List Group 13

Mannewâr - Maravans - Masanjogi (Mahars) - Matkuda - Medra - Meo (Mewâti) - Methar (Bhangi, Hari Dom, Lâlbegi) - Mianas - Mína (Deswâli, Maia) - Mirâsi - Mochi (Muchi, Jínger, Jirayat, Jíldgar, Chitrakâr, Chitevari, Musabir) - Mondarus - Mondis - Mors - Muchi - Mundas - Munda (Mura, Horo-hon) - Mundâ

Mannewâr.: -A small tribe belonging to the south or Telugu-speaking portion of the Chânda District [2] , where they numbered about 1600 persons in 1911. The home of the tribe is the Hyderâbâd State, where it numbers 22,000 persons, and the Mannewârs are said to have once been dominant over a part of that territory. The name is derived from a Telugu word mannem, meaning forest, while wâr is the plural termination in Telugu, Mannewâr thus signifying 'the people of the forest.' The tribe appear to be commonly called Mannewâr Koyas as opposed to the Koya Doras or the superior branch, Dora meaning lord or master. The Koya Doras thus correspond to the Raj-Gonds of the north of the province and the Mannewâr Koyas to the Dhur or 'dust' Gonds.[3] The tribe is divided into three exogamous groups: the Nalugu Velpulu worshipping four gods, the Ayidu Velpulu worshipping five, and the Anu Velpulu six. A man must marry a woman of one of the divisions worshipping a different number of gods from his own, but the Mannewârs do not appear to know the names of these gods, and consequently no veneration can be paid to them at present, and they survive solely for the purpose of regulating marriage. When a betrothal is made a day is fixed for taking an omen. In the early morning the boy who is to be married has his face washed and turmeric smeared on his feet, and is seated on a wooden seat inside the house. The elders of the village them proceed outside it towards the rising sun and watch for any omen given by an animal or bird crossing their path. If this is good the marriage is celebrated, and if bad the match is broken off. In the former case five of the elders take their food on returning from the search for the omen and immediately proceed to the bride's village. Here they are met by the Pesâmuda or village priest, and stay for three days, when the amount of the dowry is settled and a date fixed for the wedding. The marriage couple are seated on a plough-yoke, and coloured rice is thrown onto their heads, and the bridegroom ties the mangalya or bead necklace, which is the sign of marriage, round the neck of the bride. If a girl is deformed, or has some other drawback which prevents her from being sought in marriage, she is given away with her sister to a first cousin [4] or some other near relative, the two sisters being married to him together.

[2] See Russell. This article is based on a note furnished by Mr. M. Aziz, Officiating Nâib-Tahsíldâr, Sironcha.

[3] From a glossary published by Mr. Gupta, Assistant Director of Ethnology for India.

[4] Generally the paternal aunt's son.

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A widow may marry any of the tribe except her first husband's brothers. If a man takes a widow to his house without marrying her he is fined three rupees, while for adultery with a married woman the penalty is twenty rupees. A divorce can always be obtained, but if the husband demands it he is mulcted of twenty rupees by the caste committee, while a wife who seeks a divorce must pay ten rupees. The Mannewârs make an offering of a fowl and some liquor to the ploughshare on the festival of Ganesh Chaturthi. After the picking of the flowers of the mahua [1] they worship that tree, offering to it some of the liquor distilled from the new flowers, with a fowl and a goat. This is known as the Burri festival. At the Holi feast the Mannewârs make two human figures to represent Kâmi and Rati, or the god of love and his wife. The male figure is then thrown on to the Holi fire with a live chicken or an egg. This may be a reminiscence of a former human sacrifice, which was a common custom in many parts of the world at the spring festival. The caste usually bury the dead, but are beginning to adopt cremation. They do not employ Brâhmans for their ceremonies and eat all kinds of food, including the flesh of pigs, fowls and crocodiles, but in view of their having nominally adopted Hinduism, they abstain from beef.

Maravans.: -They are similar to the Kallar. They have given all sorts of problems to the British at the time of independence without getting any credit for it or becoming national heroes. Once the left the army they went back to a sort of honest life.

Masanjogi.: -or Mahars. They are a section of the Mahars and perform magic shows. Matkuda.: -See Od and Beldar.

Matkuda: -See Od and Beldar.

Medra.: -They live in South India. They are makers of mats, baskets, and other bamboo objects. They sell their production moving from village to village.

Meo.: -Mewâti.- the Muhammadan branch of the Mína tribe [2] belonging to the country of Mewât in Râjputâna which is comprised in the Alwar, Bharatpur and Jaipur States and the British District of Gurgaon. A few Meos were returned from the Hoshangâbâd and Nimâr Districts in 1911, but it is doubtful whether any are settled here, as they may be wandering criminals. The origin of the Meo is discussed in the article on the Mína tribe, but some interesting remarks on them by Mr. Channing and Major Powlett in the Râjputâna Gazetteer 3 may be reproduced here. Mr. Channing writes: [3]

"The tribe, which has been known in Hindustân according to the Kutub Tawâríkh for 850 years, was originally Hindu and became Muhammadan. Their origin is obscure. They themselves claim descent from the Râjpît races of Jâdon, Kachhwâha and Tuar, and they may possibly have some Râjpît blood in their veins; but they are probably, like many other similar tribes, a combination of ruling and other various stocks and sources, and there is reason to believe them very closely allied with the Mínas, who are certainly a tribe of the same structure and species. The Meos have twelve clans or Pâls . the first six of which are identical in name and claim the same descent as the first six clans of the Mínas.

[ 1] Bassia latifolia.

[2] See Russell.

[3] râjputâna Gazetteer , Vol. i. p. 165.

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Intermarriage between them both was the rule until the time of Akbar, when owing to an affray at the marriage of a Meo with a Mína the custom was discontinued. Finally, their mode of life is or was similar, as both tribe were once notoriously predatory. It is probable that the original Meos were supplemented by converts to Islâm from other castes. It is said that the tribe were conquered and converted in the eleventh century by Mâsîd, son of Amír Sâlâr and grandson of Sultân Mahmîd Subaktagin of the mother's side, the general of the forces of Mahmîd of Ghazni. Mâsîd is still venerated by the Meos, and they swear by his name. They have a mixture of Hindu and Muhammadan customs. They practise circumcision, nikâh, [1] and the burial of the dead. They make pilgrimages to the tomb of Mâsîd in Bahraich in Oudh, and consider the oath taken of his banner the most binding. They also make pilgrimages to Muhammadan shrines in India, but never perform the Haj. Of Hindu customs they observe the Holi or Kiwâli; their marriages are never arranged in the same got or sept; and they permit daughters to inherit. They call their children indiscriminately by both Muhammadan and Hindu names. They are almost entirely uneducated, but have bards and musicians to whom they make large presents. These sing songs known as Râtwai, which are commonly of pastoral and agricultural subjects. The Meos are given to the use of intoxicating drinks, and are very superstitious and have great faith in omens. The dress of the men and women resembles that of the Hindu. Infanticide was formerly common among them, but it is said to have entirely died out. They were also formerly robbers by avocation, and though they have improved they are still noted cattle-lifters."

In another description of them by Major Powlett it is stated that, besides worshipping Hindu gods and keeping Hindu festivals, they employ a Brâhman to write the Píli Chhitthi or yellow note fixing the date of a marriage. They call themselves by Hindu names with the exception of Râm; and Singh is a frequent affix, though not so common as Khân. On the Amâwas or monthly conjunction of the sun and moon, Meos, in common with Hindu Ahírs and Gîjars, cease from labour; and when they make a well the first proceeding is to erect a chabîtra (platform) to Bhaironji or Hanumân. However, when plunder was to be obtained they have often shown little respect for Hindu shrines and temples; and when the sanctity of a threatened place has been urged, the retort has been, "Tum to Deo, Ham Meo," or "You may be a Deo (God), but I am a Meo."

Meos do not marry in their pâl or clan, but they are lax about forming connections with women of other castes, whose children they receive into the community. As already stated, Brâhmans take part in the formalities preceding a marriage, but the ceremony itself is performed by a Kâzi. As agriculturists Meos are inferior to their Hindu neighbours. The point in which they chiefly fail is in working their wells, for which they lack patience. Their women, whom they do not confine, will, it is said, do more field-work than the men; indeed, one often finds women at work in the crops when the men are lying down. Like the women of low Hindu castes they tattoo their bodies, a practice disapproved by Musalmâns in general. Abul Fazl writes that the Meos were in his time famous runners, and one thousand of them were employed by Akbar as carriers of the post.

Methar.: -Bhangi, Ha¡ri [2] Dom, Lalbegi, --The caste of sweepers and scavengers. In 1911 persons returning themselves as Mehtar, Bhangi and Dom were separately classified, and the total of all three only 30,000. In this Province they generally confine themselves to their hereditary occupation of scavenging, and are rarely met with outside the towns and large villages. In most localities the supply of sweepers does not meet the demand. The case is quite different in northern India, where the sweeper castes-- the Chuhra in the Punjab, the Bhangi in the United Provinces and the Dom in Bengal-- are all of them of great numerical strength.

[1] A Muhammadan form of marriage.

[2] See Russell. Some infornmation has been obtained from a paper by Mr. Harbans Rai, Clerk of Court, Damoh.

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With these these castes only a small proportion are employed on scavengers' work and the rest are labourers like the Chamars and Mahars of the Central Provinces. The present sweeper caste is made up of diverse elements, and the name Mehtar, generally applied to it, is a title meaning a prince or leader. Its application to the caste, the most abject and despised in the Hindu community, is perhaps partly ironical; but all the low castes have honorific titles, which are used as a method of address either from ordinary politeness or by those requiring some service, on the principle, as the Hindus say, that you may call an ass your uncle if you want him to do something for you. The regular caste of sweepers in northern India are the Bhangis, whose name is derived by Mr. Crooke from the Sanskrit bhanga, hemp, in allusion to the drunken habits of the caste. In support of this derivation he advances the Beria custom of calling their leaders Bhangi or hemp-drinker as a title of honour. [1] In Mr. Greeven's account also, Lalbeg, the patron saint of the sweepers, is described as intoxicated with the hemp drug on two occasions [ 2] Mr. Bhimbhai Kirparam suggests [ 3] that Bhangia means broken, and is applied to the sweepers because they split bamboos. In Kaira, he states, the regular trade of the Bhangias is the plaiting of baskets and other articles of split bamboo, and in that part of Gujarat if a Koli is asked to split bamboo he will say, 'Am I to do Bhangia's work?' The derivation from the hemp-plant is, however, the more probable. In the Punjab, sweepers are known as Chuhra, and this name has been derived from their business of collecting and sweeping up scraps (churajharna). Similarly, in Bombay they are known as Olganas or scrap-eaters. The Bengal name Hari is supposed to come from haddi, a bone; the Hari is the bone-gatherer, and was familiar to early settlers of Calcutta under the quaint designation of the 'harry-wench. [4] In the Central Provinces sections of the Ghasia, Mahar and Dom castes will do sweepers' work, and are therefore amalgamated with the Mehtars. The caste is thus of mixed constitution, and also forms a refuge for persons expelled from their own societies for social offences. But though called by different names the sweeper community in provinces appears to have the same stock of traditions and legends. The name of Mehtar is now generally employed, and has therefore been taken as the designation of the caste.

Caste Subdivisions.

Mr. Greeven gives seven main subdivisions, of which the Lalbegis or the followers of Lalbeg, the patron saint of sweepers, are the most important. The Rawats appear to be an aristocratic subdivision of the Lalbegis, their name being a corruption of the Sanskrit Rajputra, a prince. The Shaikh Mehtars are the only real Muhammadan branch, for though the Lalbegis worship a Musalman saint they remain Hindus. The Haris or bone-gatherers, as already stated, are the sweepers of Bengal. The Helas may either be those who carry baskets of sweepings, or may derive their name from hela, a cry; and in that case they are so-called as performing the office of town-criers, a function which the Bhangi usually still discharges in northern India. [5] The other subcastes in his list are the Dhanuks or bowmen and the Bansphors or cleavers of bamboos. In the Central Provinces the Shaikh Mehtars belong principally to Nagpur, and another subcaste, the Makhia, is also found in the Maratha Districts and in Berar; those branches of the Ghasia and Dom castes who consent to do scavengers' work now form separate subcastes of Mehtars in the same locality, and another group are called Narnolia, being said to take their name from a place called Narnol in the Punjab. The Lalbegis are often considered here as Muhammadans rather than Hindus, and bury their dead. In Saugor the sweepers are said to be divided into Lalbegis or Muhammadans and Doms or Hindus. The Lalbegi, Dumar and the Hela are the Principal subcastes of the north of the Province, and Chuhra Mehtars are found in Chhattisgarh. Each subcaste is divided into a number of exogamous sections named after plants and animals.

[1] Ra¡pendra¡ La¡l Mitra, quoted in art. on Beria.

[2] Greeven, op. cit. pp. 29,33.

[3] Op. cit. p. 334.

[4] Greeven, p. 66, quoting from Echoes of Old Calcutta.

[5] Crooke, op. cit.

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Social Organisation.

In Bena¡res each subdivision, Mr. Greeven states, has an elaborate and quasi-military organisation. Thus the La¡lbegi sweepers have eight companies or berhas, consisting the sweepers working in different localities; these are the Sadar, or those employed by private residents in cantonments; the Ka¡li Paltan, who serve the Bengal Infantry, the La¡l Kurti, or Red-coats, who are employed by the British Infantry; the Teshan (station), or those engaged at three railway stations of the town; the Shahar, or those of the city; the Ra¡mngar, taking their name from the residence of the Maha¡ra¡ja of Bena¡res, whom they serve the Kothi¡hwa¡l, or Bungalow men, who belong to residents in the civil lines; and lastly the Genereli, who are the descendants of sweepers employed at the military headquarters when Bena¡res was commanded by a General of Division. This special organisation is obviously copied from that of the garrison and is not found in other localities but deserves mention for its own interest. All the eight companies are commanded by a Brigadier, the local head of the caste, whose office is now almost hereditary; his principal duty is to give two dinners to the whole caste on election, with sweetmeats to the value of fourteen rupees. Each company has four officers: a Jama¡da¡r or president, Munsif or spokesman, a Chaudhari or treasurer, and a Na¡ib or summoner. These offices are also practically hereditary, if the candidate entitled by birth can afford to give a dinner to the whole subcaste and a turban to each President of a company. All the other members of the company are designated as Sipa¡his or soldiers. A caste dispute is first considered by the inferior officers of each company, who report their view to the President; he confers with the other Presidents, and when an agreement has been reached the sentence is formally confirmed by the Brigadier. When any dispute arises, the aggrieved party, depositing a fee of a rupee and a quarter, addresses the officers of his company. Unless the question is so trivial that it can be settled without caste punishments, the President fixes a time and place, of which notice is given to the messengers of the other companies; each of these receives a fee of one and a quarter annas and informs all the

Sipa¡his in his company.

Caste Punishments.

Only worthy members of the caste, Mr. Greeven continues, are allowed to sit on the tribal matting and smoke the tribal pipe (huqqa). The proceedings begin with the spreading out (usually symbolic) of a carpet and the smoking of a water-pipe handed in turn to each clansman. For this purpose the members sit on the carpet in three lines, the officers in front and the private soldiers behind. The parties and their witnesses are heard and examined, and a decision is pronounced. The punisments imposed consist of fines, compulsory dinners and expulsion from the caste; expulsion being inflicted for failure to comply with an order of a fine or entertainment. The formal method of outcasting consists in seating the culprit on the ground and drawing the tribal mat over his head, from which the turban is removed; after this the messengers of the eight companies inflict a few taps with slippers and birch booms. It is alleged that unfaithful women were formerly tied naked to trees and flogged with birch brooms, but that owing to the fatal results that occasionally followed such punishment, as in the case of the five kicks among Chama¡rs and the scourging with the clothes line which used to prevail among Dhobis (washermen), the caste has now found it expedient to abandon these practices. When an outcaste is readmitted on submission, whether by paying a fine or giving a dinner, he is seated apart from the tribal mat and does penance by holding his ears with his hands and confessing his offence. A new huqqa, which he supplies, is carried round by the messenger, and a few whiffs are taken by all the officers and Sipa¡his in turn. The messenger repeats to the culprit the council's order, and informs him that should he again offend his punishment will be doubled. With this warning he hands him the water-pipe, and after smoking this the offender is admitted to the carpet and all is forgotten in a banquet at his expense.

Admission Of Outsiders.

The sweepers will freely admit outsiders into their community, and the caste forms a refuge for persons expelled from their own societies for sexual or moral offences.

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Various methods are employed for the initiation of a neophyte; in some places he, or more frequently she, is beaten with a broom made of wood taken from a bier, and has to give a feast to the caste; in others a slight wound is made in his body and the blood of another sweeper is allowed to flow on to it so that they mix; and a glass of sherbet and sugar, known as the cup of nectar, is prepared by the priest and all the members of the committee put their fingers into it, after which it is given to the candidate to drink; or he has to drink water mixed with cowdung into which the caste-people have dipped their little fingers and a lock of his hair is cut off. Or he fasts all day at the shrine of Lalbeg and in the evening drinks sherbet after burning incense at the shrine; and gives three feasts, the first on the bank of a tank, the second in his courtyard and the third in his house, representing has gradual purification for membership; at this last he puts a little water into every man's cup and receives from him a piece of bread, and so becomes a fully qualified caste-man. Owing to this reinforcement from higher castes, and perhaps also to their flesh diet, the sweepers are not infrequently and stronger as well as lighter in colour than the average Hindu.

