The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India, Volume 1

Bāghmār, Bāghmārya, Bāgmār.—(A tiger-slayer.) A section of Oswāl Bania, Basor, Chamār, Dhīmar, Koilabhuti Gond, and Teli. A subsept of Nika Gonds in Betūl, who abstain from killing tigers.

Bāgri.—A clan of Rājpūts. A subcaste of Jāt. One of the 72½ sections of Maheshri Banias. People belonging to the Badhak or Bawaria, and Pārdhi castes are sometimes known by this name.

Bāhargainyān.—(From Bāhar gaon, outside the village.) A subcaste of Kurmi.

Baharketu.—(Bush-cutter.) A subcaste of Korwa.

Bahelia.—The caste of fowlers and hunters in northern India. In the Central Provinces the Bahelias are not to be distinguished from the Pārdhis, as they have the same set of exogamous groups named after the Rājpūt clans, and resemble them in all other respects. The word Bahelia is derived from the Sanskrit Vyādha, ‘one who pierces or wounds,’ hence a hunter. Pārdhi is derived from the Marāthī pāradh, hunting. The latter term is more commonly used in the Central Provinces, and has therefore been chosen as the title of the article on the caste.

Bāhre.—(Outside the walls.) A subdivision of Khedāwāl Brāhmans.

Bahrūp.—Subcaste of Banjāra.

Bahrūpia.—A small class of mendicant actors and quick-change artists. They are recruited from all classes of the population, and though a distinct caste of Bahrūpias appears to exist, people of various castes also call themselves Bahrūpia when they take to this occupation. In Berār the Mahār, Māng and Marātha divisions of the Bahrūpias are the most common:⁴¹⁴ the former two begging only from the castes from which they take their name. In Gujarāt they appear to be principally Muhammadans. Sir D. Ibbetson says of them:⁴¹⁵ “The name is derived from the Sanskrit bahu, many, and rūpa, form, and denotes an actor, a mimic or one who assumes many forms or characters. One of their favourite devices is to ask for money, and when it is refused to ask that it may be given if the Bahrūpia succeeds in deceiving the person who refused it. Some days later the Bahrūpia will again visit the house in the disguise of a pedlar, a milkman or what not, sell his goods without being detected, throw off his disguise and claim the stipulated reward.” In Gujarāt “they are ventriloquists and actors with a special skill of dressing one side of their face like a man and the other side like a woman, and moving their head about so sharply that they seem to be two persons.”⁴¹⁶ Mr. Kitts states that “the men are by profession story-tellers and mimics, imitating the voices of men and the notes of animals; their male children are also trained to dance. In payment for their entertainment they are frequently content with cast-off clothes, which will of course be of use to them in assuming other characters.”⁴¹⁷ Occasionally also they dress up in European clothes and can successfully assume the character of a Eurasian.

Bahrūpia impersonating the goddess Kāli

Baid.—(Physician.) A surname of Sanadhia and Marātha Brāhmans in Saugor. A section of Oswāl Bania, and Darzi.

Bairāgi.—A caste or religious order. Subcaste of Bhāt.

Bais.—A clan of Rājpūts.

Bajania.—(One who plays on musical instruments.) Subcaste of Panka.

Bajanya.—(Drummer.) A subcaste of Panka in Bālāghāt.

Bajārha.—(Bazār.) A section of Daraiha in Bilāspur.

Bajna, Bajgari.—(Musicians at feasts and marriages.) Subcaste of Gānda.

Bājpai.—(A priest officiating at the horse sacrifice.) A surname of Kanaujia Brāhmans. A section of Brāhmans. Title of some old families whose ancestors were sacrificial priests.

Bakar Kasai.—(Goat-butcher.) A subcaste of Khatīk.

Bakra.—(Goat.) A totemistic sept of Bhatra and Halba.

Baksaria.—From Buxar in Bengal. A clan of Rājpūts. A section of Daraiha and Lodhi.

Balla.—One of the 36 Rājkuls or royal clans of Rājpūts noted in Tod’s Rājasthān.

