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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8. Estimation of the pig in India

We thus see how the pig in ancient Greece was worshipped as a
corn-deity because it damaged the crops and subsequently became
an anthropomorphic goddess. It is suggested that pigs are offered
to Bhainsasur by the Hindus for the same reason. But there is no
Hindu deity representing the pig, this animal on the contrary being
regarded as impure. It seems doubtful, however, whether this was
always so. In Rajputana on the stone which the Regent of Kotah set up
to commemorate the abolition of forced taxes were carved the effigies
of the sun, the moon, the cow and the hog, with an imprecation on
whoever should revoke the edict. [8] Colonel Tod says that the pig
was included as being execrated by all classes, but this seems very
doubtful. It would scarcely occur to any Hindu nowadays to associate
the image of the impure pig with those of the sun, moon and cow,
the representations of three of his greatest deities. Rather it
gives some reason for supposing that the pig was once worshipped,
and the Rajputs still do not hold the wild boar impure, as they hunt
it and eat its flesh. Moreover, Vishnu in his fourth incarnation was
a boar. The Gonds regularly offer pigs to their great god Bura Deo,
and though they now offer goats as well, this seems to be a later
innovation. The principal sacrifice of the early Romans was the
Suovetaurilia or the sacrifice of a pig, a ram and a bull. The order
of the words, M. Reinach remarks, [9] is significant as showing the
importance formerly attached to the pig or boar. Since the pig was
the principal sacrificial animal of the primitive tribes, the Gonds
and Baigas, its connection with the ritual of an alien and at one
time hostile religion may have strengthened the feeling of aversion
for it among the Hindus, which would naturally be engendered by its
own dirty habits.

9. The buffalo as a corn-god

It seems possible then that the Hindus reverenced the wild boar in
the past as one of the strongest and fiercest animals of the forest
and also as a destroyer of the crops. And they still make sacrifices
of the pig to guard their fields from his ravages. These sacrifices,
however, are not offered to any deity who can represent a deified
pig but to Bhainsasur, the deified buffalo. The explanation seems
to be that in former times, when forests extended over most of
the country, the cultivator had in the wild buffalo a direr foe
than the wild pig. And one can well understand how the peasant,
winning a scanty subsistence from his poor fields near the forest,
and seeing his harvest destroyed in a night by the trampling of a herd
of these great brutes against whom his puny weapons were powerless,
looked on them as terrible and malignant deities. The sacrifice of a
buffalo would be beyond the means of a single man, and the animal is
now more or less sacred as one of the cow tribe. But the annual joint
sacrifice of one or more buffaloes is a regular feature of the Dasahra
festival and extends over a great part of India. In Betul and other
districts the procedure is that on the Dasahra day, or a day before,
the Mang and Kotwar, two of the lowest village menials, take a buffalo
bull and bring it to the village proprietor, who makes a cut on its
nose and draws blood. Then it is taken all round the village and
to the shrines of the gods, and in the evening it is killed and the
Mang and Kotwar eat the flesh. It is now believed that if the blood
of a buffalo does not fall at Dasahra some epidemic will attack the
village, but as there are no longer any wild buffaloes except in the
denser forests of one or two Districts, the original meaning of the
rite might naturally have been forgotten. [10]

10. The Dasahra festival

The Dasahra festival probably marks the autumnal equinox and also the
time when the sowing of wheat and other spring crops begins. Many
Hindus still postpone sowing the wheat until after Dasahra, even
though it might be convenient to begin before, especially as the
festival goes by the lunar month and its date varies in different
years by more than a fortnight. The name signifies the tenth day,
and prior to the festival a fast of nine days is observed, when the
pots of wheat corresponding to the gardens of Adonis are sown and
quickly sprout up. This is an imitation of the sowing and growth of
the real crop and is meant to ensure its success. During these nine
days it is said that the goddess Devi was engaged in mortal combat
with the buffalo demon Mahisasur or Bhainsasur, and on the tenth day
or the Dasahra she slew him. The fast is explained as being observed
in order to help her to victory, but it is really perhaps a fast in
connection with the growing of the crops. A similar nine daysfast
for the crops was observed by the Greeks. [11]