Marriage Customs.

The marriage ceremony in the Central Provinces follows the ordinary Hindu ritual. The lagan or paper fixing the date of the wedding is written by a Brahaman, who seats himself at some distance from the sweeper's house and composes the letter. This paper must not be seen by the bride or bridegroom, nor may its contents be read to them as it is believed that to do so would cause them to fall ill during the ceremony. Before the bridegroom starts for the wedding his mother waves a wooden pestle five times over his head, passing it between his legs and shoulders. After this the bridegroom breaks two lamp-saucers with his right foot, steps over the rice-pounder and departs for the bride's house without looking behind him. The sawasas or relatives of the parties usually officiate at the ceremony, but the well to-do sometimes engage a Brahman, who sits at a distance from the house and calls out his instructions. When a man wishes to marry a widow he must pay six rupees to the caste committee and give a feast to the community. Divorce is permitted for incompatibility of temper, or immorality on the part of the wife, or if the husband suffers from leprosy or impotence. Among the Labegis when a man wishes to get rid of his wife he assembles the brethren and in their presence says to her, 'you are as my sister,' and she answers, 'you are as my father and brother. [1]

Disposal Of The Dead.

The dead are usually buried, but the well-to-do sometimes cremate them. In Benares the face or hand of the corpse is scorched with fire to symbolise cremation and it is then buried. In the punjab the ghosts of sweepers are considered to be malevolent and are much dreaded; and their bodies are therefore always buried or burnt face downwards to prevent the spirit escaping; and riots have taken place and the magistrates have been appealed to prevent a Chuhra from being buried face upwards [ 2] In Benares as the body is lowered into the grave the sheet is withdrawn for a moment from the features of the departed to afford him one last glimpse of the heavens, while with Muhammadans the face is turned towards Mecca. Each clansman flings a handful of dust over the Corpse, and after the earth is filled in, he crumbles a little bread and sugar-cake and sprinkles water upon the grave. A provision of bread, sweetmeats and water is also left upon it for the soul of the departed.[3] In the Central Provinces the body of a man is covered with a white winding-sheet and that of a woman with a red one. If the death occurs during the lunar conjunction known as Panchak, four human images of flour are made and buried with the dead man, as they think that if this is not done four more deaths will occur in the family.

[1] Crooke,op.cit. para.52.

[2] Ibetson, op.cit. para. 227.

[3] Greeven, op.21.

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Devices For Procuring Children.

If a woman greatly desires a child she will go to a shrine and lay a stone on it which she calls the dharna or deposit or pledge. Then she thinks that she has put the god under an obligation to give her a child. She vows that if she becomes pregnant within a certain period, six or nine months, she will make an offering of a certain value. If the pregnancy comes she goes to the temple, makes the offering and removes the stone. If the desired result does not happen, however, she considers that the god has broken his obligation and ceases to worship him. If a barren woman desires a child she should steal on a Sunday or a Wednesday a strip from the body-cloth of a fertile woman when it is hung out to dry; or she may steal a piece of rope from the bed in which a woman has been delivered of a child, or a piece of the baby's soiled swaddling clothes or a piece of cloth stained with the blood of a fertile woman. This last she will take and bury in a cemetary and the other wear round her waist; then she will become fertile and the fertile woman will become barren. Another device is to obtain from the midwife a piece of the umbilical cord of a newborn child and swallow it. For this reason the umbilical cord is always carefully guarded and its disposal seen to.

Divination Of Sex.

If a pregnant woman is thin and ailing they think a boy will be born; but if fat and well that it will be a girl. In order to divine the sex of a coming child they pour a little oil on the stomach of the woman; if the oil flows straight down it is thought that a boy will be born and if crooked a girl. Similarly if the hair on the front of her body grows straight they think the child will be a boy, but if crooked a girl; and if the swelling of pregnancy is more apparent on the right side a boy is portended, but if on the left side a girl. If delivery is retarded they go to a gunmaker and obtain from him a gun which has been discharged and the soiling of the barrel left uncleaned; some water is put into the barrel and shaken up and then poured into a vessel and given to the woman to drink, and it is thought that the quality of swift movement appertaining to the bullet which soiled the barrel will be communicated to the woman and cause the swift expulsion of the child from her womb.

Childbirth.

When a woman is in labour she squats down with her legs apart holding to the bed in front of her, while the midwife rubs her back. If delivery is retarded the midwife gets a broom and sitting behind the woman presses it on her stomach, at the same time drawing back the upper part of her body. By this means they think the child will be forced from the womb. Or the mother of the woman in labour will take a grinding-stone and stand holding it on her head so long as the child is not born. She says to her daughter, 'Take my name,' and the daughter repeats her mother's name aloud. Here the idea is apparently that the mother takes on herself some of the pain which has to be endured by the daughter, and the repetition of her name by the daughter will cause the goddess of childbirth to hasten the period of delivery in order to terminate the unjust sufferings of the mother of which the goddess has become responsible. The mother's name exerts pressure or influence on the goddess who is at the time occupied with the daughter or perhaps sojourning in her body.

Treatment Of The Mother.

If a child is born in the morning they will give the mother a little sugar and cocoanut to eat in the evening, but if it is born in the evening they will give her nothing till next morning. Milk is given only sparingly as it is supposed to produce coughing. The main idea of treatment in childbirth is to prevent either the mother or child from taking cold or chill, this being the principal danger to which they are thought to be exposed. The door of the birth chamber is therefore kept shut and a fire is continually burning in it night and day. The woman is not bathed for several days, and the atmosphere and general insanitary conditions can better be imagined than described. With the same end of preventing cold they feed the mother on a hot liquid produced by cooking thirty-six ingredients together.

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Most of these are considered to have the quality of producing heat or warmth in the body, and the following are a few of them: pepper, ginger, azgan (a condiment), turmeric, nutmeg, ajwain (aniseed), dates, almonds, raisins, cocoanut, wild singara or water-nut, cumin, chironji, [1] the gum of the babu¡¡l [ 2] or khair [ 3] asafoetida, borax, saffron, clarified butter and sugar. The mixture cannot be prepared for less than two rupees and the woman is fed on it for five days beginning from the second day after birth, if the family can afford the expense.

Protecting Lives Of Children

If the mother's milk runs dry, they use the dried bodies of the little fish caught in the shallow water of fields and tanks, and sometimes supposed to have fallen down with the rain. They are boiled in a little water and the fish and water are given to the woman to consume. Here the idea is apparently that as the fish has the quality of liquidness because it lives in water, so by eating it this will be communicated to the breasts and the milk will flow again. If a woman's children die, then the next time she is in labour they bring a goat all of one colour. When the birth of the child takes place and it falls from the womb on to the ground no one must touch it, but the goat, which should if possible be of the same sex as the child, is taken and passed over the child twenty-one times. Then they take the goat and the after-birth to a cemetery and here cut the goat's throat by the halal rite and bury it with the after-birth. The idea is thus that the goat's life is a substitute for that of the child. By being passed over the child it takes the child's evil destiny upon itself, and the burial in a cemetery causes the goat to resemble a human being, while the after-birth communicates to it some part of the life of the child. If a mother is afraid her child will die, she sells it for a few cowries to another woman. Of course the sale is only nominal but the woman who has purchased the child takes a special interest in it, and at the naming or other ceremony she will give it a jewel or such other present as she can afford. Thus she considers that the fictitious sale has had some effect and the she has acquired a certain interest in the child.

Infantile Diseases.

If a baby, especially a girl, has much hair on its body they make a cake of gram-flour and rub it with sesamum oil all over the body, and this is supposed to remove the hair. If a child's skin dries up and it pines away, they think that an owl has taken away a cloth stained by the child when it was hung out to dry. The remedy is to obtain the liver of an owl and hang it round the child's neck. For jaundice they get the flesh of a yellow snake which appears in the rains, and of the rohu fish which has yellowish scales, and hang them to its neck; or they get a verse of the Koran written out by a Maulvi on Muhammadan priest and use this as an amulet; or they catch a small frog alive, tie it up in a yellow cloth and hang it to the child's neck by a blue thread until it dies. For tetanus the haws are branded outside and a little musk is placed on the mother's breast so that the child may drink it with the milk. When the child begins to cut its teeth they put honey on the gums and think that this will make the teeth slip out early as the honey is smooth and slippery. But as the child licks the gums when the honey is on them they fear that this may cause the teeth to grow broad and crooked like the tongue. Another device is to pass a piece of gold round the child's gums. If they want the child to have pretty teeth its maternal uncle threads a number of grains of rice on a piece of string and hangs them round its neck, so that the teeth may grow like the rice. If the child's navel is swollen, the maternal uncle will go out for a walk and on his return place his turban over the navel. For averting the evil eye the liver of the Indian badger is worn in an amulet, this badger being being supposed to haunt cemeteries and feed on corpses; some hairs of a bear also form a very favourite amulet, or a tiger's claws set in silver, or the tail of a lizard encased in lac and made into a ring.

[1] The fruit of the acha¡r (Buchanania latifolia).

[2] Acacia arabica.

[3] Acacia catechu.

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Religion Valmiki.

The religion of the sweepers has been described at length by Mr. Greeven and Mr. Crooke. It centres round the worship of two saints, Laldeg or Bale Shah and Bâlnek or Bâlmík, who is really the huntsman Vâlmíki, the reputed author of the Râmâyana. Bâlmík was originally a low caste hunter called Ratnakâr, and when he could not get game he was accustomed to rob and kill travellers. But one day he met Brahma and wished to kill him; but he could not raise his club against Brahma, and the god spoke and convinced him of his sins, directing him to repeat the name of Râma until he should be purified of them. But the hunter's heart was so evil that he could not pronounce the divine name, and instead he repeated 'Mâra, Mâra' (struck, struck), but in the end by repetition this came to the same thing. Mr. Greeven's account continues: "As a small spark of fire burneth up a heap of cotton, so the word Râma cleaneth a man of all his sins. So the words 'Râm, Râm,' were taught unto Ratnakâr who ever repeated them for sixty thousand years at the self-same spot with a heart sincere. All his skin was eaten up by the white ants. Only the skeleton remained. Mud had been heaped over the body and grass had grown up, yet within the mound of mud the saint was still repeating the name of Râma. After sixty thousand years Brahma returned. No man could he see, yet he heard the voice of Râm, Râm, rising from the mound of mud. Then Brahma bethought him that the saint was beneath. He besought Indra to pour down rain and to wash away the mud. Indra complied with his request and the rain washed away the mud. The saint came forth. Nought save bones remained. Brahma called aloud to the saint. When the saint beheld him he prostrated himself and spake "Thou hast taught me the words 'Râm, Râm,' which have cleansed away all my sins." Then spake Brahma: "Hitherto thou wast Ratnakâr. From to-day thy name shall be Vâlmíki (from valmík, an ant-hill). Now do thou compose a Râmâyana in seven parts, containing the deeds and exploits of Râma." Vâlmíki had been or afterwards became a sweeper and was known as 'cooker of dog's food' (Swapach), a name applied to sweepers, [1] who have adopted him as their eponymous ancestor and patron saint.

Lâlbeg.

Lâlbeg, who is still more widely venerated, is considered to have been Ghâzi Miyân, the nephew of Sultân Muhammad of Ghazni, and a saint much worsipped in the Punjab. Many legends are told of Lâbeg, and his worship is described by Mr. Greeven as follows: [ 2] "The ritual of Lâlbeg is conducted in the presence of the whole brotherhood, as a rule at the festival of the Diwâli and on other occasions when special business arises. The time for worship is after sunset and if possible at midnight. His shrine consists of a mud platform surrounded by steps, with four little turrets at the corners and a spire in the centre, in which is placed a lamp filled with clarified butter and containing a wick of twisted two. Incense is thrown into the flame and offerings of cakes and sweetmeats are made. A lighted huqqa is placed before the altar and as soon as the smoke rises it is understood that a whiff has been drawn by the hero." A cock is offered to Lâlbeg at the Dasahra festival. When a man is believed to have been affected by the evil eye they wave a broom in front of the sufferer muttering the name of the saint. In the Damoh District the guru or priest who is the successor of Lâlbeg comes from the Punjab every year or two. He is richly clad and is followed by a sweeper carrying an umbrella. Other Hindus say that his teaching is that no one who is not a Lâlbegi can go to heaven, but those on whom the dust raised by a Lâlbegi sweeping settles acquire some modicum of virtue. Similarly Mr. Greeven remarks: [3] "Sweepers by no means endorse the humble opinion entertained with respect to them; for they allude to castes such as Kunbis and Chamârs as petty (chhota), while a common anecdote is related to the effect that a Lâlbegi, when asked whether Muhammadans could obtain salvation, replied: 'I never heard of it, but perhaps they might slip in behind Lâlbeg.'"

[1] Some writers consider that Bâlmík, the sweeper-saint, and Vâlmíki, the author of the Râmâyana, are not identical.

[2] Page 38.

[3] Page 8.

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Adoption Of Foreign Religions.

On the whole the religion of the Lâlbegis appears to be monotheistic and of a sufficiently elevated character, resembling that of the Kabírpanthis and other reforming sects. Its claim to the exclusive possession of the way of salvation is a method of revolt against the menial and debased position of the caste. Similarly many sweepers have become Muammadans and Sikhs with the same end in view, as stated by Mr. Greeven:[1] "As may by readily imagined, the scavengers are merely in name the disciples of Nânak Shâh, professing in fact to be his followers just as they are prepared at a moment's notice to become Christians or Muhammadans. Their object is, of course, merely to acquire a status which may elevate them above the utter degradation of their caste. The acquaintance of most of them with the doctrines of Nânak Shâh is at zero. They know little and care less about his rules of life, habitually disregarding, for instance, the prohibitions against smoking and hair-cutting. In fact, a scavenger at Bena¡res no more becomes a Sikh by taking Nânak Shâh's motto than he becomes a Christian by wearing a round hat and a pair of trousers." It was probably with a similar leaning towards the more liberal religions that that the Lâlbegis, though themselves Hindus, adopted a Muhammadan for their tutelary saint. In the Punjab Muhammadan sweepers who have given up eating carrion and refuse to remove night soil rank higher than the others, and are known as Musalli. [2] And in Saugor the Muhammadans allow the sweepers to come into a mosque and to stand at the back, whereas, of course, they cannot approach a Hindu temple. Again in Bengal it is stated, "The Dom is regarded with both disgust and fear by all classes of Hindus, not only on account of his habits being abhorrent and abominable, but also because he is believed to have no humane or kindly feelings", and further, "It is universally believed that Doms do not burn their dead, but dismember the corpse at night like the inhabitants of Tibet, placing the fragments in a pot and sinking them in the nearest river or reservoir. This horrid idea probably originated from the old Hindu law, which compelled the Doms to bury their dead at night".[3] It is not astonishing that the sweepers prefer a religion whose followers will treat them somewhat more kindly. Another Muhammadan saint revered by the sweepers of Saugor is one Zâhir Pír. At the fasts in Chait and Kunwâr (March and September) they tie cocoanuts wrapped in cloth to the top of a long bamboo, and marching to the tomb of Zâhir Pír make offerings of cakes and sweetmeats. Before starting for his day's work the sweeper does obeisance to his basket and broom.

Social Status.

The sweeper stands at the very bottom of the social ladder of Hinduism. He is considered to be the representative of the Chandâla of Manu, [4] who was said to be descended of a Sîdra father and a Bra¡hman woman. "It town; his sole wealth should be dogs and asses; his clothes should consist of the cloths of the dead; his dishes should be broken pots and his ornaments rusty iron. No one who regarded his duties should hold intercourse with the Chandâlas and they should marry only among themselves. By day they might roam about for the purposes of work, but should be distinguished by the badges of the Râja, and should carry out the corpse of anyone who died without kindred. They should always be employed to slay those who by the law were sentenced to be put to death, and they might take the clothes of the slain, their beds and their ornaments." Elsewhere the Chandâla is said to rank in impurity with the town boar, the dog, a woman during her monthly illness and a eunuch, none of whom must a Brâhman allow to see him when eating. [5] Like the Chandâla, the sweeper cannot be touched, and he himself acquiesces in this and walks apart. In large towns he sometimes carries a kite's wing is his turban to show his caste, or goes aloof saying "pois," far as possible behind other people.

[1] Page 54

[2] Punjab Census Report (I88I), para. 599.

[3] Sir H. Risley, l.c., art. Dom.

[4] Institutes, x. 12-29.30.

[5] Ibidem, iv. 239, quoted by Mr. Crooke, art. Dom.

