Kolta

Kolta1. Origin and traditions.Kolta,1Kolita,Kulta.—An agricultural caste of the Sambalpur District and the adjoining Uriya States. In 1901 the Central Provinces contained 127,000 Koltas out of 132,000 in India, but since the transfer of Sambalpur the headquarters of the caste belong to Bihār and Orissa, and only 36,000 remain in the Central Provinces. In Assam more than two lakhs of persons were enumerated under the caste name of Kalita in 1901, but in spite of the resemblance of the name the Kalitas apparently have no connection with the Uriya country, while the Koltas know nothing of a section of their caste in Assam. The Koltas of Sambalpur say that they immigrated from Baud State, which they regard as their ancestral home, and a member of their caste formerly held the position of Dīwan of the State. According to one of their legends their first ancestors were born from the leavings of food of the legendary Rāja Janak of Mithila or Tirhūt, whose daughter Sīta married King Rāma of Ajodhya, the hero of the Rāmāyana. Some Koltas went with Sīta to Ajodhya and were employed as water-bearers in the royal household. When Rāma was banished they accompanied him in his wanderings, and were permitted to settle in the Uriya country at the request of the Raghunathia Brāhmans, who wanted cultivators to till the soil. Another legend is that once upon a time, when Rāma was wandering in the forests of Sambalpur, he met three brothers and asked them to draw water for him. The firstbrought water in a clean brass pot, and was called Sudh (good-mannered). The second made a cup of leaves and drew water from a well with a rope; he was called Dumāl, fromdori-māl, a coil of rope. The third brought water only in a hollow gourd, and he was named Kolta, fromku-rīta, bad-mannered. This story serves to show that the Koltas, Sudhs and Dumāls acknowledge some connection, and in the Sambalpur District they will take food together at festivals. But this degree of intimacy may simply have arisen from their common calling of agriculture, and may be noticed among the cultivating castes elsewhere, as the Kirārs, Gūjars and Rāghuvansis in Hoshangābād. The most probable theory of the origin of the Koltas is that they are an offshoot of the great Chasa caste, the principal cultivating caste of the Uriya country, corresponding to the Kurmis and Kunbis in Hindustān and the Deccan. Several of their family names are identical with those of the Chasas, and there is actually a subcaste of Kolita Chasas. Mr. Hīra Lāl conjectures that the Koltas may be those Chasas who took to growingkultha(Dolichos uniflorus), a favourite pulse in Sambalpur; just as the Santora Kurmis are so named from their growingsan-hemp, and the Alia Banias and Kunbis from theālor Indian madder. This hypothesis derives some support from the fact that the Koltas have no subcastes, and the formation of the caste may therefore be supposed to have occurred at a comparatively recent period.2. Exogamous groups.The Koltas have both family names orgotrasand exogamous sections orbargas. Thegotrasare generally named after animals or other objects, as Dīp (lamp), Bachhās (calf), Hasti (elephant), Bhāradwāj (blue-jay), and so on. Members of the Bachhāsgotramust not yoke a young bullock to the plough for the first time, but must get this done by somebody else. The names of thebargasare generally derived from villages or from offices or titles. In one or two cases they show the admission of members of other castes; thus the Rāwatbargaare the descendants of a Rāwat (herdsman) who was in the service of the Rāja of Sambalpur. The Rāja had brought him up from infancy, and, wishing to make him a Kolta, married him to a Koltagirl, despite the protests of the caste. The ancestor of the Hinmiya Bhoibargahad a mistress of the Khond tribe, who left him some property, and is still worshipped in the family. The number ofgotrasis smaller than that of thebargas, and somegotras, as the Nāg or cobra, the tortoise and the pīpal tree, are common to manybargas. Marriage is forbidden between members of the samebarga, and between first cousins on the father’s side. To have the samegotrais no bar to marriage.3. MarriageGirls should be wedded before maturity, as among most of the Uriya castes, and if no suitable husband is forthcoming a nominal marriage is sometimes arranged with an old man, and the girl is afterwards disposed of as a widow. The boy’s father makes the proposal for the marriage, and if this is accepted the following formal ceremony takes place. He goes to the girl’s village, accompanied by some friends, and taking a quantity ofgur(raw sugar), and staying at some other house, sends a messenger known as Jalangia to the girl’s father, intimating that he has a request to make. The girl’s father pretends not to know what it is, and replies that if he has anything to say the elders of the village should be called to hear it. These assemble, and the girl’s father informs them that a stranger from another village has come to ask something of him, and as he is ignorant of its purport, he has asked them to do him the favour of being present. The boy’s father then opens a parable, saying that he was carried down a river in flood, and saved himself by grasping a tree on the bank. The girl’s father replies that the roots of a riverside tree are weak, and he fears that the tree itself would go down in the flood. The boy’s father replies that in that case he would be content to perish with the tree. Thereupon the caste priest places a nut and some sacred rice cooked at Jagannāth’s temple in the hands of the parties, who stand together facing the company, and the girl’s father says he has no objection to giving his daughter in marriage, provided that she may not be abandoned if she should subsequently become disfigured. The nut is broken and distributed to all present in ratification of the agreement. After this, other visits and a formal interchange of presentstake place prior to the marriage proper. This is performed with the customary ceremonial of the Uriya castes. The marriage altar is made of earth brought from outside the village by seven married women. Branches of the mahua tree are placed on the altar, and after the conclusion of the ceremony are thrown into a tank. The women also take a jar of water to a tank and, emptying it, fill the jar with the tank water. They go round to seven houses, and at each empty and refill the jar with water from the house. The water finally brought back is used for bathing the bride and bridegroom, and is believed to protect them from all supernatural dangers. An image of the family totem made from powdered rice is anointed with oil and turmeric, and worshipped daily while the marriage is in progress. If the boy or girl is the eldest child, the parents go through a mock marriage ceremony which the child is not allowed to see. When the couple are brought into the marriage-shed, they throw seven handfuls of rice mixed withmung2and salt on each other. The priest ties the hands of the couple with thread spun by virgins, and the relatives then pour water over the knot. The bride’s brother comes up and unties the knot, and gives the bridegroom a blow on the back. This is meant to show his anger at being deprived of his sister. He is given a piece of cloth and goes away. Presents are made to the pair, and the women throw rice on them. They are then taken inside the house and set to gamble with cowries. If the bridegroom wins he promises an ornament to the bride. If she wins she promises to serve him. The boy then asks her to sit with him on a bench, and she at first refuses, and agrees when he promises her other presents. Next day the bride’s mother singes the cheeks of the bridegroom with betel-leaves heated over a lamp, and throws cowdung and rice over the couple to protect them from evil. The party takes its departure for the bridegroom’s village, and on arrival there his sisters hold a cloth over the door of the house and will not let the couple in till they are given a present. The bridegroom then shoots an arrow at an image of a monkey or a deer, made of powdered rice, whichis brought back, cooked and eaten. The bride goes home in a day or two, and the Bandāpana ceremony is performed when she finally departs to live with her husband on arrival at maturity. The Koltas allow widow-marriage, but the husband has to pay a sum of about Rs. 100 to the caste-people, the bulk of which is expended in feasting. Divorce may be effected in the presence of the caste committee.4. Religion.The caste worship the goddess Rāmchandi, whose principal shrine is at Sarsara in Baud State. In order to establish a local Rāmchandi, a handful of earth must be brought from her shrine at Sarsara and made into a representation of the goddess. Some consider that Rāmchandi is the personification of Mother Earth, and the Koltas will not swear by the earth. They worship the plough in the month of Shrāwan, washing it with water and milk, and applying sandal-paste with offerings of flowers and food. The Puājiuntia festival is observed in Kunwār for the well-being of a son. On this occasion barren women try to ascertain whether they will get a son. A hole is made in the ground and filled with water, and a living fish is placed in it. The woman sits by the hole holding her cloth spread out, and if the fish in struggling jumps into her cloth, it is held to prognosticate the birth of a son. The caste worship their family gods and totems on the 10th day of Asārh, Bhādon, Kārtik and Māgh, which are called the pure months. They employ Brāhmans for religious ceremonies. Every man has aguruwho is a Bairāgi, and he must be initiated by hisgurubefore he is allowed to marry. The caste both burn and bury the dead. They eat flesh and fish, but generally abstain from liquor and the flesh of unclean animals, though in some places they are known to eat rats and crocodiles, and also the leavings of Brāhmans. Brāhmans will take water from Koltas, and their social standing is equal to that of the good agricultural castes.5. Occupation.The Koltas are skilful cultivators and have the usual characteristics belonging to the cultivating castes, of frugality, industry, hunger for land, and readiness to resort to any degree of litigation rather than relinquish a supposed right to it. They strongly appreciate the advantages ofirrigation and show considerable public spirit in constructing tanks which will benefit the lands of their tenants as well as their own. Nevertheless they are not popular, probably because they are generally more prosperous than their neighbours. The rising of the Khonds of Kālāhandi in 1882 was caused by their discontent at being ousted from their lands by the Koltas. The Rāja of Kālāhandi had imported a number of Kolta cultivators, and these speedily got the Khond headmen and ryots into their debt, and possessed themselves of all the best land in the Khond villages. In May 1882 the Khonds rose and slaughtered more than 80 Koltas, while 300 more were besieged in the village of Norla, the Khonds appearing with portions of the scalp and hair of the murdered victims hanging to their bows. On the arrival of a body of police which had been summoned from Vizagapatam, they dispersed, and the outbreak was soon afterwards suppressed, seven of the ringleaders being arrested, tried and hanged by the Political Officer. A settlement was made of the grievances of the Khonds and tranquillity was restored.1This article is largely compiled from an interesting paper submitted by Mr. Parmānand Tiwāri, Extra Assistant Commissioner and Assistant Settlement Officer, Sambalpur.2Phaseolus mungo.KomtiKomti,Komati.—The Madras caste of traders corresponding to Banias. In 1911 they numbered 11,000 persons in the Central Provinces, principally in the Chānda and Yeotmāl Districts. The Komtis claim to be of the same status as Banias and to belong to the Vaishya division of the Aryans, but this is a very doubtful pretension. Mr. Francis remarks of them:1“Three points which show them to be of Dravidian origin are their adherence to the custom of obliging a boy to marry his paternal uncle’s daughter, however unattractive she may be, a practice which is condemned by Manu; their use of the Purānic or lower ritual instead of the Vedic rites in their ceremonies; and the fact that none of the 102gotrasinto which the caste is divided are those of the twice-born, while some at any rate seem to be totemistic as they are the names of trees and plants, and the members of eachgotraabstain from touching or using the plant or tree after which theirgotrais called.” They are also of noticeably dark complexion. Komati issaid to be a corruption of Gomati, a tender of cows.2The caste have, however, a great reputation for cunning and astuteness, and hence have arisen the popular derivations ofko-mati, fox-minded, andgo-mati, cow-minded. The real meaning of the word is obscure. In Mysore the caste have the title of Setti or Chetty, which is a corruption of the Sanskrit Sreshtha, good, and in the Central Provinces their names often terminate with Appa.The Komtis have the following story about themselves: Long ago, in the Kaliyuga era, there lived a Rājpūt king of Rājahmundry, who on his travels saw a beautiful Vaishya girl and fell in love with her. Her father refused him, saying that they were of different castes. But the king persisted and would not be denied. On which the maiden determined to sacrifice herself to save her honour, and her clansmen resolved to die with her. So she told the king that she would marry him if he would agree to thehomsacrifice being performed at the ceremony. When the fire was kindled the girl threw herself on it and perished, followed by a hundred and two of her kinsmen. But the others were cowardly and fled from the fire. Before she died the girl cursed the king and her caste-fellows who had fled, and they and their families were cut off from the earth. But from those who died the hundred and two clans of the Komtis are descended, and they worship the maiden as Kanika Devī. She is considered to have been an incarnation of Pārvati and is the heroine