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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Colonel Tod gives the following account of a Rajput's arms: [491]
"No prince or chief is without his _silla-khana_ or armoury, where he
passes hours in viewing and arranging his arms. Every favourite weapon,
whether sword, dagger, spear, matchlock or bow, has a distinctive
epithet. The keeper of the armoury is one of the most confidential
officers about the person of the prince. These arms are beautiful and
costly. The _sirohi_ or slightly curved blade is formed like that of
Damascus, and is the greatest favourite of all the variety of weapons
throughout Rajputana. The long cut-and-thrust sword is not uncommon,
and also the _khanda_ or double-edged sword. The matchlocks, both of
Lahore and the country, are often highly finished and inlaid with
mother-of-pearl and gold; those of Boondi are the best. The shield
of the rhinoceros-hide offers the best resistance, and is often
ornamented with animals beautifully painted and enamelled in gold and
silver. The bow is of buffalo-horn, and the arrows of reed, which
are barbed in a variety of fashions, as the crescent, the trident,
the snake's tongue, and other fanciful forms." It is probable that
the forms were in reality by no means fanciful, but were copied from
sacred or divine objects; and similarly the animals painted on the
shields may have been originally the totem animals of the clan.

15. Occupation

The traditional occupation of a Rajput was that of a warrior and
landholder. Their high-flown titles, Bhupal (Protector of the earth),
Bhupati (Lord of the earth), Bhusur (God of the earth), Bahuja (Born
from the arms), indicate, Sir H. Risley says, [492] the exalted
claims of the tribe. The notion that the trade of arms was their
proper vocation clung to them for a very long time, and has retarded
their education, so that they have perhaps lost status relatively to
other castes under British supremacy. The rule that a Rajput must
not touch the plough was until recently very strictly observed in
the more conservative centres, and the poorer Rajputs were reduced
by it to pathetic straits for a livelihood, as is excellently shown
by Mr. Barnes in the _Kangra Settlement Report_: [493] "A Mian or
well-known Rajput, to preserve his name and honour unsullied, must
scrupulously observe four fundamental maxims: first, he must never
drive the plough; second, he must never give his daughter in marriage
to an inferior nor marry himself much below his rank; thirdly, he must
never accept money in exchange for the betrothal of his daughter;
and lastly, his female household must observe strict seclusion. The
prejudice against the plough is perhaps the most inveterate of all;
that step can never be recalled; the offender at once loses the
privileged salutation; he is reduced to the second grade of Rajputs;
no man will marry his daughter, and he must go a step lower in the
social scale to get a wife for himself. In every occupation of life
he is made to feel his degraded position. In meetings of the tribe and
at marriages the Rajputs undefiled by the plough will refuse to sit at
meals with the Hal Bah or plough-driver as he is contemptuously styled;
and many to avoid the indignity of exclusion never appear at public
assemblies.... It is melancholy to see with what devoted tenacity
the Rajput clings to these deep-rooted prejudices. Their emaciated
looks and coarse clothes attest the vicissitudes they have undergone
to maintain their fancied purity. In the quantity of waste land which
abounds in the hills, a ready livelihood is offered to those who will
cultivate the soil for their daily bread; but this alternative involves
a forfeiture of their dearest rights, and they would rather follow any
precarious pursuit than submit to the disgrace. Some lounge away their
time on the tops of the mountains, spreading nets for the capture
of hawks; many a day they watch in vain, subsisting on berries and
on game accidentally entangled in their nets; at last, when fortune
grants them success, they despatch the prize to their friends below,
who tame and instruct the bird for the purpose of sale. Others will
stay at home and pass their time in sporting, either with a hawk or,
if they can afford it, with a gun; one Rajput beats the bushes and the
other carries the hawk ready to be sprung after any quarry that rises
to the view. At the close of the day if they have been successful they
exchange the game for a little meal and thus prolong existence over
another span. The marksman armed with a gun will sit up for wild pig
returning from the fields, and in the same manner barter their flesh
for other necessaries of life. However, the prospect of starvation has
already driven many to take the plough, and the number of seceders
daily increases. Our administration, though just and liberal, has
a levelling tendency; service is no longer to be procured, and to
many the stern alternative has arrived of taking to agriculture
and securing comparative comfort, or enduring the pangs of hunger
and death. So long as any resource remains the fatal step will be
postponed, but it is easy to foresee that the struggle cannot be long
protracted; necessity is a hard task-master, and sooner or later the
pressure of want will overcome the scruples of the most bigoted." The
objection to ploughing appears happily to have been quite overcome in
the Central Provinces, as at the last census nine-tenths of the whole
caste were shown as employed in pasture and agriculture, one-tenth of
the Rajputs being landholders, three-fifths actual cultivators, and
one-fifth labourers and woodcutters. The bulk of the remaining tenth
are probably in the police or other branches of Government service.