Balnīk.—Subcaste of Kāyasth.

Bālūsudia.—(Shaven.) Title of Khond.

Bālutedār.—Name for a village menial in Berār. Title of Dhobi.

Balwanda.—(Quarrelsome.) A section of Teli.

Bām-Mārgi.—Synonym for the Vām-Mārgi sect.

Bāman or Brāhman. Subcaste of Bishnoi, Darzi and Gondhali.

Bāmania.—(From Brāhman.) A section of Ahīr. They do not touch the pīpal tree. A section of Mahār and of Rājjhar in Hoshangābād.

Bāmhan Gour or Brāhman Gour.—A clan of Rājpūts in Saugor and Narsinghpur.

Bāmhania.—A subcaste of Kasar, from Bāmhan or Brāhman. A section of Katia.

Bāmnaiha.—(Belonging to a Brāhman.) A section of Basor.

Banāphar, Banāfar.—A clan of Rājpūts. A section of Daharia.

Banbhainsa.—(Wild buffalo.) A section of Rāwat (Ahīr).

Bānda.—(Tailless.) A section of Kirar.

Bānda Bāgh.—(Tailless tiger.) A section of Teli.

Bāndar.—(A rocket-thrower.) Synonym of Kadera.

Bandarwāle.—(One who catches monkeys.)—Subcaste of Pārdhi.

Bandesia.—(A man of 52 districts.) Subcaste of Banjāra.

Bandhaiya.—A subcaste of Nunia who confine themselves to the excavation of tanks and wells. Also a subcaste of Dhīmar.

Bandhaiya.—(From Bāndhogarh.) Subcaste of Nai.

Bandhia—(From bāndh, an embankment.) A subcaste of Darzi and Dhīmar. A section of Chamār.

Bandrele.—(Monkey.) A section of Basor, and Barai.

Banghore.—(Wild horses.) A section of Dom (Mehtar).

Bania.—A caste. Subcaste of Bishnoi. A synonym of Sunār in Sambalpur. A subcaste of Banjāra. A section of Nāndvansi Gauli.

Bānka.—A small caste found principally in the Kālāhandī State which now forms part of Bengal. The caste was formed from military service like the Khandaits, Pāiks and Marāthas, and some families bear the names of different castes, as Brāhman Bānka, Kumhār Bānka, and so on. They were formerly notorious freebooters, but have now settled down to cultivation. Each man, however, still carries a sword or knife on his person, and in Kālāhandī they are permitted to do this without taking out a licence.

Banku.—(One who frequents sequestered parts of forests.) A sept of Korku.

Bānsberia.—(One who performs acrobatic feats on a stick or bamboo.) Synonym of Kolhāti.

Bansia.—(Angler.) From bansi, a fishing-hook. Subcaste of Dhīmar.

Bānsphor.—(A breaker of bamboos.) Synonym of Basor. Subcaste of Mehtar and Mahli.

Bānstalai.—(A tank with bamboo trees on its bank.) A section of Teli.

Bant.—Subcaste of Dhīmar.

Bantia.—(From banāt, a red woollen blanket.) A section of Oswāl Bania.

Baone or Baonia.—From the phrase Bāwan Berār, a term applied to the Province by the Mughals, because it paid fifty-two lakhs of revenue, as against only eight lakhs realised from the adjoining Jhādi or hilly country in the Central Provinces. Subcaste of Kunbi, Mahār and Māli.

Baoria.—Synonym of Badhak.

Bāra-hazār.—(Twelve thousand.) Subcaste of Chero.

Barāde, Berāri.—A resident of Berār. Subcaste of Bahna, Barhai, Chamār, Dhangar, Dhobi, Khatīk, Māng and Nai.

Baram or Birm.—Subcaste of Bhāt.

Barapatre.—(A large leaf-plate.) A section of Koshti.

Baraua.—(A fisherman.) Synonym of Dhīmar; title of Dhīmar.

Bardhia.—(From bārdh, a term for the edge of a weapon.) Synonym of Sikligār.

