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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A number of leaders started up after the confinement of Karim,
of whom Chitu, Dost Muhammad, Namdar Khan and Sheikh Dullah became
the most conspicuous. They associated themselves with Amir Khan in
1809 during his expedition to Berar; and in 1810, when Karim Khan
purchased his release from Gwalior, they assembled under that leader
a body of 25,000 horse and some battalions of newly raised infantry
with which they again proposed to invade Berar; but Chitu, always
jealous of Karim's ascendency, was detached by Raghuji Bhonsla from
the alliance, and afterwards co-operated with Sindhia in attacking
him; Karim was in consequence driven to seek an asylum with his old
patron Amir Khan, but by the influence of Sindhia Amir Khan kept him
in a state of confinement until 1816.

When the Marathas ceased to spread themselves over India, the Pindaris
who had attended their armies were obliged to plunder the territories
of their former protectors for subsistence. To the unemployed soldiery
of India, particularly to the Muhammadans, the life of a Pindara had
many allurements; but the Maratha horsemen who possessed hereditary
rights or had any pretensions to respectability did not readily join
them. One of the above leaders, Sheikh Dullah or Abdullah, apparently
became a dacoit after the Pindaris had been dispersed, and he is
still remembered in Hoshangabad and Nimar in the following saying:

Niche zamin aur upar Allah,
Aur bich men phiren Sheikh Dullah,

or 'God is above and the earth beneath, and Sheikh Dullah ranges at
his will between.'

3. Their strength and sphere of operations

In 1814, Prinsep states, [439] the actual military force at the
disposal of the Pindaris amounted to 40,000 horse, inclusive of the
Pathans, who though more orderly and better disciplined than the
Pindaris of the Nerbudda, possessed the same character and were
similarly circumstanced in every respect, supporting themselves
entirely by depredations whenever they could practise them. Their
number would be doubled were we to add the remainder of Holkar's
troops of the irregular kind, which were daily deserting the service
of a falling house in order to engage in the more profitable career
of predatory enterprise; and the loose cavalry establishments of
Sindhia and the Bhonsla, which were bound by no ties but those of
present entertainment, and were always in great arrears of pay. The
presence of this force in the centre of India and able to threaten
each of the three Presidencies imposed the most extensive annual
precautions for defence, in spite of which the territories of our
allies were continually overrun. On two occasions, once when they
entered Gujarat in 1808-9 and again in 1812 when the Bengal provinces
of Mirzapur and Shahabad were devastated, they penetrated into our
immediate territories. Grant-Duff records that in one raid on the coast
from Masulipatam northward they in ten days plundered 339 villages,
burning many, killing and wounding 682 persons, torturing 3600 and
carrying off or destroying property to the amount of two lakhs and
a half. Indeed their reputation was such that the mere rumour of an
incursion caused a regular panic at Madras in 1816, of which General
Hislop gives an amusing account: [440] "In the middle of this year the
troops composing the garrison of Fort St. George were moved out and
encamped on the island outside Black Town wall. This imprudent step
was taken, as was affirmed, to be in readiness to meet the Pindaris,
who were reported to be on their road to Madras, although it was well
known that not half a dozen of them were at that time within 200 miles
of the place. The native inhabitants of all classes throughout Madras
and its vicinity were in the utmost alarm, and looked for places of
retreat and security for their property. It brought on Madras all
the distresses in imagination of Hyder Ali's invasion. It was about
this period that an idle rumour reached Madras of the arrival of the
Pindaris at the Mount; all was uproar, flight and despair to the walls
of Madras. This alarm originated in a few Dhobis and grass-cutters
of the artillery having mounted their _tattus_ and, in mock imitation
of the Pindaris, galloped about and played with long bamboos in their
hands in the vicinity of the Mount. The effect was such, however, that
many of the civil servants and inhabitants of the Mount Road packed
up and moved to the Fort for protection. Troopers, messengers, etc.,
were seen galloping to the Government House and thence to the different
public authorities. Such was the alarm in the Government House that
on the afternoon of that day an old officer, anxious to offer some
advice to the Governor, rode smartly to the Government gardens, and on
reaching the entrance observed the younger son of the Governor running
with all possible speed into the house; who having got to a place of
security ventured to look back and then discovered in the old officer
a face which he had before seen; when turning back again he exclaimed,
'Upon my word, sir, I was so frightened I took you for a Pindari.'"