of the Kānikya Purān. It is also said that she ordained that henceforth all Komtis should be black, so that none of their women might come to harm by being desired for their beauty as she had been. It is said that the caste look out for a specially dark girl as a bride, and think that she will bring luck to her husband and cause him to make money. Another explanation of their dark colour is that they originally lived in Ceylon, and when the island was set on fire by Rāma their faces were blackened in the smoke. The hundred and two clans have each a particular kind of flower or tree which they do not grow, eat, touch or burn, and the explanation they give of this custom is that their ancestors who went into the firewere transformed into these trees and plants. The names of the plants revered by each clan in the Central Provinces appear to be the same as in Mysore. They include the brinjal, the mango, the cotton-plant, wheat, linseed and others.The caste have several subcastes, among which are the Yajna, or those whose ancestors went into the fire; the Patti, who are apparently thread-sellers; the Jaina, or those who follow the Jain faith; and the Vidūrs, a half-caste section, who are the offspring of a Yajna father and a mother of some low caste. There is a scarcity of girls, and a bride-price of Rs. 200 to Rs. 500 is often paid. Perhaps for the same reason the obligation to give a daughter to a sister’s son is strictly enforced, and a man who refuses to do this is temporarily put out of caste. Thegotrasof the mothers of the bride and bridegroom should not be the same, and there should be no ‘Turning back of the creeper,’ as they say, that is, when a girl has married into a family, the latter cannot give a girl in marriage to that girl’s family ever afterwards. Before the regular betrothal when a girl has been selected, they appoint a day and the bridegroom’s party proceed outside the village to take the omens. If a bad omen occurs, they give up the idea of the match and choose another girl. When the bridegroom has arrived at the bride’s village, before the marriage takes place, he performs the Kāshi-Yātra or Going to Benāres. He is dressed as for a journey and carries a small handful of rice and other provisions tied up in packages in his upper garment. Thus accoutred, he sets out with a stick and umbrella on a pretended visit to Benāres, for the purpose of devoting his life to study. The parents of the bride meet him and beg him to give up the journey, promising him their daughter in marriage.3The binding function of the marriage is the tying of themangal-sūtramor piece of gold strung on a thread round the bride’s neck by the bridegroom. This gold piece is calledpushtiand must never be taken off. If a woman loses it, she should hide herself from everybody until it is replaced. On the way to her husband’s house, the bride should upset with her foot a measure of rice kepton purpose in the way, perhaps with the idea of showing that there will be so much grain in her household that she can afford to waste it.4The Komtis did not eat in kitchens in the famines, but accepted dry rations of food with great reluctance. They wear the sacred thread and have caste-marks on their foreheads. They usually rub powdered turmeric on their face and hands, and this lends an unpleasant greenish tinge to the skin.1Madras Census Report(1901), p. 162.2Mysore Ethnographic Survey, Komati caste (H. V. Nanjundayya).3H. V. Nanjundayya,loc. cit.4H. V. Nanjundayya,loc. cit.Kori1. Description of the caste.Kori.—The Hindu weaving caste of northern India, as distinct from the Julāhas or Momins who are Muhammadans. In 1911 the Koris numbered 35,000 persons, and resided mainly in Jubbulpore, Saugor and Damoh. Mr. Crooke states that their name has been derived from that of the Kol caste, of whom they have by some been assumed to be an offshoot.1The Koris themselves trace their origin from Kabīr, the apostle of the weaving castes. He, they say, met a Brāhman girl on the bank of a tank, and, being saluted by her, replied, ‘May God give you a son.’ She objected that she was a virgin and unmarried, but Kabīr answered that his word could not fail; and a boy was born out of her hand, whom she left on the bank of the tank. He was suckled by a heifer and subsequently adopted by a weaver and was the ancestor of the Koris. Therefore the caste say of themselves: “He was born of an undefiled vessel, and free from passion; he lowered his body and entered the ocean of existence.” This legend is a mere perversion of the story of Kabīr himself, designed to give the Koris a distinguished pedigree. In the Central Provinces the caste appears to be almost entirely a functional group, made up of members of other castes who were either expelled from their own community or of their own accord adopted the profession of weaving. The principal subdivision is the Ahirwār, taking its name from the old town of Ahar in the Bulandshahr District. Among the others are Kushta (Koshta), Chadār, Katia, Mehra, Dhīmar and Kotwār, all of which, except the last, are the names of distinct castes; while the Kotwārs represent members of the caste who became villagewatchmen, and considering themselves somewhat superior to the others, have formed a separate subcaste. None of the subcastes will eat together or intermarry, and this fact is in favour of the supposition that they are distinct groups amalgamated into a caste by their common profession of weaving. The caste seem to have a fairly close connection with Chamārs in some localities. A number of Koris belong to the sect of Rohidās, and some of their family names are the same, while a Chamār will often call himself a Kori to conceal his identity. For the purposes of marriage they are divided into a number ofbainksor septs, the names of which are territorial or totemistic. Among the latter may be mentioned the Kulhariya fromkulhāri, an axe, and the Barmaiya from thebaror banyan tree; members of these septs pay reverence to an axe and a banyan tree respectively at weddings.2. MarriagesThe marriage of persons belonging to the same sept and also that of first cousins is prohibited, while a family will not, if they can help it, marry a daughter into the sept from which a son has taken a wife. The rule of exogamy is thus rather wide in its action, as is often found to be the case among the lowest and most primitive castes. At the betrothal the father of the girl produces a red cloth folded up, and on this the boy’s father lays a rupee. This is passed round to five members of the caste who cry, ‘So-and-so’s daughter and So-and-so’s son,Har bolo(In the name of Vishnu).’ This completes the betrothal, the father of the boy giving three rupees for a feast to the caste-fellows. A girl who is made pregnant by a man of the caste or any higher caste may be disposed of in marriage as a widow, but if the man is of a lower caste than the Koris she is finally expelled. Thelaganor paper fixing the date of the marriage is written by a Brāhman and must not be shown to the bridegroom in the interval, lest he should grow as thin as the paper bearing his name. While he is being anointed and rubbed with turmeric the bridegroom is wrapped in a black blanket, and his bridal dress consists of a yellow shirt, pyjamas of red cloth, and red shoes, while he carries in his hand a dagger, nut-cracker or knife. As he leaves his house to proceed to the bride’s village he steps on two clay lamp-saucers, crushingthem with his foot. When the party arrives the fathers of the bride and bridegroom sit together with a pot full of curds between them and give each other to drink from it as a mark of amity. The binding portion of the marriage consists in walking round the sacred pole and the other ceremonies customary in the northern Districts are performed. The bride does not return with her husband unless she is adult; otherwise the usualgaunaceremony is held subsequently. When she arrives at her husband’s house she makes prints of her hands smeared with turmeric on the wall before entering it for the first time. The remarriage of widows is freely permitted; the second husband takes the widow to his house after sunset, and here she is washed by the barber’s wife and puts on glass bangles again, and new jewellery and clothes, if any are provided. No married woman may see her as she enters the house. The husband must give a feast to the caste-fellows, or at least to thepanchāyator committee. Divorce is freely permitted on payment of a fine to thepanchāyat. When a man takes a second wife asotor silver image of the deceased first wife is hung round her neck when she enters his house, and is worshipped on ceremonial occasions.3. Customs at birth and death.A child is named on the day after its birth by some woman of the caste; a Brāhman is asked whether the day is auspicious, and he also chooses the name. If this is the same as that of any living relation or one recently dead, another name is given for ordinary use. A daughter-in-law is usually given a new name when she goes to her husband’s house, such as Badi (elder), Manjhli (second son’s wife), Bāri (innocent or simple), Jabalpurwāli (belonging to Jubbulpore), and so on. If a woman has borne only female children, the umbilical cord is sometimes put in a small earthen pot and buried at a place where three cross-roads meet, and it is supposed that the birth of a male child will follow. Children whose shaving ceremony has not been performed, and adults dying from snake-bite, cholera, smallpox or leprosy, are buried, while others are burnt. Children are carried to the grave in their parents’ arms. On the return of a funeral party, liquor, provided by the relatives of the family, is drunk at the house of the deceased.4. Religion.The Koris worship the ordinary Hindu deities and especially Devi. They become inspired by this goddess at the Jawara festival and pierce their cheeks with iron needles and tridents. Every family has a household god or Kul-Deo to whom a small platform is erected; offerings other than animal sacrifices are made to him on festivals and on the celebration of a marriage.5. Occupation and social status.Those of the caste who are Kabīrpanthis abstain from animal food, but the others eat the flesh of most animals except tame pig, and also drink liquor. Their social status is very low, but they are not usually considered as impure. Their women are tattooed on the right arm before marriage, and on the left after arrival at their husband’s house. Like several other low castes, they do not wear nose-rings. The principal occupation of the caste is the weaving of coarse country cloth, but as the trade of the hand-weaver is nowadays precarious and unprofitable many of them have forsaken it and taken to cultivation or daily labour. Mr. Nesfield says of them: “The material used by the Kori is the thread supplied by the Dhunia (Bahna); and thus the weaver caste has risen imperceptibly out of that of the cotton-carder, in the same way as the cobbler caste has risen out of the tanner. The art of weaving and plaiting threads is very much the same process as that of plaiting osiers, reeds and grass, and converting them into baskets and mats. This circumstance explains the puzzle why the weaver caste in India stands at such a low social level. He, however, ranks several degrees above the Chamār or tanner; as, among Hindus, herbs and their products (cotton being of course included) are invariably considered pure, while the hides of dead animals are regarded as a pollution.” This argument is part of Mr. Nesfield’s theory that the rank of each caste depends on the period of civilisation at which its occupation came into being, which is scarcely tenable. The reason why the weavers rank so low may, perhaps, be that the Aryans when they settled in villages in northern India despised all handicrafts as derogatory to their dignity. These were left to the subject tribes, and as a large number of weavers would be required, the industry would necessarily be embraced by the bulk of those who formed the loweststratum of the population, and has ever since remained in their hands. If cloth was first woven from the tree-cotton plant growing wild, the business of picking and weaving it would naturally have fallen to the non-Aryan jungle tribes, who afterwards became the impure menial and labouring castes of the villages.The weaver is the proverbial butt of Hindu ridicule, like the tailor in England. ‘One Gadaria will account for ten weavers’; ‘Four weavers will spoil any business.’ The following story also illustrates their stupidity: Twenty weavers got into a field ofkānsgrass. They thought it was a tank and began swimming. When they got out they said, “Let us all count and see how many we are, in case anybody has been left in the tank.” They counted and each left out himself, so that they all made out nineteen. Just then a Sowār came by, and they cried, to him, ‘Oh, Sir, we were twenty, and one of us has been drowned in this tank.’ The Sowār seeing that there was only a field of grass, counted them and found there were twenty; so he said, ‘What will you give me if I find the twentieth?’ They promised him a piece of cloth, on which the Sowār, taking his whip, lashed each of the weavers across the shoulders, counting as he did so. When he had counted twenty he took the cloth and rode away. Another story is that a weaver bought a buffalo for twenty rupees. His brother then came to him and wanted a share in the buffalo. They did not know how he should be given a share until at last the weaver said, “You go and pay the man who sold me the buffalo twenty rupees; and then you will have given as much as I have and will be half-owner of the buffalo.” Which was done. The ridicule attaching to the weaver’s occupation is due to its being considered proper for a woman rather than a man, and similar jests were current at the tailor’s expense in England. In India the weaver probably takes the tailor’s place because woven and not sewn clothes have hitherto been generally worn, as explained in the article on Darzi.1Tribes and Castes of the North-West Provinces, iii. 316.

