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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19. Occupation (continued)

During an eclipse the sweepers reap a good harvest; for it is believed
that Rahu, 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 account,
the sun and moon are in Rahu's debt, and he comes and duns them,
and this is the eclipse; and the alms given to sweepers are a means
of paying the debt. In Gujarat as soon as the darkening sets in the
Bhangis go about shouting, '_Garhandan, Vastradan, Rupadan_,' or
'Gifts for the eclipse, gifts of clothes, gifts of silver.' [252]
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 Bansphor in Bombay on
this account. In the Punjab the Chuhras are a very numerous caste,
being exceeded only by the Jats, Rajputs and Brahmans. Only a small
proportion of them naturally find employment as scavengers, and the
remainder are agricultural labourers, and together with the vagrants
and gipsies are the hereditary workers in grass and reeds. [253]
They are closely connected with the Dhanuks, a caste of hunters,
fowlers and village watchmen, being of nearly the same status. [254]
And Dhanuk, again, is in some localities a complimentary term for a
Basor or bamboo-worker. It has been seen that Valmiki, 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 Chuhras and
Bhangis were hunting and working in grass and bamboo. In one of the
legends of the sweeper saint Balmik or Valmiki given by Mr. Greeven,
[255] Balmik was the youngest of the five Pandava 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. Balmik
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 (_sup_), and of the caul do thou plait sieves
(_chalni_)." Balmik obeyed, and by his handiwork gained the name of
Supaj or the maker of winnowing-fans. These are natural occupations
of the non-Aryan forest tribes, and are now practised by the Gonds.

Meo

_Meo, Mewati._--The Muhammadan branch of the Mina tribe belonging to
the country of Mewat in Rajputana which is comprised in the Alwar,
Bharatpur and Jaipur States and the British District of Gurgaon. A
few Meos were returned from the Hoshangabad and Nimar 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 Mina tribe, but some interesting remarks on them by
Mr. Channing and Major Powlett in the _Rajputana Gazetteer_ may be
reproduced here. Mr. Channing writes: [256]

"The tribe, which has been known in Hindustan according to the
Kutub Tawarikh for 850 years, was originally Hindu and became
Muhammadan. Their origin is obscure. They themselves claim descent
from the Rajput races of Jadon, Kachhwaha and Tuar, and they may
possibly have some Rajput blood in their veins; but they are probably,
like many other similar tribes, a combination from ruling and other
various stocks and sources, and there is reason to believe them very
nearly allied with the Minas, who are certainly a tribe of the same
structure and species. The Meos have twelve clans or _pals_, the first
six of which are identical in name and claim the same descent as the
first six clans of the Minas. 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 Mina the custom was discontinued. Finally, their
mode of life is or was similar, as both tribes were once notoriously
predatory. It is probable that the original Meos were supplemented by
converts to Islam from other castes. It is said that the tribe were
conquered and converted in the eleventh century by Masud, son of Amir
Salar and grandson of Sultan Mahmud Subaktagin on the mother's side,
the general of the forces of Mahmud of Ghazni. Masud is still venerated
by the Meos, and they swear by his name. They have a mixture of Hindu
and Muhammadan customs. They practise circumcision, _nikah_ [257] and
the burial of the dead. They make pilgrimages to the tomb of Masud in
Bahraich in Oudh, and consider the oath taken on 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 Diwali; 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 Ratwai, which are commonly
on 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
Hindus. 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 Brahman to write the Pili Chhitthi or yellow note fixing
the date of a marriage. They call themselves by Hindu names with the
exception of Ram; and Singh is a frequent affix, though not so common
as Khan. On the Amawas or monthly conjunction of the sun and moon,
Meos, in common with Hindu Ahirs and Gujars, cease from labour; and
when they make a well the first proceeding is to erect a _chabutra_
(platform) to Bhaironji or Hanuman. 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 _pal_ or clan, but they are lax about
forming connections with women of other castes, whose children they
receive into the community. As already stated, Brahmans take part
in the formalities preceding a marriage, but the ceremony itself is
performed by a Kazi. 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 Musalmans 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.

