DS465 .B65W74 K ~A ABORIGINAL TRIBES AC pa/ i( > OF THE V BOMBAY PRESIDENCY. (A FRAGMENT.) By the 1/ Late Key. JOHN WILSON, D.D. ’^Tf .'fo.vVr .1 *>•. 15 o m li a ij : PRINTED AT THE GOVERNMENT CENTRAL PRESS. 1876. Bfc'V* 'ti' Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 https://archive.org/details/aboriginaltribesOOwils NOTE. The following fragment on the aboriginal tribes of Western India is all of his promised contribution to the Bombay Gazetteer which the late Dr. Wilson lived to complete. ... .. . ABORIGINAL TRIBES OF TUE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY. (A FRAGMENT.) By the v/ Late Rev. JOHN WILSON, D.D. IS o m fc a g : PRINTED AT THE GOVERNMENT CENTRAL PRESS. 187G. ABORIGINAL TRIBES OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY, I need scarcely say that in speaking of “ Aboriginal Tribes ” I use the word aboriginal in a popular, and not in a strictly correct literarsenTe 69 ’ n0t & sense - I apply ^ t° certain tribes of Western India merely because they have claims to prior residence in this country, superior to those of the tribes which are now their neighbours, or their masters. Though some of them denominate themselves Talabda, that is, in Sanskrit, Sthalodbhava, “ the offspring of the locality,” thus urging claims similar to those of the autochthones of the Greeks, both their physiog- nomy and their languages show that they are the descendants of the Turanian or Scythian immigrations into this country, most of which took place before the immigration of the A'ryas. Their congenital and cognate races we discover in other parts of the world in which the Scythian and Tartar languages are spoken, and even among the tribes now found on the borders of the Baltic and in Hungary. Little noticed Hindu literature. have found but little in the ancient writings of the Hindus calculated to throw light on the Aboriginal Tribes of Western India. The Vedas, composed originally on the banks of the five rivers of the Panjab, take no notice whatever either of the southern portions of India or of their inhabitants, though occasionally they speak of the enemies of the A'ryas in the north as in colour and charac- ter not very different from those of the tribes now in the south which we denominate aboriginal. The Brahmanas, or directories for conducting the Brahma ceremony, mention the Shudras, a subjected race, who were origi- nally fouud on the banks of the Indus, and whose name, by analogy, was afterwards given to other subjected races of like status in the Hindu com- munity as regulated by artificial law, on the same principle that the Euro- pean nations have given the name of “ Indians ” to the aboriginal inhabitants of North and South America. The oldest epic poem of the Hiudus, the Ramayana or Progress of Rama, ideally viewed as toward the south, is so completely mythical, that it speaks of the forest tribes nearest the A'ryas merely as Nishddas “ [original] settlers,” tribes, Hanuman and Sugriva and their monkeys, fighting with them against enemies of the A'ryas in the times of the Vddas, but now imagined to be a sort of monstrous hybrids between men and devils, dwelling in the far south. The Vishnu Purana and the Mahubharata, the second great epic of the Hindus, though they incidentally contain a good deal of and represents the leaders of these hordes of wild followers, as a race of the Rakshasas, proximate human geographical information, give us nothing but the names of some of the southern tribes (some of which are curious enough) except when they allude to them in general, under the designations of Nishddas and MUchchlias dwelling in the Vindhya range, and the reputed descendants of the wicked Vena, and speaking of the Nislidda as having a party like the Bhilla for his type, (though not so called) tlie of Jawar, having some Raj- put blood in him. The present Rdj a is an amiable and promising young man. Government having been able to pay considerable attention to his education during his minority. In the valleys east of the Sahyddri mountains, extending from the Musd Mahadeva Kulis. southwest of Puna, to the north of Trimbak at the source of the Goddvari, there is a bodv of Kulis who have pretty fully embraced Brahmanism, and who are consequently denomi- nated the Mahdddva Kulis. They are estimated by Colonel Mackintosh, who has published a very minute account of them, at 10,395 families. Somewhat Malhar Kulis. similar to them are the Malhar or Mullari Kulis, so called from