Bardia.—One who uses bullocks for transport. Subcaste of Kumhār.

Baretha.—(A washerman.) Synonym for Dhobi.

Barga.—Subcaste of Oraon.

Bargāh,⁴¹⁸ Bargāha, Barghāt.—A small caste of cultivators belonging principally to the Bilāspur District. They appear to be immigrants from Rewah, where the caste is numerically strong, and they are also found in the adjacent Districts of the United Provinces and Bengal. In the United Provinces they are employed as higher domestic servants and make leaf-plates, while their women act as midwives.⁴¹⁹ Here they claim kinship with the Goāla Ahīrs, but in the Central Provinces and Bengal they advance pretensions to be Rājpūts. They have a story, however, which shows their connection with the Ahīrs, to the effect that on one occasion Brahma stole Krishna’s cows and cowherds. Krishna created new ones to replace them, exactly similar to those lost, but Brahma subsequently returned the originals, and the Bargāhas are the descendants of the artificial cowherds created by Krishna. In Sargūja, Bargāha is used as a title by Ahīrs, while in Rewah the Bargāhs are looked on as the bastard offspring of Baghel Rājpūts. Dr. Buchanan writes of them as follows:⁴²⁰ “In Gorakhpur the Rājpūt chiefs have certain families of Ahīrs, the women of which act as wet-nurses to their children, while the men attend to their persons. These families are called Bargāha; they have received, of course, great favours and many of them are very rich, but others look down upon them as having admitted their women to too great familiarity with their chiefs.” In the United Provinces they also claim to be Rājpūts, as they returned themselves as a clan of Rājpūts in 1881.⁴²¹ Their position as described by Buchanan is precisely the same as that of the Dauwa Ahīrs, who are the household servants of Bundela Rājpūts in Bundelkhand, and the facts set forth above leave little or no doubt that the Bargāhs are a mixed caste, arising from the connection of Rājpūts with the Ahīr women who were their personal servants. In the Central Provinces no subdivisions of the caste exist at present, but a separate and inferior subcaste is in process of formation from those who have been turned out of caste. They are divided for the purpose of marriage into exogamous gotras or clans, the names of which correspond to those of Rājpūts, as Kaunsil, Chandel, Rāna, Bundela, Rāthor, Baghel, Chauhān and others. Marriage between members of the same clan and also between first cousins is prohibited. The custom of gurānwat or exchanging girls in marriage between families is very prevalent, and as there is a scarcity of girls in the caste, a man who has not got a daughter must pay Rs. 100 to Rs. 200 to obtain a bride for his son. On the arrival of the marriage procession the bridegroom touches with a dagger a grass mat hung in front of the marriage-shed. During the marriage the bridegroom’s father presents him with a grass ring, which he places on his wrist. The hands of the bridegroom and bride are tied one over the other with a piece of thread, and the bride’s parents catching the hands say to the bridegroom, ‘We have given you our daughter; protect her.’ The couple then walk seven times round a sacrificial fire and a pestle and slab containing seven pieces of turmeric, nuts and heaps of coloured rice, the bride leading and kicking over a heap of rice from the slab at each turn. The other common ceremonies are also performed. The Bargāhs do not tolerate sexual offences and expel a girl or married woman who goes wrong. The Bargāhs are usually cultivators in the Central Provinces, but they consider it beneath their dignity to touch the plough with their own hands. Many of them are mlguzrs or village proprietors. They take food cooked without water from a Brāhman, and water only from a Rājpūt. Rājpūts take water from their hands, and their social position is fairly high.

Bargandi,—Synonym for Kaikāri.

Barghāt.—Synonym of Bargāh.

Barki.—High. Subcaste of Rautia.

Bārkia.—(A spinner of fine thread.) Subcaste of Mahār.

Barmaiyan, Barmian, Malaiya.—Subcaste of Basor, Dhīmar and Gadaria.

Baroni.—Title of a female Dhīmar.

Barora or Warkara.—(Wild cat.) A subsept of the Uika clan of Gonds in Betūl.

