The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India Volume III Part 57

Marriage within the sept is forbidden, but this appears to be the only restriction. In Korba the Paharia Korwas are said to marry their own sisters on occasion. The ordinary bride-price is Rs. 12. In Bilaspur there is reported to be no regular marriage feast, but the people dance together round a big earthen drum, called mandhar, which is played in the centre. This is bound with strips of leather along the sides and leather faces at the ends to be played on by the hands. They dance in a circle taking hands, men and women being placed alternately. Among the Paharia Korwas of Sarguja, Mr. Kunte states, the consent of the parents is not required, and boys and girls arrange their own weddings. Men who can afford the bride-price have a number of wives, sometimes as many as eight or ten. After she has had a child each wife lives and cooks her food separately, but gives a part of it to her husband. The women bring roots and herbs from the forest and feed their husbands, so that the man with several wives enjoys a larger share of creature comforts. Among these people adultery is said to be very rare, but if a woman is detected in adultery she is at once made over to the partner of her act and becomes his wife. Divorce and the remarriage of widows are permitted, and a widow usually marries her late husband's younger brother, though she is not obliged to do so. A husband divorcing his wife is obliged to feed the caste for five days.

5. Funeral rites.

The tribe bury the dead, placing the corpse in the grave with the head to the south. A little rice is buried with the corpse. In Bilaspur the dead are buried in the forest, and the graves of old men are covered with branches of the sal [609] tree. Then they go to a little distance and make a fire, and pour ghi and incense on it as an offering to the ancestors, and when they hear a noise in the forest they take it to be the voice of the dead man. When a man dies his hut is broken down and they do not live in it again. The bodies of children under five are buried either in the house or under the shade of a banyan tree, probably with the idea that the spirit will come back and be born again. They say that a banyan tree is chosen because it lives longest of all trees and is evergreen, and hence it is supposed that the child's spirit will also live out its proper span instead of being untimely cut off in its next birth.

6. Religion.

The Korwas wors.h.i.+p Dulha Deo, the bridegroom G.o.d of the Gonds, and in Sarguja their princ.i.p.al deity is Khuria Rani, the tutelary G.o.ddess of the Khuria plateau. She is a bloodthirsty G.o.ddess and requires animal sacrifices; formerly at special sacrifices 30 or 40 buffaloes were slaughtered as well as an unlimited number of goats. [610] Thakur Deo, who is usually considered a corn-G.o.d, dwells in a sacred grove, of which no tree or branch may be cut or broken. The penalty for breach of the rules is a goat, but an exception is allowed if an animal has to be pursued and killed in the grove. Thakur Deo protects the village from epidemic disease such as cholera and smallpox. The Korwas have three festivals: the Deothan is observed on the full moon day of Pus (December), and all their G.o.ds are wors.h.i.+pped; the Nawanna or harvest festival falls in Kunwar (September), when the new grain is eaten; and the f.a.guwa or Holi is the common celebration of the spring and the new vegetation.

7. Social customs.

The Korwas do not admit outsiders into the tribe. They will take food from a Gond or Kawar, but not from a Brahman. A man is permanently expelled from caste for a liaison with a woman of the impure Ganda and Ghasia castes, and a woman for adultery with any person other than a Korwa. Women are tattooed with patterns of dots on the arms, b.r.e.a.s.t.s and feet, and a girl must have this operation done before she can be married. Neither men nor women ever cut their hair.

8. Dancing.

Of their appearance at a dance Colonel Dalton states: [611] "Forming a huge circle, or rather coil, they hooked on to each other and wildly danced. In their hands they sternly grasped their weapons, the long stiff bow and arrows with bright, broad, barbed heads and spirally-feathered reed shafts in the left hand, and the gleaming battle-axe in the right. Some of the men accompanied the singing on deep-toned drums and all sang. A few scantily-clad females formed the inner curl of the coil, but in the centre was the Choragus who played on a stringed instrument, promoting by his grotesque motions unbounded hilarity, and keeping up the spirit of the dancers by his unflagging energy. Their matted back hair was either ma.s.sed into a chignon, sticking out from the back of the head like a handle, from which spare arrows depended hanging by the bands, or was divided into cl.u.s.ters of long matted tails, each supporting a spare arrow, which, flinging about as they sprang to the lively movements of the dance, added greatly to the dramatic effect and the wildness of their appearance. The women were very diminutive creatures, on the average a foot shorter than their lords, clothed in scanty rags, and with no ornaments except a few tufts of cotton dyed red taking the place of flowers in the hair, a common practice also with the Santal girls. Both tribes are fond of the flower of the c.o.c.ks...o...b..for this purpose, and when that is not procurable, use the red cotton."

They dance the karma dance in the autumn, thinking that it will procure them good crops, the dance being a kind of ritual or service and accompanied by songs in praise of the G.o.ds. If the rains fail they dance every night in the belief that the G.o.ds will be propitiated and send rain.