Khandoba, of whom Malldri is a name scattered throughout the villages of the Dakban, and the hill Kulis on the western sides of the Ghats in the Thdnd Collectorate and in the Wan Dandori districts of Surat. There are very few field Kulis in the Southern Konkan, where in appearance they are in no degree to be distinguished from the common cultivators. The Khdravas are a class of Kulis from Gujardt and Kachh, deriving their Karava Kulis. narne from Khdro, salt, in the making of which they engage themselves in their native country Many of 10 DHUDIAS. them are boatmen and fishermen. Withiu the present century, numbers of them have settled in Bombay, where they are engaged principally as culti- vators — by the hoe, pickaxe and bill-book, and as layers and turners of tiles used in the roofing of houses. They generally profess to be observers of Hinduism. They freely use flesh and fish for food, but abstain from the slaughter of the cow, so sacred in the estimation of the modern Indians. Allied to the Khdravas, in their principal occupations, are the A'gari Kulis A' ari Kulie ® om ^ a y anr * vicinity. They get their name from gnu u 1B - the g ans k r it akdra (amine) which in Mar&thf, however, has much the signification of the Latin ager, a field. Molesworth in his Mardthi Dictionary correctly renders it, “ a plantation ; a tract on the sea- shore where salterns are established ; an enclosure round a house sown p or planted ; a place or spot of abundance or particular prevalence.” The A'garis occupy themselves in the production of salt, as well as in the management of boats and other native vessels. A good many of them, as remarked by Colonel Mackintosh, are settled in Bombay, Basin, Th^na, and Panvdl. Some of them act as job-labourers and cultivators ; and some of them, occasionally, as pdlki-bearers. Like most of the Kulis they are under the authority of their own patdls. Khandoba of Jejuri is their favourite deity. Their style of dress much resembles that of the fishermen Kulis, though it is of an ampler character than that of those who have devoted themselves principally to employment in rivers and creeks, and the ocean. The Kulis, having fewer prejudices of caste and religion than the body of the Hindu people, are perhaps more susceptible of improvement and advance- ment than their neighbours, though the occupations of many of them are not favourable to the promotion among them of education. In the same way as we have isolations from the Bhillas, so we have isola- tions from the Kulis, formed in circumstances similar to those to which I have already alluded. Among these Kuli isolations, I think, are two curious tribes, mentioned by Dr. A. Gibson in the first volume of the Transactions of the Bombay Medical and Physical Society, the Dhudias and the Chaudharis. The Dhudias. The Dhudias, Dr. Gibson describes as a small but well knit and active race, who, though now settled as cultivators, retain many of the propensities of the savage race, particularly as far as hunting and snaring animals are concerned. They do not profess Hindu- ism. They have no caste or distinct priesthood. Their temples are lofty cotton trees, covered with creepers, under which upright stones are generally placed in rows and circles, as is usually the case in the prevailing devil-wor- ship of the lower tribes in India.* They are found in the southern parganahs of the Surat Collectorate, somewhat removed from the coast. I have also met considerable numbers of them (speaking the Gujarati language) in the coast districts of the Northern Konkan, south of the Portuguese settlement of Daman, but probably emigrants, at no great distance of time, from the Col- lectorate indicated by Dr. Gibson. They profess to worship Barham Deva, (the god Brahma ) ; but their notions of this deity so-called by them are not those of the Hindus in general. He is generally represented by them as a shapeless stone. I observed among them, too, as objects of Phja (or material worship) a few earthen pots and clay figures of horses placed under a tree. I found • See Dr. Gibson’s paper in Transactions of the Bombay Medical Society, No. I. The Dhudias. CHAUDHARIS AND WARALIS. 