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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The following observances in connection with the crops are practised
by the agricultural castes in Chhattisgarh:

32. Rites connected with the crops. Customs of cultivation

The agricultural year begins on Akti or the 3rd day of Baisakh
(April-May). On that day a cup made of _palas_ [73] leaves and filled
with rice is offered to Thakur Deo. In some villages the boys sow
rice seeds before Thakur Deo's shrine with little toy ploughs. The
cultivator then goes to his field, and covering his hand with
wheat-flour and turmeric, stamps it five times on the plough. The
malguzar takes five handfuls of the seed consecrated to Thakur Deo and
sows it, and each of the cultivators also sows a little. After this
regular cultivation may begin on any day, though Monday and Friday
are considered auspicious days for the commencement of sowing. On the
Hareli, or festival of the fresh verdure, which falls on the 15th day
of Shrawan (July-August), balls of flour mixed with salt are given to
the cattle. The plough and all the implements of agriculture are taken
to a tank and washed, and are then set up in the courtyard of the house
and plastered with cowdung. The plough is set facing towards the sun,
and butter and sugar are offered to it. An earthen pot is whitewashed
and human figures are drawn on it with charcoal, one upside down. It is
then hung over the entrance to the house and is believed to avert the
evil eye. All the holes in the cattle-sheds and courtyards are filled
and levelled with gravel. While the rice is growing, holidays are
observed on five Sundays and no work is done. Before harvest Thakur
Deo must be propitiated with an offering of a white goat or a black
fowl. Any one who begins to cut his crop before this offering has
been made to Thakur Deo is fined the price of a goat by the village
community. Before threshing his corn each cultivator offers a separate
sacrifice to Thakur Deo of a goat, a fowl or a broken cocoanut. Each
evening, on the conclusion of a day's threshing, a wisp of straw is
rubbed on the forehead of each bullock, and a hair is then pulled
from its tail, and the hairs and straw made into a bundle are tied
to the pole of the threshing-floor. The cultivator prays, 'O God
of plenty! enter here full and go out empty.' Before leaving the
threshing-floor for the night some straw is burnt and three circles are
drawn with the ashes, one round the heap of grain and the others round
the pole. Outside the circles are drawn pictures of the sun, the moon,
a lion and a monkey, or of a cart and a pair of bullocks. Next morning
before sunrise the ashes are swept away by waving a winnowing-fan over
them. This ceremony is called _anjan chadhana_ or placing lamp-black
on the face of the threshing-floor to avert the evil eye, as women put
it on their eyes. Before the grain is measured it must be stacked in
the form of a trapezium with the shorter end to the south, and not in
that of a square or oblong heap. The measurer stands facing the east,
and having the shorter end of the heap on his left hand. On the larger
side of the heap are laid the _kalara_ or hook, a winnowing-fan, the
_dauri_, a rope by which the bullocks are tied to the threshing-pole,
one or three branches of the _ber_ or wild plum tree, and the twisted
bundle of straw and hair of the bullocks which had been tied to the
pole. On the top of the heap are placed five balls of cowdung, and
the _hom_ or fire sacrifice is offered to it. The first _katha_ [74]
of rice measured is also laid by the heap. The measurer never quite
empties his measure while the work is going on, as it is feared that if
he does this the god of abundance will leave the threshing-floor. While
measuring he should always wear a turban. It is considered unlucky for
any one who has ridden on an elephant to enter the threshing-floor,
but a person who has ridden on a tiger brings luck. Consequently
the Gonds and Baigas, if they capture a young tiger and tame it,
will take it round the country, and the cultivators pay them a little
to give their children a ride on it. To enter a threshing-floor with
shod feet is also unlucky. Grain is not usually measured at noon but
in the morning or evening.

