The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India Volume IV of IV

R >> R.V. Russell >> The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India Volume IV of IV

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6. 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 Brahman, 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 Lalbegis, 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.' [231]

7. 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 to prevent a Chuhra from being
buried face upwards. [232] 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grave the sheet is withdrawn for a moment from the features of the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
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. [233] 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.

8. 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
cemetery and the others 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 navel-string of a newborn
child and swallow it. For this reason the navel-string is always
carefully guarded and its disposal seen to.

9. 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.

10. 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 for 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.

11. 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. 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_,
[234] the gum of the _babul_ [235] or _khair_, [236] 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.

12. Protecting the 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 that she has acquired a
certain interest in the child.

13. 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 or 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 jaws
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 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 enclosed in lac and made into a ring.

14. 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,
Lalbeg or Bale Shah and Balnek or Balmik, who is really the huntsman
Valmiki, the reputed author of the Ramayana. Balmik was originally a
low-caste hunter called Ratnakar, 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 Rama 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 '_Mara, Mara_' (_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 Rama cleaneth a man of all his sins. So the words 'Ram, Ram,'
were taught unto Ratnakar 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 Rama. After sixty
thousand years Brahma returned. No man could he see, yet he heard the
voice of Ram, Ram, 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
"Ram, Ram," which have cleansed away all my sins.' Then spake Brahma:
'Hitherto thou wast Ratnakar. From to-day thy name shall be Valmiki
(from _valmik_, an ant-hill). Now do thou compose a Ramayana in seven
parts, containing the deeds and exploits of Rama.'" Valmiki had been
or afterwards became a sweeper and was known as 'cooker of dog's food'
(Swapach), a name applied to sweepers [237], who have adopted him as
their eponymous ancestor and patron saint.

15. Lalbeg

Lalbeg, who is still more widely venerated, is considered to have been
Ghazi Miyan, the nephew of Sultan Muhammad of Ghazni, and a saint much
worshipped in the Punjab. Many legends are told of Lalbeg, and his
worship is described by Mr. Greeven as follows: [238] "The ritual
of Lalbeg is conducted in the presence of the whole brotherhood,
as a rule at the festival of the Diwali 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 tow. 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 Lalbeg 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 Lalbeg 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 Lalbegi can go to heaven, but those on whom
the dust raised by a Lalbegi sweeping settles acquire some modicum
of virtue. Similarly Mr. Greeven remarks: [239] "Sweepers by no means
endorse the humble opinion entertained with respect to them; for they
allude to castes such as Kunbis and Chamars as petty (_chhota_),
while a common anecdote is related to the effect that a Lalbegi,
when asked whether Muhammadans could obtain salvation, replied:
'I never heard of it, but perhaps they might slip in behind Lalbeg.'"

16. Adoption of foreign religions

On the whole the religion of the Lalbegis appears to be monotheistic
and of a sufficiently elevated character, resembling that of the
Kabirpanthis 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 Muhammadans and Sikhs with the same end in view, as stated
by Mr. Greeven: [240] "As may be readily imagined, the scavengers
are merely in name the disciples of Nanak Shah, 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 Nanak Shah 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 Benares no more becomes a Sikh by taking Nanak Shah'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 religion
that the Lalbegis, 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. [241] 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 bury or burn their dead, but dismember the corpse
at night like the inhabitants of Thibet, 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." [242] 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 Zahir Pir. At the fasts in Chait and Kunwar (March
and September) they tie cocoanuts wrapped in cloth to the top of a
long bamboo, and marching to the tomb of Zahir Pir make offerings of
cakes and sweetmeats. Before starting for his day's work the sweeper
does obeisance to his basket and broom.

17. Social status

The sweeper stands at the very bottom of the social ladder of
Hinduism. He is considered to be the representative of the Chandala
of Manu, [243] who was said to be descended of a Sudra father and a
Brahman woman. "It was ordained that the Chandala should live without
the town; his sole wealth should be dogs and asses; his clothes should
consist of the cerecloths 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 Chandalas 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 Raja, and should
carry out the corpse of any one 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 Chandala 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 Brahman allow to see him
when eating. [244] Like the Chandala, the sweeper cannot be touched,
and he himself acquiesces in this and walks apart. In large towns
he sometimes carries a kite's wing in his turban to show his caste,
or goes aloof saying _pois_, which is equivalent to a warning. When
the sweeper is in company he will efface himself as far as possible
behind other people. 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 Lakshmi 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 Gujarat Mr. Bhimbhai Kirparam writes of him: "Though
he is held to be lower and more unclean, the Bhangia is viewed with
kindlier feelings than the Dhed (Mahar). To meet the basket-bearing
Bhangia is lucky, and the Bhangia's blessing is valued. 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;
[245] 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 Chamar (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: [246] "Only Lalbegis and Rawats 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 Betul it is reported that the
Mehtars there will not accept food, water or tobacco from a Kayasth,
and will not allow one to enter their houses.

18. 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
Mirzapur when a Dom hangman is tying a rope round the neck of a
criminal he shouts out, '_Dohai Maharani, Dohai Sarkar, Dohai Judge
Sahib_,' 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. [247] In the Central Provinces the hangman was
accompanied by four or five other sweepers of the caste _panchayat_
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 khun kiya waisa apne khun 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,
'_Ram, Ram_.' 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
Lalbeg 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 flute 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 Chamars of Bundelkhand will not
remove the corpses of a cat or a dog or a squirrel, and a sweeper must
be obtained for the purpose. 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 Chamar also refuses to touch the corpse of a donkey,
but a Kumhar (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 has been in. In Hoshangabad 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. [248]
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. [249]
A letter announcing a death is always carried by a sweeper. [250]
In Bengal a funeral could not be held without the presence of a Dom,
whose functions are described by Mr. Sherring [251] as follows:
"On the arrival of the dead body at the place of cremation, which
in Benares is at the basis of one of the steep stairs or _ghats_,
called the Burning-Ghat, 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 purpose; 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."