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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It would appear that the explanation of this curious ceremony must
be that the Sansias thought the appearance of the wolf to be an
omen that one of them would furnish a meal for him. The turban
is venerated on account of its close association with the head, a
sacred part of the body among Hindus, and in this case it probably
served as a substituted offering for the head, while its red colour
represented blood; and the mimic rite of the goat being devoured
by men pretending to be wolves fulfilled the omen which portended
that the wolves would be provided with a meal, and hence averted
the necessity of one of the band being really devoured. In somewhat
analogous fashion the Gonds and Baigas placate or drive away a tiger
who has killed a man in order to prevent him from obtaining further
victims. Some similar idea apparently underlay the omen of the dog
running away with food. Perhaps the portent of hearing the kite scream
on a tree also meant that he looked on them with a prescient eye as
a future meal. On the other hand, meeting a corpse and seeing a snake
are commonly considered to be lucky omens, and their inclusion in this
list is curious. [615] The passage continues: "Among our favourable
omens are meeting a woman selling milk; or a person carrying a basket
of grain or a bag of money; or if we see a calf sucking its mother,
or meet a person with a vessel of water, or a marriage procession;
or if any person finds a rupee that he has lost; or we meet a bearer
carrying fish or a pig or a blue-jay; if any of these occur near our
camp on the day we contemplate a dacoity, we proceed forthwith to
commit it and consider that these signs assure us a good booty. If
a Fakir begs from us while we are on our way to the place of dacoity
we cannot give him anything." Another Sansia said: "We think it very
favourable if, when on the way to commit a dacoity we hear or see
the jackal; it is as good as gold and silver to us; also if we hear
the bray of the ass in a village we consider it to be lucky."

7. Ordeals

The following is a description given by a Sansia of their ordeals:
[616] If a Jemadar suspects a Sipahi of secreting plunder a _panchayat_
is assembled, [617] the members of which receive five rupees from
both parties. Seven pipal [618] leaves are laid upon his hand and
bound round with thread, and upon these a heated iron _tawa_ or plate
is set; he is then ordered to walk seven paces and put the plate
down upon seven thorns; should he be able to do so he is pronounced
innocent, but if he is burnt by the plate and throws it down he is
considered guilty. Another ordeal is by fixing arrows, two of which
are shot off at once from one bow, one in the name of Bhagwan (god),
and the other in the name of the _panchayat_; the place being on the
bank of the river. The arrow that flies the farthest is stuck upright
into the ground; upon which a man carrying a long bamboo walks up to
his breast in the water and the suspected person is desired to join
him. One of the _panchayat_ then claps his hands seven times and runs
off to pick up the arrow; at this instant the suspected person is
obliged to put his head under water, and if he can hold his breath
until the other returns to the bank with the arrow and has again
clapped his hands seven times he is pronounced innocent. If he cannot
do so he is declared guilty and punished. A third form of ordeal was
as follows: The Jemadar and the gang assemble under a pipal tree,
and after knocking off the neck of an earthen pitcher they kill
a goat and collect its blood in the pitcher, and put some glass
bangles in it. Four lines are drawn on the pitcher with vermilion
(representing blood), and it is placed under a tree and 1 1/4 seers
[619] of _gur_ (sugar) are tied up in a piece of cloth 1 1/4 cubits
in length and hung on to a branch of the tree. The Jemadar then says,
'I will forgive any person who has not secreted more than fifteen
or twenty rupees, but whoever has stolen more than that sum shall
be punished.' The Jemadar dips his finger in the pitcher of blood,
and afterwards touches the sugar and calls out loudly, 'If I have
embezzled any money may Bhagwan punish me'; and each dacoit in turn
pronounces the same sentence. No one who is guilty will do this but
at once makes his confession. The oath pronounced on 1 1/4 seers of
sugar tied up in 1 1/4 cubits of cloth was considered the most solemn
and binding which a Sansia could take.

