liquor in their houses. In the open season they go to the forest and find some spot secluded behind rocks and also near water. When the fermented mahua is ready they put up the distilling vat in the middle of the day so that the smoke may be less perceptible, and one of them will climb a tree and keep watch for the approach of the Excise Sub-Inspector and his myrmidons while the other distils.

KAMAR [299]

List of Paragraphs

1. Origin and traditions.

2. Subdivisions and marriage.

3. The sister's son.

4. Menstruation.

5. Birth customs.

6. Death and inheritance.

7. Religious beliefs.

8. Veneration of iron and liquor.

9. Social customs and caste penalties.

10. Tattooing.

11. Hair.

12. Occupation and manner of life.

13. Their skill with bows and arrows.

1. Origin and traditions.

Kamar.--A small Dravidian tribe exclusively found in the Raipur District and adjoining States. They numbered about 7000 persons in 1911, and live princ.i.p.ally in the Khariar and Bindranawagarh zamindaris of Raipur. In Bengal and Chota Nagpur the term Kamar is merely occupational, implying a worker in iron, and similarly Kammala in the Telugu country is a designation given to the five artisan castes. Though the name is probably the same the Kamars of the Central Provinces are a purely aboriginal tribe and there is little doubt that they are an offshoot of the Gonds, nor have they any traditions of ever having been metal-workers. They claim to be autochthonous like most of the primitive tribes. They tell a long story of their former ascendancy, saying that a Kamar was the original ruler of Bindranawagarh. But a number of Kamars one day killed the bhimraj bird which had been tamed and taught hawking by a foreigner from Delhi. He demanded satisfaction, and when it was refused went to Delhi and brought man-eating soldiers from there, who ate up all the Kamars except one pregnant woman. She took refuge in a Brahman's hut in Patna and there had a son, whom she exposed on a dung-heap for fear of scandal, as she was a widow at the time. Hence the boy was called Kachra-Dhurwa or rubbish and dust. This name may be a token of the belief of the Kamars that they were born from the earth as insects generate in dung and decaying organisms. Similarly one great subtribe of the Gonds are called Dhur or dust Gonds. Kachra-Dhurwa was endowed with divine strength and severed the head of a goat made of iron with a stick of bamboo. On growing up he collected his fellow-tribesmen and slaughtered all the cannibal soldiers, regaining his ancestral seat in Bindranawagarh. It is noticeable that the Kamars call the cannibal soldiers Aghori, the name of a sect of ascetics who eat human flesh. They still point to various heaps of lime-encrusted fossils in Bindranawagarh as the bones of the cannibal soldiers. The state of the Kamars is so primitive that it does not seem possible that they could ever have been workers in iron, but they may perhaps, like the Agarias, be a group of the Gonds who formerly quarried iron and thus obtained their distinctive name.

2. Subdivisions and marriage.

They have two subdivisions, the Bundhrajia and Makadia. The latter are so called because they eat monkeys and are looked down on by the others. They have only a few gots or septs, all of which have the same names as those of Gond septs. The meaning of the names has now been forgotten. Their ceremonies also resemble those of the Gonds, and there can be little doubt that they are an offshoot of that tribe. Marriage within the sept is prohibited, but is permitted between the children of brothers and sisters or of two sisters. Those who are well-to-do marry their children at about ten years old, but among the bulk of the caste adult-marriage is in fas.h.i.+on, and the youths and maidens are sometimes allowed to make their own choice. At the betrothal the boy and girl are made to stand together so that the caste panchayat or elders may see the suitability of the match, and a little wine is sprinkled in the name of the G.o.ds. The marriage ceremony is a simple one, the marriage-post being erected at the boy's house. The party go to the girl's house to fetch her, and there is a feast, followed by a night of singing and dancing. They then return to the boy's house and the couple go round the sacred pole and throw rice over each other seven times. All the guests also throw rice over the couple with the object, it is said, of scaring off the spirits who are always present on this occasion, and protecting the bride and bridegroom from harm. But perhaps the rice is really meant to give fertility to the match. The wife remains with her husband for four days and then they return to the house of her parents, where the wedding clothes stained yellow with turmeric must be washed. After this they again proceed to the bridegroom's house and live together. Polygamy and widow-marriage are allowed, the ceremony in the marriage of a widow consisting simply in putting bangles on her wrists and giving her a piece of new cloth. The Kamars never divorce their wives, however loose their conduct may be, as they say that a lawful wife is above all suspicion. They also consider it sinful to divorce a wife. The liaison of an unmarried girl is pa.s.sed over even with a man outside the caste, unless he is of a very low caste, such as a Ganda.