11 some of them proprietors of both cattle and carts. Their women seemed active and industrious. They had dozens of brass rings both on their arms and ankles. I did not find that the Dhudias have any connexion with the Brdhmans. They perform their own marriage ceremonies by simply placing their hands together and binding them by a knot while the women engage in singing. I took down a few of their names when with them, such as Kavaji Sakho (friend), Jivalo (darling), Gor'khyo (cowherd) Vazir, Motiyo (pearl), Fakir, Jdthyo, Mando, Dalyo, Samak, Chindo. They have clans among them- selves, but only one of them was named to me — the Dandaliyo. The first name given by them they have taken from the Parsis, and Wazir and Fakir they have taken from the Muhammadans. Dhudia, 1 may add, is the name of a caste of fishermen on the banks of the Yamuna. The Chaudharis . The Chaudharis. To the north of the tribe now mentioned, till the occurrence of the River T&ptl, are the Chaudharis. In point of stature they are superior to the Dhudias. They engage both in agricul- ture and fishing. Their odd manners and customs have led them, especially their women, to be esteemed as adepts in witchcraft, which crime is repressed among them by their neighbours by the excision of their noses. Many of the fishermen of the Athavisi district, who are denominated Kulis, claim to be of kin with them, a not equivocal proof of their being originally Kulis. The ethnography of the natives is generally of a very limited character, but, as far as it confines itself to the cognizance of human descent and relationship, it is generally correct. Its genealogies sometimes terminate in monkeys or some other brutes, or in marvellous generation by superhuman beings. The WdraUs. Of all the isolations from the great body of the Kulis the most interesting The Warahs and remar kable I consider to be that of the Wdralis of the Northern Konkan, a minute description of whom, founded on my personal intercourse with them, I presented many years ago to our local Asiatic Society. My notes of them have more than once passed through the press in Europe, and they have been extensively referred to by ethnographers and geographers both in Britain and on the Continent. My later intercourse with the Wdralis might warrant an expansion of these notes, but it does not require an} r correction to be made of them. The name Warali I have never thought to be a patronymic. It has been suggested to me by an intelligent native officer of Government that it may be derived from the Marathi word Wdrul, which, in one of its applications, means a small patch of cultivated ground. They are more slender in their form than the common agriculturists of the Maratha country, and they are somewhat darker in their complexion. They seldom cut either the hair of their heads or beards, which is very sparse ; and in general they are but slightly clothed. Their small huts are formed of bambus and bramble twisted into a slight frame- work of wood, and thickly covered with grass, of a quadrangular or circular shape, tapering off like bee-hives. They cultivate and live principal- ly upon pulse, raising also a small quantity of rice. They maintain immense quantities of fowls which they sell at a cheap rate, and they earn a little money by cutting wood near the principal streams and creeks of their terri- tories, and by collecting firewood. They are immoderately fond of smoking 12 WARALIS. tobacco and drinking spirits, when they can get them. It is a wonder to me that they can live in the jungles that they inhabit. They are wholly distinct from Brahmanism, which they declare to be only the Shtndidharvia, or the religion of the tuft. The following are specimens of the questions which were put to them on my first visit, with their answers recorded and translated verbatim : — Conversation with the Waralis in 1839. “ What are your names?” Lashio, Kdkava, Shamji, Gopaji, Badaga, Hindio, Rupaji, Dival, Devaji, Holo. “ What were the names of your fathers ? *' “ Bhikfu, Sukho, Samo, Dhan- ji, Dhakio, Zanio.” [Three persons did not know the names of their fathers.] “ What are the names of your wives ? ” “We never mention the names of our wives.” “ But were you ever asked before by a Salieb ? ” “ Never, never. Their names are Harkhu, Thakali, Sonai (the lady of the gold), Kaluna, Rupai (the lady of the silver.)” [No individual mentioned the name of his own wife ; each man gave that of his neighbour.] “ Do the Brahmans marry you ?’ “ No, we are our own Brahmans, our own priests. Our women marry us, by singing over a cup of d;iru (spirits), the bridegroom drinking first, the bride second, and afterwards the whole company.” “ At what age do you marry ?” “ Girls from twelve years and upwards, and boys from sixteen years and upwards.” “ Do you choose wives for yourselves ? ” “We look out for a woman to our own liking, and then ask our parents and friends to conclude the bargain for us.” “ How much do you pay for a wife ? ” “ Nine rupees and a-half.” “ Why don’t you give ten ? ” “ This is not our custom/’ “ Do you ever pay a smaller sum for a wife than nine rupees and a-half ? ” “ Sometimes we conclude the bargain for eight rupees. In your country [the Company’s territories. We were then in the Haveli parganah of the Portuguese] wives are cheap.” “ Do any of you keep more wives than one ? ” “Re ! Re ! We can scarcely feed one ; w T hy should we think of more ? ” “ Do you consult any book before giving names to your children ?” “ No ; we give names from our own minds. The father chooses the name.” “ When do you give names to your children ? “ When they are able to understand them.” “ How do you address your children before they get their names ?” “ We call them Dadu, Bulu (Sir), and Bai (Ma’am).” “ When do you first give clothes to your children ?” “ To boys when they are twelve years old.” “ How do you treat your children when they disobey your commands ?” “ We scold them.” WARALIS. 13 “ Do you never whip your children ? ” “ What ! strike our own offspring ? We never strike them.” “ When your wives disobey your commands, how do you treat them? ” “We give them chastisement less or more. How could we manage them without striking them ? ” “ But don’t they get angry with you when you beat them ? ” “ They get angry of course.” “ Do you give any instructions to your children ? ” “ Yes, we say to them, don’t be idle, work in the fields, cut sticks, collect cowdung, sweep the house, bring water, tie up the cows .” “ Do you give them no more instructions than these? ” “ What more do they need ? ” “ Don’t you teach them to read or write ? ” “ No Waralis can either read or write.” “ Do you give them any instructions about God?” “Why should we speak about God to them ?” “ What god do you worship ?” “ We worship Waghia (the lord of tigers).” “ Has he any form ? ” “ He is a shapeless stone, smeared with red-lead and ghi (clarified butter).” “ How do you worship him ? ” “ We give him chickens and goats, break cocoanuts on his head, and pour oil on him.” “ What does your god give to you ? “ He preserves us from tigers, gives us crops, and keeps disease from us.” “ But how can a stone do all this for you? ” “ There is something besides the stone at the place where it is fixed.” “What is that thing?” “We don’t know; we do as our forefathers showed us.” “Who inflicts pain upon you?” “ Waghia, when we don’t worship him.”' “ Does he ever enter your bodies ? ” “ Yes, he seizes us by the throat like a cat ; he sticks to our bodies. “ Do you find pleasure in his visits ? ” “ Truly we do.” “ Do you ever scold W.'igliia ? ” “ To be sure, we do. We say, you fellow, we have given you a chicken, a goat, and yet you strike us ! What more do you want ? ” “ Do you never beat Waghia ? ” “ Never.” “ Whether do you bury or burn your dead ? ” “We burn them.” “ What interval occurs between the death and the burning ? ” “ We allow no interval when the death occurs during the day. When if occurs during the night, we keep the body outside till the break of day.” “ Why are you so hasty in the disposal of your dead ? ” “ Why should we keep a corpse beside us ? ” “ Where does the soul go after death ? ” “ How can we answer that question ? ” “ When a man dies in sin, whither does he go ? ” “ How can we answer that question ? ” 14 WARALIS. “ Does he go to a good place or a bad place ? ” “We cannot tell.” “ Does he go to heaven or to hell ? ” “ He goes to hell.” “ What kind of a place is hell ? ” “ It is a bad place ; there is suffering in it.” “ Who are in hell ? ’’ “ We don’t know what kind of a town it is.” “ Where do good people go after death ? ” “ They go to Bhagavan (the worshipful, self-existent).” “ Don’t they go to Wdghia ? ” “ No, he lives in the jungles.” “ Where is Bhagavan ?” “ We don’t know where he is, and where he is not.” “ Does Bhagavan do anything for you ? ” “ How can God do anything for us ? He has neither deha (body) nor daya (mercy), that is to say, he is destitute of qualities.” Before I proceed farther, I must make a few remarks on the object of some .Remarks °f our ( l ues ^’ ous ^ aQ d the re phes which we received. Our inquiries relative to the names of the Waralis were instituted with the purpose of ascertaining whether or not they conform to those commonly current