The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India Volume II Part 50

The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India Volume II Part 50

[164] Bhattacharya, _Hindu Castes and Sects_, p. 207.

[165] This article is based on papers by Mr. Pancham Lal, Naib-Tahsildar Sihora, and Munshi Kanhya Lal, of the Gazetteer office.

[166] See also notice of Benaikias in article on Vidur.

[167] _Bombay Gazetteer_, vol. xvii. p. 81.

[168] _Bombay Gazetteer_, _Hindus of Gujarat_, p. 99.

[169] _Ibidem._

[170] _Ibidem._ p. 98.

[171] _Merinda citrifolia_, see art. Alia.

[172] See article.

[173] This article is based princ.i.p.ally on a _Monograph on the Banjara Clan_, by Mr. N. F. c.u.mberlege of the Berar Police, believed to have been first written in 1869 and reprinted in 1882; notes on the Banjaras written by Colonel Mackenzie and printed in the _Berar Census Report_ (1881) and the _Pioneer_ newspaper (communicated by Mrs. Horsburgh); Major Gunthorpe's _Criminal Tribes_; papers by Mr. M. E. Khare, Extra-a.s.sistant Commissioner, Chanda; Mr. Narayan Rao, Tahr., Betul; Mr. Mukund Rao, Manager, Pachmarhi Estate; and information on the caste collected in Yeotmal and Nimar.

[174] Mr. Crooke's _Tribes and Castes_, art. Banjara, para. 1.

[175] _Berar Census Report_ (1881), p. 150.

[176] _Ibidem_, para. 2, quoting Dowson's Elliot, v. 100.

[177] Khan Bahadur Fazalullah Lutfullah Faridi in the _Bombay Gazetteer_ (_Muhammadans of Gujarat_, p. 86) quoting from General Briggs (_Transactions Bombay Literary Society_, vol. i. 183) says that "as carriers of grain for Muhammadan armies the Banjaras have figured in history from the days of Muhammad Tughlak (A.D. 1340) to those of Aurangzeb."

[178] Sir H. M. Elliot's _Supplemental Glossary_.

[179] _Monograph on the Banjara Clan_, p. 8.

[180] _Hindus of Gujarat_, p. 214 _et seq._

[181] _Rajasthan_, i. 602.

[182] _Ibidem_, ii. 570, 573.

[183] This custom does not necessarily indicate a special connection between the Banjaras and Charans, as it is common to several castes in Rajputana; but it indicates that the Banjaras came from Rajputana. Banjara men also frequently wear the hair long, down to the neck, which is another custom of Rajputana.

[184] _Jungle Life in India_, p. 517.

[185] _Berar Census Report_ (1881), p. 152.

[186] _Bombay Gazetteer, Hindus of Gujarat._

[187] _Letter on the Marathas_ (1798), p. 67, _India Office Tracts._

[188] _Army of the Indian Mughals_, p. 192.

[189] _Monograph_, p. 14, and _Berar Census Report_ (1881) (Kitts), p. 151.

[190] These are held to have been descendants of the Bhika Rathor referred to by Colonel Mackenzie above.

[191] See note 3, p. 168.

[192] General Briggs quoted by Mr. Faridi in _Bombay Gazetteer, Muhammadans of Gujarat_, p. 86.

[193] A. Wellesley (1800), quoted in Mr. Crooke's edition of _Hobson-Jobson_, art. Brinjarry.

[194] c.u.mberlege, _loc. cit._

[195] c.u.mberlege, pp. 28, 29.

[196] Elliot's _Races_, quoted by Mr. Crooke, _ibidem._

[197] c.u.mberlege, pp. 4, 5.

[198] c.u.mberlege, _l.c._

[199] This custom is noticed in the article on Khairwar.

[200] c.u.mberlege, p. 18.

[201] Mr. Hira Lal suggests that this custom may have something to do with the phrase _Athara jat ke gayi_, or 'She has gone to the eighteen castes,' used of a woman who has been turned out of the community. This phrase seems, however, to be a euphemism, eighteen castes being a term of indefinite mult.i.tude for any or no caste. The number eighteen may be selected from the same unknown a.s.sociation which causes the goat to be cut into eighteen pieces.

[202] _Ethnographic Notes in Southern India_, p. 344, quoting from Moor's _Narrative of Little's Detachment_.

[203] c.u.mberlege, p. 35.

[204] _Berar Census Report_, 1881.

[205] c.u.mberlege, p. 21.

[206] The following instance is taken from Mr. Balfour's article, 'Migratory Tribes of Central India,' in _J. A. S. B._, new series, vol. xiii., quoted in Mr. Crooke's _Tribes and Castes_.

[207] From the Sanskrit Hatya-adhya, meaning 'That which it is most sinful to slay' (Balfour).

[208] _Monograph_, p. 12.

[209] _Asiatic Studies_, i. p. 118 (ed. 1899).

[210] c.u.mberlege, p. 23 _et seq._ The description of witchcraft is wholly reproduced from his _Monograph_.

[211] His motive being the fine inflicted on the witch's family.

[212] The fruit of _Buchanania latifolia_.

[213] _Ethnographic Notes in Southern India_, p. 507, quoting from the Rev. J. Cain, _Ind. Ant._ viii. (1879).