4. Pindari expeditions and methods

A Pindari expedition [441] usually started at the close of the rains,
as soon as the rivers became fordable after the Dasahra festival in
October. Their horses were then shod, having previously been carefully
trained to prepare them for long marches and hard work. A leader of
tried courage having been chosen as Luhbaria, all who were so inclined
set forth on a foray, or Luhbar as it was called in the Pindari
nomenclature, the strength of the party often amounting to several
thousands. In every thousand Pindaris about 400 were tolerably well
mounted and armed; of this number about every fifteenth man carried
a matchlock, but their favourite weapon was the ordinary bamboo
spear of the Marathas, from 12 to 18 feet long. Of the remaining 600
two-thirds were usually common Lootais or plunderers, indifferently
mounted and armed with every variety of weapon; and the rest slaves,
attendants and camp-followers, mounted on _tattus_ or wild ponies and
keeping up with the Luhbar in the best manner they could. They were
encumbered neither by tents nor baggage; each horseman carried a few
cakes of bread for his own subsistence and some feeds of grain for
his horse. They advanced at the rapid rate of forty or fifty miles a
day, neither turning to the right nor to the left till they arrived at
their place of destination. They then divided, and made a sweep of all
the cattle and property they could find; committing at the same time
the most horrid atrocities and destroying what they could not carry
away. They trusted to the secrecy and suddenness of the irruption
for avoiding those who guarded the frontiers of the countries they
invaded; and before a force could be brought against them they were on
their return. Their chief strength lay in their being intangible. If
pursued they made marches of extraordinary length, sometimes upwards
of sixty miles, by roads almost impracticable for regular troops. If
overtaken they dispersed and reassembled at an appointed rendezvous;
if followed to the country from which they issued they broke into small
parties. The cruelties they perpetrated were beyond belief. As it was
impossible for them to remain more than a few hours on the same spot
the utmost despatch was necessary in rifling any towns or villages
into which they could force an entrance; every one whose appearance
indicated the probability of his possessing money was immediately
put to the most horrid torture till he either pointed out his hoard
or died under the infliction. Nothing was safe from the pursuit of
Pindari lust or avarice; it was their common practice to burn and
destroy what they could not carry away; and in the wantonness of
barbarity to ravish and murder women and children under the eyes of
their husbands and parents. The ordinary modes of torture inflicted
by these miscreants were to apply red-hot irons to the soles of the
feet; or to throw the victim on the ground and place a plank or beam
across his chest on which two men pressed with their whole weight;
and to throw oil on the clothes and set fire to them, or tie wisps
of rag soaked in oil to the ends of all the victim's fingers and set
fire to these. Another favourite method was to put hot ashes into a
horse-bag, which they tied over a man's mouth and nostrils and thumped
him on the back until he inhaled the ashes. The effect on the lungs
of the sufferer was such that few long survived the operation.

5. Return from an expedition

The return of the Pindaris from an expedition presented at one view
their character and habits. When they recrossed the Nerbudda and
reached their homes their camp became like a fair. After the claims
of the chief of the territory (whose right was a fourth part of the
booty, but who generally compounded for one or two valuable articles)
had been satisfied, the usual share paid to their Luhbaria, or chosen
leader for the expedition, and all debts to merchants and others who
had made advances discharged, the plunder of each man was exposed for
sale; traders from every part came to make cheap bargains; and while
the women were busy in disposing of their husbands' property, the men,
who were on such occasions certain of visits from all their friends,
were engaged in hearing music, seeing dancers and drolls, and in
drinking. This life of debauchery and excess lasted till their money
was gone; they were then compelled to look for new scenes of rapine,
or, if the season was favourable, were supported by their chiefs, or
by loans at high interest from merchants who lived in their camps, many
of whom amassed large fortunes. This worst part of the late population
of Central India is, as a separate community, now extinct. [442]