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He is known by his basket and broom, and men of other castes will not carry these articles lest they should be mistaken for a sweeper. The sweeper's broom is made of bamboo, whereas the ordinary house-broom is made of date-palm leaves. The house-broom is considered sacred as the implement of Lakshhmi used in cleaning the house. No one should tread upon or touch it with his foot. The sweeper's broom is a powerful agent for curing the evil eye, and mothers get him to come and wave it up and down in front of a sick child for this purpose. Nevertheless it is lucky to see a sweeper in the morning, especially if he has his basket with him. In Gujarât Mr. Bhímbhai Kirpârâm writes of him: "Though he is held to be lower and more unclean, the Bhangia is viewed with kindlier feelings than the Dhed (Mahâr). To meet the basket-bearing Bhangia is lucky. Even now if a Government officer goes into a Bhangia hamlet the men with hands raised in blessing say: 'May your rule last for ever.'" A sweeper will eat the leavings of other people, but he will not eat in their houses; he will take the food away to his own house. It is related that on one occasion a sweeper accompanied a marriage party of Lodhis (cultivators), and the Lodhi who was the host was anxious that all should share his hospitality and asked the sweeper to eat in his house; [1] but he repeatedly refused, until finally the Lodhi gave him a she-buffalo to induce him to eat, so that it might not be said that any one had declined to share in his feast. No other caste, of course, will accept food or water from a sweeper, and only a Chamâr (tanner) will take a Chilam or clay pipe-bowl from his hand. The sweeper will eat carrion and the flesh of almost all animals, including snakes, lizards, crocodiles and tigers, and also the leavings of food of almost any caste. Mr. Greeven remarks [2] that "Only La¡lbegis and Râwats eat food left by Europeans, but all eat food left either by Hindus or Muhammadans; the Sheikh Mehtars as Muhammadans alone are circumcised and reject pig's flesh. Each subcaste eats uncooked food with all the others, but cooked food alone." From Betîl it is reported that the Mehtars there will not accept food, water or tobacco from a Kâyasth, and will not allow one to enter their houses.

Occupation.

Sweeping and scavenging in the streets and in private houses are the traditional occupations of the caste, but they have others. In Bombay they serve as night watchmen, town-criers, drummers, trumpeters and hangmen. Formerly the office of hangman was confined to sweepers, but now many low-caste prisoners are willing to undertake it for the sake of the privilege of smoking tobacco in jail which it confers. In Mírzâpur when a Dom hangman is tying a rope round the neck of a criminal he shouts out, 'Dohai Mahârâni, Dohai Sarkâr, Dohai Judge Sâkib, or 'Hail Great Queen! Hail Government! Hail judge Sahib!' in order to shelter himself under their authority and escape any guilt attaching to the death. [3] In the Central Provinces the hangman was accompanied by four or five other sweepers of the caste panchâyat, the idea being perhaps that his act should be condoned by their presence and approval and he should escape guilt. In order to free the executioner from blame the prisoner would also say: "Dohai Sarkar ke, Dohai Kampani ke; jaisa maine khîn kiya waisa apne khîn ko pahunchha," or "Hail to the Government and the Company; since I caused the death of another, now I am come to my own death"; and all the Panches said, 'Râm, Râm,' The hangman received ten rupees as his fee, and of this five rupees were given to the caste for a feast and an offering to Lâlbeg to expiate his sin. In Bundelkhand sweepers are employed as grooms by the Lodhis, and may put everything on to the horse except a saddle-cloth. They are also the village musicians, and some of them play on the rustic instrument called shahnai at weddings, and receive their food all the time that the ceremony lasts. Sweepers are, as a rule, to be found only in large villages, as in small ones there is no work for them. The caste is none too numerous in the Central Provinces, and in villages the sweeper is often not available when wanted for cleaning the streets. The Chamârs of Bundelkhand will not remove the corpses of a cat or a dog or a squrrel, and a sweeper must be obatained for the purpose.

[1] Probably not within the house but in the veranda or courtyard.

[2] Ibidem.

[3] Crooke, Tribes and Castes, art. Do, para. 34.

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These three animals are in a manner holy, and it is considered a sin to kill any one of them. But their corpses are unclean. A Chamâr also refuses to touch the corpse of a donkey, but a Kumhâr (potter) will sometimes do this; if he declines a sweeper must be fetched. When a sweeper has to enter a house in order to take out the body of an animal, it is cleaned and whitewashed after he bas been in. In Hoshangâbâd an objection appears to be felt to the entry of a sweeper by the door, as it is stated that a ladder is placed for him, so that he presumably climbs through a window. Or where there are no windows it is possible that the ladder may protect the sacred threshold from contact with his feet. The sweeper also attends at funerals and assists to prepare the pyre; he receives the winding-sheet when this is not burnt or buried with the corpse, and the copper coins which are left on the ground as purchase-money for the site of the grave. In Bombay in rich families the winding-sheet is often a worked shawl costing from fifty to a hundred rupees. [1] When a Hindu widow breaks her bangles after her husband's death, she gives them, including one or two whole ones, to a Bhangia woman. [2] A letter announcing a death is always carried by a sweeper.[3] In Bengal a funeral could not be held without the presence of a Dom, whose functions are described by Mr. Sherring [4] as follows: "On the arrival of the dead body at the place of cremation, which in Bena¡res is at the base of one of the steep stairs of gha¡ts, called the Burning-Gha¡t, leading down from the streets above to the bed of the river Ganges, the Dom supplies five logs of wood, which he lays in order upon the ground, the rest of the wood being given by the family of the deceased. When the pile is ready for burning a handful of lighted straw is brought by the Dom, and is taken from him and applied by one of the chief members of the family to the wood. The Dom is the only person who can furnish the light for the purose; and if for any reason no Dom is available, great delay and inconvenience are apt to arise. The Dom exacts his fee for three things, namely, first for the five logs, secondly for the bunch of straw, and thirdly for the light."

During an eclipse the sweekpers reap a good harvest; for it is believed that Ra¡hu, the demon who devours the sun and moon and thus causes an eclipse, was either a sweeper or the deity of the sweepers, and alms given to them at this time will appease him and cause him to let the luminaries go. Or, according to another, the sun and moon are in Ra¡hu's debt, and he comes and claims them, and this is the eclipse; and the alms given to sweepers are a mans of paying the debt. In Gujara¡t as soon as the darkening sets in the Bhangis go about shouting, 'Garhanda¡n, Vastrada¡n,Rupa¡da¡an,' or Gifts for the eclipse, gifts of clothes, gifts of silver.' [5] The sweepers are no doubt derived from the primitive or Dravidian tribes, and as has been seen, they also practise the art of making bamboo mats and baskets, being known as Ba¡nsphor in Bombay on this account. In the Punjab the Chuhras are a very numerous caste, being exceeded only by the Ja¡ts, Ra¡jpu¡ts and Bra¡hmans. Only a small proportion of them naturally find employment as scavengers, and the remainder are agricultural labourers, and 6 together with the vagrants and gypsies are the hereditary workers in grass and reeds.[6] They are closely connected with the Dha¡nuks, a caste of hunters, fowlers and village watchmen, being of nearly the same status.[7] And Dha¡nuk, again, is in some localities a complimentary term for a Basor or bamboo-worker. It has been seen that Va¡lmi¡ki, the patron saint of the sweepers, was a low-caste hunter, and this gives some reason for the supposition that the primary occupations of the Chu¡hras and Bhangis were hunting and working in grass and bamboo.

[1] Bombay Gazetteer, l. c.

[2] Ibidem.

[3] Punjab Census Report ( I88I ), and Bombay Gazetteer, l. c.

[4] Hindu Tribes and Castes, quoted by Sir H. Risley, art. Dom.

[5] Bombay Gazetteer, l. c.

[6] Ibbetson, l . c . para. 596.

[7] Ibidem, para. 601.

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In one of the legends of the sweeper saint Ba¡lmi¡k or Va¡lmi¡ki given by Mr.Greeven. [1] Ba¡lmi¡k was the youngest of the five Pa¡ndava brothers, and was persuaded by the others to remove the body of a calf which had died in their courtyard. But after he had done so they refused to touch him, so he went into the wilderness with the body; and when he did not know how to feed himself the carcase started into life and gave him milk until he was full grown, when it died again of its own accord. Ba¡lmi¡k burst into tears, not knowing how he was to live henceforward, but a voice cried from heaven saying, "Of the sinews (of the calf's body do thou tie winnows (su¡p), and of the caul do thou plait sieves (chalni)", Ba¡lmi¡k obeyed, and by his handiwork gained the name of S¡upaj or the maker of winnowing-fans. These are natural occupations of the non-Aryan forest tribes, and are now practised by the Gonds.

Mianas.: -Probably in the past they had some criminal habits. They look like Sindis and live in Kathiawar and Cutch.

Mína.: -Deswâli, Maia. -A well-known caste of Râjputâna [2] which is found in the Central Provinces in the Hoshangâbâd, Nimâr anD Saugor Districts. About 8000 persons of the caste were returned in 1911. The proper name for them is Mína, but here they are generally known as Daswâli, a term which they probably prefer, as that of Mína is too notorious. A large part of the population of the northern Districts is recruited from Bundelkhand and Mârwâr, and these tracts are therefore them known among them as 'Desh' or native country. The term Deswâli is applied to groups of many castes coming from Bundelkhand, and has apparently been specially appropriated as an alias by the Mínas. The caste are sometimes known in Hoshangâbâd as Maina, which Colonel Tod states to be the name of the highest division of the Mínas. The designation of Pardeshi or 'foreigner' is also given to them in some localities. The Deswâlis came to Harda about A.D. 1750, being invited by the Marâtha Amíl or governor, who gave one family a grant of three villages. They thus gained a position of a some dignity, and this reaching the ears of their brothers in Jaipur they also came and settled all over the District.[3] In view of the history and character of the Mínas, of which some account will be given, it should be first stated that under the re`gime of British law and order most of the Deswâlis of Hoshangâbâd have settled down as steady and honest agriculturists.

Historical Notice Of The Mína Tribe.

The Mínas were a famous robber tribe of the country of Mewât in Râjputâna, comprised in the Alwar and Bharatpur States and the British District of Gurgaon.[4] They are also found in large numbers in Jaipur State, which was formerly held by them. The Meos and Mínas are now considered to be branches of one tribe, the former being at least nominally Muhammadans by religion and the latter Hindus. A favourite story for recitation at their feasts is that of Darya Khân Meo and Sasibâdani Míni, a pair of lovers whose marriage led to a quarrel between the tribes to which they belonged, in the time of intermarriage between Meos and Mínas which had formerly been allowed. Both the Meos and Mínas are divided into twelve large clans called pâl, the word pâl meaning, according to Colonel Tod, 'a defile in a valley suitable for cultivation or defence.' In a sandy desert like Râjputâna the valleys of streams might be expected to be the only favourable tracts for settlement, and the name perhaps therefore is a record of the process by which the colonies of Mínas in these isolated patches of culturable land developed into exogamous clans marrying with each other.

[1] L . c . pp. 25, 26.

[2] See Russell.

[3] Elliontt's Hoshangâbâd Settlement Report, p. 63.

[4] Cunningham's Archaeological Survey Reports , xx. p. 24.

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Meos have similarly twelve pâls, and the names of six of these are identical with those of the Mínas. [1] The names of the pâls are taken from those of Râjpît clans,[2] but the record of lists differ, and there are now many other gots or septs outside the pâls. The Mínas seem originally to have been an aboriginal or pre-Aryan tribe of Râjputâna, where they are still found in considerable numbers. The Râja of Jaipur was formerly marked on the forehead with blood taken from the great toe of a Mína on the occasion of his installation. Colonel Tod records that the Amber or Jaipur State was founded by one Dholesai in A.D. 967 after he had slaughtered large numbers of the Mínas by treachery. And as in his time the Mínas still possessed large communities settled in force in Râjputâna, reducing the Mínas to subjection, illicit connections would naturally arise on a large scale between the invaders and the women of the conquered country. For even when the Râjpîts only came as small isolated parties of adventurers, as into the Central Provinces, we find traces of such connections in the survival of castes or subcastes of mixed descent from them and the indigenous tribes. It follows therefore that where they occupied the country and settled on the soil the process would be still more common. Accordingly it is generally recognised that the Mínas are a caste of the most mixed and impure descent, and it has sometimes been supposed that they were themselves a branch of the Râjpîts. In the Punjab when one woman accuses another of illicit intercourse she says 'Mína dena,' or to designate her as a Mína.[3] Further it is stated [4] that "The Mínas are of two classes, the Zamíndâri or agricultural and the Chaukídâri or watchmen. These Chaukídâri Mínas are the famous marauders." The office of village watchman was commonly held by members of the aboriginal tribes, and these too furnished the criminal classes. Another piece of evidence of the Dravidian origin of the tribe is the fact that there exists even now a group of Dhedia or impure Mínas who do not refuse to eat cow's flesh. The Chaukídâri Mínas, dispossessed of their land, resorted to the hills, and here they developed into a community of thieves and bandits recruited from all the outcastes of society. Sir A. Lyall wrote [5] of the caste as "a Cave of Adullam which has stood open for centuries. With them a captured woman is solemnly admitted by a form of adoption into one circle of affinity, in order that she may be lawfully married into another." With the conquest of northern India by the Muhammadans, many of the Mínas, being bound by no ties to Hinduism, might be expected to embrace the new and actively proselytising religion, while their robber bands would receive fugitive Muhammadans as recruits as well as Hindus. Thus probably arose a Musalmân branch of the community, who afterwards became separately designated as the Meos. As already seen, the Meos and Mínas intermarried for a time, but subsequently ceased to do so. As might be expected, the form of Islâm professed by the Meos is of a very bastard order, and Major Powlett's account of it is reproduced in a short separate notice of that tribe.

Their Robberies.

The crimes and daring of the Mínas have obtained for them a considerable place in history. 6 A Muhammadan historian, Zia-ud-dín Bâmi, wrote of the tribe: "At night they were accustomed to come prowling into the city of Delhi, giving all kinds of trouble and depriving people of their rest, and they plundered the country houses in the neighbourhood of the city.

[1] Ibidem.

[2] General Cunningham's enumeration of the pâls is as follows : Five Jâdon clans- Chhirkilta, Dalât, Dermot, Nai,

Pundelot ; five Tuar clans-Balot, Darwâr, Kalesa, Lundâvat, Rattâwat ; one Kachhwâha clan-Dingâl ; one

Bargjîar clan-Singâl. Besides these there is one miscellaneous of half-blood clan, Palakra, making up the common

total of 12,5 clans.

[3] Ibbetson's Punjab Census Report, para, 582. Sir D. Ibbetson considered it doubtful, however, whether the

expression referred to the Mína caste.

[4] Major Powlett, Gazetteer of Alwar.

[5] Asiatic Studies, vol. i. p. 162.

[6] Quoted in Dowson's Elliott 's History of India , iii. p. 103.

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Their daring was carried to such an extent that the western gates of the city were shut at afternoon prayer and no one dared to leave it after hours, whether he travelled as a pilgrim or with the display of a king. At afternoon prayer they would often come to the Sarhouy, and assaulting the water-carriers and girls who were fetching water they would strip them and carry off their clothes. In turn they were treated by the Muhammadan rulers with the most merciless cruelty. Some were thrown under the feet of elephants, others were cut in halves with knives, and others again were flayed alive from head to foot.' Regular campaigns against them were undertaken by the Muham madans, [1] as in later times British forces had to be dispatched to subdue the Pindâris. Bâbar on his arrival at Agra described the Mewâti leader Râja Hasan Khân as 'the chief agitator in all these confusions and insurrections'; and Firishta mentions two terrible slaughters of Mewâtis in A.D. 1259 and 1265. In 1857 Major Powlett records that in Alwar they assembled and burnt the State ricks and carried off cattle, though they did not succeed in plundering any towns or villages there. In British territory they sacked Firozpur and other villages, and when a British force came to restore order many were hanged. Sir D. Ibbetson wrote of them in the Punjab:[2] "The Mínas are the boldest of our criminal classes. Their headquarters so far as the Punjab is concerned are in the village of Shâhjahânpur, attached to the Gurgaon District but surrounded on all sides by Râjputâna territory. There they until lately defied our police and even resisted them with armed force. Their enterprises are on a large scale, and they are always prepared to use violence if necessary. In Mârwâr they are armed with small bows which do considerable damage. They travel great distances in gangs of from twelve to twenty men, practising robbery and dacoity even as far as the Deccan. The gangs usually start off immediately after the Diwâli feast and often remain absent the whole year. They have agents in all the large cities of Râjputâna and the Deccan who give them information, and they are in league with the carrying castes of Mârwâr. After a successful foray they offer one-tenth of the proceeds at the shrine of Kâli Devi."

Like other criminals they were very superstitious, and Colonel Tod records that the partridge and the maloli or wagtail were their chief birds of omen. A partridge clamouring on the left when he commenced a foray was a certain presage of success to a Mína. Similarly, Mr. Kennedy notes that the finding of a dried goatskin, either whole or in pieces, among the effects of a suspected criminal is said to be an infallible indication of his identity as a Mína, the flesh of the goat's tongue being indispensable in connection with the taking of omens. In Jaipur the Mínas were employed as guards, as a method of protection against their fellows, for whose misdeeds they were held responsible. Rent-free lands were given to them, and they were always employed to escort treasure. Here they became the most faithful and trusted of the Râja's servants. It is related that on one occasion a Mína sentinel at the palace had received charge of a basket of oranges. A friend of the same tribe came to him and asked to be shown the palace, which he had never seen. The sentinel agreed and took him over the palace, but when his back was turned the friend stole one orange from the basket. Subsequently the sentinel counted the oranges and found one short; on this he ran after his friend and taxed him with the theft, which being admitted, the Mína said that he had been made to betray his trust and had become dishonoured, and drawing his sword cut off his friend's head. The ancient treasure of Jaipur of Amber was, according to tradition, kept in a secret cave in the hills under a body of Mína guards who alone knew the hiding-place, and would only permit any part of it to be withdrawn for a great emergency. Nor would they accept the orders of the Râja alone, but required the consent of the heads of the twelve principal noble families of Amber, branches of the royal house, before they would give up any part of the treasure. The criminal Mínas are said to inhabit a tract of country about sixty-five miles long and forty broad, stretching from Shâhpur forty miles north of Jaipur to Guraora in Gurgaon on the Rohtak border.