1. Origin and traditions.Kolta,1Kolita,Kulta.—An agricultural caste of the Sambalpur District and the adjoining Uriya States. In 1901 the Central Provinces contained 127,000 Koltas out of 132,000 in India, but since the transfer of Sambalpur the headquarters of the caste belong to Bihār and Orissa, and only 36,000 remain in the Central Provinces. In Assam more than two lakhs of persons were enumerated under the caste name of Kalita in 1901, but in spite of the resemblance of the name the Kalitas apparently have no connection with the Uriya country, while the Koltas know nothing of a section of their caste in Assam. The Koltas of Sambalpur say that they immigrated from Baud State, which they regard as their ancestral home, and a member of their caste formerly held the position of Dīwan of the State. According to one of their legends their first ancestors were born from the leavings of food of the legendary Rāja Janak of Mithila or Tirhūt, whose daughter Sīta married King Rāma of Ajodhya, the hero of the Rāmāyana. Some Koltas went with Sīta to Ajodhya and were employed as water-bearers in the royal household. When Rāma was banished they accompanied him in his wanderings, and were permitted to settle in the Uriya country at the request of the Raghunathia Brāhmans, who wanted cultivators to till the soil. Another legend is that once upon a time, when Rāma was wandering in the forests of Sambalpur, he met three brothers and asked them to draw water for him. The firstbrought water in a clean brass pot, and was called Sudh (good-mannered). The second made a cup of leaves and drew water from a well with a rope; he was called Dumāl, fromdori-māl, a coil of rope. The third brought water only in a hollow gourd, and he was named Kolta, fromku-rīta, bad-mannered. This story serves to show that the Koltas, Sudhs and Dumāls acknowledge some connection, and in the Sambalpur District they will take food together at festivals. But this degree of intimacy may simply have arisen from their common calling of agriculture, and may be noticed among the cultivating castes elsewhere, as the Kirārs, Gūjars and Rāghuvansis in Hoshangābād. The most probable theory of the origin of the Koltas is that they are an offshoot of the great Chasa caste, the principal cultivating caste of the Uriya country, corresponding to the Kurmis and Kunbis in Hindustān and the Deccan. Several of their family names are identical with those of the Chasas, and there is actually a subcaste of Kolita Chasas. Mr. Hīra Lāl conjectures that the Koltas may be those Chasas who took to growingkultha(Dolichos uniflorus), a favourite pulse in Sambalpur; just as the Santora Kurmis are so named from their growingsan-hemp, and the Alia Banias and Kunbis from theālor Indian madder. This hypothesis derives some support from the fact that the Koltas have no subcastes, and the formation of the caste may therefore be supposed to have occurred at a comparatively recent period.

1. Origin and traditions.

Kolta,1Kolita,Kulta.—An agricultural caste of the Sambalpur District and the adjoining Uriya States. In 1901 the Central Provinces contained 127,000 Koltas out of 132,000 in India, but since the transfer of Sambalpur the headquarters of the caste belong to Bihār and Orissa, and only 36,000 remain in the Central Provinces. In Assam more than two lakhs of persons were enumerated under the caste name of Kalita in 1901, but in spite of the resemblance of the name the Kalitas apparently have no connection with the Uriya country, while the Koltas know nothing of a section of their caste in Assam. The Koltas of Sambalpur say that they immigrated from Baud State, which they regard as their ancestral home, and a member of their caste formerly held the position of Dīwan of the State. According to one of their legends their first ancestors were born from the leavings of food of the legendary Rāja Janak of Mithila or Tirhūt, whose daughter Sīta married King Rāma of Ajodhya, the hero of the Rāmāyana. Some Koltas went with Sīta to Ajodhya and were employed as water-bearers in the royal household. When Rāma was banished they accompanied him in his wanderings, and were permitted to settle in the Uriya country at the request of the Raghunathia Brāhmans, who wanted cultivators to till the soil. Another legend is that once upon a time, when Rāma was wandering in the forests of Sambalpur, he met three brothers and asked them to draw water for him. The firstbrought water in a clean brass pot, and was called Sudh (good-mannered). The second made a cup of leaves and drew water from a well with a rope; he was called Dumāl, fromdori-māl, a coil of rope. The third brought water only in a hollow gourd, and he was named Kolta, fromku-rīta, bad-mannered. This story serves to show that the Koltas, Sudhs and Dumāls acknowledge some connection, and in the Sambalpur District they will take food together at festivals. But this degree of intimacy may simply have arisen from their common calling of agriculture, and may be noticed among the cultivating castes elsewhere, as the Kirārs, Gūjars and Rāghuvansis in Hoshangābād. The most probable theory of the origin of the Koltas is that they are an offshoot of the great Chasa caste, the principal cultivating caste of the Uriya country, corresponding to the Kurmis and Kunbis in Hindustān and the Deccan. Several of their family names are identical with those of the Chasas, and there is actually a subcaste of Kolita Chasas. Mr. Hīra Lāl conjectures that the Koltas may be those Chasas who took to growingkultha(Dolichos uniflorus), a favourite pulse in Sambalpur; just as the Santora Kurmis are so named from their growingsan-hemp, and the Alia Banias and Kunbis from theālor Indian madder. This hypothesis derives some support from the fact that the Koltas have no subcastes, and the formation of the caste may therefore be supposed to have occurred at a comparatively recent period.

2. Exogamous groups.The Koltas have both family names orgotrasand exogamous sections orbargas. Thegotrasare generally named after animals or other objects, as Dīp (lamp), Bachhās (calf), Hasti (elephant), Bhāradwāj (blue-jay), and so on. Members of the Bachhāsgotramust not yoke a young bullock to the plough for the first time, but must get this done by somebody else. The names of thebargasare generally derived from villages or from offices or titles. In one or two cases they show the admission of members of other castes; thus the Rāwatbargaare the descendants of a Rāwat (herdsman) who was in the service of the Rāja of Sambalpur. The Rāja had brought him up from infancy, and, wishing to make him a Kolta, married him to a Koltagirl, despite the protests of the caste. The ancestor of the Hinmiya Bhoibargahad a mistress of the Khond tribe, who left him some property, and is still worshipped in the family. The number ofgotrasis smaller than that of thebargas, and somegotras, as the Nāg or cobra, the tortoise and the pīpal tree, are common to manybargas. Marriage is forbidden between members of the samebarga, and between first cousins on the father’s side. To have the samegotrais no bar to marriage.

2. Exogamous groups.

The Koltas have both family names orgotrasand exogamous sections orbargas. Thegotrasare generally named after animals or other objects, as Dīp (lamp), Bachhās (calf), Hasti (elephant), Bhāradwāj (blue-jay), and so on. Members of the Bachhāsgotramust not yoke a young bullock to the plough for the first time, but must get this done by somebody else. The names of thebargasare generally derived from villages or from offices or titles. In one or two cases they show the admission of members of other castes; thus the Rāwatbargaare the descendants of a Rāwat (herdsman) who was in the service of the Rāja of Sambalpur. The Rāja had brought him up from infancy, and, wishing to make him a Kolta, married him to a Koltagirl, despite the protests of the caste. The ancestor of the Hinmiya Bhoibargahad a mistress of the Khond tribe, who left him some property, and is still worshipped in the family. The number ofgotrasis smaller than that of thebargas, and somegotras, as the Nāg or cobra, the tortoise and the pīpal tree, are common to manybargas. Marriage is forbidden between members of the samebarga, and between first cousins on the father’s side. To have the samegotrais no bar to marriage.