8. Sansias at the present time

At present, Mr. Kennedy states, [620] the Sansias travel about in gangs
of varying strength with their families, bullocks, sheep, goats and
dogs. The last mentioned of these animals are usually small mongrels
with a terrier strain, mostly stolen or bred from types dishonestly
obtained during their peregrinations. Dacoity is still the crime which
they most affect, and they also break into houses and steal cattle. Men
usually have a necklace of red coral and gold beads round the neck,
from which is suspended a square piece of silver or gold bearing
an effigy of a man on horseback. This represents either the deity
Ramdeo Pir or one of the wearer's ancestors, and is venerated as a
charm. They are very quarrelsome, and their drinking-bouts in camp
usually end in a free fight, in which they also beat their women,
and the affray not infrequently results in the death of one of the
combatants. When this happens the slayer makes restitution to the
relatives by defraying the expenses of a fresh drinking-bout. [621]
During the daytime men are seldom to be found in the encampment,
as they are in the habit of hiding in the ditches and jungle, where
the women take them their food; at night they return to their tents,
but are off again at dawn.

Sansia, Uria

1. The caste and its subdivisions

_Sansia, Uria_. [622]--A caste of masons and navvies of the Uriya
country. The Sansias are really a branch of the great migratory Ud or
Odde caste of earth-workers, whose name has been corrupted into various
forms. [623] Thus in Chanda they are known as Wadewar or Waddar. The
term Uria is here a corruption of Odde, and it is the one by which
the caste prefer to be known, but they are generally called Sansia
by outsiders. The caste sometimes class the Sansias as a subcaste of
Urias, the others being Benatia Urias and Khandait Urias. Since the
Uriya tract has been transferred to Bengal, and subsequently to Bihar
and Orissa, there remain only about 1000 Sansias in the Chhattisgarh
Districts and States. Although it is possible that the name of the
caste may have been derived from some past connection, the Sansias
of the Uriya country have at present no affinities with the outcaste
and criminal tribe of Sansis or Sansias of northern India. They enjoy
a fairly high position in Sarnbalpur, and Brahmans will take water
from them.

They are divided into two subcastes, the Benetia and Khandait. The
Benetia are the higher and look down on the Khandaits, because, it
is said, these latter have accepted service as foot-soldiers, and
this is considered a menial occupation. Perhaps in the households
of the Uriya Rajas the tribal militia had also to perform personal
services, and this may have been considered derogatory., In Orissa,
on the other hand, the Khandaits have become landholders and occupy a
high position next to Rajputs. The Benetia Sansias practise hypergamy
with the Khandait Sansias, taking their daughters in marriage, but
not giving daughters to them. When a Benetia is marrying a Khandait
girl his party will not take food with the bride's relatives, but only
partake of some sugar and curds and depart with the bride. The Sansias
have totemistic exogamous septs, usually derived from the names of
sacred objects, as Kachhap, tortoise, Sankh, the conch-shell, Tulsi,
basil, and so on.

2. Marriage customs

Girls are married between seven and ten, and after she is twelve
years old a girl cannot go through the proper ceremony, but can
only be wedded by a simple rite used for widows, in which vermilion
is rubbed on her forehead and some grains of rice stuck on it. The
marriage procession, as described by Mr. Rama Prasad Bohidar, is
a gorgeous affair: "The drummers, all drunk, head the procession,
beating their drums to the tune set by the piper. Next in order are
placed dancing-boys between two rows of lights carried on poles adorned
with festoons of paper flowers. Rockets and fireworks have their
proper share in the procession, and last of all comes the bridegroom
in his wedding apparel, mounted on a horse. His person is studded
with various kinds of gold necklaces borrowed for the occasion,
and the fingers of his right hand are covered with rings. Bangles
and chains of silver shine on his wrists and arms. His forehead is
beautifully painted with ground sandalwood divided in the centre
by a streak of vermilion. His head carries a crown of palm-leaves
overlaid with bright paper of various colours. A network of _malti_
flowers hangs loosely from the head over the back and covers a portion
of the loins of the steed. The eyes are painted with collyrium and
the feet with red dye. The lips and teeth are also reddened by the
betel-leaf, which the bridegroom chews in profusion. A silk cloth
does the work of a belt, in which is fixed a dagger on the right
side." Here the red colour which predominates in the bridegroom's
decorations is lucky for the reasons given in the article on Lakhera;
the blacking of the eyes is also considered to keep off evil spirits;
betel-leaf is itself a powerful agent of magic and averter of spirits,
and to the same end the bridegroom carries iron in the shape of the
dagger. The ceremony is of the customary Uriya type. On the seventh
day of the wedding the husband and wife go to the river and bathe,
throwing away the sacred threads worn at the time of marriage, and
also those which have been tied round their wrists. On returning
home the wife piles up seven brass vessels and seven stools one above
the other and the husband kicks them over, this being repeated seven
times. The husband then washes his teeth with water brought from the
river, breaks the vessel containing the water in the bride's house,
and runs away, while the women of her family throw pailfuls of coloured
water over him. On the ninth day the bride comes and smears a mixture
of curds and sugar on the forehead of each member of the bridegroom's
family, probably as a sign of her admission to their clan, and returns
home. Divorce and the remarriage of widows are permitted.

