The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India Volume III Part 34

11. Hair.

The men shave the whole head on the death of a father or other venerable relative, but otherwise they never cut their hair, and let it grow long, twisting it into a bunch at the back of the head. They shave off or eradicate the hair of the face and p.u.b.es, but that on other parts of the body is allowed to remain. The hair of the head is considered to be sacred.

12. Occupation and manner of life.

The tribe wear only the narrowest possible strip of cloth round the loins, and another strip on the head, one end of which is often allowed to hang down over the ear. Formerly they lived by dahya cultivation, burning down patches of forest and scattering seed on the ground fertilised by the ashes, and they greatly resent the prohibition of this destructive method. They have now taken to making baskets and other articles from the wood of the bamboo. They are of dirty habits, and seldom wash themselves. Forty years ago their manner of life was even ruder than at present, as shown in the following notice [300]

of them by Mr. Ball in 1876:

"Proceeding along the bed of the valley I came upon two colonies of a wild race of people called Kamars by their neighbours. They were regular Troglodytes in their habits, dwelling in caves and existing chiefly on roots and fish. It is singular to observe how little the people of these wild races do to protect themselves from the inclemency of the weather. In one of these caves the sole protection from the air was a lean-to of loosely placed branches. The people seemed to be very timid, hiding themselves on our approach. I did not therefore like to attempt an examination of their dwellings. After some calling on our part one man was induced to make his appearance. He was a most wretched-looking, leprous object, having lost several fingers and toes. He could give no very definite explanation as to his means of subsistence. All he could say was that he lived 'by picking up odds and ends here and there.' However, he seemed to be able to afford himself the solace of tobacco. A few c.o.c.ks and hens at one of the caves, and a goat at the other, were the only domestic animals which I saw."

13. Their skill with bows and arrows.

The tribe are of small stature. They are very fond of hunting, and are expert at using their bows and arrows, with which they have killed even bison. Mr. W. E. Ley, C.S., relates the following particulars of a recent murder by a Kamar in Raipur: Two Hindus went to a Kamar's house in the jungle to dun him for a debt. He could not pay the debt, but invited them to take food in his house. At the meal the creditor's companion said the food was bad, and a quarrel thereupon ensuing, slapped the Kamar in the face. The latter started up, s.n.a.t.c.hed up his bow and arrow and axe, and ran away into the jungle. The Hindus then set out for home, and as they were afraid of being attacked by the Kamar, they took his brother with them as a protection. Nevertheless the Kamar shot one of them through the side, the arrow pa.s.sing through the arm and penetrating the lung. He then shot the other through the chest, and running in, mutilated his body in a shocking manner. When charged with the murders he confessed them freely, saying that he was a wild man of the woods and knew no better.

KANJAR

[Bibliography: Mr. J. C. Nesfield's The Kanjars of Upper India, Calcutta Review, vol. lxxvii., 1883; Mr. Crooke's Castes and Tribes, art. Kanjar; Major Gunthorpe's Criminal Tribes; Mr. Kitts' Berar Census Report (1881); Mr. Gayer's Lectures on Criminal Tribes of the Central Provinces.]