3. MarriageGirls should be wedded before maturity, as among most of the Uriya castes, and if no suitable husband is forthcoming a nominal marriage is sometimes arranged with an old man, and the girl is afterwards disposed of as a widow. The boy’s father makes the proposal for the marriage, and if this is accepted the following formal ceremony takes place. He goes to the girl’s village, accompanied by some friends, and taking a quantity ofgur(raw sugar), and staying at some other house, sends a messenger known as Jalangia to the girl’s father, intimating that he has a request to make. The girl’s father pretends not to know what it is, and replies that if he has anything to say the elders of the village should be called to hear it. These assemble, and the girl’s father informs them that a stranger from another village has come to ask something of him, and as he is ignorant of its purport, he has asked them to do him the favour of being present. The boy’s father then opens a parable, saying that he was carried down a river in flood, and saved himself by grasping a tree on the bank. The girl’s father replies that the roots of a riverside tree are weak, and he fears that the tree itself would go down in the flood. The boy’s father replies that in that case he would be content to perish with the tree. Thereupon the caste priest places a nut and some sacred rice cooked at Jagannāth’s temple in the hands of the parties, who stand together facing the company, and the girl’s father says he has no objection to giving his daughter in marriage, provided that she may not be abandoned if she should subsequently become disfigured. The nut is broken and distributed to all present in ratification of the agreement. After this, other visits and a formal interchange of presentstake place prior to the marriage proper. This is performed with the customary ceremonial of the Uriya castes. The marriage altar is made of earth brought from outside the village by seven married women. Branches of the mahua tree are placed on the altar, and after the conclusion of the ceremony are thrown into a tank. The women also take a jar of water to a tank and, emptying it, fill the jar with the tank water. They go round to seven houses, and at each empty and refill the jar with water from the house. The water finally brought back is used for bathing the bride and bridegroom, and is believed to protect them from all supernatural dangers. An image of the family totem made from powdered rice is anointed with oil and turmeric, and worshipped daily while the marriage is in progress. If the boy or girl is the eldest child, the parents go through a mock marriage ceremony which the child is not allowed to see. When the couple are brought into the marriage-shed, they throw seven handfuls of rice mixed withmung2and salt on each other. The priest ties the hands of the couple with thread spun by virgins, and the relatives then pour water over the knot. The bride’s brother comes up and unties the knot, and gives the bridegroom a blow on the back. This is meant to show his anger at being deprived of his sister. He is given a piece of cloth and goes away. Presents are made to the pair, and the women throw rice on them. They are then taken inside the house and set to gamble with cowries. If the bridegroom wins he promises an ornament to the bride. If she wins she promises to serve him. The boy then asks her to sit with him on a bench, and she at first refuses, and agrees when he promises her other presents. Next day the bride’s mother singes the cheeks of the bridegroom with betel-leaves heated over a lamp, and throws cowdung and rice over the couple to protect them from evil. The party takes its departure for the bridegroom’s village, and on arrival there his sisters hold a cloth over the door of the house and will not let the couple in till they are given a present. The bridegroom then shoots an arrow at an image of a monkey or a deer, made of powdered rice, whichis brought back, cooked and eaten. The bride goes home in a day or two, and the Bandāpana ceremony is performed when she finally departs to live with her husband on arrival at maturity. The Koltas allow widow-marriage, but the husband has to pay a sum of about Rs. 100 to the caste-people, the bulk of which is expended in feasting. Divorce may be effected in the presence of the caste committee.

3. Marriage

Girls should be wedded before maturity, as among most of the Uriya castes, and if no suitable husband is forthcoming a nominal marriage is sometimes arranged with an old man, and the girl is afterwards disposed of as a widow. The boy’s father makes the proposal for the marriage, and if this is accepted the following formal ceremony takes place. He goes to the girl’s village, accompanied by some friends, and taking a quantity ofgur(raw sugar), and staying at some other house, sends a messenger known as Jalangia to the girl’s father, intimating that he has a request to make. The girl’s father pretends not to know what it is, and replies that if he has anything to say the elders of the village should be called to hear it. These assemble, and the girl’s father informs them that a stranger from another village has come to ask something of him, and as he is ignorant of its purport, he has asked them to do him the favour of being present. The boy’s father then opens a parable, saying that he was carried down a river in flood, and saved himself by grasping a tree on the bank. The girl’s father replies that the roots of a riverside tree are weak, and he fears that the tree itself would go down in the flood. The boy’s father replies that in that case he would be content to perish with the tree. Thereupon the caste priest places a nut and some sacred rice cooked at Jagannāth’s temple in the hands of the parties, who stand together facing the company, and the girl’s father says he has no objection to giving his daughter in marriage, provided that she may not be abandoned if she should subsequently become disfigured. The nut is broken and distributed to all present in ratification of the agreement. After this, other visits and a formal interchange of presentstake place prior to the marriage proper. This is performed with the customary ceremonial of the Uriya castes. The marriage altar is made of earth brought from outside the village by seven married women. Branches of the mahua tree are placed on the altar, and after the conclusion of the ceremony are thrown into a tank. The women also take a jar of water to a tank and, emptying it, fill the jar with the tank water. They go round to seven houses, and at each empty and refill the jar with water from the house. The water finally brought back is used for bathing the bride and bridegroom, and is believed to protect them from all supernatural dangers. An image of the family totem made from powdered rice is anointed with oil and turmeric, and worshipped daily while the marriage is in progress. If the boy or girl is the eldest child, the parents go through a mock marriage ceremony which the child is not allowed to see. When the couple are brought into the marriage-shed, they throw seven handfuls of rice mixed withmung2and salt on each other. The priest ties the hands of the couple with thread spun by virgins, and the relatives then pour water over the knot. The bride’s brother comes up and unties the knot, and gives the bridegroom a blow on the back. This is meant to show his anger at being deprived of his sister. He is given a piece of cloth and goes away. Presents are made to the pair, and the women throw rice on them. They are then taken inside the house and set to gamble with cowries. If the bridegroom wins he promises an ornament to the bride. If she wins she promises to serve him. The boy then asks her to sit with him on a bench, and she at first refuses, and agrees when he promises her other presents. Next day the bride’s mother singes the cheeks of the bridegroom with betel-leaves heated over a lamp, and throws cowdung and rice over the couple to protect them from evil. The party takes its departure for the bridegroom’s village, and on arrival there his sisters hold a cloth over the door of the house and will not let the couple in till they are given a present. The bridegroom then shoots an arrow at an image of a monkey or a deer, made of powdered rice, whichis brought back, cooked and eaten. The bride goes home in a day or two, and the Bandāpana ceremony is performed when she finally departs to live with her husband on arrival at maturity. The Koltas allow widow-marriage, but the husband has to pay a sum of about Rs. 100 to the caste-people, the bulk of which is expended in feasting. Divorce may be effected in the presence of the caste committee.

4. Religion.The caste worship the goddess Rāmchandi, whose principal shrine is at Sarsara in Baud State. In order to establish a local Rāmchandi, a handful of earth must be brought from her shrine at Sarsara and made into a representation of the goddess. Some consider that Rāmchandi is the personification of Mother Earth, and the Koltas will not swear by the earth. They worship the plough in the month of Shrāwan, washing it with water and milk, and applying sandal-paste with offerings of flowers and food. The Puājiuntia festival is observed in Kunwār for the well-being of a son. On this occasion barren women try to ascertain whether they will get a son. A hole is made in the ground and filled with water, and a living fish is placed in it. The woman sits by the hole holding her cloth spread out, and if the fish in struggling jumps into her cloth, it is held to prognosticate the birth of a son. The caste worship their family gods and totems on the 10th day of Asārh, Bhādon, Kārtik and Māgh, which are called the pure months. They employ Brāhmans for religious ceremonies. Every man has aguruwho is a Bairāgi, and he must be initiated by hisgurubefore he is allowed to marry. The caste both burn and bury the dead. They eat flesh and fish, but generally abstain from liquor and the flesh of unclean animals, though in some places they are known to eat rats and crocodiles, and also the leavings of Brāhmans. Brāhmans will take water from Koltas, and their social standing is equal to that of the good agricultural castes.

4. Religion.

The caste worship the goddess Rāmchandi, whose principal shrine is at Sarsara in Baud State. In order to establish a local Rāmchandi, a handful of earth must be brought from her shrine at Sarsara and made into a representation of the goddess. Some consider that Rāmchandi is the personification of Mother Earth, and the Koltas will not swear by the earth. They worship the plough in the month of Shrāwan, washing it with water and milk, and applying sandal-paste with offerings of flowers and food. The Puājiuntia festival is observed in Kunwār for the well-being of a son. On this occasion barren women try to ascertain whether they will get a son. A hole is made in the ground and filled with water, and a living fish is placed in it. The woman sits by the hole holding her cloth spread out, and if the fish in struggling jumps into her cloth, it is held to prognosticate the birth of a son. The caste worship their family gods and totems on the 10th day of Asārh, Bhādon, Kārtik and Māgh, which are called the pure months. They employ Brāhmans for religious ceremonies. Every man has aguruwho is a Bairāgi, and he must be initiated by hisgurubefore he is allowed to marry. The caste both burn and bury the dead. They eat flesh and fish, but generally abstain from liquor and the flesh of unclean animals, though in some places they are known to eat rats and crocodiles, and also the leavings of Brāhmans. Brāhmans will take water from Koltas, and their social standing is equal to that of the good agricultural castes.

5. Occupation.The Koltas are skilful cultivators and have the usual characteristics belonging to the cultivating castes, of frugality, industry, hunger for land, and readiness to resort to any degree of litigation rather than relinquish a supposed right to it. They strongly appreciate the advantages ofirrigation and show considerable public spirit in constructing tanks which will benefit the lands of their tenants as well as their own. Nevertheless they are not popular, probably because they are generally more prosperous than their neighbours. The rising of the Khonds of Kālāhandi in 1882 was caused by their discontent at being ousted from their lands by the Koltas. The Rāja of Kālāhandi had imported a number of Kolta cultivators, and these speedily got the Khond headmen and ryots into their debt, and possessed themselves of all the best land in the Khond villages. In May 1882 the Khonds rose and slaughtered more than 80 Koltas, while 300 more were besieged in the village of Norla, the Khonds appearing with portions of the scalp and hair of the murdered victims hanging to their bows. On the arrival of a body of police which had been summoned from Vizagapatam, they dispersed, and the outbreak was soon afterwards suppressed, seven of the ringleaders being arrested, tried and hanged by the Political Officer. A settlement was made of the grievances of the Khonds and tranquillity was restored.

5. Occupation.

The Koltas are skilful cultivators and have the usual characteristics belonging to the cultivating castes, of frugality, industry, hunger for land, and readiness to resort to any degree of litigation rather than relinquish a supposed right to it. They strongly appreciate the advantages ofirrigation and show considerable public spirit in constructing tanks which will benefit the lands of their tenants as well as their own. Nevertheless they are not popular, probably because they are generally more prosperous than their neighbours. The rising of the Khonds of Kālāhandi in 1882 was caused by their discontent at being ousted from their lands by the Koltas. The Rāja of Kālāhandi had imported a number of Kolta cultivators, and these speedily got the Khond headmen and ryots into their debt, and possessed themselves of all the best land in the Khond villages. In May 1882 the Khonds rose and slaughtered more than 80 Koltas, while 300 more were besieged in the village of Norla, the Khonds appearing with portions of the scalp and hair of the murdered victims hanging to their bows. On the arrival of a body of police which had been summoned from Vizagapatam, they dispersed, and the outbreak was soon afterwards suppressed, seven of the ringleaders being arrested, tried and hanged by the Political Officer. A settlement was made of the grievances of the Khonds and tranquillity was restored.