Barpaihi.—(Bar, banyan tree.) A sept of the Uika clan of Gonds in Betūl, so named because their priest offered food to their gods on the leaves of a banyan tree.

Barwa.—Synonym for Gārpagāri. One who wards off hailstones from the standing crops. Subcaste of Jogi.

Bashishta.—See Vasishta. A section of Vidūr.

Bastarha.—A resident of Bastar State. Subcaste of Halba.

Bathri.—(From batkur, a vegetable.) A subcaste of Dhobi and Teli.

Bāthudia.—Subcaste of Bhuiya.

Batri.—A grower of batar, a kind of pea. Subcaste of Teli.

Batti.—(A ball.) A subsept of the Uika clan of Gonds in Betūl, so named because their priest stole balls of cooked mahua. They do not kill or eat goats or sheep, and throw away anything smelt by them.

Bāwan, Bāwanjaye.—(Bāwan-52.) A subcaste of Sāraswat Brāhmans.

Bāwaria.—A dweller of Bhānwargarh tract in Betūl district. Subcaste of Korku.

Bāwisa.—(Twenty-two.) A subcaste of Gujarāti Brāhmans in Hoshangābād and Makrai State.

Bayar, Biyar, Biar.—A small caste of labourers belonging to the eastern Districts of the United Provinces, of whom about 200 persons were returned from Bilāspur in 1891. They are found in the Korba zamīndāri, and are professional diggers or navvies, like the Murhas. They are apparently a mixed caste derived from the primitive tribes with some Hindu blood. They eat fowls and pork, but will not take food from any other caste. They work by contract on the dangri system of measurement, a dangri being a piece of bamboo five cubits long. For one rupee they dig a patch 8 dangris long by one broad and a cubit in depth, or 675 cubic feet. But this rate does not allow for lift or lead.

Bāzigar.—(An acrobat.) Synonym of Nat.

Behār.—(Cat.) A totemistic sept of Kawar.

Behera.—A subcaste of Taonla. A section of Tiyar. A title of Khadāl.

Belwār, Bilwār.—A small caste of carriers and cattle-dealers belonging to Oudh, whose members occasionally visit the northern Districts of the Central Provinces. They say that their ancestors were Sanādhya Brāhmans, who employed bullocks as pack-animals, and hence, being looked down on by the rest of the caste, became a separate body, marrying among themselves.

Benaika, Binaika.—A subcaste of Parwār Bania, consisting of the offspring of remarried widows or illegitimate unions. Probably also found among other subcastes of Bania.

Benatia.—A subcaste of Sānsia in Sambalpur.

Bendiwāla.—Name of a minor Vishnuite order. See Bairāgi.

Benetiya, Benātia.—Subcaste of Chasa and Sānsia.

Bengali.—Bengali immigrants are usually Brāhmans or Kāyasths.

Bengani.—(Brinjal.) One of the 1444 sections of Oswāl Bania.

Benglāh.—An immigrant from Bengal. Subcaste of Bharbhūnja.

Beora Basia.—(Hawk.) A totemistic sept of Bhatra.

Berāria, Berādia.—(Belonging to Berār.) A subcaste of Bahna, Barai, Barhai, Chamār, Dhangar, Dhīmar, Kasār and Kunbi.

Beria.—A caste of gipsies and vagrants, whose women are prostitutes. Hence sometimes used generally to signify a prostitute. A subcaste of Nat.

Besra.—(Hawk.) A totemistic sept of Bhatra and Rāwat (Ahīr).