3. The sister's son.

As among some of the other primitive tribes, a man stands in a special relation to his sister's children. The marriage of his children with his sister's children is considered as the most suitable union. If a man's sister is poor he will arrange for the wedding of her children. He will never beat his sister's children, however much they may deserve it, and he will not permit his sister's son or daughter to eat from the dish from which he eats. This special connection between a maternal uncle and his nephew is held to be a survival of the matriarchate, when a man stood in the place a father now occupies to his sister's children, the real father having nothing to do with them.

4. Menstruation.

During the period of her monthly impurity a woman is secluded for eight days. She may not prepare food nor draw water nor wors.h.i.+p the G.o.ds, but she may sweep the house and do outdoor work. She sleeps on the ground and every morning spreads fresh cowdung over the place where she has slept. The Kamars think that a man who touched a woman in this condition would be destroyed by the household G.o.d. When a woman in his household is impure in this manner a man will bathe before going into the forest lest he should pollute the forest G.o.ds.

5. Birth customs.

A woman is impure for six days after a birth until the performance of the Chathi or sixth-day ceremony, when the child's head is shaved and the mother and child are bathed and their bodies rubbed with oil and turmeric. After this a woman can go about her work in the house, but she may not cook food nor draw water for two and a half months after the birth of a male child, nor for three months after that of a female one. Till the performance of the Chathi ceremony the husband is also impure, and he may not wors.h.i.+p the G.o.ds or go hunting or shooting or even go for any distance into the forest. If a child is born within six months of the death of any person in the family, they think that the dead relative has been reborn in the child and give the child the same name, apparently without distinction of s.e.x. If a mother's milk runs dry and she cannot suckle her child they give her fresh fish and salt to eat, and think that this will cause the milk to flow. The idea of eating the fish is probably that being a denizen of the liquid element it will produce liquid in the mother's body, but it is not clear whether the salt has any special meaning.

6. Death and inheritance.

The dead are buried with the head to the north, and mourning is nominally observed for three days. But they have no rules of abstinence, and do not even bathe to purify themselves as almost all castes do. Sons inherit equally, and daughters do not share with sons. But if there are no sons, then an unmarried daughter or one married to a Lamsena, or man who has served for her, and living in the house, takes the whole property for her lifetime, after which it reverts to her father's family. Widows, Mr. Ganpati Giri states, only inherit in the absence of male heirs.