Rajput, Baghel

_Rajput, Baghel._--The Baghel Rajputs, who have given their name to
Baghelkhand or Rewah, the eastern part of Central India, are a branch
of the Chalukya or Solankhi clan, one of the four Agnikulas or those
born from the firepit on Mount Abu. The chiefs of Rewah are Baghel
Rajputs, and the late Maharaja Raghuraj Singh has written a traditional
history of the sept in a book called the _Bhakt Mala_. [494] He derives
their origin from a child, having the form of a tiger (_bagh_) who
was born to the Solankhi Raja of Gujarat at the intercession of the
famous saint Kabir. One of the headquarters of the Kabirpanthi sect
are at Kawardha, which is close to Rewah, and the ruling family are
members of the sect; hence probably the association of the Prophet
with their origin. The _Bombay Gazetteer_ [495] states that the
founder of the clan was one Anoka, a nephew of the Solankhi king
of Gujarat, Kumarpal (A.D. 1143-1174). He obtained a grant of the
village Vaghela, the tiger's lair, about ten miles from Anhilvada,
the capital of the Solankhi dynasty, and the Baghel clan takes its
name from this village. Subsequently the Baghels extended their power
over the whole of Gujarat, but in A.D. 1304 the last king, Karnadeva,
was driven out by the Muhammadans, and one of his most beautiful
wives was captured and sent to the emperor's harem. Karnadeva and
his daughter fled and hid themselves near Nasik, but the daughter
was subsequently also taken, while it is not stated what became of
Karnadeva. Mr. Hira Lal suggests that he fled towards Rewah, and
that he is the Karnadeva of the list of Rewah Rajas, who married a
daughter of the Gond-Rajput dynasty of Garha-Mandla. [496] At any
rate the Baghel branch of the Solankhis apparently migrated to Rewah
from Gujarat and founded that State about the fourteenth century, as
in the fifteenth they became prominent. According to Captain Forsyth,
the Baghels claim descent from a tiger, and protect it when they can;
and, probably, as suggested by Mr. Crooke, [497] the name is really
totemistic, or is derived from some ancestor of the clan who obtained
the name of the tiger as a title or nickname, like the American Red
Indians. The Baghels are found in the Hoshangabad District, and in
Mandla and Chhattisgarh which are close to Rewah. Amarkantak, at the
source of the Nerbudda, is the sepulchre of the Maharajas of Rewah, and
was ceded to them with the Sohagpur tahsil of Mandla after the Mutiny,
in consideration of their loyalty and services during that period.

Rajput, Bagri

_Rajput, Bagri._--This clan is found in small numbers in the
Hoshangabad and Seoni Districts. The name Bagri, Malcolm says,
[498] is derived from that large tract of plain called Bagar or
'hedge of thorns,' the Bagar being surrounded by ridges of wooded
hills on all sides as if by a hedge. The Bagar is the plain country
of the Bikaner State, and any Jat or Rajput coming from this tract
is called Bagri. [499] The Rajputs of Bikaner are Rathors, but they
are not numerous, and the great bulk of the people are Jats. Hence it
is probable that the Bagris of the Central Provinces were originally
Jats. In Seoni they say that they are Baghel Rajputs, but this claim is
unsupported by any tradition or evidence. In Central India the Bagris
are professed robbers and thieves, but these seem to be a separate
group, a section of the Badhak or Bawaria dacoits, and derived from
the aboriginal population of Central India. The Bagris of Seoni are
respectable cultivators and own a number of villages. They rank higher
than the local Panwars and wear the sacred thread, but will remove
dead cattle with their own hands. They marry among themselves.