[1] Dowson's Elliott , iv. pp. 60, 75, 283, quoted in Crooke's Tribes and Castes.

[2] Census Report (1881), para. 582.

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The popular idea of the Mína, Mr. Crooke remarks, [1] is quite in accordance with his historical character; his niggardliness is shown in the saying, 'The Meo will not give his daughter in marriage till he gets a mortar full of silver'; his pugnacity is expressed in, 'The Meo's son begins to avenge his feuds when he is twelve years old'; and his toughness in, 'Never be sure that a Meo is dead till you see the third-day funeral ceremony performed.'

The Deswâlis Of The Central Provinces.

As already stated, the Deswâlis of the Central Provinces have abandoned the wild the life of their ancestors and settled down as respectable cultivators. Only a few particulars about them need be recorded. Girls are usually married before they are twelve years old and boys at sixteen to twenty. A sum of Rs. 24 is commonly paid for the bride, and a higher amount up to Rs. 71 may be given, but this is the maximum, and if the father of the girl takes more he will be fined by the caste and made to refund the balance. A triangle with some wooden models of birds is placed on the marriage-shed and the bridegroom strikes at these with a stick; formerly he fired a gun at them to indicate that he was a hunter. A Brâhman is employed to celebrate the marriage. A widow is usually taken by her late husband's younger brother, but if there be none the elder brother may marry her, contrary to the general rule among Hindus. The object is to keep the woman in the family, as wives are costly. If she is unwilling to marry her brother-in-law, however, no compulsion is exercised and she may wed another man. Divorce is allowed, and in Râjputâna is very simply effected. If tempers do not assimilate or other causes prompt them to part, the husband tears a shred from his turban which he gives to his wife, and with this simple bill of divorce, placing two jars of water on her head, she takes whatever path she pleases, and the first man who chooses to ease her of her load becomes her future lord. 'Jehur nikâla,' 'took the jar and went forth,' is a common saying among the mountaineers of Merwara.[2]

The dead are cremated, the corpse of a man being wrapped in a white and that of a woman in a coloured cloth. They have no shrâddh ceremony, but mourn for the dead only on the last day of Kârtik (October), when they offer water and burn incense. Deswâlis employ the Parsai or village Brâhman to officiate at their ceremonies, but owing to their mixed origin they rank below the cultivating castes, and Brâhmans will not take water from them. In Jaipur, however, Major Powlett says, their position is higher. They are, as already seen, the trusted guards of the palace and treasury, and Râjpîts will accept food and water from their hands. This concession is no doubt due to the familiarity induced by living together for a long period, and parallel instances of it can be given, as that of the Panwârs and Gonds in the Central Provinces. The Deswâlis eat flesh and drink liquor, but abstain from fowls and pork. When they are invited to a feast they do not take their own brass vessels with them, but drink out of earthen pots supplied by the host, having the liquor poured on to their hands held to the mouth to avoid actual contact with the vessel. This is a Mârwâri custom and the Jâts also have it. Before the commencement of the feast the guests wait until food has been given to as many beggars as like to attend. In Saugor the food served consists only of rice and pulse without vegetables or other dishes. It is said that a Mína will not eat salt in the house of another man, because he considers that to do so would establish the bond of Nimak-khai or salt-eating between them, and he would be debarred for ever from robbing that man or breaking into his house. The guests need not sit down together as among other Hindus, but may take their food in batches; so that the necessity of awaiting the arrival of every guest before commencing he feast is avoided. The Deswâlis will not kill a black-buck nor eat the flesh of one, but they assign no reason for this and do not now worship the animal. The rule is probably, how ever, a totemistic survival. The men may be known by their manly gait and harsh tone of voice, as well as by a peculiar method of tying the turban; the women have a special ornament called râkhdi on the forehead and do not wear spangles or toe-rings. They are said also to despise ornaments of the baser metals such as brass and pewter. They are tattooed with dots on the face to set off the fair-coloured skin by contrast, in the same manner as patches were carried on the face in Europe in the eighteenth century. A tattoo dot on a fair face is likened by a Hindu poet to a bee sitting on a half-opened mango.

[1] Tribes and Castes of the N. W. P. art. Meo.

[2] Râjasthân , i. p. 589.

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Mirâsi.: -A Muhammadan caste of singers [1] , minstrels and genealogists, of which a few members are found in the Central Provinces. General Cunningham says that they are the bards and singers of the Meos or Mewâtis at all their marriages and festivals.[2] Mr. Crooke is of the opinion that they are undoubtedly an offshoot of the great Dom caste who are little better than sweepers. [3] The word Mirâsi is derived from the Arabic mirâs, inheritance, and its significance is supposed to be that the Mirâsis are the hereditary bards and singes of the castes, as the Bhât is of the Râjpîts. Mirâs as a word may, however, be used of any hereditary right, as that of the village headman or Karnam, or even those of the village watchman or temple dancing-girl, all of whom may have a mirâsi right to fees or perquisites or plots of land held as remuneration for service.[4] The Mirâsis are also known as Pakhâwaji, from the pakhâwaj or timbrel which they play; as Kawwâl or one who speaks fluently, that is a professional story-teller; and as Kalâwant or one possessed of art or skill. The Mirâsis are most numerous in the Punjab, where they number a quarter of a million. Sir D. Ibbetson says of them:[5] "The social position of the Mirâsi as of all minstrel castes is exceedingly low, but he attends at weddings and similar occasions to recite genealogies. Moreover there are grades even among Mirâsis. The out-caste tribes have their Mirâsis, who though they do not eat with their clients and merely render their professionals services are considered impure by the Mirâsis of the higher castes. The Mirâsi is generally a hereditary servant like the Bhât, and is notorious for his exactions, which he makes under the threat of lampooning the ancestors of him from whom he demands fees. The Mirâsi is almost always a Muhammadan." They are said to have been converted to Islâm in response to the request of the poet Amír Khusru, who lived in the reign of Ala-ud-dín Khilji (A.D. 1295). The Mirâsi has two functions, the men being musicians, story-tellers and genealogists, while the women dance and sing, but only before the ladies of the zenâna. Mr. Nesfield [6] says that they are sometimes regularly entertained as jesters to help these ladies to kill time and reconcile them to their domestic lives. As they do not dance before men they are reputed to be chaste, as no woman who is not a prostitute will dance in the presence of men, though singing and playing are not equally condemned. The implements of the Mirâsis are generally the small drum 7 (dholak), the cymbals (majíra) and the gourd lute (kingri ). [7]

Mochi.: -Muchi, Jíngar, Jirayat, Jíldgar, Chitrakâr, Chitevari, Musabir [8].- The occupational caste of saddlers and cobblers. In 1911 about 4,000 Mochis and 2000 Jíngars were returned from the Central Provinces and Berâr, the former residing principally in the Hindustâni and the latter in the Marâthi-speaking Districts. The name is derived from the Sanskrit mochika and the Hindustâni mojna, to fold, and the common name mojah for socks and stockings is from the same root (Platts).

[1] See Russell.

[2] Archaeological Reports , vol. xx. p. 26.

[3] Tribes and Castes of the North-Western Provinces, vol. iii. p. 496.

[4] Baden Powell's Land Systems of British India , vol. ii. p. 116.

[5] Punjab Ethnography , p. 289.

[6] Brief Vies, p. 43.

[ 7] Crooke , loc. cit.

[8] See Russell. This article is partly based on papers by Mr. Gopâl Parmanand, Deputy Inspector of Schools, Saugor, and Mr. Shamsuddín, Sub-Inspector City Police, Saugor.

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By origin the Mochis are no doubt an offshoot of the Chamâr caste, but they now generally disclaim the connection. Mr. Nesfield observes [ 1] that "The industry of tanning is preparatory to and lower than that of cobblery and hence the caste of Chamâr ranks decidedly below that of Mochi. The ordinary Hindu does not consider the touch of a Mochi so impure as that of the Chamâr, and there is a Hindu proverb to the effect that 'Dried or prepared hide is the same thing as cloth,' whereas the touch of the raw hide before it has been tanned by the Chamâr is considered a pollution. The Mochi does not eat carrion like the Chamâr, nor does he eat swine's flesh; nor does his wife ever practise the much-loathed art of midwifery." In the Central provinces, as in northern India, the caste may be considered to have two branches, the lower one consisting of the Mochis who make and cobble shoes and are admittedly descended from Chamârs; while the better-class men either make saddles and harness, when they are known as Jíngar; or bind books, when they are called Jíldgar; or paint and make clay idols, when they are given the designation either of Chitrakâr, Chitevari, or Murtikâr. In Berâr some Jíngars have taken up the finer kinds of iron-work, such as mending guns, and are known as Jirâyat. All these are at great pains to dissociate themselves from the Chamâr caste. They call themselves Thâkur or Râjpît and have exogamous sections the names of which are identical with those of the Râjpît septs. The same people have assumed the name of Rishi in Bengal, and, according to a story related by Sir H. Risley, claim to be debased Brâhmans; while in the Untied Provinces Mr. Crooke considers them to be connected with the Srivâstab Kâyasths, with whom they intermarry and agree in manners and customs. The fact that in the three Provinces these workers in leather claim descent from three separate high castes is an interesting instance of the trouble which the lower-class Hindus will take to obtain increase in social consideration; but the very diversity of the accounts given induces the belief that all Mochis were originally sprung for the Chamârs. In Bombay, again, Mr. Enthoven [ 2] writes that the caste prefers to style itself Arya Somavansi Kshatriya or Aryan Kshatriyas of the Moon division; while they have all the regular Brâhmanical gotras as Bhâradwâja, Vasishtha, Gautam and so on.

Legends Of Origin.

The following interesting legends as to the origin of the caste adduced by them in support of their Brâhmanical descent are related [ 3] by Sir H. Risley: "One of the Prajâ pati, or mind-born sons of Brahma, was in the habit of providing the flesh of cows and clarified butter as a burnt-offering (Ahuti ) to the gods. It was then the custom to eat a portion of the sacrifice, restore the victim to life, and drive it into the forest. On one occasion the Prajâ-pati failed to resuscitate the sacrificial animal, owing to his wife, who was pregnant at the time, having clandestinely made away with a portion. Alarmed at this he summoned all the other Prajâ-patis, and they sought by divination to discover the cause of the failure. At last they ascertained what had occurred, and as a punishment the wife was cursed and expelled from their society. the child which she bore was the first Mochi or tanner, and from that time forth, mankind being deprived of the power of reanimating cattle slaughtered for food, the pious abandoned the practice of killing them altogether. Another story is that Muchirâm, the ancestor of the caste, was born from the sweat of Brahma while dancing. He chanced to offend the irritable sage Durvâsa, who sent a pretty Brâhman widow to allure him into a breach of chastity. Muchirâm accosted the widow as mother, and refused to have anything to do with her; but Durvâsa used the miraculous power he had acquired by penance to render the widow pregnant so that the innocent Muchirâm was made an outcaste on suspicion. From her two sons are descended the two main branches of the caste in Bengal."

Art Among The Hindus.

In the Central Provinces the term Mochi is often used for the whole caste in the northern Districts, and Jíngar in the Marâtha country; while the Chitrakârs or painters form a separate group. Though the trades of cobbler and book-binder are now widely separated in civilised countries, the connection between them is apparent since both work in leather.

[1] Brief View. Bombay Ethnographic Survey

[2] Draft Monograph on Jíngar.

[3] Tribes and Castes of Bengal, art. Mochi.

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It is not at first sight clear why the painter should be of the same caste, but the reason is perhaps that his brushes are made of the hair of animals, and this is also regarded as impure, as being a part of the hide. If such be the case a senseless caste rule of ceremonial impurity has prevented the art of painting from being cultivated by the Hindus; and the comparatively poor development of their music may perhaps be ascribed to the same cause, since the use of the sinews of animals for stringed instruments would also prevent the educated classes from learning to play them. Thus no stringed instruments are permitted to be used in temples, but only the gong, cymbal, horn and conch-shell. And this rule would greatly discourage the cultivation of music, which art, like all the others, has usually served in its early period as an appendage to religious services. It has been held that instruments were originally employed at temples and shrines in order to scare away evil spirits by their noise while the god was being fed or worshipped, and not for the purpose of calling the worshippers together; since noise is a recognised means of driving away spirits, probably in consequence of its effect in frightening wild animals. It is for the same end that music is essential at weddings, especially during the night when the spirits are more potent; and this is the primary object of the continuous discordant din which the Hindus consider a necessary accompaniment to a wedding.

Except for this ceremonial strictness Hinduism should have been favourable to the development of both painting and sculpture, as being a polytheistic religion. In the early stages of society religion and art are intimately connected, as is shown by the fact that images and paintings are at first nearly always of deities or sacred persons or animals, and it is only after a considerable period of development that secular subjects are treated. Similarly architecture is in its commencement has been found to be applied solely to sacred buildings as temples and churches, and is only gradually diverted to secular buildings. The figures sculptured by the Mochis are usually images for temples, and those who practise this art are called Murtikar, from murti, an image or idol; and the pictures of the Chitrakârs were until recently all of deities or divine animals, though secular paintings may now occasionally be met with. And the uneducated believers in a polytheistic religion are unable to conceive of the one apart from the other. Thus some Bharewas or brass-workers say that they dare not make metal images of the gods, because they are afraid that the badness of their handiwork might arouse the wrath of the gods and move them to take revenge. The surmise might in fact be almost justifiable that the end to which figures of men and animals were first drawn or painted, or modelled in clay or metal was that they might be worshipped as images of the deities, the savage mind not distinguishing at all between an image of the god and the god himself. For this reason monotheistic religions would be severely antagonistic to the arts, and such is in fact the case. Thus the Muhammadan commentary, the Hadith, has a verse: "Woe to him who has painted a living creature! At the day of the last judgment the persons represented by him will come out of the tomb to demand of him a soul. Then that man, unable to give life to his work, will burn in eternal flames." And in Judaism the familiar prohibition of the Second Commandment appears to be directed to the same end.

Hindu sculpture has indeed been fairly prolific, but is not generally considered to have attained to any degree of artistic merit. Since sculpture is mainly concerned with the human form it seems clear that an appreciation of the beauty of muscular strength and the symmetrical development of the limbs is an essential preliminary to success in this art; and such a feeling can only arise among a people who set much store on feats of bodily strength and agility. This has never been the character of the Hindus, whose religion encourages asceticism and mortification of the body, and points to mental self-absorption and detachment from worldly cares and exercises as the highest type of virtue.

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Antagonism Of Mochis And Chamârs.

As a natural result of the pretensions to nobility made by the Mochis, there is no love lost between them and the Chamârs; and the latter allege that the Mochis have stolen their râmpi, the knife with which they cut leather. On this account the Chamârs will neither take water to drink from the Mochis nor mend their shoes, and will not even permit them to try on a new pair of shoes until they have paid the price set on them; for they say that the Mochis are half-bred Chamârs and therefore cannot be permitted to defile the shoes of a true Chamâr by trying them on; but when they have been paid for, the maker has severed connections with them, and the use to which they may be put no longer affects him.

Exogamous Groups.

In the Central Provinces the Mochis are said to have names after all the well-known Râjpît clans, while two agree with those of the Chamârs. And they have also an equal number of kheras or groups named after villages. The limits of the two groups seem to be identical; thus members of the sept named after the Kachhwâha Râjpîts say that their khera or village name is Mungâvali in Gwâlior; those of the Ghangere sept name Chanderi as their khera, the Sitâwat sept Dhâmoni in Saugor, the Didoria Chhatarpur, the Narele Narwar, and so on. The names of the village groups have now been generally forgotten and they are said to have no influence on marriage, which is regulated by the Râjpît sept names; but it seems probable that the kheras were the original divisions and the Râjpît gotras have been more recently adopted in support of the claims already noticed.

Social Customs.

The Mochis have adopted the customs of the higher Hindu castes. A man may not take a wife from his own gotra, his mother's gotra or from a family into which a girl from his own family has married. They usually marry their daughters in childhood and employ Brâhmans in their ceremonies, and no degradation attaches to these latter for serving as their priests. In minor domestic ceremonies for which the Brâhman is not engaged his place is taken by a relative, who is called sawâsa, and is either the sister's husband, daughter's husband, or father's sister's husband. They permit widow-remarriage and divorce, and in the southern districts effect a divorce by laying a pestle between the wife and husband. They burn their dead and they will not again put on a coloured head-cloth until some relative sets it on their heads for the first time on the expiry of the period of mourning. They revere the ordinary Hindu deities, and like the Chamârs they have a family god, known as Mair, whose representation in the shape of a lump of clay is enshrined within the house and worshipped at marriages and deaths. In Saugor he is said to be the collective representative of the spirits of their ancestors. In some localities they eat flesh and drink liquor, but in others abstain from both. Among the Hindus the Mochis rank considerably higher than the Chamârs; their touch does not defile and they are permitted to enter temples and take part in religious ceremonies. The name of a Saugor Mochi is remembered as he who became a good drawer and painter and was held in much esteem at the Peshwa's court. In northern India about half the Mochis are Muhammadans, but in the Central Provinces they are all Hindus.