11. The goddess Devi

Devi signifies '_the_ goddess' _par excellence_. She is often the
tutelary goddess of the village and of the family, and is held to have
been originally Mother Earth, which may be supposed to be correct. In
tracts where the people of northern and southern India meet she is
identified with Anna Purna, the corn-goddess of the Telugu country;
and in her form of Gauri or 'the Yellow One' she is perhaps herself
the yellow corn. As Gauri she is worshipped at weddings in conjunction
with Ganesh or Ganpati, the god of Good Fortune; and it is probably
in honour of the harvest colour that Hindus of the upper castes
wear yellow at their weddings and consider it lucky. A Brahman also
prefers to wear yellow when eating his food. It has been seen [12]
that red is the lucky colour of the lower castes of Hindus, and the
reason probably is that the shrines of their gods are stained red with
the blood of the animals sacrificed. High-caste Hindus no longer make
animal sacrifices, and their offerings to Siva, Vishnu and Devi consist
of food, flowers and blades of corn. Thus yellow would be similarly
associated with the shrines of the gods. All Hindu brides have their
bodies rubbed with yellow turmeric, and the principal religious flower,
the marigold, is orange-yellow. Yellow is, however, also lucky as being
the colour of Vishnu or the Sun, and a yellow flag is waved above
his great temple at Ramtek on the occasion of the fair. Thus Devi
as the corn-goddess perhaps corresponds to Demeter, but she is not
in this form an animal goddess. The Hindus worshipping Mother Earth,
as all races do in the early stage of religion, may by a natural and
proper analogy have ascribed the gift of the corn to her from whom
it really comes, and have identified her with the corn-goddess. This
is by no means a full explanation of the goddess Devi, who has many
forms. As Parvati, the hill-maiden, and Durga, the inaccessible one,
she is the consort of Siva in his character of the mountain-god of
the Himalayas; as Kali, the devourer of human flesh, she is perhaps
the deified tiger; and she may have assimilated yet more objects of
worship into her wide divinity. But there seems no special reason
to hold that she is anywhere believed to be the deified buffalo; and
the probable explanation of the Dasahra rite would therefore seem to
be that the buffalo was at first venerated as the corn-god because,
like the pig in Greece, he was most destructive to the crops, and
a buffalo was originally slaughtered and eaten sacramentally as an
act of worship. At a later period the divinity attaching to the corn
was transferred to Devi, an anthropomorphic deity of a higher class,
and in order to explain the customary slaughter of the buffalo, which
had to be retained, the story became current that the beneficent
goddess fought and slew the buffalo-demon which injured the crops,
for the benefit of her worshippers, and the fast was observed and
the buffalo sacrificed in commemoration of this event. It is possible
that the sacrifice of the buffalo may have been a non-Aryan rite, as
the Mundas still offer a buffalo to Deswali, their forest god, in the
sacred grove; and the Korwas of Sarguja nave periodical sacrifices to
Kali in which many buffaloes are slaughtered. In the pictures of her
fight with Bhainsasur, Devi is shown as riding on a tiger, and the
uneducated might imagine the struggle to have resembled that between
a tiger and a buffalo. As the destroyer of buffaloes and deer which
graze on the crops the tiger may even be considered the cultivator's
friend. But in the rural tracts Bhainsasur himself is still venerated
in the guise of a corn-deity, and pig are perhaps offered to him as
the animals which nowadays do most harm to the crops.

Kunbi

[This article is based on the information collected for the District
Gazetteers of the Central Provinces, manuscript notes furnished by
Mr. A.K. Smith, C.S., and from papers by Pandit Pyare Lal Misra and
Munshi Kanhya Lal. The Kunbis are treated in the _Poona_ and _Khandesh_
volumes of the _Bombay Gazetteer_. The caste has been taken as typical
of the Marathi-speaking Districts, and a fairly full description
of the marriage and other ceremonies has therefore been given, some
information on houses, dress and food being also reproduced from the
_Wardha_ and _Yeotmal District Gazetteers_.]