Besta.—A Telugu caste of fishermen. They are also called Bhoi and Machchnāik, and correspond to the Dhīmars. They are found only in the Chānda District, where they numbered 700 persons in 1911, and their proper home is Mysore. They are a low caste and rear pigs and eat pork, crocodiles, rats and fowls. They are stout and strong and dark in colour. Like the Dhīmars they also act as palanquin-bearers, and hence has arisen a saying about them, ‘The Besta is a great man when he carries shoes,’ because the head of a gang of palanquin-bearers carries the shoes of the person who sits in it. At their marriages the couple place a mixture of cummin and jaggery on each other’s heads, and then gently press their feet on those of the other seven times. Drums are beaten, and the bridegroom places rings on the toes of the bride and ties the mangal-sūtram or necklace of black beads round her neck. They are seated side by side on a plough-yoke, and the ends of their cloths are tied together. They are then taken outside and shown the Great Bear, the stars of which are considered to be the spirits of the seven principal Hindu Saints, and the pole-star, Arundhāti, who represents the wife of Vasishtha and is the pattern of feminine virtue. On the following two days the couple throw flowers at each other for some time in the morning and evening. Before the marriage the bridegroom’s toe-nails are cut by the barber as an act of purification. This custom, Mr. Thurston⁴²² states, corresponds among the Sūdras to the shaving of the head among the Brāhmans. The Bestas usually take as their principal deity the nearest large river and call it by the generic term of Ganga. On the fifth day after a death they offer cooked food, water and sesamum to the crows, in whose bodies the souls of the dead are believed to reside. The food and water are given to satisfy the hunger and thirst of the soul, while the sesamum is supposed to give it coolness and quench its heat. On the tenth day the ashes are thrown into a river. The beard of a boy whose father is alive is shaved for the first time before his marriage. Children are tattooed with a mark on the forehead within three months of birth, and this serves as a sect mark. A child is named on the eleventh day after birth, and if it is subsequently found to be continually ailing and sickly, the name is changed under the belief that it exercises an evil influence on the child.

Betala.—(Goblin.) One of the 1444 sections of Oswāl Bania.

Bhadauria.—(From Bhadāwar in Gwalior State.) A clan of Rājpūts. A clan of Dāngi in Saugor from whom Rājpūts take daughters in marriage, but do not give daughters to them. A surname of Sanādhia Brāhman.

Bhadonia.—Subcaste of Dāngi.

Bhadoria.—(A drum-beater.) Subcaste of Chamār.

Bhadri, Bhaddari.—A synonym for Joshi, having a derogatory sense, as of one who begs with deceit or fraud.

Bhadune.—(From the month Bhādon.) A section of Kalār.

Bhagat.—(Devotee.) A section of Ahīr or Gaoli, Barai and Panwār Rājpūt.

Bhains-Māra.—(Killer of the buffalo.) A section of Kanjar.

Bhainsa.—(Buffalo.) A section of Chamār, Dhanwār, Gānda, Kawar, Kanjar, Māli, Panka and Rāwat (Ahīr).

Bhairon.—(The god Bhairon.) A section of Pānwar Rājpūt.

Bhaiya.—(Brother.) One of the 72½ sections of Maheshri Bania.

Bhala.—(Spear.) One of the 72½ sections of Maheshri Bania.

Bhaldār.—(A spear-man.) A class of Dahāits, who have commonly been employed as village watchmen.

Bhale Sultān.—(Lords of the spear.) A clan of Rājpūts.

Bhāmti, Bhāmtia.—Synonyms of Bhāmta.

Bhanāre.—Named after the town of Bhandāra in the Central Provinces. Subcaste of Dhīmar.