33. Agricultural superstitions

The cultivators think that each grain should bear a hundredfold,
but they do not get this as Kuvera, the treasurer of the gods,
or Bhainsasur, the buffalo demon who lives in the fields, takes
it. Bhainsasur is worshipped when the rice is coming into ear, and
if they think he is likely to be mischievous they give him a pig, but
otherwise a smaller offering. When the standing corn in the fields is
beaten down at night they think that Bhainsasur has been passing over
it. He also steals the crop while it is being cut and is lying on the
ground. Once Bhainsasur was absent while the particular field in the
village from which he stole his supply of grain was cut and the crop
removed, and afterwards he was heard crying that all his provision for
the year had been lost. Sometimes the oldest man in the house cuts
the first five bundles of the crop, and they are afterwards left in
the field for the birds to eat. And at the end of harvest the last one
or two sheaves are left standing in the field, and any one who likes
can cut and carry them away. In some localities the last stalks are
left standing in the field and are known as _barhona_ or the giver
of increase. Then all the labourers rush together at this last patch
of corn and tear it up by the roots; everybody seizes as much as he
can and keeps it, the master having no share in this patch. After
the _barhona_ has been torn up all the labourers fall on their faces
to the ground and worship the field. In other places the _barhona_
is left standing for the birds to eat. This custom, arises from the
belief demonstrated by Sir J. G. Frazer in _The Golden Bough_ that the
corn-spirit takes refuge in the last patch of grain, and that when
it is cut he flies away or his life is extinguished. And the idea
is supported by the fact that the rats and other vermin, who have
been living in the field, seek shelter in the last patch of corn,
and when this is cut have to dart out in front of the reapers. In
some countries it is thought, as shown by Sir J. G. Frazer, that the
corn-spirit takes refuge in the body of one of these animals.

34. Houses

The house of a malguzar or good tenant stands in a courtyard or _angan_
45 to 60 feet square and surrounded by a brick or mud wall. The plan
of a typical house is shown below:--

The _dalan_ or hall is for the reception of visitors. One of the
living-rooms is set apart for storing grain. Those who keep their
women secluded have a door at the back of the courtyard for their
use. Cooking is done in one of the rooms, and there are no chimneys,
the smoke escaping through the tiles. They bathe either in the _chauk_
or central courtyard, or go out and bathe in a tank or river or at
a well. The family usually sleep inside the house in the winter and
outside in the hot weather. A poor malguzar or tenant has only two
rooms with a veranda in front, one of which is used by the family,
while cattle are kept in the other; while the small tenants and
labourers have only one room in which both men and cattle reside. The
walls are of bamboo matting plastered on both sides with mud, and
the roof usually consists of single small tiles roughly baked in an
improvised kiln. The house is surrounded by a mud wall or hedge, and
sometimes has a garden behind in which tobacco, maize or vegetables
are grown. The interior is dark, for light is admitted only by the
low door, and the smoke-stained ceiling contributes to the gloom. The
floor is of beaten earth well plastered with cowdung, the plastering
being repeated weekly.

35. Superstitions about houses

The following are some superstitious beliefs and customs about
houses. A house should face north or east and not south or west, as the
south is the region of Yama, the god of death, who lives in Ceylon,
and the west the quarter of the setting sun. A Muhammadan's house,
on the other hand, should face south or west because Mecca lies to
the south-west. A house may have verandas front and back, or on the
front and two sides, but not on all four sides. The front of a house
should be lower than the back, this shape being known as _gai-mukh_
or cow-mouthed, and not higher than the back, which is _singh-mukh_
or tiger-mouthed. The front and back doors should not be in a straight
line, which would enable one to look right through the house. The
_angan_ or compound of a house should be a little longer than it is
wide, no matter how little. Conversely the building itself should be a
little wider along the front than it is long from front to rear. The
kitchen should always be on the right side if there is a veranda, or
else behind. When an astrologer is about to found a house he calculates
the direction in which Shesh Nag, the snake on whom the world reposes,
is holding his head at that time, and plants the first brick or stone
to the left of that direction, because snakes and elephants do not turn
to the left but always to the right. Consequently the house will be
more secure and less likely to be shaken down by Shesh Nag's movements,
which cause the phenomenon known to us as an earthquake. Below the
foundation-stone or brick are buried a pice, an areca-nut and a
grain of rice, and it is lucky if the stone be laid by a man who
has been faithful to his wife. There should be no echo in a house,
as an echo is considered to be the voice of evil spirits. The main
beam should be placed in position on a lucky day, and the carpenter
breaks a cocoanut against it and receives a present. The width of the
rooms along the front of a house should be five cubits each, and if
there is a staircase it must have an uneven number of steps. The door
should be low so that a man must bend his head on entering and thus
show respect to the household god. The floor of the verandas should be
lower than that of the room inside; the Hindus say that the compound
should not see the veranda nor the veranda the house. But this rule
has of course also the advantage of keeping the house-floor dry. If
the main beam of a house breaks it is a very bad omen, as also for
a vulture or kite to perch on the roof; if this should happen seven
days running the house will inevitably be left empty by sickness or
other misfortune. A dog howling in front of the house is very unlucky,
and if, as may occasionally happen, a dog should get on to the roof
of the house and bark, the omen is of the worst kind. Neither the
pipal nor banyan trees should be planted in the yard of a house,
because the leavings of food might fall upon them, and this would
be an insult to the deities who inhabit the sacred trees. Neither
is it well to plant the _nim_ tree, because the _nim_ is the tree
of anchorites, and the frequent contemplation of it will take away
from a man the desire of offspring and lead to the extinction of his
family. Bananas should not be grown close to the house, because the
sound of this fruit bursting the pod is said to be audible, and to
hear it is most unlucky. It is a good thing to have a _gular_ [75]
tree in the yard, but at a little distance from the house so that
the leavings of food may not fall upon it; this is the tree of the
saint Dattatreya, and will cause wealth to increase in the house. A
plant of the sacred _tulsi_ or basil is usually kept in the yard,
and every morning the householder pours a vessel of water over it
as he bathes, and in the evening places a lamp beside it. This holy
plant sanctifies the air which passes over it to the house.