Rajput, Bais

_Rajput, Bais._ [500]--The Bais are one of the thirty-six royal
races. Colonel Tod considered them a branch of the Surajvansi, but
according to their own account their eponymous ancestor was Salivahana,
the mythic son of a snake, who conquered the great Raja Vikramaditya
of Ujjain and fixed his own era in A.D. 55. This is the Saka era, and
Salivahana was the leader of the Saka nomads who invaded Gujarat on
two occasions, before and shortly after the beginning of the Christian
era. It is suggested in the article on Rajput that the Yadava lunar
clan are the representatives of these Sakas, and if this were correct
the Bais would be a branch of the lunar race. The fact that they are
snake-worshippers is in favour of their connection with the Yadavas and
other clans, who are supposed to represent the Scythian invaders of the
first and subsequent centuries, and had the legend of being descended
from a snake. The Bais, Mr. Crooke says, believe that no snake has
destroyed, or ever can destroy, one of the clan. They seem to take no
precautions against the bite except hanging a vessel of water at the
head of the sufferer, with a small tube at the bottom, from which the
water is poured on his head as long as he can bear it. The cobra is,
in fact, the tribal god. The name is derived by Mr. Crooke from the
Sanskrit Vaishya, one who occupies the soil. The principal hero of the
Bais was Tilokchand, who is supposed to have come from the Central
Provinces. He lived about A.D. 1400, and was the premier Raja of
Oudh. He extended his dominions over all the tract known as Baiswara,
which comprises the bulk of the Rai Bareli and Unao Districts, and
is the home of the Bais Rajputs. The descendants of Tilokchand form a
separate subdivision known as Tilokchandi Bais, who rank higher than
the ordinary Bais, and will not eat with them. The Bais Rajputs are
found all over the United Provinces. In the Central Provinces they
have settled in small numbers in the northern and eastern Districts.

Rajput, Baksaria

_Rajput, Baksaria._--A small clan found principally in the Bilaspur
District, who derive their name from Baxar in Bengal. They were
accustomed to send a litter, that is to say, a girl of their clan,
to the harem of each Mughal Emperor, and this has degraded them. They
allow widow-marriage, and do not wear the sacred thread. It is probable
that they marry among themselves, as other Rajputs do not intermarry
with them, and they are no doubt an impure group with little pretension
to be Rajputs. The name Baksaria is found in the United Provinces as
a territorial subcaste of several castes.

Rajput, Banaphar

_Rajput, Banaphar._--Mr. Crooke states that this sept is a branch of
the Yadavas, and hence it is of the lunar race. The sept is famous
on account of the exploits of the heroes Alha and Udal who belonged
to it, and who fought for the Chandel kings of Mahoba and Khajuraha
in their wars against Prithwi Raj Chauhan, the king of Delhi. The
exploits of Alha and Udal form the theme of poems still well known
and popular in Bundelkhand, to which the sept belongs. The Banaphars
have only a moderately respectable rank among Rajputs. [501]

Rajput, Bhadauria

_Rajput, Bhadauria._--An important clan who take their name from the
village of Bhadawar near Ater, south of the Jumna. They are probably
a branch of the Chauhans, being given as such by Colonel Tod and
Sir H.M. Elliot. [502] Mr. Crooke remarks [503] that the Chauhans
are disposed to deny this relationship, now that from motives of
convenience the two tribes have begun to intermarry. If they are,
as supposed, an offshoot of the Chauhans, this is an instance of
the subdivision of a large clan leading to intermarriage between two
sections, which has probably occurred in other instances also. This
clan is returned from the Hoshangabad District.