6. Suppression of the Pindaris. Death of Chitu

The result of the Pindari raids was that Central India was being
rapidly reduced to the condition of a desert, and the peasants, unable
to support themselves on the land, had no option but to join the robber
bands or starve. It was not until 1817 that Lord Hastings obtained
authority from home to take regular measures for their repression;
and at the same time he also forced or persuaded the principal chiefs
of Central India to act vigorously in concert with him. When these
were put into operation and the principal routes from Central India
occupied by British detachments, the Pindaris were completely broken
up and scattered in the course of a single campaign. They made no
stand against regular troops, and their bands, unable to escape from
the ring of forces drawn round them, were rapidly dispersed over
the country. The people eagerly plundered and seized them in revenge
for the wrongs long suffered at their hands, and the Bhil Grassias
or border landholders gladly carried out the instructions to hunt
them down. On one occasion a native havildar with only thirty-four
men attacked and put a large body of them to flight. The principal
chiefs, reduced to the condition of hunted outlaws in the jungles,
soon accepted the promise of their lives, and on surrendering
were either settled on a grant of land or kept in confinement. The
well-known leader Chitu joined Apa Sahib, who had then escaped from
Nagpur and was in hiding in the Pachmarhi hills. Being expelled from
there in February 1819 he proceeded to the fort of Asirgarh in Nimar,
but was refused admittance by Sindhia's commandant. He sought shelter
in the neighbouring jungle, and on horseback and alone attempted to
penetrate a thick cover known to be infested with tigers. He was missed
for some days afterwards and no one knew what had become of him. His
horse was at last discovered grazing near the margin of the forest,
saddled and bridled, and exactly in the state in which it was when
Chitu had last been seen upon it. Upon search a bag of Rs. 250 was
found in the saddle; and several seal rings with some letters of Apa
Sahib, promising future reward, served more completely to fix the
identity of the horse's late master. These circumstances, combined
with the known resort of tigers to the spot, induced a search for
the body, when at no great distance some clothes clotted with blood,
and farther on fragments of bones, and at last the Pindari's head
entire with features in a state to be recognised, were successively
discovered. The chief's mangled remains were given over to his son
for interment, and the miserable fate of one who so shortly before
had ridden at the head of twenty thousand horse gave an awful lesson
of the uncertainty of fortune and drew pity even from those who had
been victims of his barbarity when living. [443]

7. Character of the Pindaris

The Pindaris, as might be expected, were recruited from all classes
and castes, and though many became Muhammadans the Hindus preserved
the usages of their respective castes. Most of the Hindu men belonged
to the Ladul or grass-cutter class, and their occupation was to bring
grass and firewood to the camps. "Those born in the Durrahs or camps,"
Malcolm states, [444] "appear to have been ignorant in a degree almost
beyond belief and were in the same ratio superstitious. The women of
almost all the Muhammadan Pindaris dressed like Hindus and worshipped
Hindu deities. From accompanying their husbands in most of their
excursions they became hardy and masculine; they were usually mounted
on small horses or camels, and were more dreaded by the villagers
than the men, whom they exceeded in cruelty and rapacity." Colonel
Tod notes that the Pindaris, like other Indian robbers, were devout
in the observance of their religion:

"A short distance to the west of the Regent's (Kotah) camp is the
Pindari-ka-chhaoni, where the sons of Karim Khan, the chief leader of
those hordes, resided; for in those days of strife the old Regent would
have allied himself with Satan, if he had led a horde of plunderers. I
was greatly amused to see in this camp the commencement of an Id-Gah
or place of prayer; for the villains, while they robbed and murdered
even defenceless women, prayed five times a day!" [445]

8. The existing Pindaris

While the freebooting Pindaris had no regular caste organisation,
their descendants have now become more or less of a caste in
accordance with the usual tendency of a distinctive occupation,
producing a difference in status, to form a fresh caste. The existing
Pindaris in the Central Provinces are both Muhammadans and Hindus, the
Muhammadans, as already stated, having been originally the children
of Hindus who were kidnapped and converted. It is one of the very
few merits of the Pindaris that they did not sell their captives to
slavery. Their numerous prisoners of all ages and both sexes were
employed as servants, made over to the chiefs or held to ransom from
their relatives, but the Pindaris did not carry on like the Banjaras
a traffic in slaves. [446] The Muhammadan Pindaris were said some
time ago to have no religion, but with the diffusion of knowledge
they have now adopted the rites of Islam and observe its rules and
restrictions. In Bhandara the Hindu Pindaris are Garoris or Gowaris,
They say that the ancestors of the Pindaris and Gowaris were two
brothers, the business of the Pindari brother being to tend buffaloes
and that of the Gowari brother to herd cows. These Pindaris will
beg from the owners of buffaloes for the above reason. They revere
the dog and will not kill it, and also worship snakes and tigers,
believing that these animals never do them injury. They carry their
dead to the grave in a sitting posture, seated in a _jholi_ or wallet,
and bury them in the same position. They wear their beards and do
not shave. Some of these Pindaris are personal servants, others
cultivators and labourers, and others snake-charmers and jugglers.