No one should ever sit on the threshold of a house; this is the seat
of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, and to sit on it is disrespectful
to her. A house should never be swept at twilight, because it is then
that Lakshmi makes her rounds, and she would curse it and pass by. At
this time a lamp should be lighted, no one should be allowed to sleep,
and even if a man is sick he should sit up on his bed. At this time the
grinding-mill should not be turned nor grain be husked, but reverence
should be paid to ancestors and to the household deities. No one
must sit on the grinding-mill; it is regarded as a mother because
it gives out the flour by which the family is fed. No one must sit
on cowdung cakes because they are the seat of Saturn, the Evil One,
and their smell is called _Sanichar ke bas_. No one must step on the
_chulka_ or cooking-hearth nor jar it with his foot. At the midday
meal, when food is freshly cooked, each man will take a little fire
from the hearth and place it in front of him, and will throw a little
of everything he eats on to the fire, and some _ghi_ as an offering
to Agni, the god of fire. And he will also walk round the hearth,
taking water in his hand and then throwing it on the ground as an
offering to Agni. A man should not sleep with his feet to the south,
because a corpse is always laid in that direction. He should not
sleep with his feet to the east, nor spit out water from his mouth
in the direction of the east.

36. Furniture

Of furniture there is very little. Carefully arranged in their
places are the brass cooking-pots, water-pots and plates, well
polished with mud and water applied with plenty of elbow-grease
by the careful housewife. Poor tenants frequently only have one or
two brass plates and cups and an iron girdle, while all the rest of
their vessels are of earthenware. Each house has several _chulhas_
or small horseshoe erections of earth for cooking. Each person in
the house has a sleeping-cot if the family is comfortably off, and a
spare one is also kept. These must be put out and exposed to the sun at
least once a week to clear them of fleas and bugs. It is said that the
Jains cannot adopt this method of disinfecting their beds owing to the
sacrifice of insect life thereby involved; and that there are persons
in Calcutta who make it their profession to go round and offer to lie
on these cots for a time; they lie on them for some hours, and the
little denizens being surfeited with their blood subsequently allow
the owner of the cot to have a quiet night. A cot should always be
shorter than a man's length, so that his legs project over the end;
if it is so long as to contain his whole length it is like a bier,
and it is feared that lying on a cot of this kind will cause him
shortly to lie on a bier. Poor tenants do not usually have cots, but
sleep on the ground, spreading kodon-straw on it for warmth. They
have no bedding except a _gudri_ or mattress made of old rags and
clothes sewn together. In winter they put it over them, and sleep on
it in summer. They will have a wooden log to rest their heads on when
sleeping, and this will also serve as a seat for a guest. Malguzars
have a _razai_ or quilt, and a _doria_ or thick cloth like those used
for covering carts. Clothes and other things are kept in _jhampis_ or
round bamboo baskets. For sitting on there are _machnis_ or four-legged
stools about a foot high with seats of grass rope or _pirhis_, little
wooden stools only an inch or two from the ground. For lighting,
wicks are set afloat in little earthen saucers filled with oil.