Bhānd, Bhānr.⁴²³—A small caste of story-tellers and buffoons. The name is derived from the Sanskrit Bhānda, a jester, and the caste are also known as Naqqāl or actor. Only a trifling number of Bhānds are shown by the census as belonging to the Central Provinces. Mr. Crooke remarks: “The Bhānd is sometimes employed in the courts of Rājas and native gentlemen of rank, where he amuses the company at entertainments with buffoonery and a burlesque of European and native manners, much of which is of a very coarse nature. The Bhānd is quite separate from and of a lower professional rank than the Bahrūpia. The bulk of the caste are Muhammadans, but they have exogamous sections, some of which, as Kaithela (Kāyasth), Bamhaniya (Brāhman), Gujartha (Gūjar), Nonela (Lunia), and so on, are derived from those of Hindu castes, and indicate that the caste is a heterogeneous community recruited from different sources. There are two recognised endogamous subcastes—the Chenr, which seems to mean little (Hindi, Chenra), and the Kashmīri. The former trace their origin to the time of Tamarlane, who, on the death of his son, gave himself over to mourning for twelve years. Then one Sayyid Hasan, a courtier of the Emperor, composed a humorous poem in Arabic, which gained him the title of Bhānr. Sayyid Hasan is regarded as the founder of the caste. Though he was a Sayyid the present Bhānrs are either Shaikhs or Mughals; and the difference of faith, Sunni and Shiah, is a bar to intermarriage. The Kashmīri Bhānrs are said to be of quite recent origin, having been invited from Kashmīr by Nasīr-ud-Dīn Haidar, king of Oudh.” The Bhānds perform their marriages by the Nikāh form, in which a Kāzi officiates. In virtue of being Muhammadans they abstain from pork and liquor. Dr. Buchanan⁴²⁴ quaintly described them as “Impudent fellows, who make long faces, squeak like pigs, bark like dogs, and perform many other ludicrous feats. They also dance and sing, mimicking and turning into ridicule the dancing boys and girls, on whom they likewise pass many jokes, and are employed on great occasions.” The Bhānd, in fact, seems to correspond very nearly to the court jester of the Middle Ages.

Bhandāri.—(A barber, also a cook in the Uriya country.) A synonym for Nai. A subcaste of Gondhali. A section of Oswāl Bania and Halba. Title of the deputies of the chief guru of the Satnāmi sect.

Bhangi.—(Hemp-smoker.) Synonym of Mehtar.

Bhānr.—Synonym of Bhānd, a story-teller.

Bhānwar.—(A bee, also honey.) A section of Gadaria and Kawar.

Bhaosar.—Synonym of Chhīpa.

Bhāradwāj.—(A skylark. Name of a great Brāhman Rishi or saint.) One of the common eponymous sections of Brāhmans. Also a section of Joshi, Lohār, Prabhu, Sunār, and of several clans of Rājpūts.

Bharewa.—(From bharat, a mixture of copper and lead.) A group of brass or bell-metal workers classed with the Kasār caste, but of lower social standing than the Kasārs. A subcaste of Sunār in Raipur.

Bhārgava.—(Born of Bhrigu Rishi.) A subcaste of Kanaujia Brāhmans. A section of Marātha Brāhmans. Bhārgava Dhusar is a subcaste of Bania. See Bania-Dhusar.

Bharia.—(From the Bhar tribe.) A tribe. A subcaste of Baiga in Mandla, and of Kol.

Bharia-Bhumia.—Synonym of Bharia.

Bharotia or Mudia.—(Shaven.) Subcaste of Baiga, also of Ahīr.

Bhārthi.—Name of one of the ten orders of Gosains.

Bhātia.—A commercial caste of Sind and Gujarāt, a few of whom settle temporarily in the Central Provinces. Sir D. Ibbetson writes of them:⁴²⁵ “The Bhātias are a class of Rājpūts, originally coming from Bhatner, Jaisalmer and the Rājpūtāna desert, who have taken to domestic pursuits. The name would seem to show that they were Bhātis (called Bhatti in the Punjab); but be that as it may, their Rājpūt origin seems to be unquestioned. They stand distinctly below the Khatri, and perhaps below the Arora, and are for the most part engaged in petty shopkeeping, though the Bhātias of Dera Ismail Khān are described as belonging to a widely-spread and enterprising mercantile community. They are very strict Hindus, far more so than the other trading classes of the western Punjab; and eschew meat and liquor. They do not practise widow-marriage.”

Mr. Crooke’s account⁴²⁶ leaves little doubt that the Bhātias are a branch of the Bhatti or Yāduvansi Rājpūts of Jaisalmer who have gone into trade; and Colonel Tod expresses the same view: “The Bhattiah is also one of the equestrian order converted into the commercial, and the exchange has been to his advantage. His habits are like those of the Arora, next to whom he ranks as to activity and wealth.”⁴²⁷ “The chief occupation of the Bhātias,” Mr. Crooke states, “is moneylending, and to this they add trade of all kinds, agriculture, landholding and Government service. Many of them go on expeditions to Arabia, Kābul, Bokhāra and other distant places of business. Many in Bombay carry on trade with Zanzibar, Java and the Malay Peninsula.”