1This article is largely compiled from an interesting paper submitted by Mr. Parmānand Tiwāri, Extra Assistant Commissioner and Assistant Settlement Officer, Sambalpur.2Phaseolus mungo.

1This article is largely compiled from an interesting paper submitted by Mr. Parmānand Tiwāri, Extra Assistant Commissioner and Assistant Settlement Officer, Sambalpur.

2Phaseolus mungo.

KomtiKomti,Komati.—The Madras caste of traders corresponding to Banias. In 1911 they numbered 11,000 persons in the Central Provinces, principally in the Chānda and Yeotmāl Districts. The Komtis claim to be of the same status as Banias and to belong to the Vaishya division of the Aryans, but this is a very doubtful pretension. Mr. Francis remarks of them:1“Three points which show them to be of Dravidian origin are their adherence to the custom of obliging a boy to marry his paternal uncle’s daughter, however unattractive she may be, a practice which is condemned by Manu; their use of the Purānic or lower ritual instead of the Vedic rites in their ceremonies; and the fact that none of the 102gotrasinto which the caste is divided are those of the twice-born, while some at any rate seem to be totemistic as they are the names of trees and plants, and the members of eachgotraabstain from touching or using the plant or tree after which theirgotrais called.” They are also of noticeably dark complexion. Komati issaid to be a corruption of Gomati, a tender of cows.2The caste have, however, a great reputation for cunning and astuteness, and hence have arisen the popular derivations ofko-mati, fox-minded, andgo-mati, cow-minded. The real meaning of the word is obscure. In Mysore the caste have the title of Setti or Chetty, which is a corruption of the Sanskrit Sreshtha, good, and in the Central Provinces their names often terminate with Appa.The Komtis have the following story about themselves: Long ago, in the Kaliyuga era, there lived a Rājpūt king of Rājahmundry, who on his travels saw a beautiful Vaishya girl and fell in love with her. Her father refused him, saying that they were of different castes. But the king persisted and would not be denied. On which the maiden determined to sacrifice herself to save her honour, and her clansmen resolved to die with her. So she told the king that she would marry him if he would agree to thehomsacrifice being performed at the ceremony. When the fire was kindled the girl threw herself on it and perished, followed by a hundred and two of her kinsmen. But the others were cowardly and fled from the fire. Before she died the girl cursed the king and her caste-fellows who had fled, and they and their families were cut off from the earth. But from those who died the hundred and two clans of the Komtis are descended, and they worship the maiden as Kanika Devī. She is considered to have been an incarnation of Pārvati and is the heroine of the Kānikya Purān. It is also said that she ordained that henceforth all Komtis should be black, so that none of their women might come to harm by being desired for their beauty as she had been. It is said that the caste look out for a specially dark girl as a bride, and think that she will bring luck to her husband and cause him to make money. Another explanation of their dark colour is that they originally lived in Ceylon, and when the island was set on fire by Rāma their faces were blackened in the smoke. The hundred and two clans have each a particular kind of flower or tree which they do not grow, eat, touch or burn, and the explanation they give of this custom is that their ancestors who went into the firewere transformed into these trees and plants. The names of the plants revered by each clan in the Central Provinces appear to be the same as in Mysore. They include the brinjal, the mango, the cotton-plant, wheat, linseed and others.The caste have several subcastes, among which are the Yajna, or those whose ancestors went into the fire; the Patti, who are apparently thread-sellers; the Jaina, or those who follow the Jain faith; and the Vidūrs, a half-caste section, who are the offspring of a Yajna father and a mother of some low caste. There is a scarcity of girls, and a bride-price of Rs. 200 to Rs. 500 is often paid. Perhaps for the same reason the obligation to give a daughter to a sister’s son is strictly enforced, and a man who refuses to do this is temporarily put out of caste. Thegotrasof the mothers of the bride and bridegroom should not be the same, and there should be no ‘Turning back of the creeper,’ as they say, that is, when a girl has married into a family, the latter cannot give a girl in marriage to that girl’s family ever afterwards. Before the regular betrothal when a girl has been selected, they appoint a day and the bridegroom’s party proceed outside the village to take the omens. If a bad omen occurs, they give up the idea of the match and choose another girl. When the bridegroom has arrived at the bride’s village, before the marriage takes place, he performs the Kāshi-Yātra or Going to Benāres. He is dressed as for a journey and carries a small handful of rice and other provisions tied up in packages in his upper garment. Thus accoutred, he sets out with a stick and umbrella on a pretended visit to Benāres, for the purpose of devoting his life to study. The parents of the bride meet him and beg him to give up the journey, promising him their daughter in marriage.3The binding function of the marriage is the tying of themangal-sūtramor piece of gold strung on a thread round the bride’s neck by the bridegroom. This gold piece is calledpushtiand must never be taken off. If a woman loses it, she should hide herself from everybody until it is replaced. On the way to her husband’s house, the bride should upset with her foot a measure of rice kepton purpose in the way, perhaps with the idea of showing that there will be so much grain in her household that she can afford to waste it.4The Komtis did not eat in kitchens in the famines, but accepted dry rations of food with great reluctance. They wear the sacred thread and have caste-marks on their foreheads. They usually rub powdered turmeric on their face and hands, and this lends an unpleasant greenish tinge to the skin.1Madras Census Report(1901), p. 162.2Mysore Ethnographic Survey, Komati caste (H. V. Nanjundayya).3H. V. Nanjundayya,loc. cit.4H. V. Nanjundayya,loc. cit.

Komti

Komti,Komati.—The Madras caste of traders corresponding to Banias. In 1911 they numbered 11,000 persons in the Central Provinces, principally in the Chānda and Yeotmāl Districts. The Komtis claim to be of the same status as Banias and to belong to the Vaishya division of the Aryans, but this is a very doubtful pretension. Mr. Francis remarks of them:1“Three points which show them to be of Dravidian origin are their adherence to the custom of obliging a boy to marry his paternal uncle’s daughter, however unattractive she may be, a practice which is condemned by Manu; their use of the Purānic or lower ritual instead of the Vedic rites in their ceremonies; and the fact that none of the 102gotrasinto which the caste is divided are those of the twice-born, while some at any rate seem to be totemistic as they are the names of trees and plants, and the members of eachgotraabstain from touching or using the plant or tree after which theirgotrais called.” They are also of noticeably dark complexion. Komati issaid to be a corruption of Gomati, a tender of cows.2The caste have, however, a great reputation for cunning and astuteness, and hence have arisen the popular derivations ofko-mati, fox-minded, andgo-mati, cow-minded. The real meaning of the word is obscure. In Mysore the caste have the title of Setti or Chetty, which is a corruption of the Sanskrit Sreshtha, good, and in the Central Provinces their names often terminate with Appa.The Komtis have the following story about themselves: Long ago, in the Kaliyuga era, there lived a Rājpūt king of Rājahmundry, who on his travels saw a beautiful Vaishya girl and fell in love with her. Her father refused him, saying that they were of different castes. But the king persisted and would not be denied. On which the maiden determined to sacrifice herself to save her honour, and her clansmen resolved to die with her. So she told the king that she would marry him if he would agree to thehomsacrifice being performed at the ceremony. When the fire was kindled the girl threw herself on it and perished, followed by a hundred and two of her kinsmen. But the others were cowardly and fled from the fire. Before she died the girl cursed the king and her caste-fellows who had fled, and they and their families were cut off from the earth. But from those who died the hundred and two clans of the Komtis are descended, and they worship the maiden as Kanika Devī. She is considered to have been an incarnation of Pārvati and is the heroine of the Kānikya Purān. It is also said that she ordained that henceforth all Komtis should be black, so that none of their women might come to harm by being desired for their beauty as she had been. It is said that the caste look out for a specially dark girl as a bride, and think that she will bring luck to her husband and cause him to make money. Another explanation of their dark colour is that they originally lived in Ceylon, and when the island was set on fire by Rāma their faces were blackened in the smoke. The hundred and two clans have each a particular kind of flower or tree which they do not grow, eat, touch or burn, and the explanation they give of this custom is that their ancestors who went into the firewere transformed into these trees and plants. The names of the plants revered by each clan in the Central Provinces appear to be the same as in Mysore. They include the brinjal, the mango, the cotton-plant, wheat, linseed and others.The caste have several subcastes, among which are the Yajna, or those whose ancestors went into the fire; the Patti, who are apparently thread-sellers; the Jaina, or those who follow the Jain faith; and the Vidūrs, a half-caste section, who are the offspring of a Yajna father and a mother of some low caste. There is a scarcity of girls, and a bride-price of Rs. 200 to Rs. 500 is often paid. Perhaps for the same reason the obligation to give a daughter to a sister’s son is strictly enforced, and a man who refuses to do this is temporarily put out of caste. Thegotrasof the mothers of the bride and bridegroom should not be the same, and there should be no ‘Turning back of the creeper,’ as they say, that is, when a girl has married into a family, the latter cannot give a girl in marriage to that girl’s family ever afterwards. Before the regular betrothal when a girl has been selected, they appoint a day and the bridegroom’s party proceed outside the village to take the omens. If a bad omen occurs, they give up the idea of the match and choose another girl. When the bridegroom has arrived at the bride’s village, before the marriage takes place, he performs the Kāshi-Yātra or Going to Benāres. He is dressed as for a journey and carries a small handful of rice and other provisions tied up in packages in his upper garment. Thus accoutred, he sets out with a stick and umbrella on a pretended visit to Benāres, for the purpose of devoting his life to study. The parents of the bride meet him and beg him to give up the journey, promising him their daughter in marriage.3The binding function of the marriage is the tying of themangal-sūtramor piece of gold strung on a thread round the bride’s neck by the bridegroom. This gold piece is calledpushtiand must never be taken off. If a woman loses it, she should hide herself from everybody until it is replaced. On the way to her husband’s house, the bride should upset with her foot a measure of rice kepton purpose in the way, perhaps with the idea of showing that there will be so much grain in her household that she can afford to waste it.4The Komtis did not eat in kitchens in the famines, but accepted dry rations of food with great reluctance. They wear the sacred thread and have caste-marks on their foreheads. They usually rub powdered turmeric on their face and hands, and this lends an unpleasant greenish tinge to the skin.