9. Occupation.

Of their occupation Colonel Dalton states: "The Korwas cultivate newly cleared ground, changing their homesteads every two or three years to have command of virgin soil. They sow rice that ripens in the summer, vetches, millets, pumpkins, cuc.u.mbers--some of gigantic size--sweet potatoes, yams and chillies. They also grow and prepare arrowroot and have a wild kind which they use and sell. They have as keen a knowledge of what is edible among the spontaneous products of the jungle as have monkeys, and have often to use this knowledge for self-preservation, as they are frequently subjected to failure of crops, while even in favourable seasons some of them do not raise sufficient for the year's consumption; but the best of this description of food is neither palatable nor wholesome. They brought to me nine different kinds of edible roots, and descanted so earnestly on the delicate flavour and nutritive qualities of some of them, that I was induced to have two or three varieties cooked under their instructions and served up, but the result was far from pleasant; my civilised stomach indignantly repelled the savage food, and was not pacified till it had made me suffer for some hours from cold sweat, sickness and giddiness." [612]

10. Dacoity.

The Korwas in the Tributary States have other resources than these. They are expert hunters, and to kill a bird flying or an animal running is their greatest delight. They do not care to kill their game without rousing it first. They are also very fond of dacoity and often proceed on expeditions, their victims being usually travellers, or the Ahirs who bring large herds of cattle to graze in the Sarguja forests. These cattle do much damage to the village crops, and hence the Korwas have a standing feud with the herdsmen. They think nothing of murder, and when asked why he committed a murder, a Korwa will reply, 'I did it for my pleasure'; but they despise both house-breaking and theft as cowardly offences, and are seldom or never guilty of them. The women are also of an adventurous disposition and often accompany their husbands on raids. Before starting they take the omens. They throw some rice before a chicken, and if the bird picks up large solid grains first they think that a substantial booty is intended, but if it chooses the thin and withered grains that the expedition will have poor results. One of their bad omens is that a child should begin to cry before the expedition starts; and Mr. Kunte, who has furnished the above account, relates that on one occasion when a Korwa was about to start on a looting expedition his two-year-old child began to cry. He was enraged at the omen, and picking up the child by the feet dashed its brains out against a stone.

11. Folk-tales.

Before going out hunting the Korwas tell each other hunting tales, and they think that the effect of doing this is to bring them success in the chase. A specimen of one of these tales is as follows: There were seven brothers and they went out hunting. The youngest brother's name was Chilhra. They had a beat, and four of them lay in ambush with their bows and arrows. A deer came past Chilhra and he shot an arrow at it, but missed. Then all the brothers were very angry with Chilhra and they said to him, "We have been wandering about hungry for the whole day, and you have let our prey escape." Then the brothers got a lot of mahul [613] fibre and twisted it into rope, and from the rope they wove a bag. And they forced Chilhra into this bag, and tied up the mouth and threw it into the river where there was a whirlpool. Then they went home. Now Chilhra's bag was spinning round and round in the whirlpool when suddenly a sambhar stag came out of the forest and walked down to the river to drink opposite the pool. Chilhra cried out to the sambhar to pull his bag ash.o.r.e and save him. The sambhar took pity on him, and seizing the bag in his teeth pulled it out of the water on to the bank. Chilhra then asked the sambhar after he had quenched his thirst to free him from the bag. The sambhar drank and then came and bit through the mahul ropes till Chilhra could get out. He then proposed to the sambhar to try and get into the bag to see if it would hold him. The sambhar agreed, but no sooner had he got inside than Chilhra tied up the bag, threw it over his shoulder and went home. When the brothers saw him they were greatly astonished, and asked him how he had got out of the bag and caught a sambhar, and Chilhra told them. Then they killed and ate the sambhar. Then all the brothers said to Chilhra that he should tie them up in bags as he had been tied and throw them into the river, so that they might each catch and bring home a sambhar. So they made six bags and went to the river, and Chilhra tied them up securely and threw them into the river, when they were all quickly drowned. But Chilhra went home and lived happily ever afterwards.

In this story we observe the low standard of moral feeling noticeable among many primitive races, in the fact that the ingrat.i.tude displayed by Chilhra in deceiving and killing the sambhar who had saved his life conveys no shock to the moral sense of the Korwas. If the episode had been considered discreditable to the hero Chilhra, it would not have found a place in the tale.