Bhatnāgar.—A subcaste of Kāyasth.

Bhātpagār.—(Wage of rice.) A section of Katia.

Bhīkshakunti.—(Bhīksha, begging; kunti, lame.) A subcaste of Kāpewār who are the Bhāts or bards of the caste.

Bhīl.—A tribe. A subcaste of Pārdhi.

Bhilaophod.—(Those who extract oil from the bhilawa nut, Semecarpus anacardium.) Subcaste of Kol.

Bhīlsaiyan, Bhīlsia, Bhīlasia.—(From Bhīlsa, a town in Gwalior State.) A section and surname of Jijhotia Brāhmans. A section of Purānia Sunār and of Rāthor Teli and Teli.

Bhima.—A small caste belonging to the Mandla and Seoni Districts. They are musicians of the Gond tribe and dance and beg at their weddings. The caste are an offshoot of the Gonds, their exogamous septs having Gond names, as Marābi, Markām, Dhurwa, Parteti, Tekām and so on; but they now marry among themselves. They worship the Gond god, Bura Deo, their own elders serving as priests. At their performances the men play and dance, wearing hollow anklets of metal with little balls of iron inside to make them tinkle. The women are dressed like Hindu women and dance without ornaments. Their instrument is called Tūma or gourd. It consists of a hollow piece of bamboo fixed horizontally over a gourd. Over the bamboo a string is stretched secured to a peg at one end and passing over a bridge at the other. Little knobs of wax are made on the bamboo so that the string touches them during its vibrations. The gourd acts as a sounding-board.

Bhogta.—Subcaste of Khairwār.

Bhoi.—(One who carries litters or palanquins.) Synonym of Dhīmar and Kahār. A title or honorific name for Gonds and one by which they are often known. See article Kahār. A section of Binjhāl.

Bhoir.—Synonym for Bhoyar.

Bhojni.—Subcaste of Chitrakathi. They serve the food at marriage and other ceremonies.

Bholia.—(From bhūlna, to forget.) Synonym of Bhulia.

Bhona.—A small caste of labourers in the Mandla District. They are practically all employed by the local Pansāris (Barai) or pān-growers in tending their barejas or betel-vine gardens. There is some ground for supposing that the Bhonas are an offshoot of the Bharia or Bharia-Bhumia tribe of Jubbulpore, which is itself derived from the Bhars. One of the sections of the Bhonas is named after the vulture, and at their weddings a man of this section catches a young chicken and bites off the head in imitation of a vulture.

Bhondih.—(From bhond, dung-beetle.) A section of Ahīr.

Bhonsla.—A clan of Marāthas to which the Rājas of Nāgpur belong.

Bhope or Bhoall.—Subcaste of Mānbhao.

Bhoriya.—Synonym of Bhulia.

Bhoyar.—A caste. A subcaste of Koshti and Marār.

Bhudes.—(The gods on earth.) Title of Brāhmans.

Bhuinhār.—Name of a landholding caste in Benāres and Bengal who claim to be Brāhmans or Rājpūts. They are also known as Bābhan. A title of the Bhuiya tribe. See article Bhuiya. A title of the Bhaina tribe.

Bhumia.—(Born from the land, or aboriginal.) A title of the Bharia tribe in Jubbulpore, also a title of Baiga and Korku. A synonym of Bhuiya. A subdivision of Gond. A section of Kurmi.

Bhūra.—(Grey.) One of the sections of Oswāl Bania. A proper name.

Bhusar.—(Lord of the earth.) A title of Brāhman.

Bhusārjīn.—(From bhūsa, the chaff of wheat.) Subcaste of Banjāra.

Bhuskate.—(From bhūsa, fodder, one who supplies fodder.) A family name.