The Komtis have the following story about themselves: Long ago, in the Kaliyuga era, there lived a Rājpūt king of Rājahmundry, who on his travels saw a beautiful Vaishya girl and fell in love with her. Her father refused him, saying that they were of different castes. But the king persisted and would not be denied. On which the maiden determined to sacrifice herself to save her honour, and her clansmen resolved to die with her. So she told the king that she would marry him if he would agree to thehomsacrifice being performed at the ceremony. When the fire was kindled the girl threw herself on it and perished, followed by a hundred and two of her kinsmen. But the others were cowardly and fled from the fire. Before she died the girl cursed the king and her caste-fellows who had fled, and they and their families were cut off from the earth. But from those who died the hundred and two clans of the Komtis are descended, and they worship the maiden as Kanika Devī. She is considered to have been an incarnation of Pārvati and is the heroine of the Kānikya Purān. It is also said that she ordained that henceforth all Komtis should be black, so that none of their women might come to harm by being desired for their beauty as she had been. It is said that the caste look out for a specially dark girl as a bride, and think that she will bring luck to her husband and cause him to make money. Another explanation of their dark colour is that they originally lived in Ceylon, and when the island was set on fire by Rāma their faces were blackened in the smoke. The hundred and two clans have each a particular kind of flower or tree which they do not grow, eat, touch or burn, and the explanation they give of this custom is that their ancestors who went into the firewere transformed into these trees and plants. The names of the plants revered by each clan in the Central Provinces appear to be the same as in Mysore. They include the brinjal, the mango, the cotton-plant, wheat, linseed and others.

The caste have several subcastes, among which are the Yajna, or those whose ancestors went into the fire; the Patti, who are apparently thread-sellers; the Jaina, or those who follow the Jain faith; and the Vidūrs, a half-caste section, who are the offspring of a Yajna father and a mother of some low caste. There is a scarcity of girls, and a bride-price of Rs. 200 to Rs. 500 is often paid. Perhaps for the same reason the obligation to give a daughter to a sister’s son is strictly enforced, and a man who refuses to do this is temporarily put out of caste. Thegotrasof the mothers of the bride and bridegroom should not be the same, and there should be no ‘Turning back of the creeper,’ as they say, that is, when a girl has married into a family, the latter cannot give a girl in marriage to that girl’s family ever afterwards. Before the regular betrothal when a girl has been selected, they appoint a day and the bridegroom’s party proceed outside the village to take the omens. If a bad omen occurs, they give up the idea of the match and choose another girl. When the bridegroom has arrived at the bride’s village, before the marriage takes place, he performs the Kāshi-Yātra or Going to Benāres. He is dressed as for a journey and carries a small handful of rice and other provisions tied up in packages in his upper garment. Thus accoutred, he sets out with a stick and umbrella on a pretended visit to Benāres, for the purpose of devoting his life to study. The parents of the bride meet him and beg him to give up the journey, promising him their daughter in marriage.3The binding function of the marriage is the tying of themangal-sūtramor piece of gold strung on a thread round the bride’s neck by the bridegroom. This gold piece is calledpushtiand must never be taken off. If a woman loses it, she should hide herself from everybody until it is replaced. On the way to her husband’s house, the bride should upset with her foot a measure of rice kepton purpose in the way, perhaps with the idea of showing that there will be so much grain in her household that she can afford to waste it.4The Komtis did not eat in kitchens in the famines, but accepted dry rations of food with great reluctance. They wear the sacred thread and have caste-marks on their foreheads. They usually rub powdered turmeric on their face and hands, and this lends an unpleasant greenish tinge to the skin.

1Madras Census Report(1901), p. 162.2Mysore Ethnographic Survey, Komati caste (H. V. Nanjundayya).3H. V. Nanjundayya,loc. cit.4H. V. Nanjundayya,loc. cit.

1Madras Census Report(1901), p. 162.

2Mysore Ethnographic Survey, Komati caste (H. V. Nanjundayya).

3H. V. Nanjundayya,loc. cit.

4H. V. Nanjundayya,loc. cit.

Kori1. Description of the caste.Kori.—The Hindu weaving caste of northern India, as distinct from the Julāhas or Momins who are Muhammadans. In 1911 the Koris numbered 35,000 persons, and resided mainly in Jubbulpore, Saugor and Damoh. Mr. Crooke states that their name has been derived from that of the Kol caste, of whom they have by some been assumed to be an offshoot.1The Koris themselves trace their origin from Kabīr, the apostle of the weaving castes. He, they say, met a Brāhman girl on the bank of a tank, and, being saluted by her, replied, ‘May God give you a son.’ She objected that she was a virgin and unmarried, but Kabīr answered that his word could not fail; and a boy was born out of her hand, whom she left on the bank of the tank. He was suckled by a heifer and subsequently adopted by a weaver and was the ancestor of the Koris. Therefore the caste say of themselves: “He was born of an undefiled vessel, and free from passion; he lowered his body and entered the ocean of existence.” This legend is a mere perversion of the story of Kabīr himself, designed to give the Koris a distinguished pedigree. In the Central Provinces the caste appears to be almost entirely a functional group, made up of members of other castes who were either expelled from their own community or of their own accord adopted the profession of weaving. The principal subdivision is the Ahirwār, taking its name from the old town of Ahar in the Bulandshahr District. Among the others are Kushta (Koshta), Chadār, Katia, Mehra, Dhīmar and Kotwār, all of which, except the last, are the names of distinct castes; while the Kotwārs represent members of the caste who became villagewatchmen, and considering themselves somewhat superior to the others, have formed a separate subcaste. None of the subcastes will eat together or intermarry, and this fact is in favour of the supposition that they are distinct groups amalgamated into a caste by their common profession of weaving. The caste seem to have a fairly close connection with Chamārs in some localities. A number of Koris belong to the sect of Rohidās, and some of their family names are the same, while a Chamār will often call himself a Kori to conceal his identity. For the purposes of marriage they are divided into a number ofbainksor septs, the names of which are territorial or totemistic. Among the latter may be mentioned the Kulhariya fromkulhāri, an axe, and the Barmaiya from thebaror banyan tree; members of these septs pay reverence to an axe and a banyan tree respectively at weddings.2. MarriagesThe marriage of persons belonging to the same sept and also that of first cousins is prohibited, while a family will not, if they can help it, marry a daughter into the sept from which a son has taken a wife. The rule of exogamy is thus rather wide in its action, as is often found to be the case among the lowest and most primitive castes. At the betrothal the father of the girl produces a red cloth folded up, and on this the boy’s father lays a rupee. This is passed round to five members of the caste who cry, ‘So-and-so’s daughter and So-and-so’s son,Har bolo(In the name of Vishnu).’ This completes the betrothal, the father of the boy giving three rupees for a feast to the caste-fellows. A girl who is made pregnant by a man of the caste or any higher caste may be disposed of in marriage as a widow, but if the man is of a lower caste than the Koris she is finally expelled. Thelaganor paper fixing the date of the marriage is written by a Brāhman and must not be shown to the bridegroom in the interval, lest he should grow as thin as the paper bearing his name. While he is being anointed and rubbed with turmeric the bridegroom is wrapped in a black blanket, and his bridal dress consists of a yellow shirt, pyjamas of red cloth, and red shoes, while he carries in his hand a dagger, nut-cracker or knife. As he leaves his house to proceed to the bride’s village he steps on two clay lamp-saucers, crushingthem with his foot. When the party arrives the fathers of the bride and bridegroom sit together with a pot full of curds between them and give each other to drink from it as a mark of amity. The binding portion of the marriage consists in walking round the sacred pole and the other ceremonies customary in the northern Districts are performed. The bride does not return with her husband unless she is adult; otherwise the usualgaunaceremony is held subsequently. When she arrives at her husband’s house she makes prints of her hands smeared with turmeric on the wall before entering it for the first time. The remarriage of widows is freely permitted; the second husband takes the widow to his house after sunset, and here she is washed by the barber’s wife and puts on glass bangles again, and new jewellery and clothes, if any are provided. No married woman may see her as she enters the house. The husband must give a feast to the caste-fellows, or at least to thepanchāyator committee. Divorce is freely permitted on payment of a fine to thepanchāyat. When a man takes a second wife asotor silver image of the deceased first wife is hung round her neck when she enters his house, and is worshipped on ceremonial occasions.3. Customs at birth and death.A child is named on the day after its birth by some woman of the caste; a Brāhman is asked whether the day is auspicious, and he also chooses the name. If this is the same as that of any living relation or one recently dead, another name is given for ordinary use. A daughter-in-law is usually given a new name when she goes to her husband’s house, such as Badi (elder), Manjhli (second son’s wife), Bāri (innocent or simple), Jabalpurwāli (belonging to Jubbulpore), and so on. If a woman has borne only female children, the umbilical cord is sometimes put in a small earthen pot and buried at a place where three cross-roads meet, and it is supposed that the birth of a male child will follow. Children whose shaving ceremony has not been performed, and adults dying from snake-bite, cholera, smallpox or leprosy, are buried, while others are burnt. Children are carried to the grave in their parents’ arms. On the return of a funeral party, liquor, provided by the relatives of the family, is drunk at the house of the deceased.4. Religion.The Koris worship the ordinary Hindu deities and especially Devi. They become inspired by this goddess at the Jawara festival and pierce their cheeks with iron needles and tridents. Every family has a household god or Kul-Deo to whom a small platform is erected; offerings other than animal sacrifices are made to him on festivals and on the celebration of a marriage.5. Occupation and social status.Those of the caste who are Kabīrpanthis abstain from animal food, but the others eat the flesh of most animals except tame pig, and also drink liquor. Their social status is very low, but they are not usually considered as impure. Their women are tattooed on the right arm before marriage, and on the left after arrival at their husband’s house. Like several other low castes, they do not wear nose-rings. The principal occupation of the caste is the weaving of coarse country cloth, but as the trade of the hand-weaver is nowadays precarious and unprofitable many of them have forsaken it and taken to cultivation or daily labour. Mr. Nesfield says of them: “The material used by the Kori is the thread supplied by the Dhunia (Bahna); and thus the weaver caste has risen imperceptibly out of that of the cotton-carder, in the same way as the cobbler caste has risen out of the tanner. The art of weaving and plaiting threads is very much the same process as that of plaiting osiers, reeds and grass, and converting them into baskets and mats. This circumstance explains the puzzle why the weaver caste in India stands at such a low social level. He, however, ranks several degrees above the Chamār or tanner; as, among Hindus, herbs and their products (cotton being of course included) are invariably considered pure, while the hides of dead animals are regarded as a pollution.” This argument is part of Mr. Nesfield’s theory that the rank of each caste depends on the period of civilisation at which its occupation came into being, which is scarcely tenable. The reason why the weavers rank so low may, perhaps, be that the Aryans when they settled in villages in northern India despised all handicrafts as derogatory to their dignity. These were left to the subject tribes, and as a large number of weavers would be required, the industry would necessarily be embraced by the bulk of those who formed the loweststratum of the population, and has ever since remained in their hands. If cloth was first woven from the tree-cotton plant growing wild, the business of picking and weaving it would naturally have fallen to the non-Aryan jungle tribes, who afterwards became the impure menial and labouring castes of the villages.The weaver is the proverbial butt of Hindu ridicule, like the tailor in England. ‘One Gadaria will account for ten weavers’; ‘Four weavers will spoil any business.’ The following story also illustrates their stupidity: Twenty weavers got into a field ofkānsgrass. They thought it was a tank and began swimming. When they got out they said, “Let us all count and see how many we are, in case anybody has been left in the tank.” They counted and each left out himself, so that they all made out nineteen. Just then a Sowār came by, and they cried, to him, ‘Oh, Sir, we were twenty, and one of us has been drowned in this tank.’ The Sowār seeing that there was only a field of grass, counted them and found there were twenty; so he said, ‘What will you give me if I find the twentieth?’ They promised him a piece of cloth, on which the Sowār, taking his whip, lashed each of the weavers across the shoulders, counting as he did so. When he had counted twenty he took the cloth and rode away. Another story is that a weaver bought a buffalo for twenty rupees. His brother then came to him and wanted a share in the buffalo. They did not know how he should be given a share until at last the weaver said, “You go and pay the man who sold me the buffalo twenty rupees; and then you will have given as much as I have and will be half-owner of the buffalo.” Which was done. The ridicule attaching to the weaver’s occupation is due to its being considered proper for a woman rather than a man, and similar jests were current at the tailor’s expense in England. In India the weaver probably takes the tailor’s place because woven and not sewn clothes have hitherto been generally worn, as explained in the article on Darzi.1Tribes and Castes of the North-West Provinces, iii. 316.