Mina

1. The Minas locally termed Deswa

_Mina, Deswali, Maina._--A well-known caste of Rajputana which is
found in the Central Provinces in the Hoshangabad, Nimar and Saugor
Districts. About 8000 persons of the caste were returned in 1911. The
proper name for them is Mina, but here they are generally known as
Deswali, a term which they probably prefer, as that of Mina is too
notorious. A large part of the population of the northern Districts is
recruited from Bundelkhand and Marwar, and these tracts are therefore
often known among them as 'Desh' or native country. The term Deswali
is applied to groups of many castes coming from Bundelkhand, and
has apparently been specially appropriated as an _alias_ by the
Minas. The caste are sometimes known in Hoshangabad as Maina, which
Colonel Tod states to be the name of the highest division of the
Minas. The designation of Pardeshi or 'foreigner' is also given to
them in some localities. The Deswalis came to Harda about A.D. 1750,
being invited by the Maratha Amil or governor, who gave one family a
grant of three villages. They thus gained a position of some dignity,
and this reaching the ears of their brothers in Jaipur they also
came and settled all over the District. [258] In view of the history
and character of the Minas, of which some account will be given,
it should be first stated that under the _regime_ of British law
and order most of the Deswalis of Hoshangabad have settled down into
steady and honest agriculturists.

2. Historical notice of the Mina tribe

The Minas were a famous robber tribe of the country of Mewat in
Rajputana, comprised in the Alwar and Bharatpur States and the
British District of Gurgaon. [259] They are also found in large
numbers in Jaipur State, which was formerly held by them. The Meos
and Minas 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 Khan Meo and Sasibadani Mini, a pair of lovers whose marriage
led to a quarrel between the tribes to which they belonged, in the
time of Akbar. This dispute caused the cessation of the practice of
intermarriage between Meos and Minas which had formerly obtained. Both
the Meos and Minas are divided into twelve large clans called _pal_,
the word _pal_ meaning, according to Colonel Tod, 'a defile in a
valley suitable for cultivation or defence.' In a sandy desert like
Rajputana 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 Minas in these
isolated patches of culturable land developed into exogamous clans
marrying with each other. The Meos have similarly twelve _pals_, and
the names of six of these are identical with those of the Minas. [260]
The names of the _pals_ are taken from those of Rajput clans, [261]
but the recorded lists differ, and there are now many other _gots_
or septs outside the _pals_. The Minas seem originally to have been an
aboriginal or pre-Aryan tribe of Rajputana, where they are still found
in considerable numbers. The Raja of Jaipur was formerly marked on the
forehead with blood taken from the great toe of a Mina 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 Minas by treachery. And in his time the Minas still
possessed large immunities and privileges in the Jaipur State. When
the Rajputs settled in force in Rajputana, reducing the Minas 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 Rajputs 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 Minas are a
caste of the most mixed and impure descent, and it has sometimes been
supposed that they were themselves a branch of the Rajputs. In the
Punjab when one woman accuses another of illicit intercourse she is
said '_Mina dena_,' or to designate her as a Mina. [262] Further it
is stated [263] that "The Minas are of two classes, the Zamindari or
agricultural and the Chaukidari or watchmen. These Chaukidari Minas
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 Minas who do not refuse to eat cow's flesh. The Chaukidari
Minas, 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 [264] 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 Minas, 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 Musalman branch of the community,
who afterwards became separately designated as the Meos. As already
seen, the Meos and Minas intermarried for a time, but subsequently
ceased to do so. As might be expected, the form of Islam 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.

