The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India Part 30

_Bundelkhandi_.--A resident of Bundelkhand. Subcaste of Basdewa, Barai, Basor, Chamar, Darzi, Dhobi, k.u.mhar, Lohar, Nai and Sunar.

_Bundhrajia_.--Subcaste of Kamar.

_Bunkar_.--(A weaver.) t.i.tle of Balahi.

_Burad_.--A synonym for the Basor caste of bamboo-workers. A section of Koshti and Oswal Bania.

_Burthia_.--Subcaste of Charan Banjara.

_Burud_.--(A bamboo-worker.) Synonym for Basor in the Maratha country.

_Butka_.--(One who brings leaves.) Subcaste of Chasa.

_Byahut_.--(Married.) Subcaste of Kalar.

_Chadar_.--A caste. A subcaste of Kori.

_Chakere_.--(One who uses the potter's wheel in localities where other k.u.mhars do not use it.) Subcaste of k.u.mhar.

_Chakla_.--(A professional washerman.) Synonym for Dhobi.

_Chalukya_.--A synonym for Solanki Rajputs. (Perhaps from _chhullu_ or _challu_, hollow of the hand.) A subcaste of Panwar Rajput.

_Chamar, Chamara_.--(From _chamra_, a hide.) The well-known caste of tanners. A subcaste of Banjara, Barhai and Darzi.

_Chamar Gaur_.--(Chamar and Gaur.) A well-known clan of Rajputs. See Rajput-Gaur.

_Chambhar_.--Name of the Chamar caste in Berar.

_Chamra_.--A contemptuous diminutive for the Chamar caste in Chhattisgarh.

_Chandan, Chandania_.--(Sandalwood.) A section of Chamar, Kawar, Khangar and Kurmi.

_Chandel_.--A famous clan of Rajputs. See Rajput-Chandel.

_Chandewar_.--(Belonging to Chanda.) Subcaste of Injhwar.

_Chandi_.--(One who hides behind a fis.h.i.+ng-net.) A sept of Korku.

_Chandra, Chandraha_. (From _chanda_, the moon.) A section of Gujar and Teli.

_Chandravansi_ or _Somvansi_.--(Descended from the moon.) A clan of Rajputs.

_Chandravedi_.--Synonym of Sanaurhia, meaning 'One who observes the moon.'

_Chankhatia_.--A subcaste of Bhuiya and Chamar.

_Channagri_.--A small Jain sect. A subcaste of Bania.

_Chanti_.--Name derived from _chiti_, an ant. Subcaste of Kawar. A section of k.u.mhar.

_Chanwar_.--(Whisk.) A totemistic sept of Kawar and Pabia.

_Charak_.--A subdivision of Maratha Brahman; a section of Brahman.

_Charan_.--Subcaste of Banjara and Bhat. t.i.tle of Bhat in Rajputana.

_Chardeve_.--A clan of Gonds wors.h.i.+ping four G.o.ds and paying special reverence to the tortoise.

_Charghar_.--(Four houses.) A subdivision of Saraswat Brahmans.

_Charnagri_.--A Jain sect or subcaste of Bania.

_Chatrapati_.--(Lord of the umbrella.) t.i.tle of the ancient Indian kings.

_Chatri, Chhatri_.--A common synonym for a Rajput. A subcaste of Bhamta.

_Chaturbhuji_.--(Four-armed.) An epithet of Vishnu. A t.i.tle of the Chauhan clan of Rajputs. A cla.s.s of Bairagis or religious mendicants.

_Chaube, Chaturvedi_.--(From Chaturvedi, or one learned in the four Vedas.) A surname for Kanaujia, Jijhotia and other Hindustani Brahmans. Subcaste of Banjara.

_Chaubhaiya_.--(Four brothers.) A subdivision of Saraswat Brahmans. They take wives from the Athbhaiya subdivision, but do not give girls to them in marriage.

_Chaudhri_, _Chaudhari_, _Choudhri_.--(A headman, the first person.) t.i.tle of Kalar Panwar, Rajput and other castes; t.i.tle of Dhobi, vice-president of the caste committee. A section of Ahir, Maheshri Bania, Gadaria, Gujar, Halba and Marar (Mali). A subdivision of Kapewar.

_Chauhan_.--A famous clan of Rajputs. Name of a low caste of village watchmen in Chhattisgarh, perhaps the illegitimate descendants of Panwar Rajputs.