List of Paragraphs

1. _Distribution of the caste and origin of name_.
2. _Settlement in the Central Provinces_.
3. _Sub castes_.
4. _The cultivating status_.
5. _Exogamous septs_.
6. _Restrictions on marriage of relatives_.
7. _Betrothal and marriage_.
8. _Polygamy and divorce_.
9. _Widow-marriage_.
10. _Customs at birth_.
11. _Sixth- and twelfth-day ceremonies_.
12. _Devices for procuring children_.
13. _Love charms_.
14. _Disposal of the dead_.
15. _Mourning_.
16. _Religion_.
17. _The Pola festival_.
18. _Muhammadan tendencies of Berar Kunbis_.
19. _Villages and houses_.
20. _Furniture_.
21. _Food_.
22. _Clothes and ornaments_.
23. _The Kunbi as cultivator_.
24. _Social and moral characteristics_.

1. Distribution of the caste and origin of name

_Kunbi_--The great agricultural caste of the Maratha country. In
the Central Provinces and Berar the Kunbis numbered nearly 1,400,000
persons in 1911; they belong to the Nagpur, Chanda, Bhandara, Wardha,
Nimar and Betul Districts of the Central Provinces. In Berar their
strength was 800,000, or nearly a third of the total population. Here
they form the principal cultivating class over the whole area except
in the jungles of the north and south, but muster most strongly in
the Buldana District to the west, where in some taluks nearly half the
population belongs to the Kunbi caste. In the combined Province they
are the most numerous caste except the Gonds. The name has various
forms in Bombay, being Kunbi or Kulambi in the Deccan, Kulwadi in
the south Konkan, Kanbi in Gujarat, and Kulbi in Belgaum. In Sanskrit
inscriptions it is given as Kutumbika (householder), and hence it has
been derived from _kutumba_, a family. A chronicle of the eleventh
century quoted by Forbes speaks of the Kutumbiks or cultivators of
the _grams,_ or small villages. [13] Another writer describing the
early Rajput dynasties says: [14] "The villagers were Koutombiks
(householders) or husbandmen (Karshuks); the village headmen were
Putkeels (patels)." Another suggested derivation is from a Dravidian
root _kul_ a husbandman or labourer; while that favoured by the caste
and their neighbours is from _kun_, a root, or _kan_ grain, and _bi_,
seed; but this is too ingenious to be probable.

2. Settlement in the Central Provinces

It is stated that the Kunbis entered Khandesh from Gujarat in the
eleventh century, being forced to leave Gujarat by the encroachments
of Rajput tribes, driven south before the early Muhammadan invaders
of northern India. [15] From Khandesh they probably spread into Berar
and the adjoining Nagpur and Wardha Districts. It seems probable that
their first settlement in Nagpur and Wardha took place not later than
the fourteenth century, because during the subsequent period of Gond
rule we find the offices of Deshmukh and Deshpandia in existence in
this area. The Deshmukh was the manager or headman of a circle of
villages and was responsible for apportioning and collecting the land
revenue, while the Deshpandia was a head _patwari_ or accountant. The
Deshmukhs were usually the leading Kunbis, and the titles are still
borne by many families in Wardha and Nagpur. These offices [16] belong
to the Maratha country, and it seems necessary to suppose that their
introduction into Wardha and Berar dates from a period at least as
early as the fourteenth century, when these territories were included
in the dominions of the Bahmani kings of Bijapur. A subsequent large
influx of Kunbis into Wardha and Nagpur took place in the eighteenth
century with the conquest of Raghuji Bhonsla and the establishment of
the Maratha kingdom of Nagpur. Traces of these separate immigrations
survive in the subdivisions of the caste, which will now be mentioned.