Rajput, Bisen

_Rajput, Bisen._--This clan belongs to the United Provinces and
Oudh. They do not appear in history before the time of Akbar, and
claim descent from a well-known Brahman saint and a woman of the
Surajvansi Rajputs whom he married. The Bisens occupy a respectable
position among Rajputs, and intermarry with other good clans.

Rajput, Bundela

_Rajput, Bundela._--A well-known clan of Rajputs of somewhat
inferior position, who have given their name to Bundelkhand, or
the tract comprised principally in the Districts of Saugor, Damoh,
Jhansi, Hamirpur and Banda, and the Panna, Orchha, Datia and other
States. The Bundelas are held to be derived from the Gaharwar or
Gherwal Rajputs, and there is some reason for supposing that these
latter were originally an aristocratic section of the Bhar tribe with
some infusion of Rajput blood. But the Gaharwars now rank almost with
the highest clans. According to tradition one of the Gaharwar Rajas
offered a sacrifice of his own head to the Vindhya-basini Devi or
the goddess of the Vindhya hills, and out of the drops (_bund_) of
blood which fell on the altar a boy was born. He returned to Panna
and founded the clan which bears the name Bundela, from _bund_,
a drop. [504] It is probable that, as suggested by Captain Luard,
the name is really a corruption of Vindhya or Vindhyela, a dweller in
the Vindhya hills, where, according to their own tradition, the clan
had its birth. The Bundelas became prominent in the thirteenth or
fourteenth century, after the fall of the Chandels. "Orchha became
the chief of the numerous Bundela principalities; but its founder
drew upon himself everlasting infamy, by putting to death the wise
Abul Fazl, the historian and friend of the magnanimous Akbar, and the
encomiast and advocate of the Hindu race. From the period of Akbar
the Bundelas bore a distinguished part in all the grand conflicts,
to the very close of the monarchy." [505]

The Bundelas held the country up to the Nerbudda in the Central
Provinces, and, raiding continually into the Gond territories south
of the Nerbudda on the pretence of protecting the sacred cow which
the Gonds used for ploughing, they destroyed the castle on Chauragarh
in Narsinghpur on a crest of the Satpuras, and reduced the Nerbudda
valley to subjection. The most successful chieftain of the tribe was
Chhatarsal, the Raja of Panna, in the eighteenth century, who was
virtually ruler of all Bundelkhand; his dominions extending from Banda
in the north to Jubbulpore in the south, and from Rewah in the east
to the Betwa River in the west. But he had to call in the help of the
Peshwa to repel an invasion of the Mughal armies, and left a third
of his territory by will to the Marathas. Chhatarsal left twenty-two
legitimate and thirty illegitimate sons, and their descendants now
hold several small Bundela States, while the territories left to the
Peshwa subsequently became British. The chiefs of Panna, Orchha, Datia,
Chhatarpur and numerous other small states in the Bundelkhand agency
are Bundela Rajputs. [506] The Bundelas of Saugor do not intermarry
with the good Rajput clans, but with an inferior group of Panwars and
another clan called Dhundhele, perhaps an offshoot of the Panwars, who
are also residents of Saugor. Their character, as disclosed in a number
of proverbial sayings and stories current regarding them, somewhat
resembles that of the Scotch highlanders as depicted by Stevenson. They
are proud and penurious to the last degree, and quick to resent the
smallest slight. They make good _shikaris_ or sportsmen, but are
so impatient of discipline that they have never found a vocation by
enlisting in the Indian Army. Their characteristics are thus described
in a doggerel verse: "The Bundelas salute each other from miles apart,
their _pagris_ are cocked on the side of the head till they touch the
shoulders. A Bundela would dive into a well for the sake of a cowrie,
but would fight with the Sardars of Government." No Bania could go
past a Bundela's house riding on a pony or holding up an umbrella;
and all low-caste persons who passed his house must salute it with
the words, _Diwan ji ko Ram Ram_. Women must take their shoes off to
pass by. It is related that a few years ago a Bundela was brought up
before the Assistant Commissioner, charged with assaulting a tahsil
process-server, and threatening him with his sword. The Bundela, who
was very poor and wearing rags, was asked by the magistrate whether
he had threatened the man with his sword. He replied "Certainly not;
the sword is for gentlemen like you and me of equal position. To him,
if I had wished to beat him I would have taken my shoe." Another story
is that there was once a very overbearing Tahsildar, who had a shoe 2
1/2 feet long with which he used to collect the land revenue. One day
a Bundela malguzar appeared before him on some business. The Tahsildar
kept his seat. The Bundela walked quietly up to the table and said,
"Will the Sirkar step aside with me for a moment, as I have something
private to say." The Tahsildar got up and walked aside with him, on
which the Bundela said, 'That is sufficient, I only wished to tell you
that you should rise to receive me.' When the Bundelas are collected
at a feast they sit with their hands folded across their stomachs and
their eyes turned up, and remain impassive while food is being put on
their plates, and never say, 'Enough,' because they think that they
would show themselves to be feeble men if they refused to eat as much
as was put before them. Much of the food is thus ultimately wasted,
and given to the sweepers, and this leads to great extravagance at
marriages and other ceremonial occasions. The Bundelas were much
feared and were not popular landlords, but they are now losing their
old characteristics and settling down into respectable cultivators.