3. Religion and worship of ancestors

The caste worship Viswakarma, the celestial architect, and on four
principal festivals they revere their trade-implements and the book
on architecture, by which they work. At Dasahra a pumpkin is offered
to these articles in lieu of a goat. They observe the _shraddh_
ceremony, and first make two offerings to the spirits of ancestors
who have died a violent death or have committed suicide, and to
those of relatives who died unmarried, for fear lest these unclean
and malignant spirits should seize and defile the offerings to the
beneficent ancestors. Thereafter _pindas_ or sacrificial cakes are
offered to three male and three female ancestors both on the father's
and mother's side, twelve cakes being offered in all. The Sansias eat
the flesh of clean animals, but the consumption of liquor is strictly
forbidden, on pain, it is said, of permanent exclusion from caste.

4. Occupation

In Sambalpur the caste are usually stone-workers, making cups, mortars,
images of idols and other articles. They also build tanks and wander
from place to place for this purpose in large companies. It is related
that on one occasion they came to dig a tank in Drug, and the Raja
of that place, while watching their work, took a fancy to one of the
Odnis, as their women were called, and wanted her to marry him. But
as she was already married, and was a virtuous woman, she refused. The
Raja persisted in his demand, on which the whole body of Sansias from
Chhattisgarh, numbering, it is said, nine lakhs of persons, left their
work and proceeded to Wararbandh, near Raj-Nandgaon. Here they dug
the great tank of Wararbandh [624] in one night to obtain a supply of
water for themselves. But the Raja followed them, and as they could
not resist him by force, the woman whom he was pursuing burnt herself
alive, and thus earned undying fame in the caste. This legend is
perpetuated in the Odni Git, a popular folk-song in Chhattisgarh. But
it is a traditional story of the Sansias in connection with large
tanks, and in another version the scene is laid in Gujarat. [625]

Savar

List of Paragraphs

1. _Distribution and historical notices_.
2. _Tribal legends_.
3. _Tribal subdivisions_.
4. _Marriage_.
5. _Death ceremonies_.
6. _Religion_.
7. _Occupation_.