3. Subcastes

The internal structure of the Kunbi caste in the Central Provinces
shows that it is a mixed occupational body recruited from different
classes of the population. The Jhare or jungly [17] Kunbis are
the oldest immigrants and have no doubt an admixture of Gond
blood. They do not break their earthen vessels after a death in
the house. With them may be classed the Manwa Kunbis of the Nagpur
District; these appear to be a group recruited from the Manas, a
primitive tribe who were dominant in Chanda perhaps even before the
advent of the Gonds. The Manwa Kunbi women wear their cloths drawn
up so as to expose the thigh like the Gonds, and have some other
primitive practices. They do not employ Brahmans at their marriages,
but consult a Mahar Mohturia or soothsayer to fix the date of the
ceremony. Other Kunbis will not eat with the Manwas, and the latter
retaliate in the usual manner by refusing to accept food from them;
and say that they are superior to other Kunbis because they always
use brass vessels for cooking and not earthen ones. Among the other
subcastes in the Central Provinces are the Khaire, who take their name
from the _khair_ [18] or catechu tree, presumably because they formerly
prepared catechu; this is a regular occupation of the forest tribes,
with whom it may be supposed that the Khaire have some affinity. The
Dhanoje are those who took to the occupation of tending _dhan_ [19]
or small stock, and they are probably an offshoot of the Dhangar
or shepherd caste whose name is similarly derived. Like the Dhangar
women they wear cocoanut-shell bangles, and the Manwa Kunbis also do
this; these bangles are not broken when a child is born, and hence
the Dhanojes and Manwas are looked down on by the other subcastes,
who refuse to remove their leaf-plates after a feast. The name of the
Khedule subcaste may be derived from _kheda_ a village, while another
version given by Mr. Kitts [20] is that it signifies 'A beardless
youth.' The highest subcaste in the Central Provinces are the Tirole
or Tilole, who now claim to be Rajputs. They say that their ancestors
came from Therol in Rajputana, and, taking to agriculture, gradually
became merged with the Kunbis. Another more probable derivation of
the name is from the _til_ or sesamum plant. The families who held
the hereditary office of Deshmukh, which conferred a considerable
local position, were usually members of the Tirole subcaste, and they
have now developed into a sort of aristocratic branch of the caste,
and marry among themselves when matches can be arranged. They do not
allow the remarriage of widows nor permit their women to accompany
the wedding procession. The Wandhekars are another group which also
includes some Deshmukh families, and ranks next to the Tiroles in
position. Mr. Kitts records a large number of subcastes in Berar. [21]
Among them are some groups from northern India, as the Hindustani,
Pardesi, Dholewar, Jaiswar and Singrore; these are probably Kurmis who
have settled in Berar and become amalgamated with the Kunbis. Similarly
the Tailanges and Munurwars appear to be an offshoot of the great Kapu
caste of cultivators in the Telugu country. The Wanjari subcaste is
a fairly large one and almost certainly represents a branch of the
Banjara caste of carriers, who have taken to agriculture and been
promoted into the Kunbi community. The Lonhare take their name from
Lonar Mehkar, the well-known bitter lake of the Buldana District,
whose salt they may formerly have refined. The Ghatole are those who
dwelt above the _ghats_ or passes of the Saihadri range to the south
of the Berar plain. The Baone are an important subcaste both in Berar
and the Central Provinces, and take their name from the phrase Bawan
Berar, [22] 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 Jhadi or hill country in the Central Provinces. In
Chhindwara is found a small local subcaste called Gadhao because they
formerly kept donkeys, though they no longer do so; they are looked
down on by the others who will not even take water from their hands. In
Nimar is a group of Gujarati Kunbis who are considered to have been
originally Gujars. [23] Their local subdivisions are Leve and Karwa and
many of them are also known as Dalia, because they made the _dal_ or
pulse of Burhanpur, which had a great reputation under native rule. It
is said that it was formerly despatched daily to Sindhia's kitchen.