Shoes.

In view of the fact that many of the Mochis were Muhammadans and that slippers are mainly a Muhammadan article of attire, Buchanan thought it probable that they were brought into India by the invaders, the Hindus having previously been content with sandals and wooden shoes. He wrote: "Many Hindus now use leather slippers, but some adhere to the proper custom of wearing sandals, which have wooden soles, a strap of leather to pass over the instep, and a wooden or horn peg with a button on its top. The foot is passed through the strap and the peg is placed between two of the toes." [1] It is certain, however, that leather shoes and slippers were known to the Hindus from a fairly early period: "The episode related in the Râmâyana of Bhârata placing on the vacant throne of Ajodhya a pair of Râma's slippers, which he worshipped during the latter's protracted exile, shows that shoes were important articles of wear and worthy of attention. In Manu and the Mahâbhârata slippers are also mentioned and the time and mode of putting them on pointed out.

[1] Eastern India , vol. iii. p. 105.

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The Vishnu Purâna enjoins all who wish to protect their persons never to be without leather shoes. Manu in one place expresses great repugnance to stepping into another's shoes and peremptorily forbids it, and the Purânas recommend the use of shoes when walking out of the house, particularly in thorny places and on hot sand." [1] Thus shoes were certainly worn by the Hindus before Muhammadan times, though loose slippers may have been brought into fashion by the latter. And it seems possible that the Mochis may have adopted Islam, partly to obtain the patronage of the followers of the new religion, and also to escape from the degraded position to which their profession of leather-working was relegated by Hinduism and to dissociate themselves from the Chamârs.

Mondarus.: -They live in Andra Pradesh. They are a small group of beggars.

Mondis.: -They live in Tamil Nadu and are a mendicant caste.

Mors.: -See Kahals.

Muchi: -Rishi, [2] the leather-dressing and cobbler caste of Bengal, by origin doubtless a branch of the Chamârs, though its members now repudiate that name and claim to be a distinct caste of somewhat higher social position. Mr. Nesfield observers that "the industry of tanning is preparatory to and lower than that of cobblery: and hence the caste of Chamâr ranks decidedly below that of Muchi. The ordinary Hindu does not consider the touch of a Muchi so impure as that of a Chamâr, and there is a Hindu proverb to the effect that 'dried or prepared hide is the same thing as cloth,' whereas the touch of the raw hide before it has been tanned by the Chamâr is considered a pollution. The Muchi does not eat carrion like the Chamâr, nor does he eat swine's flesh; nor does his wife ever practise the much-loathed art of midwifery. He makes the shoes, leather aprons, leather buckets, harness, portmanteaux, etc, used by the people of India. As a rule he is much better off than the Chamâr, and this circumstance has helped amongst others to raise him in the social scale." It may be gathered from this description that in the North-West Provinces the Muchi never dresses freshly-skinned hides, but confines himself to working up leather already tanned by the Chamâr. This distinction does not appear to be so sharply drawn in Bengal, where Muchis tan hides like the Chamârs, but will only cure those of the cow, goat, buffalo, and deer.

Traditions of original.

The origin of the Muchi caste is given in the following legend, related to Dr. Wise by one of their Brahmans, and afterwards reported to me substantially in the same form from an independent source: One of the Prajâ-pati, or mind-born sons of Brahma, was in the habit of providing the flesh of cows and clarified butter as a burnt offering (Áhuti) to the gods. It was then the custom to eat a portion of the sacrifice, restore the victim to life, and drive it into the forest. On one occasion the Prajâ-pati failed to resuscitate the sacrificial animal, owing to his wife, who was pregnant at the time, having clandestinely made away with a portion.

[1] Râjendra Lâl Mitra, Indo-Aryans , vol. i. pp. 222, 223.

[2] See Risley. Buchanan met with a tribe of fishermen is Puraniya called Rishi, and considered them to be an aboriginal them to be an aboriginal tribe of Mithilâ. Rishi, however, is often used as a pseudonym to hide the real paternity of a caste: thus the Mîsahar often calls himself "Rishi-bâlaka," or son of a Rishi, and the Bengali Chamâr tries to pass incognito as a Rishi. In the case of the Mîsahar it is possible that Rishi may be Rikhi or Rikh-Mun, the bear, one of the original totems of the Bhuiya or Mîsahar tribe, and the same may hold good for the Chandâl. This explanation, is mainly conjectural.

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Alarmed at this he summoned all the other Prajâ-patis, and they sought by divination to discover the cause of the failure. At last they ascertained what had occurred, and as a punishment the wife was cursed and expelled from their society. The child which she bore was the first Muchí, or tanner, and from that time forth mankind being deprived of the power of reanimating cattle slaughtered for food, the pious abandoned the practice of killing them altogether. Another story is that Muchirâm, the ancestor of the caste, was born from the sweat of Brahmâ while dancing. He chanced to offend the irritable sage Durvâsa, who sent a pretty Brahman widow to allure him into a breach of chastity. Muchirâm accosted the widow as mother, and refused to have anything to do with her; but Durvâsa used the miraculous powers he had acquired by penance to render the widow pregnant, so that the innocent Muchirâm was made an outcaste on suspicion. From the widow's twin sons Bara Râm and Chhota Râm descended the Barâ-bhâgiyâ and Chhota-bhâgiyâ sub-castes, which are the two main divisions of Muchis at the present day. The Chhota-Bhâgiyâ deal in hides, act as musicians, and do various kinds of leather work; while the Barâ-bhagiyâ profess to be only cultivators. The latter are again divided into Uttar-Rârhi and Dakin-Rârhhi, who do not intermarry or eat together. The other sub-castes, Châsâ-Kurur or Châsâ-Kolai, are agriculturists; the Betuâ make cane baskets and also cultivate; the Jugi-Muchi or Korâ weave coarse cloth of cotton, often mixed with silk; the Tikâkar Konai, who make the tikâ or charcoal balls used for lighting pipes; and the Baitâl, Mâla bhumiâ, Sabarkârâ, and Sânki, are shoemakers, cobblers, and curries. Muchis have only two sections, Kâsyapa and Sândilya, which have been borrowed from the Brahmanical system, and has no bearing upon the prevention of intermarriage between near relatives.

Marriage.

They follow the ordinary rules as to prohibited degrees, and permit the marriage of two sisters to the same man, provided that the younger is not married first. Both infant and adult-marriage are recognized for girls, but the former practice is deemed the more respectable, and is resorted to in the large majority of cases. In the Dacca district a father generally receives from fifty to sixty rupees for his daughter, from which it may be inferred that the custom of polygamy has tended on the whole towards the preponderance of males in the caste. In other districts, however, the bride price is not so high, and in Pabna it is said to vary according to the means of the bridegroom. The marriage ceremony is a simplified form of that in use among the higher Hindu castes; sindurdân, or according to some the burning of khai or parched paddy before the bride and bridegroom being the binding portion. The bride is dressed in red garments. In former years, says Dr. Wise, the marriage ceremonies of the Rishi were scenes of debauchery and intemperance, but of late intoxicating liquors have been prohibited until all the regular forms have been observed. Even Hindus, who rarely have anything favourable to say of the Rishi, confess that now-a-days, owing to some unknown cause, both the Chamârs and Rishi have become more temperate and more attentive to their religious duties than formerly. Polygamy is permitted with no limits save that the man has the means to maintain them and their children. Divorce is permitted on the ground of adultery. Usually the panchâyat (parâmânik or moiâli) to give their sanction to the proceedings; and if this is not done at the request of the husband, the wife has a right to appeal to the panchâyat. With the permission of that body, divorced wives may marry again by the sanga or nika form. Widows also may marry a second time by this ritual, the binding portion of which consists of exchanging garlands made of the flowers of the tulsi (Ocymum sanctum). Here also the sanction of the panchâyat is required and a feast is given to the members. A small sum, varying from Re. 1 to Rs. 5, is paid as pan. Indications are not wanting that the opinion of the caste tends to condemn widow-marriage, and that the custom may be expected to die out within a generation or two unless some special influence is brought to bear in its favour. Already some Muchis hold that only virgin widows can properly marry again, and that the remarriage of a full-grown woman who has already lived with her husband is little better than concubinage. The children of sanga marriages are deemed to be in some sense degraded, and, if males, have to pay a heavy fine before they can obtain wives.

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Like Bauris and Bâgdis, the Muchis admit into their community members of any caste higher than their own. The new member is required to give a feast to the caste panchâyat, and to eat with them in token of fellowship. Instances of men of other castes thus becoming Muchis are rare, and occur only when a man has been turned out of his own caste for having intercourse with a Muchi woman and taking food from her hands.

Religion.

The majority of the caste are believed to belong to the Saiva sect, but a large proportion of the Betuâ sub-caste are Vaishnavas. They imitate the Sudras in most of their religious ceremonies, while others peculiar to themselves resemble those of the Chamârs. Though regarded as utterly vile, they are permitted to make offerings at the shrines of Kâli, which a Jugi is not allowed to do. They keep many Hindu festivals, the chief being that in honour of Viswakarmâ on the last day of Bhâdra. When small-pox prevails they offer a pig to Sitalâ, first of all smearing the animal's snout with red lead and repeating certain incantation, after which it is set free, and any one can seize it. Like the Chamâr, Dhobâ, Dosadh, and other low castes, the Muchis worship Jalka Devi, whenever cholera or other epidemic disease breaks out. The Muchi women, however, only collect contributions in their own quarter, and wear the wreath of plantain, date-palm, or benâ (Andropogon muricatus) for two and a half days instead of for six, as is the custom of the Chamârs. Muchirâm Dâs, the reputed ancestor of the caste, and Rui Dâs, are also popular objects of worship.

Priests.

A Brahman was bestowed on the Barâ-bhâgiyâ Muchis by Ballâl Sen, and the story goes that in the palace of that monarch a certain Brahman, having made himself especially troublesome by insisting upon being appointed as priest to one of newly-formed castes, had it intimated to him by the Raja that he would belong to the caste which should first appear to him in the morning. There was also a Muchi, a celebrated player on the naqârah, or kettledrum, whose duty it was to sound the reveille. It was easily arranged that the Brahman should first cast his eyes on him when he awoke, and his descendants have ever since ministered to this despised race. They rank among the lowest of the Barna-Brahmans, and neither members of the sacred order nor men belonging to the Ácharani castes will take water from their hands. The Chhota-bhâgiyâ have priests of their own. Muchis burn their dead and perform srâddh on the thirtieth day after death. In the case of men who have died a violent death there is no srâddh, but a prâyaschitta, or expiatory ceremony, is performed. The Chhota-bhâgiyâ and Betuâ sub-castes, like the Chandâls, observe ten days of impurity and celebrate the srâddh on the eleventh.

Social status.

The social position of Muchis is, as has been intimated above, perhaps a shade higher than that of Chamârs, but this is not saying much, and both castes may properly be placed in one class at the bottom of the scale of precedence recognized by the average Hindu. None of the regular village servants will defile himself by working for a Muchi, and thus the caste has been compelled to provide itself with barbers and washermen from among its own members. Illegitimate children are usually brought up to these professions, and wherever the community is a large one no inconvenience is felt. Their rules regarding diet vary, as some sub-castes eat beef, as the Chamârs do; are very partial to chickens and regard pork as a delicacy. The Bara-bhâgiyâ, Betuâ, and Châsâ-kolai abstain from beef and pork, but not from fowls; and they are far less particular that the higher casts as to the kinds of fish which they eat. Like the Chamârs, all Muchis are great spirit-drinkers, and notorious for their indulgence in the more dangerous vice of gânja-smoking. No other caste will eat food prepared by a Muchi, but Doms will take water from their hands and will smoke from the same hookah.

Occupation.

Muchis work as tanners, shoe-makers, saddlers, musicians, and basket-makers. Their mode of preparing skins is as follows: the raw hide is rubbed, and then soaked for fifteen to twenty days in a strong solution of lime.

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It is then deprived of its hair and of any fat that remains, and steeped for six days in acid tamarind juice. Finally, it is put in a vat containing a solution of lac and pounded babîl (Acacia), garan (Ceriops Roxburghianus), and sundarí (Heritiera minor) barks, the hide being after this immersion regarded as properly cured. The town Muchis buy hides from their brethren resident in those parts of the country where cattle abound. The village Muchis of the Chhota-bhâgiyâ sub-caste, while they pride themselves on not skinning the carcasses of their own cattle, row up and down the rivers in their neighbourhood in search of carcasses, and when epidemic diseases attack the herds they find so much to do that the villagers attribute the spread of the disease to them. It is doubtless often the case that they puncture a healthy cow with an Acacia thorn impregnated with virus, but they are rarely, if ever, detected at this villainous trade. The people, however, firmly believe that they increase their profits in this way. In Western Bengal and Chota Nagpur, where the sâl jungles form the chief pasturing grounds, Muchis destroy cattle with arsenic rolled up in a bundle or mahuâ petals. They are a favourite food for cows, and can be strewn on the ground without rousing any suspicion. The Muchi will not touch a corpse, but will skin the carcass of a dead animal. The skin of the buffalo sacrificed at the Durgâ Pîja is their perquisite, and the skinning of the animal often gives rise to bitter quarrels between rival families.

Most Muchis make shoes, but of inferior quality to those manufactured by the Chamârs. The Betuâ sub-caste are famous for making baskets of rattan (Calamus rotang), which natives assert are so closely woven that they will hold water. They also collect the roots of the dub grass (Panicum), and manufacture the brush (manjan) used by weavers for starching the warp. In some parts the Muchi castrates bull calves, but this they stoutly deny. Others, again, work as sweepers and remove night-soil, but those who do so are excluded from intermarriage with the rest of the caste, and appear to be on the way to form a sub-caste of their own. The tablâ-wâla, or drum-maker, is always a Muchi. Goats' skins are used for the covering, while cows' hides supply the strings for tightening the parchment. On every native drum, at one or both ends, black circles (khiran) are painted to improve the pitch. The Muchi prepares a paste of iron filings and rice, with which he stains the parchment. At all Hindu weddings they are employed as musicians, and engaged in bands, as among Muhamadans. Their favourite instruments are drums of various shapes and sizes, the violin, and the pipe. The female Muchi differs from the Chamâín in never acting as a midwife, in wearing shell bracelets instead of huge ones of bell-metal, and in never appearing as a professional singer.

Mundas.: -Origin:-- The probable origin of this tribe is that they entered India from the South and South-East at a period when India had land connections with Australia and was cut off from Northern Asia. The language spoken has been known as "Kolarian" and is now recognised as being a sub-family of the Austro-Asistic group of languages. Ethnogically, the Mundas and Dravidians, of whom the Oraons are a type, are not distinguishable and it is, therefore, argued that these two races are among the earliest inhabitants of India and approximate one another ethnically as a consequence of intermarriage and similarity of environment. "Intermarriage" which is strictly interdicted nowadays, refers, of course, to the earlier period when exogamy began and women were captured outside the tribe. The Mundas are nearly related to the Hos, Santals and Kharias, the four tribes representing probably comparatively recent branchings off from some general body or, as some think, the Mundas represent the main body, the others being offshoots.

Numbers And Distribution.

At the last Census the Mundas numbered 593, 839, of whom 366, 500 were found in Behar and Orissa,, and 128,000 in Assam most of the latter being either Tea Garden Coolies or ex-tea garden labourers now settled on the land. The Munda Country consists of the South-eastern quarter of the Ranchi District and the plateau and hills to the North of Singhbhum, known as Parahat.

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In these two districts there are 286,000 people. In the Rajshahi Division (Dooars) 66,000 were found. Mundas are also found settled in the Native States of Khar-sawan, Seraikela and Gangpur, while a large settlement has found its way to the northern portions of Sambalpur and the Borai State. There are indeed settlers in most of the outlying States-- Keonjhar, Sirguja and Jashpur. Considerable numbers of Mundas are also to be found on the little plateau which occurs as outcrop in the Manbhum District, named Baghmundi. Here the Mundas are found in a state of purity, as is to be expected from the in-accessible nature of Baghmundi, but their brethren of the plains have been partially Hinduized and are known as Bhumij. These Bhumij retain the Munda burial customs, but have lost their Munda speech. In the Central Provinces, as far West as Jubbulpore and extending to the Rewah State and beyond into Mirzapur of the United Provinces, are found the Kols, who are in origin Mundas having been through various vicissitudes, but who have still retained a dim memory of their relationship to their cousins in Chota Nagpur.

Language.

As has been stated, the Munda language is Kolarian, and is of a curiously interesting form. It is agglutinative as opposed to the organic form of Hindu and English. That language consists of a number of words which may be used as nouns, verbs, etc., according to the position in a word-sentence. It is an extra-ordinarily precise and flexible language and comparatively easy to acquire. The Mundas call themselves Horoko, horo being the word for a man (ko is the sign of the plural), the word Munda meaning headman as will be emphasised when discussing the organisation of the village community. H and K are frequently interchangeable as are also L and R (R being a palatal pronounced with the tongue pressed to the roof of the mouth). Hence Kol is merely a variation of Hor. It has been mentioned that the Hos or Larka Kols (fighting or warlike) of Singhbhum and the Santals are nearly allied to the Mundas. The three language are almost identical in structure, Santali being slightly more complex especially as regards the verb. The main differences in the languages are, however, typified by the words used in these languages for man, the same word being used in speaking of the race.