1. Description of the caste.Kori.—The Hindu weaving caste of northern India, as distinct from the Julāhas or Momins who are Muhammadans. In 1911 the Koris numbered 35,000 persons, and resided mainly in Jubbulpore, Saugor and Damoh. Mr. Crooke states that their name has been derived from that of the Kol caste, of whom they have by some been assumed to be an offshoot.1The Koris themselves trace their origin from Kabīr, the apostle of the weaving castes. He, they say, met a Brāhman girl on the bank of a tank, and, being saluted by her, replied, ‘May God give you a son.’ She objected that she was a virgin and unmarried, but Kabīr answered that his word could not fail; and a boy was born out of her hand, whom she left on the bank of the tank. He was suckled by a heifer and subsequently adopted by a weaver and was the ancestor of the Koris. Therefore the caste say of themselves: “He was born of an undefiled vessel, and free from passion; he lowered his body and entered the ocean of existence.” This legend is a mere perversion of the story of Kabīr himself, designed to give the Koris a distinguished pedigree. In the Central Provinces the caste appears to be almost entirely a functional group, made up of members of other castes who were either expelled from their own community or of their own accord adopted the profession of weaving. The principal subdivision is the Ahirwār, taking its name from the old town of Ahar in the Bulandshahr District. Among the others are Kushta (Koshta), Chadār, Katia, Mehra, Dhīmar and Kotwār, all of which, except the last, are the names of distinct castes; while the Kotwārs represent members of the caste who became villagewatchmen, and considering themselves somewhat superior to the others, have formed a separate subcaste. None of the subcastes will eat together or intermarry, and this fact is in favour of the supposition that they are distinct groups amalgamated into a caste by their common profession of weaving. The caste seem to have a fairly close connection with Chamārs in some localities. A number of Koris belong to the sect of Rohidās, and some of their family names are the same, while a Chamār will often call himself a Kori to conceal his identity. For the purposes of marriage they are divided into a number ofbainksor septs, the names of which are territorial or totemistic. Among the latter may be mentioned the Kulhariya fromkulhāri, an axe, and the Barmaiya from thebaror banyan tree; members of these septs pay reverence to an axe and a banyan tree respectively at weddings.

1. Description of the caste.

Kori.—The Hindu weaving caste of northern India, as distinct from the Julāhas or Momins who are Muhammadans. In 1911 the Koris numbered 35,000 persons, and resided mainly in Jubbulpore, Saugor and Damoh. Mr. Crooke states that their name has been derived from that of the Kol caste, of whom they have by some been assumed to be an offshoot.1The Koris themselves trace their origin from Kabīr, the apostle of the weaving castes. He, they say, met a Brāhman girl on the bank of a tank, and, being saluted by her, replied, ‘May God give you a son.’ She objected that she was a virgin and unmarried, but Kabīr answered that his word could not fail; and a boy was born out of her hand, whom she left on the bank of the tank. He was suckled by a heifer and subsequently adopted by a weaver and was the ancestor of the Koris. Therefore the caste say of themselves: “He was born of an undefiled vessel, and free from passion; he lowered his body and entered the ocean of existence.” This legend is a mere perversion of the story of Kabīr himself, designed to give the Koris a distinguished pedigree. In the Central Provinces the caste appears to be almost entirely a functional group, made up of members of other castes who were either expelled from their own community or of their own accord adopted the profession of weaving. The principal subdivision is the Ahirwār, taking its name from the old town of Ahar in the Bulandshahr District. Among the others are Kushta (Koshta), Chadār, Katia, Mehra, Dhīmar and Kotwār, all of which, except the last, are the names of distinct castes; while the Kotwārs represent members of the caste who became villagewatchmen, and considering themselves somewhat superior to the others, have formed a separate subcaste. None of the subcastes will eat together or intermarry, and this fact is in favour of the supposition that they are distinct groups amalgamated into a caste by their common profession of weaving. The caste seem to have a fairly close connection with Chamārs in some localities. A number of Koris belong to the sect of Rohidās, and some of their family names are the same, while a Chamār will often call himself a Kori to conceal his identity. For the purposes of marriage they are divided into a number ofbainksor septs, the names of which are territorial or totemistic. Among the latter may be mentioned the Kulhariya fromkulhāri, an axe, and the Barmaiya from thebaror banyan tree; members of these septs pay reverence to an axe and a banyan tree respectively at weddings.

2. MarriagesThe marriage of persons belonging to the same sept and also that of first cousins is prohibited, while a family will not, if they can help it, marry a daughter into the sept from which a son has taken a wife. The rule of exogamy is thus rather wide in its action, as is often found to be the case among the lowest and most primitive castes. At the betrothal the father of the girl produces a red cloth folded up, and on this the boy’s father lays a rupee. This is passed round to five members of the caste who cry, ‘So-and-so’s daughter and So-and-so’s son,Har bolo(In the name of Vishnu).’ This completes the betrothal, the father of the boy giving three rupees for a feast to the caste-fellows. A girl who is made pregnant by a man of the caste or any higher caste may be disposed of in marriage as a widow, but if the man is of a lower caste than the Koris she is finally expelled. Thelaganor paper fixing the date of the marriage is written by a Brāhman and must not be shown to the bridegroom in the interval, lest he should grow as thin as the paper bearing his name. While he is being anointed and rubbed with turmeric the bridegroom is wrapped in a black blanket, and his bridal dress consists of a yellow shirt, pyjamas of red cloth, and red shoes, while he carries in his hand a dagger, nut-cracker or knife. As he leaves his house to proceed to the bride’s village he steps on two clay lamp-saucers, crushingthem with his foot. When the party arrives the fathers of the bride and bridegroom sit together with a pot full of curds between them and give each other to drink from it as a mark of amity. The binding portion of the marriage consists in walking round the sacred pole and the other ceremonies customary in the northern Districts are performed. The bride does not return with her husband unless she is adult; otherwise the usualgaunaceremony is held subsequently. When she arrives at her husband’s house she makes prints of her hands smeared with turmeric on the wall before entering it for the first time. The remarriage of widows is freely permitted; the second husband takes the widow to his house after sunset, and here she is washed by the barber’s wife and puts on glass bangles again, and new jewellery and clothes, if any are provided. No married woman may see her as she enters the house. The husband must give a feast to the caste-fellows, or at least to thepanchāyator committee. Divorce is freely permitted on payment of a fine to thepanchāyat. When a man takes a second wife asotor silver image of the deceased first wife is hung round her neck when she enters his house, and is worshipped on ceremonial occasions.

2. Marriages

The marriage of persons belonging to the same sept and also that of first cousins is prohibited, while a family will not, if they can help it, marry a daughter into the sept from which a son has taken a wife. The rule of exogamy is thus rather wide in its action, as is often found to be the case among the lowest and most primitive castes. At the betrothal the father of the girl produces a red cloth folded up, and on this the boy’s father lays a rupee. This is passed round to five members of the caste who cry, ‘So-and-so’s daughter and So-and-so’s son,Har bolo(In the name of Vishnu).’ This completes the betrothal, the father of the boy giving three rupees for a feast to the caste-fellows. A girl who is made pregnant by a man of the caste or any higher caste may be disposed of in marriage as a widow, but if the man is of a lower caste than the Koris she is finally expelled. Thelaganor paper fixing the date of the marriage is written by a Brāhman and must not be shown to the bridegroom in the interval, lest he should grow as thin as the paper bearing his name. While he is being anointed and rubbed with turmeric the bridegroom is wrapped in a black blanket, and his bridal dress consists of a yellow shirt, pyjamas of red cloth, and red shoes, while he carries in his hand a dagger, nut-cracker or knife. As he leaves his house to proceed to the bride’s village he steps on two clay lamp-saucers, crushingthem with his foot. When the party arrives the fathers of the bride and bridegroom sit together with a pot full of curds between them and give each other to drink from it as a mark of amity. The binding portion of the marriage consists in walking round the sacred pole and the other ceremonies customary in the northern Districts are performed. The bride does not return with her husband unless she is adult; otherwise the usualgaunaceremony is held subsequently. When she arrives at her husband’s house she makes prints of her hands smeared with turmeric on the wall before entering it for the first time. The remarriage of widows is freely permitted; the second husband takes the widow to his house after sunset, and here she is washed by the barber’s wife and puts on glass bangles again, and new jewellery and clothes, if any are provided. No married woman may see her as she enters the house. The husband must give a feast to the caste-fellows, or at least to thepanchāyator committee. Divorce is freely permitted on payment of a fine to thepanchāyat. When a man takes a second wife asotor silver image of the deceased first wife is hung round her neck when she enters his house, and is worshipped on ceremonial occasions.