9. Attractions of a Pindari's life

The freebooting life of the Pindaris, unmitigated scoundrels though
they were, no doubt had great charms, and must often have been recalled
with regret by those who settled down to the quiet humdrum existence
of a cultivator. This feeling has been admirably depicted in Sir
Alfred Lyall's well-known poem, of which it will be permissible to
quote a short extract:

When I rode a Dekhani charger with the saddle-cloth gold-laced,
And a Persian sword and a twelve-foot spear and a pistol at
my waist.
It's many a year gone by now; and yet I often dream
Of a long dark march to the Jumna, of splashing across the stream,
Of the waning moon on the water and the spears in the dim starlight
As I rode in front of my mother [447] and wondered at all the
sight.
Then the streak of the pearly dawn--the flash of a sentinel's gun,
The gallop and glint of horsemen who wheeled in the level sun,
The shots in the clear still morning, the white smoke's eddying
wreath,
Is this the same land that I live in, the dull dank air that
I breathe?
And if I were forty years younger, with my life before me to
choose,
I wouldn't be lectured by Kafirs or bullied by fat Hindoos;
But I'd go to some far-off country where Musalmans still are men,
Or take to the jungle like Chetoo, and die in the tiger's den.

Prabhu

1. Historical notice

_Prabhu, Parbhu._--The Maratha caste of clerks, accountants and
patwaris corresponding to the Kayasths. They numbered about 1400
persons in the southern Districts of the Central Provinces and Berar
in 1911. The Prabhus, like the Kayasths, claim to be descendants of
a child of Chandra Sena, a Kshatriya king and himself a son of Arjun,
one of the five Pandava brothers. Chandra Sena was slain by Parasurama,
the Brahman destroyer of the Kshatriyas, but the child was saved by a
Rishi, who promised that he should be brought up as a clerk. The boy
was named Somraj and was married to the daughter of Chitra Gupta, the
recorder of the dead. The caste thus claim Kshatriya origin. The name
Prabhu signifies 'lord,' but the Brahmans pretend that the real name
of the caste was Parbhu, meaning one of irregular birth. The Prabhus
say that Parbhu is a colloquial corruption used by the uneducated. The
_gotras_ of the Prabhus are eponymous, the names being the same as
those of Brahmans. In the Central Provinces many of them have the
surname of Chitnavis or Secretary. Child-marriage is in vogue and
widow-remarriage is forbidden. The wedding ceremony resembles that
of the Brahmans.

In his _Description of a Prabhu marriage_ [448] Rai Bahadur B.A. Gupte
shows how the old customs are being broken through among the educated
classes under the influence of modern ideas. Marriages are no longer
arranged without regard to the wishes of the couple, which are thus
ascertained: "The next step [449] is to find out the inclination of the
hero of the tale. His friends and equals do that easily enough. They
begin talking of the family and the girl, and are soon able to fathom
his mind. They leave on his desk all the photographs of the girls
offered and watch his movements. If he is sensible he quietly drops
or returns all the likenesses except the one he prefers, and keeps
this in his drawer. He dare not display it, for it is immodest to do
so. The news of the approval by the boy soon reaches the parents of the
girl." Similarly in her case: "The girl has no direct voice, but her
likes and dislikes are carefully fathomed through her girl friends. If
she says, 'Why is papa in such a hurry to get rid of me,' or turns
her face and goes away as soon as the proposed family is mentioned,
a sensible father drops the case and turns his attention to some other
boy. This is the direct result of higher education under British rule,
but among the masses the girl has absolutely no voice, and the boy has
very little unless he revolts and disobediently declines to accept a
girl already selected." Similarly the educated Prabhus are beginning
to dispense with the astrologer's calculations showing the agreement
of the horoscopes of the couple, which are too often made a cloak for
the extortion of large presents. "It very often happens that everything
is amicably settled except the greed of the priest, and he manages to
find out some disagreement between the horoscopes of the marriageable
parties to vent his anger. This trick has been sufficiently exposed,
and the educated portion of this ultra-literary caste have in most
cases discarded horoscopes and planetary conjunctions altogether. Under
these restrictions the only thing the council of astrologers have to
do is to draw up two documents giving diagrams based on the names
of the parties--for names are presumably selected according to the
conjunctions of the stars at birth. But they are often not, and depend
on the liking of the father for a family god, a mythological hero,
a patron or a celebrated ancestor in the case of the boy. In that of
the girl the favourite deity or a character in the most recent fable
or drama the father has just read."

