The tribes and castes of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, Volume 2 (of 4)Crooke, William
History
The tribes and castes of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, Volume 2 (of 4)
Crooke, William
Caste -- India -- History; Hindus -- India; Tribes -- India -- History
[Marriage customs.] 4. They marry their children in infancy. To the
east polygamy is allowed to the extent of having two wives at one time
if the first be barren. To the west, though polygamy is tolerated, it
is said to be rare. There is nothing peculiar about their marriages,
which are conducted in the orthodox way. Intertribal adultery seems to
be little regarded, but an intrigue with a stranger involves expulsion
from caste. There is among the Hindu branch at least no regular form of
divorce, but a man with the leave of the tribal council can expel his
wife for infidelity. Divorced women can marry again with permission of
the tribal council. The levirate is recognized, but is not compulsory
on the widow.
[Religion.] 5. To the east of the Province they very seldom belong to
any recognised Hindu sect. Devi and the Pânchonpîr are their tribal
deities. Devi is worshipped on the 14th of Phâlgun with an offering of
cocoanuts, sweets (batâsha, halwa), cakes (pûri) and garlands of
flowers. The Pânchonpîr are honoured with sweet cakes (malîda) and
loin-cloths, which the worshippers put on after offering them to the
godlings. To the West the Relis are Nânakpanthis and the Golas
Vaishnavas. The Relis worship Nânak especially on the Ganga Sâtwîn and
at the Basant Panchami, when the halwa sweetmeat is offered to him and
then distributed among the worshippers. Women especially worship Shaikh
Saddu. In Bulandshahr they worship Mâta or the small-pox goddess, Mîrân
Sâhib, and Châmar Devi. Their tribal saint is Nâmdeva, of whom they
know nothing save that he was the first printer. One person of this
name is one of the authors of the Sikh Granth and another or perhaps
the same is regarded by the Marâthas as their oldest poet, and is said
to have been a contemporary of Kabîr, and to have lived in the twelfth
or thirteenth century. Of the Nâmdeopanthis who recorded themselves to
the number of 10,358 at the last Census, the unity of the deity and the
uselessness of ceremonial appear to be the leading characteristics of
the creed. Like Râêdâsi Chamârs and Senapanthi Nâis, the Nâmdeopanthi
cotton printers have been separated from their caste-fellows by the
superior purity of their belief, and now form a separate sub-caste,
shown in the caste returns as Nâmdeobansi. [261] They employ Brâhmans
as their priests; to the east these are usually Sarwariyas; to the west
Saraswat, Kanaujiya and Gaur Brâhmans serve them. They burn their dead
in the orthodox way, and throw the ashes, if possible, into the Ganges
or one of its tributaries. On the day of the Diwâli they worship the
dies with which they stamp the cloth as fetishes. The more careful
perform the annual srâddha during the pitrapaksha or fortnight sacred
to the sainted dead in the month of Kuâr.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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