Bhūta.—A subtribe of Gond in Betūl, the same as Koilabhūta. They are said to be of immoral character.

Biar.—Synonym of Bayar.

Bichhuwa, Bichhi.—(From bichhu, scorpion.) A section of Dhobi and Kawar.

Bidur.—Synonym of the Vidūr caste.

Biloria.—(From bilori, marble stone.) A section of Chhipa.

Bilwār.—Synonym of Belwār, a carrier and cattle-dealer.

Bind.—A large non-Aryan caste of Bihār and the United Provinces, of which 380 persons were returned in 1911. Sir H. Risley says of them:⁴²⁸ “They are a tribe employed in agriculture, earthwork, fishing, hunting, making saltpetre and collecting indigenous drugs. Traditions current among the caste profess to trace their origin to the Vindhya hills, and one of these legends tells how a traveller, passing by the foot of the hills, heard a strange flute-like sound coming out of a clump of bamboos. He cut a shoot and took from it a fleshy substance which afterwards grew into a man, the supposed ancestor of the Binds. Another story says that the Binds and Nunias were formerly all Binds and that the present Nunias are the descendants of a Bind who consented to dig a grave for a Muhammadan king and was outcasted for doing so.” A third legend tells how in the beginning of all things Mahādeo made a lump of earth and endowed it with life. The creature thus produced asked Mahādeo what he should eat. The god pointed to a tank and told him to eat the fish in it and the wild rice which grew near the banks. Mr. Crooke⁴²⁹ says that they use fish largely except in the fortnight (Pitripaksh) sacred to the dead in the month of Kunwār, and Sir H. Risley notes that after the rice harvest the Binds wander about the country digging up the stores of rice accumulated by field rats in their burrows. From four to six pounds of grain are usually found, but even this quantity is sometimes exceeded. The Binds also feast on the rats, but they deny this, saying that to do so would be to their own injury, as a reduction of the next year’s find of grain would thus be caused.

Binjhāl.—Synonym of Binjhwār.

Binjhwār.—A caste derived from the Baiga tribe. A subtribe of Baiga and Gond. A subcaste of Gowāri.

Birchheya.—(A dweller in the forest.) Subcaste of Ghosi.

Birchkia.—(From birchka, a tree.) A subcaste of Ghosi.

Birhor.—A small Kolarian tribe of whom about 150 persons were returned in 1911 from the Chota Nāgpur States. The name means a dweller in the forest. Sir H. Risley states that the Birhors live in tiny huts made of branches of trees and leaves, and eke out a miserable living by snaring hares and monkeys, and collecting jungle products, especially the bark of the chob creeper,⁴³⁰ from which a coarse kind of rope is made. They are great adepts at ensnaring monkeys and other small animals, and sell them alive or eat them. Colonel Dalton described them as,⁴³¹ “A small, dirty, miserable-looking race, who have the credit of devouring their parents, and when I taxed them with it they did not deny that such a custom had once obtained among them. But they declared they never shortened lives to provide such feasts and shrank with horror from the idea of any bodies but those of their own blood-relatives being served up to them.” It would appear that this custom may be partly ceremonial, and have some object, such as ensuring that the dead person should be born again in the family or that the survivors should not be haunted by his ghost. It has been recorded of the Bhunjias that they ate a small part of the flesh of their dead parents.⁴³² Colonel Dalton considered the Birhors to be a branch of the Kharia tribe, and this is borne out by Dr. Grierson’s statement that the specimen of the Birhor dialect returned from the Jashpur State was really Kharia.⁴³³ Elsewhere the Birhor dialect resembles Mundāri.

Birjhia, Birjia. (One who practises bewar or shifting cultivation in a forest.) Subcaste of Binjhwār, Baiga and Korwa.

Bīrkhandia.—From Bīrkhand (Sand of heroes), a name for Rājputāna. A section of Teli.

Birtiya. Title of Nai or barber.

Bisen, Bisān.—A clan of Rājpūt. A section of Daharia and of Panwār Rājpūt. A section of Marār.