4. The cultivating status

It appears then that a Kunbi has in the past been synonymous with
a cultivator, and that large groups from other castes have taken to
agriculture, have been admitted into the community and usually obtained
a rise in rank. In many villages Kunbis are the only ryots, while below
them are the village menials and artisans, several of whom perform
functions at weddings or on other occasions denoting their recognition
of the Kunbi as their master or employer; and beneath these again are
the impure Mahars or labourers. Thus at a Kunbi betrothal the services
of the barber and washerman must be requisitioned; the barber washes
the feet of the boy and girl and places vermilion on the foreheads of
the guests. The washerman spreads a sheet on the ground on which the
boy and girl sit. At the end of the ceremony the barber and washerman
take the bride and bridegroom on their shoulders and dance to music
in the marriage-shed; for this they receive small presents. After
a death has occurred at a Kunbi's house the impurity is not removed
until the barber and washerman have eaten in it. At a Kunbi's wedding
the Gurao or village priest brings the leafy branches of five trees,
the mango, _jamun_ [24] _umar_ [25] and two others and deposits them
at Maroti's temple, whence they are removed by the parents of the
bride. Before a wedding again a Kunbi bride must go to the potter's
house and be seated on his wheel while it is turned round seven times
for good luck. At seed-time and harvest all the village menials go
to the cultivator's field and present him with a specimen of their
wares or make obeisance to him, receiving in return a small present
of grain. This state of things seems to represent the primitive form
of Hindu society from which the present widely ramified system, of
castes may have expanded, and even now the outlines of the original
structure may be discernible under all subsequent accretions.

5. Exogamus septs

Each subcaste has a number of exogamous septs or clans which serve
as a table of affinities in regulating marriage. The vernacular
term for these is _kul_. Some of the septs are named after natural
objects or animals, others from titles or nicknames borne by the
reputed founder of the group, or from some other caste to which he
may have belonged, while others again are derived from the names
of villages which maybe taken to have been the original home of the
sept or clan. The following are some septs of the Tirole subcaste:
Kole, jackal; Wankhede, a village; Kadu, bitter; Jagthap, famous;
Kadam, a tree; Meghe, a cloud; Lohekari, a worker in iron; Ughde,
a child who has been exposed at birth; Shinde, a palm-tree; Hagre,
one who suffers from diarrhoea; Aglawe, an incendiary; Kalamkar,
a writer; Wani (Bania), a caste; Sutar, a carpenter, and so on,
A few of the groups of the Baone subcaste are:--Kantode, one with a
torn ear; Dokarmare, a killer of pigs; Lute, a plunderer; Titarmare,
a pigeon-killer; and of the Khedule: Patre, a leaf-plate; Ghoremare,
one who killed a horse; Bagmare, a tiger-slayer; Gadhe, a donkey;
Burade, one of the Burud or Basor caste; Naktode, one with a broken
nose, and so on. Each subcaste has a number of septs, a total of 66
being recorded for the Tiroles alone. The names of the septs confirm
the hypothesis arrived at from a scrutiny of the subcastes that
the Kunbis are largely recruited from the pre-Aryan or aboriginal
tribes. Conclusions as to the origin of the caste can better be
made in its home in Bombay, but it may be noted that in Canara,
according to the accomplished author of _A Naturalist on the Prowl_
[26] the Kunbi is quite a primitive forest-dweller, who only a few
years back lived by scattering his seed on patches of land burnt clear
of vegetation, collecting myrobalans and other fruits, and snaring
and trapping animals exactly like the Gonds and Baigas of the Central
Provinces. Similarly in Nasik it is stated that a large proportion
of the Kunbi caste are probably derived from the primitive tribes
[27]. Yet in the cultivated plains which he has so largely occupied,
he is reckoned the equal in rank of the Kurmi and other cultivating
castes of Hindustan, who in theory at any rate are of Aryan origin and
of so high a grade of social purity that Brahmans will take water from
them. The only reasonable explanation of this rise in status appears to
be that the Kunbi has taken possession of the land and has obtained the
rank which from time immemorial belongs to the hereditary cultivator
as a member and citizen of the village community. It is interesting
to note that the Wanjari Kunbis of Berar, who, being as already seen
Banjaras, are of Rajput descent at any rate, now strenuously disclaim
all connection with the Banjara caste and regard their reception into
the Kunbi community as a gain in status. At the same time the refusal
of the Maratha Brahmans to take water to drink from Kunbis may perhaps
have been due to the recognition of their non-Aryan origin. Most of
the Kunbis also eat fowls, which the cultivating castes of northern
India would not usually do.