Thus:

Santali ... Hor.

Mundari ... Horo.

Larka Kol (or Ho) ... Ho.

The Mundari approximates to the English or perhaps the Scotch R; the Santali has a palatal R,

while the Larka Kols omit the R in the middle of words:

Mundari. Ho.

Kuri ... ... Kui a girl.

Ora ... ... O-a a house.

All these languages have a checked vowel--- Santali being particularly jerky to listen to. Thus water is da pronounced da-a, the first a being very sharp a, not unlike a Glasgow man's pronunciation of water "wa'er."

The best book on the Mundari language is Hoffman's Grammar and his two Exercises, available at the Catholic Orphan Press, Calcutta. With these books and a paniwallh or syce to practise on, one should make good progress with the language. As in Greek there is a ual number, and a woman is always addressed in the dual "aben" instead of "am" which is applied to a man. It is always easy to distinguish whether one has picked up Mundari among the pluckers or among those hoeing!

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Tribal Organisation. The Mundas are divided into exogamous septs, each sept or Killi venerating a distinct totem. Examples of the names totem are:

Horo or Kachap ... a tortoise.

Tuti ... ... a plant.

Soe ... ... a fish.

Nag ... ... Cobra.

Purthi an insect.

Barla ... a fruit.

Bejra ... small hawk.

Chirko ... mushroom.

Demta ... red tree-ant.

(Risley gives a list of 350 Septs!)

There are frequently several sub-divisions of each Killi signifying newly separated exogamous groups. The Eastern portion of the Munda country speaks the purest Mundari and retains the old tribal organisation to this day. It is split up into patis or groups of about seventeen villages, presided over by a Manki, hence this area is known as the Manki-pati. The Manki is maintained by contributions from each village and by his own cultivation in the manki-village. In this area, there is no individual ownership of land, the village lands being held jointly by the village community. No rent is paid but the community is jointly liable for an annual payment to the Manki, which is called "chanda" (subscription) and which represents the commuted value of military service. The lands in the village are cultivated by individual members, each of whom enjoys the fruit of his own cultivation, and his sons nowadays usually inherit his particular fields, but if a man dies intestate, the fields return to the community and are shared by the "hagako" (brotherhood). The idea of individual ownership which is at the basis of the English conception of land tenures is spreading to the Mundas and the system will break down sooner or later. In the western portions, it did break down, but owing to the ignorance of the District Officers. The Munda or headman invariably appeared as spokesman for the village and incidentally it was in this way that the tribe received its present name. He was treated by Officials as a zemindar and the other members of the community merely as his raiyats. Some Mundas were not averse to this distinction and encouraged the illusion. They borrowed money, mortgaged the villages, and allowed them to be sold for debt. Very rapidly the aboriginal began to be ousted from his holdings and there was much agrarian discontent, culminating in the risings of 1820 and 1832. After the Mutiny in which they participated, an attempt was made to legislate for the Mundas according to their own customs. The Bhuihari Survey was held in 1862 and certain lands were set aside for the use of the aboriginal families in those villages where the communal system was disappearing. This did not remove the discontent, however, and a further rising under Birsa Bhagwan occurred in 11900. The new Chota Nagpur Tenancy Acts of 1893 and 1908 have gone far towards a settlement of agrarian questions, but there is still considerable discontent, fostered recently by non-co-operators.

The Mundas are agriculturists and despise all other occupation. In their villages, and maintained by contributions in kind, but occasionally in cash, reside the necessary industrialists-- Lohars, Barhis, Kumhars, Turis or weavers in bamboo, Malars (workers in brass) and Panrs (weavers). These people are occasionally given small plots of land to cultivate.

Religion And Religious Ceremonies.

The Mundas are Animists, though Babu S.C. Roy, author of "The Mundas and their Country" puts in for them a claim to a higher religion of a monotheistic type, on the ground that they venerate Singh Bonga as the lord of all and that the rest of the pantheon includes the spirits of ancestors, the woodland spirits being merely daemons of lower order, belief in which does not affect their essential monotheism.

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The idea of Singh Bonga, however, is exceedingly vague and he is nowhere worshipped in the true sense of the word-- a little food is daily set aside for him and for the ancestor spirits, but almost the whole of the religious activities of these people consists of the offering of propitations to the daemons. The priest of the village, or as he is called, the Pahan, is the real Headman, but he is far too holy to appear before strangers to represent the community in mundane matters; the Munda has done this and has profited by the prominence thus acquired. There is at present a growing antagonism between the respective branches of the village community, known as the Pahan khunt and the Munda Khunt. The Pahan is responsible for all public sacrifices and for appeasing the village deities in the Sarna, a grove left standing when the forest clearing was first established.

The principal feasts are:

(i) Maghe Parab held at the full moon of Pous (January/February). The penates or household gods-- the spirits of deceased ancestors-- are worshipped at this festival. At this time of the year too new servants are engaged for the following year and are 'fed' as in Scotland.

(ii) Phagua, held at the full moon of Falgun (March/April). This festival corresponds to the Holi festival of the Hindus and is the spring festival. The Pahan propitiates all the local deities, and the sacrifices have the magical object of increasing the fertility of the earth.

(iii) Ba-Parab (Flower festival), also known as the Sarhul, celebrated in Chait (April/May) when the Sal tress are in bloom. Sacrifices are performed in the Sarna, a sacred grove, and much rice beer is imbibed.

(iv) The Hon-Ba Parab and Batauli are private festivals held just before the first sowing and the first transplanting and are meant to ensure the success of these operations. The Karam festival is also an agricultural ceremony intended to secure the health and well-being of the growing corn; it is held in August/September (Bhado). There are several other minor festivals, before reaping, before threshing and before eating the new rice. In fact, no opportunity is missed of making a spree of any occasion.

(v) The Shore is the great harvest festival held on the day of the new moon of Karitk (October/November). Cattle are venerated and feted, being fed on boiled rice beer. The Mundas dance all night and have a great revel.

Marriage.

As has previously been stated, marriage must take place within the tribe, but outside one's own Killi or sept. The bride is formally adopted into her husband's Killi and the ceremony of the putting on of Sindur (red lead) by the bridegroom on the forehead of the bride is a relic of the old ceremony of the mingling of blood. It is essential part of the actual celebration of marriage. The bride has to adopt the totem of her husband, but continues to venerate her own totem. Infant marriages are unknown, and a bride is paid for in rupees or in cattle. Divorce is easy and frequently merely means the return to the husband of the bride-price (gong) by the Lothario who has won the wife's affection. There is a formal betrothal ceremony and much drinking of rice beer. An interesting item is the binding of a mango tree with a thread and the citing of the tree as a witness to the marriage. Widow re-marriage is freely permitted, though an elder brother's widow is expected to live with her surviving brother-in-law. The marriage of widows is called "sagai" or "sangha." Readers wishing further details of the marriage ceremonies are referred to S. C. Roy's "The Mundas and their Country."

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Birth Ceremonies.

There must be a public acceptance of the child by the putative father on the sixth day after birth (Chathi). The mother has to go through various purificatory ceremonies of no particular interest.

Death .

The bodies of the deceased are buried, and a year after, the bones are disinterred and placed under the burial stones in the ancestral village. Most villages have extensive graveyards (Sasan) and great slabs of stone flat on the ground cover the bones of deceased members of the family. No one but members of the family of the original reclaimer of the village site may be buried here, the right to bury being taken as a proof of membership in the family and, therefore, as conveying the right to a plot of land to cultivate. The Mundas have a saying "Horoharkoa patta do sasandhiri " ("These gravestones are the pattas or title deeds of the Mundas "). Every Munda cherishes the thought that his bones will finally be interred on the family burial ground and dutiful sons will carefully preserve the bones of parents who have died under foreign skies, taking them for burial when opportunity offers to the ancestral village.

SUB-TRIBES: Nagbangshi Mundas (see page 10) and Munda-Oraons. The Munda-Oraons are Oraons living about the town of Ranchi and to the south and south-east for a distance of about fifteen miles. They speak a dialect of Mundari, but have all the customs of Oraons. They were probably early settlers in Munda villages and adopted the Munda tongue. The Mundas themselves have retired from this area and are not now found there, with the exception of a family maintained for the express purpose of propitiating the village deities.

MAHILI or KHANGAR MUNDAS:- These people are obviously Dravidians, but are not admitted as being of the Munda community for purposes of marriage or communalism. They do menial tasks in Mundari villages.

MUNDA LOHARS:-- these are the Lohars or blacksmiths maintained in Munda villages. They speak Mundari and their customs approximate to those of their hosts.

The Bhumij are a sub-tribe, will be separately treated:

(1) Manki Mundas } Hinduized sub-tribes found in the

(2) Munda Majhi } Ranchi and Manbhum Districts

(3) Konkpat Mundas } of no particular importance.

Munda.: -Mura, Horo-hon [1], a large Dravidian tribe of Chota Nagpur classed on linguistic grounds as Kolarian, and closely akin to the Hos and Santals, and probably also to the Kandhs. The name Munda is of Sanskrit origin. It means headman of a village, and is a titular or functional designation used by the members of the tribe, as well as by outsiders, as a distinctive name much in the same way as the Santals call themselves Manjhi, the Bhumij sardar, and the Khambu of the Darjiling hills Jimdar. The general name Kol, which is applied to both Mundas and Oraons, is interpreted by Herr Jellinghaus to mean pig-killer, but the better opinion seems to be that it is a variant of horo, the Mundari for man. The change of r to/ is familiar and needs no illustration, which in explanation of the conversion of h into k, we may cite hon, the Mundari for 'child', which in Korwa becomes kon and koro, the Muasi form of horo, 'a man.' It may be added that the Kharias of Chota Nagpur call the Mundas Kora, a name closely approaching Kol.

[1] See Risley.

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Tradition.

The Munda myth of making of mankind tells how the self-existent primeval deities Ote Boram and Sing Bonga created a boy and a girl and put them together in a cave to people the world. At first they were too innocent to understand what was expected of them, but the gods showed them how to make rice-beer, which inflames the passions, and in course of time their family reached the respectable number of twelve of either sex. As is usual in myths of this class, the children were divided into pairs; and Sing Bonga set before them various kinds of food for them to choose from before starting in the world. The fate of their descendants depended on their choice. Thus "the first and second pair took bullocks' and buffaloes flesh, and they originated the Kols (Hos) and the Bhumij (Matkum); the next took of the vegetables only, and are the progenitors of the Brahmans and Chhatries; others took goats and fish, and from them are the Sudras. One pair took shell-fish and became Bhuiyas; two pairs took pigs and became Santals. One pair got nothing, seeing which the first pairs gave them of their superfluity, and from the pair thus provided spring the Ghasis, who toil not, but live by preying on others." [1]

Internal Structure.

The Mundas are divided into thirteen sub-tribes, several of which, such as Kharia-Munda, Mahili-Munda, Oraon-Munda, appear to be the result of crosses with neighbouring tribes, while others again, like Bhuinhar-Munda and Manki-Munda, have reference to the land and communal system of the tribe. The Mahili-Munda sub-tribe has the pig for its totem, and for them pork is tabooed. But appetite has proved stronger than tradition, and the taboo is satisfied by throwing away the head of the animal, the rest of the carcase being deemed lawful food. The septs or kilis, which are very numerous, are mainly totemistic, and the totem is taboo to the members of the sept which bears its name. If it were possible to identify them all, and to ascertain precisely to what extent and in what manner the taboo of the totem is observed each, the information would probably throw much light upon the growth of early tribal societies.

Marriage.

A Munda may not marry a woman of his own sept. The sept-name goes by the father's side, and intermarriage with persons nearly related through the mother is guarded against by reckoning prohibited degrees in the manner common in Behar. Adult marriage is still in fashion, and sexual intercourse before marriage is tacitly recognized, but in all respectable families matches are made by the parents, and the parties themselves have very little to say in the matter. The bride-price varies from Rs. 4 to Rs. 20. Sindurdan, or the smearing of vermilion on the bride's forehead by the bridegroom and on the bridegroom's forehead by the bride, is the essential and binding portion. The practice described by colonel Dalton of marrying the bride to a mahua tree and the bridegroom to a mango seems now to have been abandoned. Traces still survive among the Mundas of a form of marriage, resembling the Santali nir bolok. It is called dhuko era, meaning a bride who has entered the household of her own accord. The children of a woman thus married seem to have an inferior status in respect of their rights to inherit the landed property of their father. The late Babu Rakhal Das Halder, Manager of the estate of the Maharaja of Chota Nagpur, gave me an illustration of this fact. Some years ago the munda or headman of one of the villages of the Government estate of Barkagarh died, leaving an only son by a dhuko era wife, and a question was raised as to the latter's right to succeed. Under Colonel Dalton's orders, a number of headmen of villages were called together, and their opinions were taken. No decided results, however, could be arrived at. Some thought the son should get the whole property. Others proposed to exclude him altogether, and a third party considered him entitled to maintenance. Eventually the question was compromised by admitting the son's right to one-fourth of the land and the whole of the personal property.

[1] Dalton, Ethnology, p. 185

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The case is a curious comment on the uncertainty of tribal custom. Widows may marry again by the ritual known as sagai, in which sindurdan is performed with the left hand. Divorce is allowed at the instance of either party, and divorced women are permitted to marry again. In cases of adultery the seducer is required to pay to the husband the full amount of the bride-price.

Religion.

At the head of the Munda religion stands Sing-Bonga, the sun, a beneficent but somewhat inactive deity, who concerns himself but little with human affairs, and leaves the details of the executive government of the world to the gods in charge of particular branches or departments of nature. Nevertheless, although Sing-Bonga himself does not send sickness or calamity to men, he may be invoked to avert such disasters, and in this view sacrifices of white goats or white cocks are offered to him by way of appeal from the unjust punishments believed to have been inflicted by his subordinates. Next in rank to Sing-Bonga comes Buru-Bonga or Marang-Buru, also known as Pat-Sarna, a mountain god, whose visible habitation is usually supposed to be the highest or most remarkable hill or rock in the neighbourhood. "In Chota Nagpur," says Colonel Dalton, [1] "a remarkable bluff, near the village of Lodhma, is the Marang-Buru or Maha-Buru for a wide expanse of country. Here people of all castes assemble and sacrifice-- Hindus, even Mahomedans, as well as Kols. There is no visible object of worship; the sacrifices are offered on the top of the hill, a bare semi-globular mass of rock. If animals are killed, the heads are left there, and afterwards appropriated by the pahan or village priest." Marang-Buru is regarded as the god who presides over the rainfall,and is appealed to in times of drought, as well as when any epidemic sickness is abroad. The appropriate offering to him is a buffalo. Ikir Bonga rules over tanks, wells and large sheets of water; Garhaera is the goddess of rivers, streams and the small springs which occur on many hill sides in Chota Nagpur; which Nage or Naga-era is a general name applied to the minor deities or spirits who haunt the swampy lower levels of the terraced rice-fields. All of these are believed to have a hand in spreading disease among men, and require constant propitiation to keep them out of mischief. White goats and black or brown cocks are offered to Ikir Bonga, and eggs and turmeric to the Nage. Deswali or Kara-Sarna is the god of the village who lives with his wife Jahir Burhi or Sarhul-Sarna in the Sarna or sacred grove, a patch of the forest primeval left intact to afford a refuge for the forest gods. Every village has its own Deswali, who is held responsible for the crops, and receives periodical worship at the agricultural festivals. His appropriate offering is a kara or he-buffalo; to his wife fowls are sacrificed. Gumi is another of the Sarna deities whose precise functions I have been unable to ascertain. Bullocks and pigs are sacrificed to him at irregular intervals. Chandor appears to be same as Chando Omol or Chanala, the moon worshipped by women, as the wife of Sing Bonga and the mother of the stars. Colonel Dalton mentions the legend that she was faithless to her husband, and he cut her in two, 'but repenting of his anger he allows her at times to shine forth in full beauty.' Goats are offered to her in the Sarna. Haprom is properly the homestead, but it is used in a wider sense to denote the group of dead ancestors who are worshipped in the homestead by setting apart for them a small portion of every meal and with periodical offerings of fowls. They are supposed to be ever on the watch for chances of doing good or evil to their descendants, and the Munda fully realise the necessity for appeasing and keeping them in good humour.

Festivals

The festivals of the tribe are the following:(1) Sarhul or Sarjum-Baba, the spring festival corresponding to the Baha or Bah-Bonga of the Santals and Hos in Chait (March-April) when the sal tree is in bloom. (2) Kadleta or Batauli in Asarh at the commencement of the rainy season. "Each cultivator," says colonel Dalton, "sacrifices a fowl, and after some mysterious rites a wing is stripped off and inserted in the cleft of a bamboo and stuck up in the rice-field and dung-heap. If this is omitted, it is supposed that the rice will not come to maturity." (3) Nana or Jom-Nana the festival of new rice in Asin when the highland rice is harvested.

[1] Ethology of Bengal, 188.