1. Distribution and historical notices

_Savar, [626] Sawara, Savara, Saonr, Sahra_ (and several other
variations. In Bundelkhand the Savars, there called Saonrs, are
frequently known by the honorific title of Rawat).--A primitive tribe
numbering about 70,000 persons in the Central Provinces in 1911,
and principally found in the Chhattisgarh Districts and those of
Saugor and Damoh. The eastern branch of the tribe belongs chiefly
to the Uriya country. The Savars are found in large numbers in the
Madras Districts of Ganjam and Vizagapatam and in Orissa. They also
live in the Bundelkhand Districts of the United Provinces. The total
number of Savars enumerated in India in 1911 was 600,000, of which the
Bundelkhand Districts contained about 100,000 and the Uriya country
the remainder. The two branches of the tribe are thus separated by a
wide expanse of territory. As regards this peculiarity of distribution
General Cunningham says: "Indeed there seems good reason to believe
that the Savaras were formerly the dominant branch of the great
Kolarian family, and that their power lasted down to a comparatively
late period, when they were pushed aside by other Kolarian tribes
in the north and east, and by the Gonds in the south. In the Saugor
District I was informed that the Savaras had formerly fought with the
Gonds and that the latter had conquered them by treacherously making
them drunk." [627] Similarly Cunningham notices that the zamindar of
Suarmar in Raipur, which name is derived from Savar, is a Gond. A
difference of opinion has existed as to whether the Savars were
Kolarian or Dravidian so far as their language was concerned, Colonel
Dalton adopting the latter view and other authorities the former and
correct one. In the Central Provinces the Savars have lost their own
language and speak the Aryan Hindi or Uriya vernacular current around
them. But in Madras they still retain their original speech, which
is classified by Sir G. Grierson as Mundari or Kolarian. He says:
"The most southerly forms of Munda speech are those spoken by the
Savars and Gadabas of the north-east of Madras. The former have been
identified with the Suari of Pliny and the Sabarae of Ptolemy. A
wild tribe of the same name is mentioned in Sanskrit literature,
even so far back as in late Vedic times, as inhabiting the Deccan,
so that the name at least can boast great antiquity." [628] As to
the origin of the name Savar, General Cunningham says that it must be
sought for outside the language of the Aryans. "In Sanskrit _savara_
simply means 'a corpse.' From Herodotus, however, we learn that
the Scythian word for an axe was _sagaris_, and as 'g' and 'v' are
interchangeable letters _savar_ is the same word as _sagar_. It seems
therefore not unreasonable to infer that the tribe who were so called
took their name from their habit of carrying axes. Now it is one of the
striking peculiarities of the Savars that they are rarely seen without
an axe in their hands. The peculiarity has been frequently noticed
by all who have seen them." [629] The above opinion of Cunningham,
which is of course highly speculative, is disputed by Mr. Crooke,
who says that "The word Savara, if it be, as some believe, derived
from _sava_ a corpse, comes from the root _sav_ 'to cause to decay,'
and need not necessarily therefore be of non-Aryan origin, while on
the other hand no distinct inference can be drawn from the use of the
axe by the Savars, when it is equally used by various other Dravidian
jungle tribes such as the Korwas, Bhuiyas and the like." [630]
In the classical stories of their origin the first ancestor of the
Savars is sometimes described as a Bhil. The word Savar is mentioned
in several Sanskrit works written between 800 B.C. and A.D. 1200, and
it seems probable that they are a Munda tribe who occupied the tracts
of country which they live in prior to the arrival of the Gonds. The
classical name Savar has been corrupted into various forms. Thus
in the Bundeli dialect '_ava_' changes into '_au_' and a nasal is
sometimes interpolated. _Savar_ has here become Saunr or Saonr. The
addition of 'a' at the end of the word sometimes expresses contempt,
and Savar becomes Savara as Chamar is corrupted into _Chamra_. In the
Uriya country 'v' is changed into 'b' and an aspirate is interpolated,
and thus Savara became Sabra or Sahara, as Gaur has become Gahra. The
word Sahara, Mr. Crooke remarks, [631] has excited speculation as
to its derivation from Arabic, in which Sahara means a wilderness;
and the name of the Savars has accordingly been deduced from the same
source as the great Sahara desert. This is of course incorrect.