According to custom the bridegroom should go to the bride's house to
be married, but if it is more convenient to have the wedding at the
bridegroom's town, the bride goes there to a temporary house taken
by her father, and then the bridegroom proceeds to a temple with
his party and is welcomed as if he had arrived on completion of a
journey. Mr. Gupte thus describes the reception of the bride when
she has come to be married: "But there comes an urgent telegram. The
bride and her mother are expected and information is given to the
bridegroom's father. In all haste preparations are made to give
her a grand and suitable reception. Oh, the flutter among the girls
assembled in the house of the bridegroom from all quarters. Every one
is dressed in her best and is trying to be the foremost in welcoming
the new bride, the Goddess Lakshmi. The numerous maidservants of
the house want to prostrate themselves before their future queen on
the Suna or borderland of the city, which is of course the railway
station. Musicians have been already despatched and the platform is
full of gaily dressed girls. The train arrives, the party assemble at
the waiting-room, a maidservant waves rice and water to 'take off'
the effects of evil eyes and they start amid admiring eyes of the
passengers and onlookers. As soon as the bride reaches her father's
temporary residence another girl waves rice and water and throws
it away. The girls of the bridegroom's house run home and come back
again with a Kalash (water-pot) full of water, with its mouth covered
with mango-leaves and topped over with a cocoanut and a large tray of
sugar. This is called _Sakhar pani_, sugar and water, the first to
wash the mouth with and the second to sweeten it. The girls have by
this time all gathered round the bride and are busy cheering her up
with encouraging remarks: 'Oh, she is a Rati, the goddess of beauty,'
says one, and another, 'How delicate,' 'What a fine nose' from a
third, and 'Look at her eyes' from a fourth. All complimentary and
comforting. 'We are glad it is our house you are coming to,' says
a sister-in-law in prospect. 'We are happy you are going to be our
_malikin_ (mistress),' adds a maidservant. As soon as the elder ladies
have completed their courteous inquiries _pan-supari_ and _attar_ are
distributed and the party returns home. But on arrival the girls gather
round the bridegroom to tease him. 'Oh, you Sudharak (reformer),' 'Oh,
you Sahib (European), _you_ have selected your bride.' 'You have seen
her _before_ marriage. You have broken the rule of the society. You
ought to be excommunicated.' 'But,' says another, 'he will now have
no time to speak to us. His Rati (goddess of beauty) and he! The Sahib
and the Memsahib! We shall all be forgotten now. Who cares for sisters
and cousins in these days of civilisation?' But all these little jokes
of the little girls are meant as congratulations to him for having
secured a good girl." At a wedding among the highest families such
as is described here, the bridegroom is presented with drinking cups
and plates, trays for holding sandalwood paste, betel-leaf and an
incense-burner, all in solid silver to the value of about Rs. 1000;
water-pots and cooking vessels and a small bath in German silver
costing Rs. 300 to Rs. 400; and a set of brass vessels. [450]

2. General Customs

The Prabhus wear the sacred thread. In Bombay boys receive it a short
time before their marriage without the ceremonies which form part of
the regular Brahman investiture. On the fifth day after the birth
of a child, the sword and also pens, paper and ink are worshipped,
the sword being the symbol of their Kshatriya origin and the pens,
paper and ink of their present occupation of clerks. [451] The
funeral ceremonies, Mr. Enthoven writes, are performed during the
first thirteen days after death. Oblations of rice are offered every
day, in consequence of which the soul of the dead attains a spiritual
body, limb by limb, till on the thirteenth day it is enabled to start
on its journey. In twelve months the journey ends, and a _shraddh_
ceremony is performed on an extensive scale on the anniversary of
the death. Most of the Prabhus are in Government service and others
are landowners. In the Bombay Presidency [452] they had at first
almost a monopoly of Government service as English writers, and the
term Prabhu was commonly employed to denote a clerk of any caste who
could write English. Both men and women of the caste are generally
of a fair complexion, resembling the Maratha Brahmans. The taste of
the women in dress is proverbial, and when a Sunar, Sutar or Kasar
woman has dressed herself in her best for some family festival, she
will ask her friends, '_Prabhuin disto_,' or 'Do I look like a Prabhu?'