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A white cock is sacrificed to Sing-Bonga, and the first fruits of the harvest are laid before him. Until this has been done, it would be an act of impiety to eat the new rice. (4) Kharia puja or Kolom Singh, called by the Hos Deswali Bonga or Magh Parab celebrating the harvesting of the winter rice, the main crop of the year. Among the Hos of Singbhum the festival is kept as sort of saturnale, during which the people give themselves up to drunkenness and all kinds of debauchery. This is less conspicuously the case with the Mundas of the plateau who live scattered among Hindu and Christian neighbours, and do not form a compact tribal community like the Hos of the Kolhan. The festival, moreover, is kept by the Mundas on one day only, and is not spread over a month or six weeks, during which time the people of different villages vie with each other in dissipation, as they do in the Kolhan.

Succession.

Succession among the Mundas is governed by their own customs, which appear to have been little affected by the influence of Hindu law. Property is equally divided among the sons, but no division is made until the youngest son is of age. With them, as with the Santals, daughters get no share in the inheritance; they are allotted among the sons just like the livestock. "Thus if a man dies, leaving three sons and three daughters and thirty head of cattle, on a division each son would get ten head of cattle and one sister; but should there be only one sister, they wait till she marries and divide the pan," or bride-price, which usually consists of about six head of cattle. Among the Hos of Singbhum the bride-price is higher than with the Mundas, and the question of its amount has there been found to affect seriously the number of marriages.

Village communes and officials.

According to ancient and universal tradition, the central table land of Chota Nagpur Proper was originally divided into parhas or rural communes comprising from ten to twenty-five villages, and presided over by a divisional chief, called the raja or munda of the parha. In 1839, titular rajas of the parha were still existing in the Fiscal Division of Khukra near Ranchi, who retained considerable authority in tribal disputes, and at times of festival and hunting. But this element in the Munda village system has now fallen into decay, and survives only in the jhandas or flags of the parha villages, and in the peculiar titles bestowed on the cultivators themselves. The exclusive right to fly a particular flag at the great dancing festivals is jealously guarded by every Munda village, and serious fights not unfrequently result from the violation of this privilege. Besides this, individual villages in a parha bear specific titles, such as raja, diwan, kunuar, thakur, chhota lal, etc., similar to those which prevail in the household of the reigning family, which obviously refer to some organization which no longer exists . I am informed that these officials still make the arrangements for the large hunting parties which take place at certain seasons of the year.

A kol village community consists, when perfect, of the following officers: Munda, mahato, pahn, bhandari, gorait, goala, and lohar. Washermen, barbers, and potters have been added since 1839, and even now are only found near much frequented halting places, and in villages the larger Hindu tenure-holders live The kols invariably shave themselves, and their women wash the clothes.

(1)MUNDA.-- The munda is the chief of the bhuinhars, or descendants of the original clearers of the village. He is a person of great consequence in the village; and all demands from the bhuinhari, whether of money or labour, must be notified by the owner of the village through the munda. He is remunerated for his trouble by the bhuinhari land, which he holds at a low rate of rent, and receives no other salary. In pargana Lodhma, and in the south-eastern portion of Lohardaga he sometimes performs the mahato's duties as well as his own, and he then gets a small jagir of half a pawa of land rent-free.

(2) MAHATO.-- The functions of a mahato have been compared to those of a patwari or village accountant, but he may be more aptly described as a rural settlement officer.

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He allots the land of the village among the cultivation, giving to each man a goti or clod of earth as symbol of possession; he collects the rent, pays it to the owner, and in short manages all pecuniary matters connected with the land. He is appointed by the owner of the village, and receives one pawa of rajhas land rent-free, as a jagir or service-tenure. Bur the office is neither hereditary nor permanent, and the mahato is liable to be dismissed at the landlord's discretion. Dismissal, however, is unusual, and the mahato is often succeeded by his son. Where the mahato collects the rents, he almost universally receives a fee, called batta, of half an anna from each cultivator, or of one anna for every house in the village. In one village batta amounts to four anna and a half on every pawa of land. Occasionally, where there is no bhandari or agent for the owner's rent-paying land, the mahato gets three bundles (karais) of grain in the straw, containing from ten to twenty sers apiece, at every harvest. Thus during the year he would receive three bundles of gondli from the cold weather crop, and the same amount from the gora or early rice, and the don or late rice. In khalsa villages, which are under the direct management of the Maharaja, the mahato often holds, in addition to his official jagir, a single pawa of land, called kharcha or rozina kket, from the proceeds of which he is expected to defray the occasional expenses incurred in calling upon cultivators to pay their rent, etc. The functions of the mahato are shown in greater detail in the following extract from Dr. Davidson's Report of 1839: "On a day appointed, the thikadar or farmer proceeds to the akhra or place of assembly of the village, where he is met by the mahato, pahn, bhandari, and as many of the rayats as choose to attend. He proceeds, agreeably to the dictation of the mahato, to write down the account of the cultivation of the different rayats, stating the number of pawas held and the rent paid by each. Having furnished this account, any new rayats who may wish to have lands in the village, after having the quantity and rent settled, have a goti given to them. If any of the old rayats require any new land, a goti is taken for that, but not for the old cultivation. The mahato collects the rent as the instalments become due, according to the above-mentioned account given to the farmer; and all differences as to the amount of rent payable by a rayat, if any ever arise, which very seldom happens, are settled by the opinion of the mahato. So well does this mode answer in practice, that in point if fact a dispute as to the amount of rent owed by a rayat is of rare occurrence. When a farmer wishes to cheat a rayat, he accuses him of having cultivated more land than he is entitled to or of owing him maswar or grain-rent for land held in excess; and if such a thing as a dispute as to the amount of rent owed ever does arise, the mahato's evidence is generally considered conclusive by both parites."

(3) PAHN.--The importance of the pahn, or priest of the village gods, may be inferred from the current phrase in which his duties are contrasted with, those of the mahato. The pahn, it is said, "makes the village:" (gaon banata), while the mahato only "manages it" (gaon chalata). He must be a bhuinhar, as no one but a descendant of the earliest settlers in the village could know how to propitiate the local gods. He is always chosen from one family; but the actual pahn is changed at intervals of from three to five years by the ceremony of the sup or winnowing-fan, which is used as a divining rod, and taken house to house by the boys of the village. The bhuinhar at whose house the sup stops is elected pahn. On the death of a pahn, he is frequently, but not invariably, succeeded by his son. Rent-free lands are attached to the office of pahn under the following names:

(1) Pahn, the personal jagir or service-tenure of the priest, generally containing one pawa of land.

(2) Dalikatari, for which the pahn has to make offerings to Jahir Burhi, the goddess of the village. It is called dailkatari, as it is supposed to defray the expenses of the Karm festival, when a branch (dali) of the karma tree is cut down and planted in the fields.

(3) Desauli, a sort of bhutkheta or devil's acre, the produce of which is devoted to a great triennial festival in honour of Desauli, the divinity of the grove. This land is either cultivated by the pahn himself, or by raiyats who pay him rent. (

4) Panbhara and tahalu are probably the same. Lands held under these names are cultivated by the pahn himself or his near relations; and whoever has them, is bound to supply water at the various festivals.

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(4) BHANDARI.-- The bhandari or bailiff is the landlord's agent in respect of the management of the village. He is usually a Hindu, and represents the landlord's point of view in village questions, just as the pahn is the spokesman of the bhuinhars or original settlers. He generally holds one pawa of land rent free from the owner, receiving also from raiyat three karais or sheaves of each crop as it is cut-- one of gondli, one of early rice, and one of wet rice. Instead of the land, he sometimes gets Rs. 3 or Rs. 4 in each, with 12 kats or 4,5: cwt. of paddy.

(5) GORAIT.--The gorait is, in fact, the chaukidar or village watchman. He communicates the owner's orders to the raiyats, brings them to the mahato to pay their rents, and selects coolies when required for public purposes. As a rule he holds no service land, but receives the three usual karats or sheaves from every cultivator.

(6) AHIR or GOALA.-- The ahir's duty is to look after the cattle of the village, and to account for any that are stolen. He is remunerated by a payment of one kat of paddy for each pair of plough-bullocks owned by the cultivators whose cattle are under his charge. He also gets the three karais or sheaves at harvest time, besides an occasional sup or winnowing fan full of paddy. If cows are under the ahir's charge, the milk of every alternate day is his perquisite.

In the month of Aghan (December) he takes five sers of milk round to the cultivators, receiving in return pakhira or 20 sers of paddy as a free gift. He always pays the abwab known as dadani ghi, and in some villages has to give the baithawan ghi as well. In a very few cases the ahir holds half a pawa of land rent-free.

(7) LOHAR.--The lohar or blacksmith gets one kat of paddy and the three karais for every plough in the village, and is also paid two to three annas for every new phar or ploughshare. In a very few villages he holds half a pawa of land rent-free.

The kotwal or constable and the chaukidar or watchman do not belong to the genuine Munda village system, and need not be mentioned here. In the Fiscal Division of Tori the bulk of the inhabitants belong to the Kharwar sub-tribe of Bhogtas, and the village system differs from that which prevails on central plateau. Here the pahn is the only official who holds service land, and he gets half a patti, or not quite two standard bighas. He performs the village pujas, and often does the work of a mahato, when of the village is an absentee. But even then the landlord sometimes employs a bailiff, called barhil, to collect the rents. In the tract known as the Five Parganas, including Tamar, Bundu, Silli, Rahe, and Baranda, as well as in the Mankipatti, or that part of Sonpur pargana which borders on Singbhum district, we meet with mankis and mundas who are undoubtedly the descendants of the original chiefs, and still hold the villages which their ancestors founded. Here the parha divisions exist in their entirety, as groups of from twelve to twenty-four villages, each of which has its own munda or village head; while the whole commune is subject to a divisional headman called manki who collects the fixed rents payable by the mundas. The chief village officer is the pahn, who holds from one to five kats of land analogous to, if not identical with, the khandi of the Kolhan in Singbhum, and denotes the quantity of land which can be sown with one kat of seed. In this part of the country the munda sometimes has a deputy called diwan who assists him to collect his rents, and bhandaris are occasionally met with.

Mundâ.: -About one-fifth of the total population of India speak languages belonging to the Mundâ and Dravidian families. These forms of speech have been called by anthropologists the languages of the Dravida race. [1]

[1] See G.A. Grierson, Linguistic Survey of India.

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Dravida Race.

If we exclude the north-eastern districts from consideration, the population of the Indian peninsula can be said to represent two distinct anthropological types-- the Aryan and the Dravidian. The latter has been described as follows by Mr. Risley: "In the Dravidian type the form of the head usually inclines to be dolichocephalic, but all other characters present a marked contrast to the Aryan. The nose is thick and broad, and the formula expressing its proportionate dimensions is higher than in any known race, except the Negro. The facial angle is comparatively low; the face wide and fleshy; the features coarse and irregular. The average stature ranges in a long series of tribes from 156.2 to 162.1 centimetres; the figure is squat, and the limbs sturdy. The colour of the skin varies from very dark brown to a shade closely approaching black. The typical Dravidian has a nose as broad in proportion to its length as the Negro." The hair is curly, and in this respect the Dravidians differ from the Australians, with whom they agree in several other characteristics.

Distribution Of The Race.

The Dravidian race is not found outside India. It has already been remarked that the Australians share many of the characteristics of the Dravidians. Anthropologists, nevertheless, consider them to be a distinct race. The various Món-Khmér tribes and the Sakeis of Malacca agree with the Dravidians in having a dolichocephalic head, an dark colour of the skin, and curly hair. They are not, however, considered to be identical with them. Archaeologists are of opinion that the various stone implements which are found from Chota Nagpur on the west to the Malayan peninsula on the east are often so similar in kind that they appear to be the work of one and the same race. Attention has also been drawn to analogous customs found all over the same area, and to other coincidences. It will be mentioned later on that philological reasons can likewise be adduced to support the supposition of a common substratum in the population of parts of Nearer India, Farther India, and elsewhere. We cannot decide whether the Dravidian race is directly descended from that old substratum. At all events, the race is commonly considered to be that of the aborigines of India, or, at least, of Southern India. The various groups into which anthropology divides men are nowhere pure and unmixed. There are also within the Dravidian race great fluctuations in the shape of the skull, the form of the nose, the darkness of the skin, and so forth. It seems therefore necessary to conclude that, in the course of time, numerous racial crossings have taken place.

Language.

The probability of such a conclusion is enhanced by a consideration of the languages spoken by the Dravidian race. According to the eminent German philologist and ethnologist Friedrich Müller, they are the Mundâ dialects, Singhalese, and the Dravidian languages proper. Müller's classification of the languages of the world is based on principles which differ widely from those adopted by former writers on the subject, and it will be necessary to give a short explanation of his methods in order to ascertain how much importance he himself would attach to the fact that several languages of different origin are, in his system, classed together within one and the same group. According to Müller, man can only have developed a real language after having split up into races, and the various languages in actual use must therefore be derived from different racial bases. Nay, it seems even necessary to assume that the individual race had often split up into further sub-divisions before developing a language of its own. All the languages of one race are not, therefore, necessarily derived from the same original. Among the languages of the Dravida race Singhalese occupies a position of its own and does not appear to have anything to do with the rest. It is an Aryan dialect and has been brought to Ceylon from India at a very early period. There seem to be traces of a non-Aryan substratum, under the Aryan superstructure, but we are not as yet in a position to judge with certainty as to the nature of this substratum.

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Mundâ And Dravidian.

With regard to the remaining languages of the race, opinion has been divided, some scholars thinking it possible to derive the Mundâ and Dravidian forms of speech from the same original, and others holding that they have nothing to do with each other. The latter opinion seems to be commonly held by scholars in Europe. The Rev. F. Hahn, on the other hand, in his Kurukh Grammar, Calcutta, 1900, pp. 98 and ff., maintains that there is a strong Dravidian element in Mundâri grammar. Mundâri is a typical Mundâ language, and the view advocated by Mr. Hahn accordingly leads up to the suggestion of a connexion between the Mundâ and Dravidian forms of apeech, i.e., among all the principal languages of the Dravidian race. This theory is a priori very probable. An examination of Mr. Hahn's arguments will, however, show that it cannot be upheld. He commences by giving a list of words which are common to the mundâ Mundâri¡ and to the Dravidian Kurukh. He does not attach much importance to such cases of coincidence in vocabulary, and rightly so. In the first place, Kurukh has largely borrowed from Munªdâri¡, and in the second place, it is only to be expected that many words should be common to the two families. Even if we assume that the Dravidian race of the present day consists of two originally different elements, the Mundâs and the Dravidas, it must have been formed or rather must have developed in such a way that the two original races were mixed together. The result of such a mixture must inevitably be that the languages of both races influenced each other in vocabulary. Moreover, that list published by Mr. Hahn contains several Aryan loan-words and also some words where the analogy is only apparent. Compare Mundâri engâ, mother, but kurukh ing-yó, my -mother, in which the word ing means 'my.[1] I therefore pass by the asserted correspondence in vocabulary. It seems to me that a thorough comparison of Mundâ and Dravidian vocabulary will show that the common element is unimportant. Mr. Hahn further mentions some points where he finds a correspondence between Mundâ and Dravidian grammar. It will be necessary to extend the investigation to other features also, in order to show the true relationship existing between the two families. Mr. Hahn's arguments can then be referred to in their proper place.

Phonology.

The most striking feature of Mundâ phonology is the existence of the so-called semi-consonants. There is nothing corresponding to these in Dravidian languages. On the other hand, the interchange between soft and hard consonants in Dravidian is not a feature of the Mundâ forms of speech.

Formation of words.

The Mundâ languages like the Dravidian ones make use of suffixes. The same is, however, the case in all Indian, and in many other, languages, and it is, moreover, possible or even probably that the use of suffixes Mundâ is largely due to the influence of dravidian or Aryan forms of speech. The Dravidian languages have nothing corresponding to the Mundâ infixes.

Nouns.

Dravidian nouns are of two kinds, viz., those that denote rational beings, and those that denote irrational beings, respectively. The two classes differ in the formation of the plural, and also in other respects. The state of affairs in Mundâ is quite different. Here we find the difference to be between animate and inanimate nouns, quite another principle of classification, pervading the whole grammatical system. Both classes, moreover, denote their plural in the same way.

[1] yó mother, is a very common word in many languages. It also occurs in Santâli under the form of ayó. Like so many other terms of relationship it is a nursery word and cannot be adduced as a proof of relationship between such languages as possess it.

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Further, Dravidian languages often have different forms for the masculine and feminine singular of nouns denoting rational beings, while the Mundâs make no difference whatever. The formation of cases is quite different in the two families. The Dravidian languages have a regular dative and an accusative, while the cases of the direct and indirect object are incorporated in the verb in Mundâ. The suffix ké, which is used to denote the direct and the indirect object in some mixed dialects of Mundârí, is a foreign element. In the face of such facts the comparison of the kurukh ablative suffix ti with Mundârí té which is not a real ablative suffix, is of no avail, even if the Kurukh ti nti, should prove to be different in its origin from Tamil inru, Kanarese inda, Tulu edd. In this connexion it should also be noted that the Mundâ languages do not possess anything corresponding to the Dravidian oblique base. Adjectives. Adjectives are of the same kind in both families. The same is, however, the case in almost all agglutinative languages.

Numerals.

No connexion whatever can be traced between the Mundâ and Dravidian numerals. Moreover the principles prevailing in formation of higher numbers are different in the two families. The Dravidas count in tens, the Mundâs in twenties.

Pronouns.