2. Tribal legends

Various stories of the origin of the Savars are given in Sanskrit
literature. In the Aitareya Brahmana they are spoken of as the
descendants of Vishwamitra, while in the Mahabharat they are said
to have been created by Kamdhenu, Vasishtha's wonder-working cow, in
order to repel the aggression of Vishwamitra. Local tradition traces
their origin to the celebrated Seori of the Ramayana, who is supposed
to have lived somewhere near the present Seorinarayan in the Bilaspur
District and to have given her name to this place. Ramchandra in his
wanderings met her there, ate the plums which she had gathered for
him after tasting each one herself, and out of regard for her devotion
permitted her name to precede his own of Narayan in that given to the
locality. Another story makes one Jara Savar their original ancestor,
who was said to have shot Krishna in the form of a deer. Another states
that they were created for carrying stones for the construction of
the great temple at Puri and for dragging the car of Jagannath, which
they still do at the present time. Yet another connecting them with the
temple of Jagannath states that their ancestor was an old Bhil hermit
called Sawar, who lived in Karod, two miles from Seorinarayan. The
god Jagannath had at this time appeared in Seorinarayan and the old
Sawar used to worship him. The king of Orissa had built the great
temple at Puri and wished to install Jagannath in it, and he sent
a Brahman to fetch him from Seorinarayan, but nobody knew where he
was except the old hermit Sawar. The Brahman besought him in vain
to be allowed to see the god and even went so far as to marry his
daughter, and finally the old man consented to take him blindfold to
the place. The Brahman, however, tied some mustard seeds in a corner
of his cloth and made a hole in it so that they dropped out one by one
on the way. After some time they grew up and served to guide him to
the spot. This story of the mustard seeds of course finds a place in
the folklore of many nations. The Brahman then went to Seorinarayan
alone and begged the god to go to Puri. Jagannath consented, and
assuming the form of a log of wood floated down the Mahanadi to Puri,
where he was taken out and placed in the temple. A carpenter agreed
to carve the god's image out of the log of wood on condition that
the temple should be shut up for six months while the work was going
on. But some curious people opened the door before the time and the
work could not proceed, and thus the image of the god is only half
carved out of the wood up to the present day. As a consolation to the
old man the god ordained that the place should bear the hermit's name
before his own as Seorinarayan. Lastly the Saonrs of Bundelkhand have
the following tradition. In the beginning of creation Mahadeo wished
to teach the people how to cultivate the ground, and so he made a
plough and took out his bull Nandi to yoke to it But there was dense
forest on the earth, so he created a being whom he called Savar and
gave him an axe to clear the forest. In the meantime Mahadeo went
away to get another bullock. The Savar after clearing the forest felt
very hungry, and finding nothing else to eat killed Nandi and ate
his flesh on a teak leaf. And for this reason the young teak leaves
when rubbed give out sap which is the colour of blood to the present
day. After some time Mahadeo returned, and finding the forest well
cleared was pleased with the Savar, and as a reward endowed him with
the knowledge of all edible and medicinal roots and fruits of the
forest. But on looking round for Nandi he found him lying dead with
some of his flesh cut off. The Savar pleaded ignorance, but Mahadeo
sprinkled a little nectar on Nandi, who came to life again and told
what had happened. Then Mahadeo was enraged with the Savar and said,
'You shall remain a barbarian and dwell for ever in poverty in the
jungles without enough to eat.' And accordingly this has always been
the condition of the Savar's descendants.

Other old authors speak of the Parna or leaf-clad Savars; and a Savar
messenger is described as carrying a bow in his hand "with his hair
tied up in a knot behind with a creeper, black himself, and wearing
a loin-cloth of _bhilawan_ leaves"; [632] an excellent example of
'a leaf-fringed legend.'