6. Restrictions on marriage of relatives

A man is forbidden to marry within his own sept or _kul_, or in that
of his mother or either of his grandmothers. He may marry his wife's
younger sister but not her elder sister. Alliances between first and
second cousins are also prohibited except that a sister's son may be
married to a brother's daughter. Such marriages are also favoured
by the Maratha Brahmans and other castes, and the suitability of
the match is expressed in the saying _Ato ghari bhasi sun_, or 'At
a sister's house her brother's daughter is a daughter-in-law.' The
sister claims it as a right and not unfrequently there are quarrels
if the brother decides to give his daughter to somebody else, while
the general feeling is so strongly in favour of these marriages that
the caste committee sometimes imposes a fine on fathers who wish to
break through the rule. The fact that in this single case the marriage
of near relatives is not only permitted but considered almost as an
obligation, while in all other instances it is strictly prohibited,
probably points to the conclusion that the custom is a survival of the
matriarchate, when a brother's property would pass to his sister's
son. Under such a law of inheritance he would naturally desire that
his heir should be united to his own daughter, and this union might
gradually become customary and at length almost obligatory. The
custom in this case may survive when the reasons which justified it
have entirely vanished. And while formerly it was the brother who
would have had reason to desire the match for his daughter, it is now
the sister who insists on it for her son, the explanation being that
among the Kunbis as with other agricultural castes, to whom a wife's
labour is a valuable asset, girls are expensive and a considerable
price has to be paid for a bride.