_Chauka_.--t.i.tle of the Kabirpanthi religious service. The _chauk_ is a sanctified place on the floor of the house or yard, plastered with cowdung and marked out with lines of wheat-flour or quartz-dust within which ceremonies are performed.

_Chaukhutia_.--A term which signifies a b.a.s.t.a.r.d in Chhattisgarh. Subcaste of Bhunjia.

_Chauske_.--Subcaste of Kalar. They are so called because they prohibit the marriage of persons having a common ancestor up to four generations.

_Chaurasia_.--Resident of a Chaurasi or estate of eighty-four villages. Subcaste of Barai and Bhoyar. A section of Dhimar and k.u.mhar. Many estates are called by this name, grants of eighty-four villages having been commonly made under native rule.

_Chawara_, _Chaura_.--One of the thirty-six royal races of Rajputs.

_Chenchuwar_, _Chenchuwad_ or _Chenchu_--A forest tribe of the Telugu country of whom a few persons were returned from the Chanda District in 1911. In Madras the tribe is known as Chenchu, and the affix _wad_ or _wadu_ merely signifies person or man. [434] The marriage ceremony of the Chenchus may be mentioned on account of its simplicity. The couple sometimes simply run away together at night and return next day as husband and wife, or, if they perform a rite, walk round and round a bow and arrow stuck into the ground, while their relations bless them and throw rice on their heads. Each party to a marriage can terminate it at will without a.s.signing any reason or observing any formality. The bodies of the dead are washed and then buried with their weapons.

_Chenr_.--(Little.) Subcaste of Bhand.

_Cheorakuta_.--(One who prepares _cheora_ or pounded rice.) Subcaste of Dhuri.

_Chero_. [435]--A well-known tribe of the Munda or Kolarian family, found in small numbers in the Chota Nagpur Feudatory States. They are believed to have been at one time the rulers of Bihar, where numerous monuments are attributed, according to the inquiries of Buchanan and Dalton, to the Kols and Cheros. "In Shahabad [436]

also most of the ancient monuments are ascribed to the Cheros, and it is traditionally a.s.serted that the whole country belonged to them in sovereignty. An inscription at Budh Gaya mentions one Phudi Chandra who is traditionally said to have been a Chero. The Cheros were expelled from Shahabad, some say by the Sawaras (Saonrs), some say by a tribe called Hariha; and the date of their expulsion is conjectured to be between the fifth and sixth centuries of the Christian era. Both Cheros and Sawaras were considered by the Brahmans of Shahabad as impure or Mlechchas, but the Harihas are reported good Kshatriyas.

"The overthrow of the Cheros in Mithila and Magadha seems to have been complete. Once lords of the Gangetic provinces, they are now found in Shahabad and other Bihar Districts only holding the meanest offices or concealing themselves in the woods skirting the hills occupied by their cousins, the Kharwars; but in Palamau they retained till a recent period the position they had lost elsewhere. A Chero family maintained almost an independent rule in that pargana till the accession of the British Government; they even attempted to hold their castles and strong places against that power, but were speedily subjugated, forced to pay revenue and submit to the laws. They were, however, allowed to retain their estates; and though the rights of the last Raja of the race were purchased by Government in 1813, in consequence of his falling into arrears, the collateral branches of the family have extensive estates there still. According to their own traditions (they have no trustworthy annals) they have not been many generations in Palamau. They invaded that country from Rohtas, and with the aid of Rajput chiefs, the ancestors of the Thakurais of Ranka and Chainpur drove out and supplanted a Rajput Raja of the Raksel family, who retreated into Sarguja and established himself there.

"All the Cheros of note who a.s.sisted in the expedition obtained military service grants of land, which they still retain. The Kharwars were then the people of most consideration in Palamau, and they allowed the Cheros to remain in peaceful possession of the hill tracts bordering on Sarguja. It is popularly a.s.serted that at the commencement of the Chero rule in Palamau they numbered twelve thousand families, and the Kharwars eighteen thousand; and if an individual of one or the other is asked to what tribe he belongs, he will say, not that he is a Chero or a Kharwar, but that he belongs to the twelve thousand or to the eighteen thousand, as the case may be. The Palamau Cheros now live strictly as Rajputs and wear the _paita_ or caste thread."