3. Their robberies

The crimes and daring of the Minas have obtained for them a
considerable place in history. A Muhammadan historian, Zia-ud-din
Bami, wrote of the tribe: [265] "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. 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 that hour, 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 Muhammadans, [266] as in later times British forces
had to be despatched to subdue the Pindaris. Babar on his arrival at
Agra described the Mewati leader Raja Hasan Khan as 'the chief agitator
in all these confusions and insurrections'; and Firishta mentions two
terrible slaughters of Mewatis 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: [267]

"The Minas are the boldest of our criminal classes. Their headquarters
so far as the Punjab is concerned are in the village of Shahjahanpur,
attached to the Gurgaon District but surrounded on all sides by
Rajputana 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 Marwar
they are armed with small bows which do considerable execution. 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 Diwali feast and often remain
absent the whole year. They have agents in all the large cities of
Rajputana and the Deccan who give them information, and they are in
league with the carrying castes of Marwar. After a successful foray
they offer one-tenth of the proceeds at the shrine of Kali 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 Mina. 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 Mina, the flesh of
the goat's tongue being indispensable in connection with the taking
of omens. In Jaipur the Minas 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 Raja's servants. It is related that on one occasion
a Mina 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 Mina 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 or Amber was,
according to tradition, kept in a secret cave in the hills under a body
of Mina 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 Raja 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 Minas are said to inhabit a tract of country about sixty-five
miles long and forty broad, stretching from Shahpur forty miles north
of Jaipur to Guraora in Gurgaon on the Rohtak border. The popular idea
of the Mina, Mr. Crooke remarks, [268] 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.'

4. The Deswalis of the Central Provinces

As already stated, the Deswalis of the Central Provinces have
abandoned the wild 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 by profession. A Brahman
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 Rajputana 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 nikala_,' 'Took the jar and went
forth,' is a common saying among the mountaineers of Merwara. [269]

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 _shraddh_
ceremony, but mourn for the dead only on the last day of Kartik
(October), when they offer water and burn incense. Deswalis employ
the Parsai or village Brahman to officiate at their ceremonies, but
owing to their mixed origin they rank below the cultivating castes,
and Brahmans 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 Rajputs 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 Panwars
and Gonds in the Central Provinces. The Deswalis 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 Marwari custom and the Jats 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 Mina 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 the feast is avoided. The Deswalis 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,
however, 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 _rakhdi_ on the
forehead and do not wear spangles or toe-rings. They are said also
to despise ornaments of the baser metals 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.

Mirasi

_Mirasi._--A Muhammadan caste of singers, 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
Mewatis at all their marriages and festivals. [270] Mr. Crooke is
of opinion that they are undoubtedly an offshoot of the great Dom
caste who are little better than sweepers. [271] The word Mirasi is
derived from the Arabic _miras_, inheritance, and its signification is
supposed to be that the Mirasis are the hereditary bards and singers
of the lower castes, as the Bhat is of the Rajputs. _Miras_ 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 _mirasi_ right to fees or
perquisites or plots of land held as remuneration for service. [272]
The Mirasis are also known as Pakhawaji, from the _pakhawaj_ or
timbrel which they play; as Kawwal or one who speaks fluently, that
is a professional, story-teller; and as Kalawant or one possessed
of art or skill. The Mirasis are most numerous in the Punjab, where
they number a quarter of a million. Sir D. Ibbetson says of them:
[273] "The social position of the Mirasi 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 Mirasis. The
outcaste tribes have their Mirasis, who though they do not eat with
their clients and merely render their professional services are
considered impure by the Mirasis of the higher castes. The Mirasi
is generally a hereditary servant like the Bhat, and is notorious
for his exactions, which he makes under the threat of lampooning
the ancestors of him from whom he demands fees. The Mirasi is almost
always a Muhammadan." They are said to have been converted to Islam
in response to the request of the poet Amir Khusru, who lived in the
reign of Ala-ud-din Khilji (A.D. 1295). The Mirasi has two functions,
the men being musicians, storytellers and genealogists, while the women
dance and sing, but only before the ladies of the zenana. Mr. Nesfield
[274] says that they are sometimes regularly entertained as jesters
to help these ladies to kill time and reconcile them to their domestic
prisons. 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 Mirasis are generally the small drum (_dholak_), the cymbals
(_majira_) and the gourd lute (_kingri_). [275]