37. Clothes

Landowners usually have a long coat known as _angarkha_ reaching to the
knees, with flaps folding over the breasts and tied with strings. The
_bandi_ is a short coat like this but coming only to the hips, and is
more popular with cultivators. In the cold weather it is frequently
stuffed with cotton and dyed dark green or dark blue so as not to
show the dirt. For visits of ceremony a pair of _paijamas_ are kept,
but otherwise the _dhoti_ or loin-cloth is commonly worn. Wearing
the _dhoti_ pulled half-way up to the thighs is called 'cultivator's
fashion.' A shirt may be worn under the coat; but cultivators usually
have only one garment, nowadays often a sleeveless coat with buttons in
front. The proper head-dress is the _pagri_, a piece of coloured cloth
perhaps 30 feet long and a foot wide, twisted tightly into folds, which
is lifted on and off the head and is only rarely undone. Twisting the
_pagri_ is an art, and a man is usually hired to do it and paid four
annas. The _pagris_ have different shapes in different parts of the
country, and a Hindu can tell by the shape of a man's _pagri_ where he
comes from. But nowadays cultivators usually wear a _dupatta_ or short
piece of cloth tied, loosely round the head. The tenant arranges his
head-cloth with a large projection on one side, and in it he carries
his _chilam_ or pipe-bowl, and also small quantities of vegetables,
salt or condiments purchased at the bazar. In case of necessity
he can transform it into a loin-cloth, or tie up a bundle of grass
with it, or tie his _lota_ to it to draw water from a well. 'What
can the washerman do in a village where the people live naked?' is
a Chhattisgarhi proverb which aptly indicates that scantiness is
the most prominent feature of the local apparel. Here a cloth round
the loins, and this usually of meagre dimensions, constituted, until
recently, the full dress of a cultivator. Those who have progressed
a stage farther throw a cloth loosely over one shoulder, covering
the chest, and assume an apology for a turban by wrapping another
small rag carelessly round the head, leaving the crown generally
bare, as if this part of the person required special sunning and
ventilation. Hindus will not be seen out-of-doors with the head bare,
though the Gonds and other tribes only begin to wear head-cloths when
they are adopting Hinduism. The Gondi fashion was formerly prevalent
in Chhattisgarh. Some sanctity attaches to the turban, probably because
it is the covering of the head. To knock off a man's turban is a great
insult, and if it drops off or he lets it fall, it is a very bad omen.

38. Women's clothes

Women, in the northern Districts wear a skirt made of coarse
cloth, usually red or blue, and a shoulder-cloth of the same
material. Hand-woven cloth is still commonly used in the interior. The
skirt is sometimes drawn up through the legs behind so as to give it
a divided appearance; this is called _kachhota_. On the upper part of
the body they wear an _angia_ or breast-cloth, that is a short, tight,
sleeveless jacket reaching only to below the breasts. The _angia_ is
tied behind, while the Maratha _choli_, which is the same thing, is
buttoned or tied in front. High-caste women draw their shoulder-cloth
right over the head so that the face cannot be seen. When a woman goes
before a person of position she covers her head, as it is considered
immodest to leave it bare. Women of respectable families wear a
sheet of fine white, yellow, or red cloth drawn over the head and
reaching to the ankles when they go on a journey, this being known
as _pichhora_. In Chhattisgarh all the requirements of fashion among
women are satisfied by one cloth from 8 to 12 yards long and about a
yard wide, which envelops the person in one fold from the waist to
below the knee, hanging somewhat loosely. It is tied at the waist,
and the remaining half is spread over the breast and drawn across the
right shoulder, the end covering the head like a sheet and falling over
the left shoulder. The simplicity of this solitary garment displays a
graceful figure to advantage, especially on festival days, when those
who can afford it are arrayed in tasar silk. When a girl is married the
bridegroom's family give her expensive clothes to wear at festivals
and her own people give her ordinary clothes, but usually not more
than will last a year. Whenever she goes back to her father's house
after her marriage, he gives her one or two cloths if he can afford
it. Women of the middle and lower classes wear ornaments of bell-metal,
a mixture of copper and zinc, which are very popular. Some women wear
brass and zinc ornaments, and well-to-do persons have them of silver
or gold.