Rajput, Chandel

_Rajput, Chandel._--An important clan of Rajputs, of which a
small number reside in the northern Districts of Saugor, Damoh and
Jubbulpore, and also in Chhattisgarh. The name is derived by Mr. Crooke
from the Sanskrit _chandra_, the moon. The Chandel are not included in
the thirty-six royal races, and are supposed to have been a section
of one of the indigenous tribes which rose to power. Mr. V.A. Smith
states that the Chandels, like several other dynasties, first came into
history early in the ninth century, when Nannuka Chandel about A.D. 831
overthrew a Parihar chieftain and became lord of the southern parts of
Jejakabhukti or Bundelkhand. Their chief towns were Mahoba and Kalanjar
in Bundelkhand, and they gradually advanced northwards till the Jumna
became the frontier between their dominions and those of Kanauj. They
fought with the Gujar-Parihar kings of Kanauj and the Kalachuris of
Chedi, who had their capital at Tewar in Jubbulpore, and joined in
resisting the incursions of the Muhammadans. In A.D. 1182 Parmal, the
Chandel king, was defeated by Prithwi Raja, the Chauhan king of Delhi,
after the latter had abducted the Chandel's daughter. This was the
war in which Alha and Udal, the famous Banaphar heroes, fought for the
Chandels, and it is commemorated in the Chand-Raisa, a poem still well
known to the people of Bundelkhand. In A.D. 1203 Kalanjar was taken
by the Muhammadan Kutb-ud-Din Ibak, and the importance of the Chandel
rulers came to an end, though they lingered on as purely local chiefs
until the sixteenth century. The Chandel princes were great builders,
and beautified their chief towns, Mahoba, Kalanjar and Khajuraho with
many magnificent temples and lovely lakes, formed by throwing massive
dams across the openings between the hills. [507] Among these were
great irrigation works in the Hamirpur District, the forts of Kalanjar
and Ajaighar, and the noble temples at Khajuraho and Mahoba. [508]
Even now the ruins of old forts and temples in the Saugor and Damoh
Districts are attributed by the people to the Chandels, though many
were in fact probably constructed by the Kalachuris of Chedi.