3. Tribal subdivisions

The Bundelkhand Savars have been so long separated from the others that
they have sometimes forgotten their identity and consider themselves as
a subtribe of Gonds, though the better informed repudiate this. They
may be regarded as a separate endogamous group. The eastern branch
have two main divisions called Laria and Uriya, or those belonging to
Chhattisgarh and Sambalpur respectively. A third division known as the
Kalapithia or 'Black Backs' are found in Orissa, and are employed
to drag the car of Jagannath. These on account of their sacred
occupation consider themselves superior to the others, abstain from
fowls and liquor, and sometimes wear the sacred thread. The Larias are
the lowest subdivision. Marriage is regulated by exogamous septs or
_bargas_. The northern Savars say that they have 52 of these, 52 being
a number frequently adopted to express the highest possible magnitude,
as if no more could be imagined. The Uriya Savars say they have 80
_bargas_. Besides the prohibition of marriage within the same _barga_,
the union of first cousins is sometimes forbidden. Among the Uriya
Savars each _barga_ has the two further divisions of Joria and Khuntia,
the Jorias being those who bury or burn their dead near a _jor_ or
brook, and the Khuntias those who bury or burn them near a _khunt_ or
old tree. Jorias and Khuntias of the same _barga_ cannot intermarry,
but in the case of some other subdivisions of the _barga_, as between
those who eat rice at one festival in the year and those eating it
at two, marriage is allowed between members of the two subdivisions,
thus splitting the exogamous group into two. The names of the _bargas_
are usually totemistic, and the following are some examples: Badaiya,
the carpenter bird; Bagh, the tiger; Bagula, the heron; Bahra, a
cook; Bhatia, a _brinjal_ or egg-plant; Bisi, the scorpion; Basantia,
the trunk of the cotton tree; Hathia, an elephant; Jancher, a tree
(this _barga_ is divided into Bada and Kachcha, the Bada worshipping
the tree and the Kachcha a branch of it, and marriage between the
two subdivisions is allowed); Jharia (this _barga_ keeps a lock of
a child's hair unshaved for four or five years after its birth);
Juadi, a gambler; Karsa, a deer; Khairaiya, the _khair_ or catechu
tree; Lodhi, born from the caste of that name (in Saugor); Markam,
the name of a Gond sept; Rajhans, a swan; Suriya Bansia, from the sun
(members of this _barga_ feed the caste-fellows on the occasion of a
solar eclipse and throw away their earthen pots); Silgainya from _sil_,
a slate; and Tiparia from _tipari_, a basket (these two septs are
divided into Kachcha and Pakka groups which can marry with each other);
Sona, gold (a member of this sept does not wear gold ornaments until
he has given a feast and a caste-fellow has placed one on his person).

4. Marriage

Marriage is usually adult, but in places where the Savars live near
Hindus they have adopted early marriage. A reason for preferring
the latter custom is found in the marriage ceremony, when the bride
and bridegroom must be carried on the shoulders of their relatives
from the bride's house to the bridegroom's. If they are grown up,
this part of the ceremony entails no inconsiderable labour on the
relatives. In the Uriya country, while the Khuntia subdivision of each
_barga_ see nothing wrong in marrying a girl after adolescence, the
Jorias consider it a great sin, to avoid which they sometimes marry
a girl to an arrow before she attains puberty. An arrow is tied to
her hand, and she goes seven times round a mahua branch stuck on an
improvised altar, and drinks _ghi_ and oil, thus creating the fiction
of a marriage. The arrow is then thrown into a river to imply that her
husband is dead, and she is afterwards disposed of by the ceremony of
widow-marriage. If this mock ceremony has not been performed before
the girl becomes adult, she is taken to the forest by a relative and
there tied to a tree, to which she is considered to be married. She
is not taken back to her father's house but to that of some relative,
such as her brother-in-law or grandfather, who is permitted to talk
to her in an obscene and jesting manner, and is subsequently disposed
of as a widow. Or in Sambalpur she may be nominally married to an old
man and then again married as a widow. The Savars follow generally
the local Hindu form of the marriage ceremony. On the return of the
bridal pair seven lines are drawn in front of the entrance to the
bridegroom's house. Some relative takes rice and throws it at the
persons returning with the marriage procession, and then pushes the
pair hastily across the lines and into the house. They are thus freed
from the evil spirits who might have accompanied them home and who
are kept back by the rice and the seven lines. A price of Rs. 5 is
sometimes paid for the bride. In Saugor if the bride's family cannot
afford a wedding feast they distribute small pieces of bread to the
guests, who place them in their head-cloths to show their acceptance
of this substitute. To those guests to whom it is necessary to make
presents five cowries are given. Widow-marriage is allowed, and in
some places the widow is bound to marry her late husband's younger
brother unless he declines to take her. If she marries somebody else
the new husband pays a sum by way of compensation either to her father
or to the late husband's family. Divorce is permitted on the husband's
initiative for adultery or serious disagreement. If the wife wishes
for a divorce she simply runs away from her husband. The Laria Savars
must give a _marti-jiti ka bhat_ or death-feast on the occasion of
a divorce. The Uriyas simply pay a rupee to the headman of the caste.