7. Religious beliefs.

They wors.h.i.+p Dulha Deo and Devi, and have a firm belief in magic. They tell a curious story about the origin of the world, which recalls that of the Flood. They say that in the beginning G.o.d created a man and a woman to whom two children of opposite s.e.x were born in their old age. Mahadeo, however, sent a deluge over the world in order to drown a jackal who had angered him. The old couple heard that there was going to be a deluge, so they shut up their children in a hollow piece of wood with provision of food to last them until it should subside. They then closed up the trunk, and the deluge came and lasted for twelve years, the old couple and all other living things on the earth being drowned, but the trunk floated on the face of the waters. After twelve years Mahadeo created two birds and sent them to see whether his enemy the jackal had been drowned. The birds flew over all the corners of the world, but saw nothing except a log of wood floating on the surface of the water, on which they perched. After a short time they heard low and feeble voices coming from inside the log. They heard the children saying to each other that they only had provision for three days left. So the birds flew away and told Mahadeo, who then caused the flood to subside, and taking out the children from the log of wood, heard their story. He thereupon brought them up, and they were married, and Mahadeo gave the name of a different caste to every child who was born to them, and from them all the inhabitants of the world are descended. The fact that the Kamars should think their deity capable of destroying the whole world by a deluge, in order to drown a jackal which had offended him, indicates how completely they are wanting in any exalted conception of morality. They are said to have no definite ideas of a future life nor any belief in a resurrection of the body. But they believe in future punishment in the case of a thief, who, they say, will be reborn as a bullock in the house of the man whose property he has stolen, or will in some other fas.h.i.+on expiate his crime. They think that the sun and moon are beings in human shape, and that darkness is caused by the sun going to sleep. They also think that a railway train is a live and sentient being, and that the whistle of the engine is its cry, and they propitiate the train with offerings lest it should do them some injury. When a man purposes to go out hunting, Mr. Ganpati Giri states, he consults the village priest, who tells him whether he will fail or succeed. If the prediction is unfavourable he promises a fowl or a goat to his family G.o.d in order to obtain his a.s.sistance, and then confidently expects success. When an animal has been killed and brought home, the hunter cuts off the head, and after was.h.i.+ng it with turmeric powder and water makes an offering of it to the forest G.o.d. Ceremonial fis.h.i.+ng expeditions are sometimes held, in which all the men and women of the village partic.i.p.ate, and on such occasions the favour of the water-G.o.ddess is first invoked with an offering of five chickens and various feminine adornments, such as vermilion, lamp-black for the eyes, small gla.s.s bangles and a knot of ribbons made of cotton or silk, after which a large catch of fish is antic.i.p.ated. The men refrain from visiting their wives on the day before they start for a hunting or fis.h.i.+ng expedition.

8. Veneration of iron and liquor.

The tribe have a special veneration for iron, which they now say is the emblem of Durga Mata or the G.o.ddess of smallpox. On their chief festivals of Hareli and Dasahra all iron implements are washed and placed together in the house, where they are wors.h.i.+pped with offerings of rice, flowers and incense; nor may any iron tool be brought into use on this day. On the day appointed for the wors.h.i.+p of Dulha Deo, the bridegroom G.o.d, or other important deities, and on the Dasahra festival, they will not permit fire or anything else to be taken out of the house. Before drinking liquor they will pour a few drops on the ground, making a libation first to mother-earth, then to their family and other important G.o.ds, and lastly to their ancestors.

9. Social customs and caste penalties.

The Kamars will eat with all except the very lowest castes, and do not refuse any kind of food. The Bundhrajias, however, abstain from the flesh of snakes, crocodiles and monkeys, and on this account claim to be superior to the Makadias who eat these animals. Temporary exclusion from caste is imposed for the usual offences, and in serious cases, such as adultery with a woman of impure caste or taking food from her, the penalty is severe. The offender puts a straw and a piece of iron between his teeth, and stands before the elders with one leg lifted in his clasped hands. He promises never to repeat the offence nor permit his children to do so, and falls prostrate at the feet of each elder, imploring his forgiveness. He supplies the elders with rice, pulse, salt and vegetables for two days, and on the third day he and his family prepare a feast with one or more goats and two rupees' worth of liquor. The elders eat of this in his house, and readmit him to social intercourse.

10. Tattooing.

The women are tattooed either before or after marriage, the usual figures being a peac.o.c.k on the shoulders, a scorpion on the back of the hand, and dots representing flies on the fingers. On their arms and legs they have circular lines of dots representing the ornaments usually worn, and they say that if they are dest.i.tute in the other world they will be able to sell these. This indicates that the more civilised of them, at any rate, now believe in a future life. They also have circular dotted lines round the knees which they say will help them to climb to heaven. Like the Gonds the men scarify their bodies by burning the outer skin of the forearm in three or four places with a small piece of burning cloth.