The following is another folk-tale of the characteristic type of fairy story found all over the world. This as well as the last has been furnished by Mr. Narbad Dhanu Sao, a.s.sistant Manager, Uprora:

A certain rich man, a banker and moneylender (Sahu), had twelve sons. He got them all married and they went out on a journey to trade. There came a holy mendicant to the house of the rich man and asked for alms. The banker was giving him alms, but the saint said he would only take them from his son or son's wife. As his sons were away the rich man called his daughter-in-law, and she began to give alms to the saint. But he caught her up and carried her off. Then her father-in-law went to search for her, saying that he would not return until he had found her. He came to the saint's house upon a mountain and said to him, 'Why did you carry off my son's wife?' The saint said to him, 'What can you do?' and turned him into stone by waving his hand. Then all the other brothers went in turn to search for her down to the youngest, and all were turned into stone. At last the youngest brother set out to search but he did not go to the saint, but travelled across the sea and sat under a tree on the other side. In that tree was the nest with young of the Raigidan and Jatagidan [614]

birds. A snake was climbing up the tree to eat the nestlings, and the youngest brother saw the snake and killed it. When the parent birds returned the young birds said, "We will not eat or drink till you have rewarded this boy who killed the snake which was climbing the tree to devour us." Then the parent birds said to the boy, 'Ask of us whatever you will and we will give it to you.' And the boy said,'

I want only a gold parrot in a gold cage.' Then the parent birds said, "You have asked nothing of us, ask for something more; but if you will accept only a gold parrot in a gold cage wait here a little and we will fly across the sea and get it for you." So they brought the parrot and cage, and the youngest brother took them and went home. Immediately the saint came to him and asked him for the gold parrot and cage because the saint's soul was in that parrot. Then the youngest brother told him to dance and he would give him the parrot; and the saint danced, and his legs and arms were broken one after the other, as often as he asked for the parrot and cage. Then the youngest brother buried the saint's body and went to his house and pa.s.sed his hands before all the stone images and they all came to life again.

KOSHTI

List of Paragraphs

1. General notice.

2. Subdivisions.

3. Marriage.

4. Funeral customs.

5. Religion.

6. Superst.i.tions.

7. Clothes, etc.

8. Social rules and status.

9. Occupation.

1. General notice.

Koshti, Koshta, Salewar. [615]--The Maratha and Telugu caste of weavers of silk and fine cotton cloth. They belong princ.i.p.ally to the Nagpur and Chhattisgarh Divisions of the Central Provinces, where they totalled 157,000 persons in 1901, while 1300 were returned from Berar. Koshti is the Marathi and Salewar the Telugu name. Koshti may perhaps have something to do with kosa or tasar silk; Salewar is said to be from the Sanskrit Salika, a weaver, [616] and to be connected with the common word sari, the name for a woman's cloth; while the English 'shawl' may be a derivative from the same root. The caste suppose themselves to be descended from the famous Saint Markandi Ris.h.i.+, who, they say, first wove cloth from the fibres of the lotus flower to clothe the nakedness of the G.o.ds. In reward for this he was married to the daughter of Surya, the sun, and received with her as dowry a giant named Bhavani and a tiger. But the giant was disobedient, and so Markandi killed him, and from his bones fas.h.i.+oned the first weaver's loom. [617] The tiger remained obedient to Markandi, and the Koshtis think that he still respects them as his descendants; so that if a Koshti should meet a tiger in the forest and say the name of Markandi, the tiger will pa.s.s by and not molest him; and they say that no Koshti has ever been killed by a tiger. On their side they will not kill or injure a tiger, and at their weddings the Bhat or genealogist brings a picture of a tiger attached to his sacred scroll, known as Padgia, and the Koshtis wors.h.i.+p the picture. A Koshti will not join in a beat for tiger for the same reason; and other Hindus say that if he did the tiger would single him out and kill him, presumably in revenge for his breaking the pact of peace between them. They also wors.h.i.+p the Singhwahini Devi, or Devi riding on a tiger, from which it may probably be deduced that the tiger itself was formerly the deity, and has now developed into an anthropomorphic G.o.ddess.

2. Subdivisions.

The caste have several subdivisions of different types. The Halbis appear to be an offshoot of the primitive Halba tribe, who have taken to weaving; the Lad Koshtis come from Gujarat, the Gadhewal from Garha or Jubbulpore, the Deshkar and Martha from the Maratha country, while the Dew.a.n.gan probably take their name from the old town of that name on the Wardha river. The Patwis are dyers, and colour the silk thread which the weavers use to border their cotton cloth. It is usually dyed red with lac. They also make braid and sew silk thread on ornaments like the separate Patwa caste. And the Onkule are the offspring of illegitimate unions. In Berar there is a separate subcaste named Hatghar, which may be a branch of the Dhangar or shepherd caste. Berar also has a group known as Jain Koshtis, who may formerly have professed the Jain religion, but are now strict Sivites. [618] The Salewars are said to be divided into the Sutsale or thread-weavers, the Padmasale or those who originally wove the lotus flower and the Sagunsale, a group of illegitimate descent. The above names show that the caste is of mixed origin, containing a large Telugu element, while a body of the primitive Halbas has been incorporated into it. Many of the Maratha Koshtis are probably Kunbis (cultivators) who have taken up weaving. The caste has also a number of exogamous divisions of the usual type which serve to prevent the marriage of near relatives.

3. Marriage.