3. Customs at birth and death.A child is named on the day after its birth by some woman of the caste; a Brāhman is asked whether the day is auspicious, and he also chooses the name. If this is the same as that of any living relation or one recently dead, another name is given for ordinary use. A daughter-in-law is usually given a new name when she goes to her husband’s house, such as Badi (elder), Manjhli (second son’s wife), Bāri (innocent or simple), Jabalpurwāli (belonging to Jubbulpore), and so on. If a woman has borne only female children, the umbilical cord is sometimes put in a small earthen pot and buried at a place where three cross-roads meet, and it is supposed that the birth of a male child will follow. Children whose shaving ceremony has not been performed, and adults dying from snake-bite, cholera, smallpox or leprosy, are buried, while others are burnt. Children are carried to the grave in their parents’ arms. On the return of a funeral party, liquor, provided by the relatives of the family, is drunk at the house of the deceased.

3. Customs at birth and death.

A child is named on the day after its birth by some woman of the caste; a Brāhman is asked whether the day is auspicious, and he also chooses the name. If this is the same as that of any living relation or one recently dead, another name is given for ordinary use. A daughter-in-law is usually given a new name when she goes to her husband’s house, such as Badi (elder), Manjhli (second son’s wife), Bāri (innocent or simple), Jabalpurwāli (belonging to Jubbulpore), and so on. If a woman has borne only female children, the umbilical cord is sometimes put in a small earthen pot and buried at a place where three cross-roads meet, and it is supposed that the birth of a male child will follow. Children whose shaving ceremony has not been performed, and adults dying from snake-bite, cholera, smallpox or leprosy, are buried, while others are burnt. Children are carried to the grave in their parents’ arms. On the return of a funeral party, liquor, provided by the relatives of the family, is drunk at the house of the deceased.

4. Religion.The Koris worship the ordinary Hindu deities and especially Devi. They become inspired by this goddess at the Jawara festival and pierce their cheeks with iron needles and tridents. Every family has a household god or Kul-Deo to whom a small platform is erected; offerings other than animal sacrifices are made to him on festivals and on the celebration of a marriage.

4. Religion.

The Koris worship the ordinary Hindu deities and especially Devi. They become inspired by this goddess at the Jawara festival and pierce their cheeks with iron needles and tridents. Every family has a household god or Kul-Deo to whom a small platform is erected; offerings other than animal sacrifices are made to him on festivals and on the celebration of a marriage.

5. Occupation and social status.Those of the caste who are Kabīrpanthis abstain from animal food, but the others eat the flesh of most animals except tame pig, and also drink liquor. Their social status is very low, but they are not usually considered as impure. Their women are tattooed on the right arm before marriage, and on the left after arrival at their husband’s house. Like several other low castes, they do not wear nose-rings. The principal occupation of the caste is the weaving of coarse country cloth, but as the trade of the hand-weaver is nowadays precarious and unprofitable many of them have forsaken it and taken to cultivation or daily labour. Mr. Nesfield says of them: “The material used by the Kori is the thread supplied by the Dhunia (Bahna); and thus the weaver caste has risen imperceptibly out of that of the cotton-carder, in the same way as the cobbler caste has risen out of the tanner. The art of weaving and plaiting threads is very much the same process as that of plaiting osiers, reeds and grass, and converting them into baskets and mats. This circumstance explains the puzzle why the weaver caste in India stands at such a low social level. He, however, ranks several degrees above the Chamār or tanner; as, among Hindus, herbs and their products (cotton being of course included) are invariably considered pure, while the hides of dead animals are regarded as a pollution.” This argument is part of Mr. Nesfield’s theory that the rank of each caste depends on the period of civilisation at which its occupation came into being, which is scarcely tenable. The reason why the weavers rank so low may, perhaps, be that the Aryans when they settled in villages in northern India despised all handicrafts as derogatory to their dignity. These were left to the subject tribes, and as a large number of weavers would be required, the industry would necessarily be embraced by the bulk of those who formed the loweststratum of the population, and has ever since remained in their hands. If cloth was first woven from the tree-cotton plant growing wild, the business of picking and weaving it would naturally have fallen to the non-Aryan jungle tribes, who afterwards became the impure menial and labouring castes of the villages.The weaver is the proverbial butt of Hindu ridicule, like the tailor in England. ‘One Gadaria will account for ten weavers’; ‘Four weavers will spoil any business.’ The following story also illustrates their stupidity: Twenty weavers got into a field ofkānsgrass. They thought it was a tank and began swimming. When they got out they said, “Let us all count and see how many we are, in case anybody has been left in the tank.” They counted and each left out himself, so that they all made out nineteen. Just then a Sowār came by, and they cried, to him, ‘Oh, Sir, we were twenty, and one of us has been drowned in this tank.’ The Sowār seeing that there was only a field of grass, counted them and found there were twenty; so he said, ‘What will you give me if I find the twentieth?’ They promised him a piece of cloth, on which the Sowār, taking his whip, lashed each of the weavers across the shoulders, counting as he did so. When he had counted twenty he took the cloth and rode away. Another story is that a weaver bought a buffalo for twenty rupees. His brother then came to him and wanted a share in the buffalo. They did not know how he should be given a share until at last the weaver said, “You go and pay the man who sold me the buffalo twenty rupees; and then you will have given as much as I have and will be half-owner of the buffalo.” Which was done. The ridicule attaching to the weaver’s occupation is due to its being considered proper for a woman rather than a man, and similar jests were current at the tailor’s expense in England. In India the weaver probably takes the tailor’s place because woven and not sewn clothes have hitherto been generally worn, as explained in the article on Darzi.

5. Occupation and social status.

Those of the caste who are Kabīrpanthis abstain from animal food, but the others eat the flesh of most animals except tame pig, and also drink liquor. Their social status is very low, but they are not usually considered as impure. Their women are tattooed on the right arm before marriage, and on the left after arrival at their husband’s house. Like several other low castes, they do not wear nose-rings. The principal occupation of the caste is the weaving of coarse country cloth, but as the trade of the hand-weaver is nowadays precarious and unprofitable many of them have forsaken it and taken to cultivation or daily labour. Mr. Nesfield says of them: “The material used by the Kori is the thread supplied by the Dhunia (Bahna); and thus the weaver caste has risen imperceptibly out of that of the cotton-carder, in the same way as the cobbler caste has risen out of the tanner. The art of weaving and plaiting threads is very much the same process as that of plaiting osiers, reeds and grass, and converting them into baskets and mats. This circumstance explains the puzzle why the weaver caste in India stands at such a low social level. He, however, ranks several degrees above the Chamār or tanner; as, among Hindus, herbs and their products (cotton being of course included) are invariably considered pure, while the hides of dead animals are regarded as a pollution.” This argument is part of Mr. Nesfield’s theory that the rank of each caste depends on the period of civilisation at which its occupation came into being, which is scarcely tenable. The reason why the weavers rank so low may, perhaps, be that the Aryans when they settled in villages in northern India despised all handicrafts as derogatory to their dignity. These were left to the subject tribes, and as a large number of weavers would be required, the industry would necessarily be embraced by the bulk of those who formed the loweststratum of the population, and has ever since remained in their hands. If cloth was first woven from the tree-cotton plant growing wild, the business of picking and weaving it would naturally have fallen to the non-Aryan jungle tribes, who afterwards became the impure menial and labouring castes of the villages.The weaver is the proverbial butt of Hindu ridicule, like the tailor in England. ‘One Gadaria will account for ten weavers’; ‘Four weavers will spoil any business.’ The following story also illustrates their stupidity: Twenty weavers got into a field ofkānsgrass. They thought it was a tank and began swimming. When they got out they said, “Let us all count and see how many we are, in case anybody has been left in the tank.” They counted and each left out himself, so that they all made out nineteen. Just then a Sowār came by, and they cried, to him, ‘Oh, Sir, we were twenty, and one of us has been drowned in this tank.’ The Sowār seeing that there was only a field of grass, counted them and found there were twenty; so he said, ‘What will you give me if I find the twentieth?’ They promised him a piece of cloth, on which the Sowār, taking his whip, lashed each of the weavers across the shoulders, counting as he did so. When he had counted twenty he took the cloth and rode away. Another story is that a weaver bought a buffalo for twenty rupees. His brother then came to him and wanted a share in the buffalo. They did not know how he should be given a share until at last the weaver said, “You go and pay the man who sold me the buffalo twenty rupees; and then you will have given as much as I have and will be half-owner of the buffalo.” Which was done. The ridicule attaching to the weaver’s occupation is due to its being considered proper for a woman rather than a man, and similar jests were current at the tailor’s expense in England. In India the weaver probably takes the tailor’s place because woven and not sewn clothes have hitherto been generally worn, as explained in the article on Darzi.

The weaver is the proverbial butt of Hindu ridicule, like the tailor in England. ‘One Gadaria will account for ten weavers’; ‘Four weavers will spoil any business.’ The following story also illustrates their stupidity: Twenty weavers got into a field ofkānsgrass. They thought it was a tank and began swimming. When they got out they said, “Let us all count and see how many we are, in case anybody has been left in the tank.” They counted and each left out himself, so that they all made out nineteen. Just then a Sowār came by, and they cried, to him, ‘Oh, Sir, we were twenty, and one of us has been drowned in this tank.’ The Sowār seeing that there was only a field of grass, counted them and found there were twenty; so he said, ‘What will you give me if I find the twentieth?’ They promised him a piece of cloth, on which the Sowār, taking his whip, lashed each of the weavers across the shoulders, counting as he did so. When he had counted twenty he took the cloth and rode away. Another story is that a weaver bought a buffalo for twenty rupees. His brother then came to him and wanted a share in the buffalo. They did not know how he should be given a share until at last the weaver said, “You go and pay the man who sold me the buffalo twenty rupees; and then you will have given as much as I have and will be half-owner of the buffalo.” Which was done. The ridicule attaching to the weaver’s occupation is due to its being considered proper for a woman rather than a man, and similar jests were current at the tailor’s expense in England. In India the weaver probably takes the tailor’s place because woven and not sewn clothes have hitherto been generally worn, as explained in the article on Darzi.

1Tribes and Castes of the North-West Provinces, iii. 316.

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