List of Paragraphs

1. Derivation of the Kanjars from the Doms.

2. The Kanjars and the Gipsies.

3. The Thugs derived from the Kanjars.

4. The Doms.

5. The criminal Kanjars.

6. The Kunchband Kanjars.

7. Marriage and religion.

8. Social customs.

9. Industrial arts.

1. Derivation of the Kanjars from the Doms.

Kanjar.--A name applied somewhat loosely to various small communities of a gipsy character who wander about the country. In 1911 about 1000 Kuchbandhia Kanjars were returned in the Province. In Berar the Kanjars seem to be practically identical with the Sansias; Major Gunthorpe [301] gives Kanjar and Sansia as alternative names of the same caste of criminals, and this is also done by Mr. Kennedy in Bombay. [302] Mr. Kitts writes of them: [303] "The Deccani and Marwari Kanjars were originally Bhats (bards) of the Jat tribe; and as they generally give themselves out to be Bhats are probably not included at all among the Kanjars returned at the census. They are a vagrant people, living in tents and addicted to crime. The women are good-looking; some are noted for their obscene songs, filthy alike in word and gesture; while others, whose husbands play on the sarangi, lead a life of immorality. The men are often skilful acrobats." And in another pa.s.sage: [304] "The Sansia family or the 'Long Firm' of India includes two princ.i.p.al divisions represented in Berar by the Kanjars and Kolhatis respectively. They will eat, drink and smoke together, and occasionally join in committing dacoity. They eat all kinds of meat and drink all liquors; they are lax of morals and loose of life." Now in northern India the business of acting as bards to the Jats and begging from them is the traditional function of the Sansias; and we may therefore conclude that so far as Berar and the Maratha Districts are concerned the Kanjars are identical with the Sansias, while the Kolhatis mentioned by Mr. Kitts are the same people as the Berias, as shown in the article on Kolhati, and the Berias themselves are another branch of the Sansias. [305] There seems some reason to suppose that these four closely allied groups, the Kanjar or Sansia, and the Kolhati or Beria, may have their origin from the great Dom caste of menials and scavengers in Hindustan and Bengal. In the Punjab the Doms are the regular bards and genealogists of the lower castes, being known also as Mirasi: "The two words are used throughout the Province as absolutely synonymous. The word Mirasi is derived from the Arabic miras or inheritance; and the Mirasi is to the inferior agricultural castes and the outcaste tribes what the Bhat is to the Rajputs." [306] In the article on Sansia it is shown that the primary calling of the Sansias was to act as bards and genealogists of the Jats; and this common occupation is to some extent in favour of the original ident.i.ty of the two castes Dom and Sansia, though Sir D. Ibbetson was not of this opinion. [307] In the United Provinces Mr. Crooke gives the Jallad or executioners as one of the main divisions of the Kanjars; [308] and the Jallads of Umballa are said to be the descendants of a Kanjar family who were attached to the Delhi Court as executioners. [309] But the Jallad or supwala is also a name of the Doms. "The term Jallad, which is an Arabic name for 'A public flogger,' is more especially applied to those Doms who are employed in cities to kill ownerless dogs and to act as public executioners." [310] Mr. Gayer states that as the result of special inquiries made by an experienced police-officer it would appear that these Jallad Kanjars are really Doms. [311] In Gujarat the Mirs or Mirasis are also known as Dom after the tribe of that name; they were originally of two cla.s.ses, one the descendants of Gujarat Bhats or bards, the other from northern India, partly of Bhat descent and partly connected with the Doms. [312] And the Sansias and Berias in Bombay when accompanied by their families usually pa.s.s themselves off as Gujarati Bhats, that is, bards of the Jat caste from Marwar or of the Kolis from Gujarat. [313] Major Gunthorpe states that the Kolhatis or Berias of Berar appear to be the same as the Domras of Bengal; [314] and Mr. Kitts that the Kham Kolhatis are the Domarus of Telingana. [315] In writing of the Kanjar bards Sherring also says: "These are the Kanjars of Gondwana, the Sansis of northern India; they are the most desperate of all dacoits and wander about the country as though belonging to the Gujarati Domtaris or showmen." The above evidence seems sufficient to establish a prima facie case in favour of the Dom origin of these gipsy castes. It may be noticed further that the Jallad Kanjars of the United Provinces are also known as Supwala or makers of sieves and winnowing-fans, a calling which belongs specially to the Doms, Bhangis, and other sweeper castes. Both Doms and Bhangis have divisions known as Bansphor or 'breaker of bamboos,'

a name which has the same signification as Supwala. Again, the deity of the criminal Doms of Bengal is known as Sansari Mai. [316]

2. The Kanjars and the Gipsies.

The Kanjars and Berias are the typical gipsy castes of India, and have been supposed to be the parents of the European gipsies. On this point Mr. Nesfield writes: "The commonly received legend is that mult.i.tudes of Kanjars were driven out of India by the oppressions of Tamerlane, and it is inferred that the gipsies of Europe are their direct descendants by blood, because they speak like them a form of the Hindi language." [317] Sir G. Grierson states: [318] "According to the Shah-nama, the Persian monarch Bahram Gaur received in the fifth century from an Indian king 12,000 musicians who were known as Luris, and the Luris or Lulis, that is gipsies, of modern Persia are the descendants of these." These people were also called Lutt, and hence it was supposed that they were the Indian Jats. Sir G. Grierson, however, shows it to be highly improbable that the Jats, one of the highest castes of cultivators, could ever have furnished a huge band of professional singers and dancers. He on the contrary derives the gipsies from the Dom tribe: [319] "Mr. Leland has made a happy suggestion that the original gipsies may have been Doms of India.