Mr. Smith derives the Chandels either from the Gonds or Bhars, but
inclines to the view that they were Gonds. The following considerations
tend, I venture to think, to favour the hypothesis of their origin
from the Bhars. According to the best traditions, the Gonds came from
the south, and practically did not penetrate to Bundelkhand. Though
Saugor and Damoh contain a fair number of Gonds they have never
been of importance there, and this is almost their farthest limit
to the north-west. The Gond States in the Central Provinces did not
come into existence for several centuries after the commencement
of the Chandel dynasty, and while there are authentic records of
all these states, the Gonds have no tradition of their dominance
in Bundelkhand. The Gonds have nowhere else built such temples as
are attributed to the Chandels at Khajuraho, whilst the Bhars were
famous builders. "In Mirzapur traces of the Bhars abound on all sides
in the shape of old tanks and village forts. The bricks found in
the Bhar-dihs or forts are of enormous dimensions, and frequently
measure 19 by 11 inches, and are 2 1/4 inches thick. In quality
and size they are similar to bricks often seen in ancient Buddhist
buildings. The old capital of the Bhars, five miles from Mirzapur,
is said to have had 150 temples." [509] Elliot remarks [510] that
"common tradition assigns to the Bhars the possession of the whole
tract from Gorakhpur to Bundelkhand and Saugor, and many old stone
forts, embankments and subterranean caverns in Gorakhpur, Azamgarh,
Jaunpur, Mirzapur and Allahabad, which are ascribed to them, would seem
to indicate no inconsiderable advance in civilisation." Though there
are few or no Bhars now in Bundelkhand, there are a large number of
Pasis in Allahabad which partly belongs to it, and small numbers in
Bundelkhand; and the Pasi caste is mainly derived from the Bhars;
[511] while a Gaharwar dynasty, which is held to be derived from
the Bhars, was dominant in Bundelkhand and Central India before the
rise of the Chandels. According to one legend, the ancestor of the
Chandels was born with the moon as a father from the daughter of the
high priest of the Gaharwar Raja Indrajit of Benares or of Indrajit
himself. [512] As will be seen, the Gaharwars were an aristocratic
section of the Bhars. Another legend states that the first Chandel
was the offspring of the moon by the daughter of a Brahman Pandit
of Kalanjar. [513] In his _Notes on the Bhars of Bundelkhand_ [514]
Mr. Smith argues that the Bhars adopted the Jain religion, and also
states that several of the temples at Khajuraho and Mahoba, erected
in the eleventh century, are Jain. These were presumably erected
by the Chandels, but I have never seen it suggested that the Gonds
were Jains or were capable of building Jain temples in the eleventh
century. Mr. Smith also states that Maniya Deo, to whom a temple exists
at Mahoba, was the tutelary deity of the Chandels; and that the only
other shrine of Maniya Deo discovered by him in the Hamirpur District
was in a village reputed formerly to have been held by the Bhars. [515]
Two instances of intercourse between the Chandels and Gonds are given,
but the second of them, that the Rani Durgavati of Mandla was a Chandel
princess, belongs to the sixteenth century, and has no bearing on the
origin of the Chandels. The first instance, that of the Chandel Raja
Kirat Singh hunting at Maniagarh with the Gond Raja of Garha-Mandla,
cannot either be said to furnish any real evidence in favour of a Gond
origin for the Chandels; it maybe doubted whether there was any Gond
Raja of Garha-Mandla till after the fall of the Kalachuri dynasty of
Tewar, which is quite close to Garha-Mandla, in the twelfth century;
and a reference so late as this would not affect the question. [516]
Finally, the Chandels are numerous in Mirzapur, which was formerly
the chief seat of the Bhars, while the Gonds have never been either
numerous or important in Mirzapur. These considerations seem to point
to the possibility of the derivation of the Chandels from the Bhars
rather than from the Gonds; and the point is perhaps of some interest
in view of the suggestion in the article on Kol that the Gonds did
not arrive in the Central Provinces for some centuries after the
rise of the Chandel dynasty of Khajuraho and Mahoba. The Chandels
may have simply been a local branch of the Gaharwars, who obtained
a territorial designation from Chanderi, or in some other manner,
as has continually happened in the case of other clans. The Gaharwars
were probably derived from the Bhars. The Chandels now rank as a good
Rajput clan, and intermarry with the other leading clans.