7. Betrothal and marriage

Girls are usually married between the ages of five and eleven and boys
between ten and twenty. The Kunbis still think it a mark of social
distinction to have their daughters married as young as possible. The
recognised bride-price is about twenty rupees, but much larger sums are
often paid. The boy's father goes in search of a girl to be married
to his son, and when the bride-price has been settled and the match
arranged the ceremony of Mangni or betrothal takes place. In the first
place the boy's father proceeds to his future daughter-in-law's house,
where he washes her feet, smears her forehead with red powder and
gives her a present of a rupee and some sweetmeats. All the party
then eat together. This is followed by a visit of the girl's father
to the boy's house where a similar ceremony is enacted and the boy
is presented with a cocoanut, a _pagri_ and cloth, and a silver
or gold ring. Again the boy's relatives go to the girl's house
and give her more valuable presents of jewellery and clothing. A
Brahman is afterwards consulted to fix the date of the marriage,
but the poorer Kunbis dispense with his services as he charges two
or three rupees. Prior to the ceremony the bodies of the bride and
bridegroom are well massaged with vegetable oil and turmeric in their
respective houses, partly with a view to enhance their beauty and also
perhaps to protect them during the trying period of the ceremony when
maleficent spirits are particularly on the alert. The marriage-shed is
made of eleven poles festooned with leaves, and inside it are placed
two posts of the _saleh_ (_Boswellia serrata_) or _umar_ (_Ficus
glomerata_) tree, one longer than the other, to represent the bride
and bridegroom. Two jars filled with water are set near the posts,
and a small earthen platform called _baola_ is made. The bridegroom
wears a yellow or white dress, and has a triangular frame of bamboo
covered with tinsel over his forehead, which is known as _basing_
and is a substitute for the _maur_ or marriage-crown of the Hindustani
castes. Over his shoulder he carries a pickaxe as the representative
implement of husbandry with one or two wheaten cakes tied to it. This
is placed on the top of the marriage-shed and at the end of the five
days' ceremonies the members of the families eat the dried cakes
with milk, no outsider being allowed to participate. The _barat_
or wedding procession sets out for the bride's village, the women
of the bridegroom's family accompanying it except among the Tirole
Kunbis, who forbid the practice in order to demonstrate their higher
social position. It is received on the border of the girl's village
by her father and his friends and relatives, and conducted to the
_janwasa_ or temporary lodging prepared for it, with the exception
of the bridegroom, who is left alone before the shrine of Maroti or
Hanuman. The bridegroom's father goes to the marriage-shed where he
washes the bride's feet and gives her another present of clothes,
and her relatives then proceed to Maroti's temple where they worship
and make offerings, and return bringing the bridegroom with them. As
he arrives at the marriage pavilion he touches it with a stick, on
which the bride's brother who is seated above the shed pours down
some water and is given a present of money by the bridegroom. The
bridegroom's feet are then washed by his father-in-law and he is
given a yellow cloth which he wears. The couple are made to stand on
two wooden planks opposite each other with a curtain between them,
the bridegroom facing east and the bride west, holding some Akshata
or rice covered with saffron in their hands. As the sun sets the
officiating Brahman gets on to the roof of the house and repeats the
marriage texts from there. At his signal the couple throw the rice over
each other, the curtain between them is withdrawn, and they change
their seats. The assembled party applaud and the marriage proper is
over. The Brahman marks their foreheads with rice and turmeric and
presses them together. He then seats them on the earthen platform
or _baola_, and ties their clothes together, this being known as the
Brahma Ganthi or Brahman's knot. The wedding usually takes place on the
day after the arrival of the marriage procession and another two days
are consumed in feasting and worshipping the deities. When the bride
and bridegroom return home after the wedding one of the party waves a
pot of water round their heads and throws it away at a little distance
on the ground, and after this some grain in the same manner. This is
a provision of food and drink to any evil spirits who may be hovering
round the couple, so that they may stop to consume it and refrain
from entering the house. The expenses of the bride's family may vary
from Rs. 60 to Rs. 100 and those of the bridegroom's from Rs. 160 to
Rs. 600. A wedding carried out on a lavish scale by a well-to-do man
is known as Lal Biah or a red marriage, but when the parties are poor
the expenses are curtailed and it is then called Safed Biah or a white
marriage. In this case the bridegroom's mother does not accompany the
wedding procession and the proceedings last only two days. The bride
goes back with the wedding procession for a few days to her husband's
house and then returns home. When she arrives at maturity her parents
give a feast to the caste and send her to her husband's house, this
occasion being known as Bolvan (the calling). The Karwa Kunbis of
Nimar have a peculiar rule for the celebration of marriages. They
have a _guru_ or priest in Gujarat who sends them a notice once in
every ten or twelve years, and in this year only marriages can be
performed. It is called _Singhast ki sal_ and is the year in which the
planet Guru (Jupiter) comes into conjunction with the constellation
Sinh (Leo). But the Karwas themselves think that there is a large
temple in Gujarat with a locked door to which there is no key. But
once in ten or twelve years the door unlocks of itself, and in that
year their marriages are celebrated. A certain day is fixed and all
the weddings are held on it together. On this occasion children from
infants in arms to ten or twelve years are married, and if a match
cannot be arranged for them they will have to wait another ten or
twelve years. A girl child who is born on the day fixed for weddings
may, however, be married twelve days afterwards, the twelfth night
being called Mando Rat, and on this occasion any other weddings which
may have been unavoidably postponed owing to a death or illness in
the families may also be completed. The rule affords a loophole of
escape for the victims of any such _contretemps_ and also insures
that every girl shall be married before she is fully twelve years
old. Rather than not marry their daughter in the _Singhast ki sal_
before she is twelve the parents will accept any bridegroom, even
though he be very poor or younger than the bride. This is the same year
in which the celebration of marriages is forbidden among the Hindus
generally. The other Kunbis have the general Hindu rule that weddings
are forbidden during the four months from the 11th Asarh Sudi (June)
to the 11th Kartik Sudi (October). This is the period of the rains,
when the crops are growing and the gods are said to go to sleep, and
it is observed more or less as a time of abstinence and fasting. The
Hindus should properly abstain from eating sugarcane, brinjals,
onions, garlic and other vegetables for the whole four months. On
the 12th of Kartik the marriage of Tulsi or the basil plant with the
Saligram or ammonite representing Vishnu is performed and all these
vegetables are offered to her and afterwards generally consumed. Two
days afterwards, beginning from the 14th of Kartik, comes the Diwali
festival. In Betul the bridal couple are seated in the centre of a
square made of four plough yokes, while a leaf of the pipal tree and
a piece of turmeric are tied by a string round both their wrists. The
untying of the string by the local Brahman constitutes the essential
and binding portion of the marriage. Among the Lonhare subcaste a
curious ceremony is performed after the wedding. A swing is made, and
a round pestle, which is supposed to represent a child, is placed on
it and swung to and fro. It is then taken off and placed in the lap
of the bride, and the effect of performing this symbolical ceremony
is supposed to be that she will soon become a mother.