He points out that Romany is almost letter for letter the same as Domni, the plural of Dom. Domni is the plural form in the Bhojpuri dialect of the Bihari language. It was originally a genitive plural; so that Romany-Rye, 'A gipsy gentleman,' may be well compared with the Bhojpuri Domni Rai, 'A king of the Doms.' The Bhojpuri-speaking Doms are a famous race, and they have many points of resemblance with the gipsies of Europe. Thus they are darker in complexion than the surrounding Biharis, are great thieves, live by hunting, dancing and telling fortunes, their women have a reputation for making love-philtres and medicines to procure abortion, they keep fowls (which no orthodox Hindu will do), and are said to eat carrion. They are also great musicians and hors.e.m.e.n. The gipsy grammar is closely connected with Bhojpuri, and the following mongrel, half-gipsy, half-English rhyme will show the extraordinary similarity of the two vocabularies: [320]

Gipsy. The Rye (squire) he mores (hunts) adrey the wesh (wood) Bhojpuri. Rai mare andal besh (Pers. bysh)

Gipsy. The kaun-engro (ear-fellow, hare) and chiriclo (bird).

Bhojpuri. Kanwala chirin

Gipsy. You sovs (sleep) with leste (him) drey (within) the wesh (wood) Bhojpuri. soe andal besh

Gipsy. And rigs (carry) for leste (him) the gono (sack, game-bag).

Bhojpuri. gon

Gipsy. Oprey (above) the rukh (tree) adrey (within) the wesh (wood) Bhojpuri. Upri rukh andal besh

Gipsy. Are chiriclo (male-bird) and chiricli (female-bird).

Bhojpuri. chirin chirin

Gipsy. Tuley (below) the rukh (tree) adrey (within) the wesh (wood) Bhojpuri. Tule rukh andal besh

Gipsy. Are pireno (lover) and pireni (lady-love).

Bhojpuri. pyara pyari

In the above it must be remembered that the verbal terminations of the gipsy text are English and not gipsy."

Sir G. Grierson also adds (in the pa.s.sage first quoted): "I may note here a word which lends a singular confirmation to the theory. It is the gipsy term for bread, which is manro or manro. This is usually connected either with the Gaudian manr 'rice-gruel' or with manrua, the millet (Eleusine coracana). Neither of these agrees with the idea of bread, but in the Magadhi dialect of Bihari, spoken south of the Ganges in the native land of these Maghiya Doms, there is a peculiar word manda or manra which means wheat, whence the transition to the gipsy manro, bread, is eminently natural."

The above argument renders it probable that the gipsies are derived from the Doms; and as Mr. Nesfield gives it as a common legend that they originated from the Kanjars, this is perhaps another connecting link between the Doms and Kanjars. The word gipsy is probably an abbreviation of 'Egyptian,' the country a.s.signed as the home of the gipsies in mediaeval times. It has already been seen that the Doms are the bards and minstrels of the lower castes in the Punjab, and that the Kanjars and Sansias, originally identical or very closely connected, were in particular the bards of the Jats. It is a possible speculation that they may have been mixed up with the lower cla.s.ses of Jats or have taken their name, and that this has led to the confusion between the Jats and gipsies. Some support is afforded to this suggestion by the fact that the Kanjars of Jubbulpore say that they have three divisions, the Jat, Multani and Kuchbandia. The Jat Kanjars are, no doubt, those who acted as bards to the Jats, and hence took the name; and if the ancestors of these people emigrated from India they may have given themselves out as Jat.

3. The Thugs derived from the Kanjars.

In the article on Thug it is suggested that a large, if not the princ.i.p.al, section of the Thugs were derived from the Kanjars. At the Thug marriages an old matron would sometimes repeat, "Here's to the spirits of those who once led bears and monkeys; to those who drove bullocks and marked with the G.o.dini (tattooing-needle); and those who made baskets for the head." And these are the occupations of the Kanjars and Berias. The Goyandas of Jubbulpore, descendants of Thug approvers, are considered to be a cla.s.s of gipsy Muhammadans, akin to or identical with the Kanjars, of whom the Multani subdivision are also Muhammadans. Like the Kanjar women the Goyandas make articles of net and string. There is also a colony of Berias in Jubbulpore, and these are admittedly the descendants of Thugs who were located there. If the above argument is well founded, we are led to the interesting conclusion that four of the most important vagrant and criminal castes of India, as well as the Mirasis or low-cla.s.s Hindu bards, the gipsies, and a large section of the Thugs, are all derived from the great Dom caste.