39. Bathing

Hot water is not used for bathing in Saugor, except by invalids,
but is customary in Betul and other Districts. The bathing-place in
the courtyard is usually a large square stone on which the bather
sits; he has a big circular brass vessel by him called _gangal_,
[76] and from this he takes water either in a cup or with his hands
and throws it over himself, rubbing his body. Where there is a tank
or stream people go to bathe in it, and if there is none the poorer
classes sometimes bathe at the village well. Each man or woman has
two body-or loin-cloths, and they change the cloth whenever they
bathe--going into the water in the one which they have worn from the
previous day, and changing into the other when they come out; long
practice enables them to do this in public without any undue exposure
of the body. A good tank or a river is a great amenity to a village,
especially if it has a _ghat_ or flight of stone steps. Many people
will spend an hour or so here daily, disporting themselves in the
water or on the bank, and wedding and funeral parties are held by it,
owing to the facilities for ceremonial bathing.

40. Food

People who do not cultivate with their own hands have only two
daily meals, one at midday and the other at eight or nine in the
evening. Agriculturists require a third meal in the early morning
before going out to the fields. Wheat and the millets juari and kodon
are the staple foods of the cultivating classes in the northern
Districts, and rice is kept for festivals. The millets are made
into thick _chapatis_ or cakes, their flour not being sufficiently
adhesive for thin ones, and are eaten with the pulses, lentils, arhar,
[77] mung [78] and urad. [79] The pulses are split into half and
boiled in water, and when they get soft, chillies, salt and turmeric
are mixed with them. Pieces of _chapati_ are broken off and dipped
into this mixture. Various vegetables are also eaten. When pulse is
not available the _chapatis_ are simply dipped into buttermilk. If
_chapatis_ cannot be afforded at both meals, _ghorna_ or the flour of
kodon or juar boiled into a paste with water is substituted for them, a
smaller quantity of this being sufficient to allay hunger. Wheat-cakes
are fried in _ghi_ (clarified butter) as a luxury, and at other times
in sesamum oil. Rice or ground gram boiled in buttermilk are other
favourite foods.

In Chhattisgarh rice is the common food: it is eaten with pulses
at midday and with vegetables cooked in _ghi_ in the evening. In
the morning they drink a rice-gruel, called _basi>_ which consists
of the previous night's repast mixed with water and taken cold. On
festivals rice is boiled in milk. Milk is often drunk at night, and
there is a saying, "He who drinks water in the morning and milk at
night and takes _harra_ before he sleeps will never need a doctor." A
little powdered _harra_ or myrobalan acts as an aperient. The food of
landowners and tenants is much the same, except that the former have
more butter and vegetables, according to the saying, '_Raja praja ka
ekhi khana_' or 'The king and peasant eat the same food.' Those who
eat flesh have an occasional change of food, but most Kurmis abstain
from it. Farmservants eat the gruel of rice or kodon boiled in water
when they can afford it, and if not they eat mahua flowers. These
are sometimes boiled in water, and the juice is then strained off and
mixed with half-ground flour, and they are also pounded and made into
_chapatis_ with flour and water. The leaves of the young gram-plants
make a very favourite vegetable and are eaten raw, either moist or
dried. In times of scarcity the poorer classes eat tamarind leaves,
the pith of the banyan tree, the seeds of the bamboo, the bark of
the _semar_ tree, [80] the fruit of the _babul_, [81] and other
articles. A cultivator will eat 2 lbs. of grain a day if he can get
it, or more in the case of rice. Their stomachs get distended owing
to the large quantities of boiled rice eaten at one time. The leaves
of the _chirota_ or _chakora_ a little plant [82] which grows thickly
at the commencement of the rains near inhabited sites, are also a
favourite vegetable, and a resource in famine time. The people call it
'_Gaon ka thakur_,' or 'lord of the village,' and have a saying:

Amarbel aur kamalgata,
Gaon ka thakur, gai ka matha,
Nagar sowasan, unmen milai,
Khaj, dad, sehua mit jawe.

_Amarbel_ is an endless creeper, with long yellow strings like
stalks, which infests and destroys trees; it is called _amarbel_
or the immortal, because it has no visible root. _Kamalgata_ is the
seed of the lotus; _gai ka matha_ is buttermilk; _nagar sowasan_,
'the happiness of the town,' is turmeric, because married women whose
husbands are alive put turmeric on their foreheads every day; _khaj,
dad_ and _sehua_ are itch, ringworm and some kind of rash, perhaps
measles; and the verse therefore means:

"Eat _amarbel_, lotus seeds, chirota, buttermilk and turmeric mixed
together, and you will keep off itch, ringworm and measles." Chirota
is good for the itch.