The pronoun iñ, ing, I, in Mundâ dialects has been compared by Mr. Hahn with the Kurukh én, oblique eng. It will, however, be shown in the introduction to the Dravidian family that the base of the Dravidian word for 'I' is probably é, while the essential part of the Mundâ pronoun is ñ or n . Mr. Hahn further remarks that both families have different forms for the plural of the personal pronoun of the first person according to whether the party addressed is included or not. It will be pointed out in the introduction to the Dravidian family that it is very questionable whether this is originally a feature of the Dravidian forms of speech. Moreover, the use of two different forms for 'we' occurs in other families which have nothing to do with the Mundâs and Dravidas, e. g ., in the Nuba languages, the Algonquin languages, etc. Mr. Hahn further compares Kurukh ékâ, 'who?' with Mundârí oko. But the base of é-kâ is é or í, as is clearly shown by other Dravidian forms of speech. No conclusion whatever can be drawn from the absence of a relative pronoun in both families. The same is, as is well known, the case in numerous languages all over the world.

Verbs.

Every trace of analogy between the Mundâ and Dravidian families disappears when we proceed to deal with the verbs. Mr. Hahn compares some suffixes in Kurukh and Mundârí. It is not necessary to show in detail that his comparisons will not stand a close examination. I shall only take one typical instance. He compares the Mundârí suffix of the simple past tense passive jan, which corresponds to Santâlí en, with Kurukh jan, which is the termination of the first person singular feminine of such verbs as end in n . The j of the Kurukh tense is softened from ch, as is clearly shown by connected dialects. The j of Mundârí jan, on the other hand, is derived from y in yan = Santâlí en . The final n of Kurukh jan is the personal termination of the first person singular, and is dropped in other persons; the n of Mundârí jan is the sign of the passive and runs through all persons. The rest of Mr. Hahn's comparisons are of the same kind and can safely be left out of consideration. On the other hand, the whole conjugational system is quite different in the Dravidian and in Mundâ languages. The Dravidian system is very simple, only comprising two or three tenses; in Mundâ the verb is an indefinite form which may be used at will as a noun, an adjective, or as a verb. The most characteristic features of the Mundâ verb, the categorical a and the incorporation of the direct and the indirect object in the verb, are in absolute discord with Dravidian principles.

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The Mundâ languages, on the other hand, do not possess anything corresponding to the Dravidian negative conjugation. It is not necessary to go further into detail. The two families only agree in such points as are common to most agglutinative languages, and there is no philological reason for deriving them from the same original.

History.

On the other hand, the Mundâs and the Dravidas belong to the same ethnic stock. It has, however, already been remarked that the physical type is not uniform throughout. If we are allowed to infer from this fact that the Dravidian race is a mixed one and consists of more than one element, the philological facts just drawn attention to seem to show that the chief components of the actual race are the Mundâs on the one hand and the Dravidas on the other. The Mundâs are everywhere found in the hills and jungles, i. e. in surroundings in which we might reasonably expect to find the remnants of aboriginal races. We cannot, however, now decide if the dialects spoken by them at the present day are derived from the language of those aborigines, and there are, moreover, no traces of their having at any time been settled in the south. With regard to the Dravidas, some authorities believe that they arrived in India from the south, while others suppose them to have entered it from the north-west where a Dravidian language is still spoken by the Brâhîís of Baluchistan. The Brâhîís do not belong to the Dravidian race, but are anthropologically Eranians, i. e. they have merged into the race of their neighbours. It is possible that the same is the case with the Dravidian tribes of the south wherever they came from, but anthropology only tells us that the Dravidian race comprises Munªdâs and Dravidas, and we have no information to show that the Dravidas are not the aboriginal inhabitants of the south. Philology does not tell us much about the question. It will be shown later on that the Mundâ languages agree in so many points with various forms of speech in Farther India, the Malay peninsula, and the Nicobars, that there must be some connexion between them all. The Dravidian languages, on the contrary, form an isolated group. There are no traces of connected forms of speech in the surrounding countries. Comparative philologists agree that the Mundâ languages, Khassi, Món-Khmér, Nancowry, and the speech of the aboriginal races of the Malay peninsula contain a common substratum, which cannot be anything else than the language of an old race which was once settled in all those countries. No traces of that common stock can be shown to exist in the Dravidian forms of speech, and from a philological point of view, it therefore seems probable that the Dravidian languages are derived from the speech of an aboriginal Dravidian population of southern India, while the Dravidian race at some remote period has received a mixture of tribes belonging to the same stock as the Món-Khmérs of Farther India. The question of the origin and the old distribution of the Dravidian race cannot, however, be solved by the philologist. It is a subject which properly belongs to the domain of anthropology alone. The denomination of the race is that given by anthropologists, and from the point of view of the philologist it is just as unsuitable as, if not more unsuitable than, the name Aryan which is used by some to denote the old people whose language is the origin of the various Indo-European tongues. For our present purpose it is sufficient to state that the languages of the Mundâs and the Dravidas are not connected but form two quite independent families. They will accordingly be described as such, and I now proceed to give a more detailed account of the Mundâ family.

Mundâ Family

Introduction: The Mundâ family is the least numerous of the four linguistic families which divide among themselves the bulk of the population of India. The number of speakers is only about three millions.

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Name of the family.

The Mundâ family has been known under various names. Hodgson classed the languages in question under the head of Tamulian. Hó, Santâlí, Bhumij, Kurukh, and Mundârí are, according to him, 'dialects of the great Ko``l language.' The word Kol or Kolh is a title applied by Hindîs to the Hós, Mundârís, and Orâôs, and sometimes also the other tribes of the Mundâ stock. Among the Santâls the corresponding word kâlhâ is used to denote a tribe of iron smelters in the Sonthal Parganas and neighbourhood. It is probably connected with caste names such as Kóí, but we do not know anything really certain about the original meaning of the word. Kóla occurs as the name of a warrior caste in the Harivamsa. The word kóla in Sanskrit also means 'pig,' and some authorities hold that this word has been used by the Aryans as a term of abuse in order to denote the aboriginal tribes. According to others 'Kol' is the same word as the Santâlí hâr, a man. This word is used under various forms such as Hâr hârâ hó and kóró by most Mundâ tribes in order to denote themselves. The change of r to l is familiar and does not give rise to any difficulty. It is even possible that the Aryans who heard the word hâr or kór confounded it with their own word kóla, a pig. The Santâlí form kâlhâ must in that case have been borrowed back again from the Aryans. The name Kol has the disadvantage that it is not used in India to denote all the various tribes of the Mundâ family. On the other hand, it is also ajpplied to the Orâôs who speak a Dravidian dialect. It is therefore apt to be misunderstood. As has already been remarked, Hodgson used the name to denote Hó, Santâlí, Bhumij, Kurukh, and Mundârí. He was followed by Logan, who, however, excluded Kurukh. Logan also followed Hodgson in considering the Mundâ languages as a Dravidian group, which he called North Dravidian. Both he and Hodgson accordingly laboured under the illusion that the languages of Mundâs and the Dravidas were derived from the same original. The late Professor Max Müller was the first to distinguish between the Mundâ and Dravidian families. He says: "I can see indeed many coincidences between Uraon, Rajmahali, and Gondi on one side, and Sinhbhum (i.e.Hó), Sontal, Bhumij, and Mundala words on the other, but none whatever between these two classes. I, therefore, suppose that in the dialects of the last four tribes, we have traces of a language spoken in India before the Tamulian conquest. The race by which these dialects are used may have merged into the Tamulic in places where both have been living together for some time. Both are, therefore, promiscuously called Koles. But historically as well as physiologically there is sufficient evidence to show that two different races, the Tamulic and an earlier race, came in contact in these regions, whither both fled before the approach of a new civilisation. These people called themselves 'Munda,' which, as an old ethnic name I have adopted for the common appellation of the aboriginal Koles. The designation of the family as the 'Mundâ family' is thus due to Max Müller, and it has been retained in this Survey because it is that originally given by the scholar who first clearly distinguished the family from the Dravidian forms of speech, and because other names which have been proposed are objectionable for other reasons. It is not, however, a very appropriate denomination. The word Mundâ is used by foreigners to designate the Mundâs of the Ranchi district, i.e. only a section of the whole race. In Mundârí it denotes the village chief and is also used as an honorific designation of landed proprietors, much in the same way as Mâñjhí in Santâlí. Mundâ therefore properly only applies to that section of the tribe who speak the Mundârí language, and its use as a common designation of the whole family is only a conventional one. The denomination Mundâ was not long allowed to stand unchallenged. Sir George Campbell in 1866 proposed to call the family Kolarian. He was of the opinion that Kol had an older form Kolar which he thought to be identical with Kanarese kallar, thieves. There is absolutely no foundation for this supposition. Moreover, the name Kolarian is objectionable as seeming to suggest a connexion with Aryan which does not exist. The name Kolarian has, however, in spite of such disadvantages become very widely used. Mr. Skrefsrud, and after him Professor Thomsen of Copenhagen, have brought a new name into the field, viz . Kherwarian or Kharwarian. Kherwâr of Kharwâr is according to Santâlí tradition, the name given to the old tribe from which Santâls, Hós, Mundâs, Bhumij, and so forth are descended. So far as I can see it includes the bulk of the family, and has great advantages as compared with other titles. It is not, however, quite free from objection.

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There are no indications of the southern and western tribe, such as Khariâ, Juâng, Savara, Gadabâ, and Kîrkî, having ever been included in the Kherwâr tribe, and there seems to be little reason for replacing one incorrect name by another which is less incorrect, it is true, but is still not quite appropriate. The name Kherwârí will therefore in this Survery be reserved for the principal Mundâ language which is known as existing in several slightly varying dialects such as Santâlí, Mundârí, Hó and so forth. If we were to coin a new term for the family, the analogy of the denomination Dravidian might suggest our adopting a Sanskrit name. In Sanskrit the common name for the Mundâ aborigines seems to be Nishâda. The Nishâdas are identified with the Bhillas. They are found to the south-east of Madhyadésa and in the Vindhya range. Their country is said to begin at the place where the river Sarasvatí disappears in the sands. In other words. the Nishâdas lived in the desert and in the hills to the south and east of the stronghold of the Aryans, i.e. in districts where we now find Mundâ tribes of their descendants. Compare Wilson's Vishnu Purâna, pp. 100 and f. It would, however, only mean adding to the confusion which already exists if we were to propose a new name for the family, and the denomination introduced by Max Müller when he first showed that the languages in question formed one distinct group, will be adhered to in these pages.

Area within which spoken:

The principal home of the Mundâ languages at the present day is the Chota Nagpur Plateau. Speakers are further found in the adjoining districts of Madras and the Central Provinces, and in the Mahadeo Hills. They are almost everywhere found in the hills and jungles, the plains and valleys being inhabited by people speaking some Aryan language. The Mundâ race is much more widely spread than the Mundâ languages. It has already been remarked that it is identical with the Dravidian race which forms the bulk of the population of Southern India, and which has also contributed largely to the formation of the actual population of the North. It is now in most cases impossible to decide whether an individual tribe has originally used a Mundâ or a Dravidian form of speech. The two racial groups must have merged into each other at a very early period. One dialect, the so-called Nahâlí, still preserves traces of a manifold influence. It appears to have originally been a Mundâ form of speech, but has come under the influence of Dravidian languages. The result is a mixed dialect which has, in its turn, come under the spell of Aryan tongues, and which will probably before long become an Aryan language. The same development has probably taken place in many other cases. The numerous Bhíl tribes occupy a territory of the same kind as that inhabited by the Mundâs. Their various dialects show some traces of Dravidian influence, and it seems allowable to infer that these are the result of the same development the first stage of which lies before us in Nahâlí. It is also probable that the tribes who speak various broken dialects in Western India, such a Kóí and so forth, have originally used a Mundâ form of speech. It is not, however, now possible to decide the question. There are, on the other hand, several Aryanised tribes in Northern India who have certainly once spoken some Mundâ dialect. Such are the Cheros in Behar and Chota Nagpur, the Kherwârs, the Savaras who have formerly extended so far north as Shahabad, many of the so-called Râjbansis, and so forth. Traces of an old Mundâ element are apparently also met with in several Tibeto-Burman dialects spoken in the Himalayas. Compare the remarks in Vol. iii, Part i of this Survey. At all events, Mundâ languages must once have been spoken over a wide area in Central India, and probably also in the Ganges valley. They were, however, early on superseded by Dravidian and Aryan forms of speech, and at the present day, only scanty remnants are found in the hills and jungles of Bengal and the Central Provinces.

Mundâ element in Dravidian and Aryan languages:

It is no longer possible to decide to what extent the Mundâ languages can have influenced the other linguistic families of India. Our knowledge of them only dates back to the middle of the last century. Attention will be drawn to a few facts in the introduction to the Dravidian family which apparently point to the existence of a Mundâ element in Dravidian grammar.

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The whole matter is, however, beyond the limit of our observations, as the Mundâ influence must have been exercised at a very early period. In the case of Aryan languages, the Mundâ influence is apparently unimportant. Professor Thomsen is of opinion that such an influence has probably been at play in fixing the principle, regulating the inflexion of nouns in Indo-Aryan vernaculars. It is, however, more probable that it is Dravidian languages which have modified Aryan grammar in such characteristics, and that the Mundâ family has thus, at the utmost, exercised only an indirect influence through the Dravidian forms of speech. There is, however, one instance where Mundâ principles appear to have pervaded an Aryan language, viz . in the conjugation of the Bihârí verb. Though the different forms used to denote an honorific or non-honorific subject or object and the curious change of the verb when the object is a pronoun of the second person singular can be explained from Aryan forms, the whole principle of indicating the object in the very is thoroughly un-Aryan, but quite agrees with Mundâ grammar. The existence of a similar state of affairs in Kâs``mírí and in Shínâ must, of course, be accounted for in a different way.

Relationship to other languages:

It has already been remarked that the Mundâs and Dravidas are considered by anthropologists to belong to the same race, but that their languages are not connected. Within India proper the Mundâ dialects form an isolated philological group. In Farther India and on the Nicobar Islands, on the other hand, we find a long series of dialects which in so many important points agree with the Mundâ languages that it seems necessary to assume a certain connexion. These languages include the so-called Món-Khmér family, the dialects spoken by the aboriginal inhabitants of the Malayan Peninsula, and Nicobarese.

Món-Khmér:

The family comprises several languages and dialects, and some of them differ considerably from the others. This is for instance the case with Anamese, which is even considered by some not to be a member of the family. It must have branched off at a very early period and has later on come under the influence of Chinese. Similarly the Cham dialect of the old Kingdom of Champa has been largely influenced by Malay, and has even borrowed the Malay numerals. In spite of all this, however, there are so many points of analogy between all the dialects that they must be classed together as one family. The Món-Khmér dialects had long been considered as connected with the Tibeto-Chinese languages. Professor Kuhn has, however, shown that they form a separate family, and that connected forms of speech are found among the polysyllabic languages of Nearer and Farther India. Even anthropologically the speakers of Món-Khmér dialects differ from the Chinese. The word Món has long ago been compared with Mundâ, and nobody now doubts that there is a connexion between the Món-Khmér and the Mundâ languages. It has already been remarked that 'Mundâ' is an Aryan word. It cannot therefore have anything to do with 'Món,' but that does not affect the argument. Pater W. Schmidt has been good enough to inform me that an older form of Món is man. The first to draw attention to the connexion between the Mundâ languages and the Món-Khmér family was Logan in his series of articles on the Ethnology of the Indo-Pacific Islands, in the Journal of the Indian Archipelago . 'Kol' is dealt with on pp. 199 and ff. of Vol. vii (1853). He was followed by F. Mason, in a paper on the Talaing language contributed to the fourth volume of the Journal of the American Oriental Society (1854). Mason tried to show that many Món words corresponded to others in use in Kolh (i.e. Mundârí), Góndí, Kurukh, and Malto. His comparisons are not convincing. His word lists were, however, reprinted in the British Burma Gazetteer and also in the seventeenth volume of the French Revue de linguistique (pp. 167 and ff.) The comparative tables of numerals and pronouns published by Max Müller in his letter on the classification of Turanian languages were made use of by the German Professor W. Schott for a comparison of the numerals and pronouns in Mundârí and Anamese. Sir A. Phayre followed Dr. Mason, and he also found his theory confirmed by the resemblance between the stone implements, the so-called shoulder-headed celts, found in Pegu and in Chota Nagpur.

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Other scholars such as Haswell and Forbes did not believe in the theory of a connexion. Forbes thought that there might have been intercourse, but no racial affinity, between Móns and Mundâs. A full discussion of the correspondence between Món-Khmér and Mundâ vocabulary was given by Professor E. Kuhn in the paper mentioned under authorities below. He sums up his results as follows: "There are unmistakable points of connexion between our monosyllabic Khasi-Món-Khmér family and the Kolh languages, Nancowry, and the dialects of the aborigines of Malacca. It would be rash to infer at once from this fact that it has the same origin as those eminently polysyllabic languages. It seems, however, certain that there is at the bottom of a considerable portion of the population of Further and Nearer India a common substratum, over which there have settled layers of later immigrants, but which, nevertheless, has retained such strength that its traces are still clearly seen over the whole area." The relationship existing between the Món-Khmér languages and the dialects spoken by the wild tribes on the Malay Peninsula has lately been separately dealt with by Pater W. Schmidt. The result of his very careful and detailed studies in that the dialects in question, the so-called Sakei and Semang, must be considered as really belonging to the Món-Khmér family.