among the Hindus. From the list which I have given, as well as from many others in my possession, it is clear that they have not been bestowed in accordance with the institutes of Brahmanism. Accord- ing to these authorities, names should be given to children about the twelfth day after birth ; they should be selected by the Brahman astrologer, after consulting the horoscope and almanac ; their first term should be that of a god, for there is the merit of prayer in pronouncing such a term, even when calling to a person in common discourse ; they should not be unmeaning and absurd ; they should not consist of an uneven number of syllables ; and they should be communicated with various rites and ceremonies, which need not be mentioned. It is in the celebration of marriages that the Brahmans are most in requisition among the Hindus, and the fact that they are entirely discarded by the Waralis on these occasions is particularly to be noted. The family government brought to our notice corresponds with that of many of the lower orders in this country, and, to a good extent, with that of the uncivilized aborigines of North America. Waghia, the object of worship, is evidently viewed as a malevolent being, who may be either frightened, or cajoled, according to the convenience of his devotees. The abusive treatment which he sometimes receives is not peculiar to himself, for even the Hindu Shastra sanctions the resort to viroddha-hhakH, or the worship of opposition, and presents us with many examples of its signal success both amongst gods and men ! The Wi'rali notions of the future state are faint to a degree which we seldom see exemplified among the Hindus, and there is scarcely evinced in connexion with them any feeling of moral responsibility. Many persons, after receiving the first answers which we obtained respecting Wdghid, would have set down the Waralis as having no belief in a Supreme God. Incidentally, however, they evince that though nearly entirely ignorant of his character they admit his existence. After leaving Rakholi and its neighbourhood where the preceding conver- sation occurred, we visited a considerable number of other hutteries belonging to the Wdralis, and situated in the Company’s territories. The principal of them were those of Kud&d, Parji, Dhdbdri, Phahuni Kinhaauli, Tlhaasari, and WARALIS. 15 Pimpuri. As we took short marches our arrival was generally expected, and persons from different villages voluntarily assembled to meet us, and to listen to our instructions. At Dhabari we found the old chief of the tribe, named Chandar&o, with about thirty-five villagers, who, to do him honour, were content for a day to be reckoned his followers, and to arm themselves with bows, and swords, and matchlocks. Our conversation with this party elicited greater intelligence than we had hitherto witnessed, and we thought the principal man was somewhat unwilling to be considered entirely excluded from the service of the Brahmans. Some of them, he said, had occasionally visited him, and after repeating some chatar-malar have got a prize of a couple of silverlings for their trouble. It was, perhaps, from them that he had learned the doctrine which he avowed, that the human soul is identical with the Supreme Mind. The country in which we were travel- ling, he represented as the everlasting inheritance of the Waralis, but he could not define the bounds of their habitations. As the result of all our inquiry, I would state generally that, omitting a belt of six or seven miles of country on the coast, they are formed by a line running east of Daman to Jawdr, and south-east from Jawar to the Dhanu Creek. My friend Mr. Dun- can Davidson, of the Civil Service, who was for several years in charge of the district in which they reside, and who had much intercourse with them on the occasions of his making the usual revenue settlements on the coast, gives me this information respecting them : — “ The boundaries of the country of the Waralis it is difficult to specify. 1 am not aware how far they extend into the Surat Collectorate, but their principal locations in this zilla are in the Mahals forming its northern boundary, viz., Nehar, Sanjan Udwad&, Baharach, Ashari, Thalasarl, and Gambirgadh. They are also found near the coast, but less frequently to the farther south. Their total number may be about 10,000.” He also adds, in reference to the land-rent of the Waralis, the following ob- servations, in which there are both wisdom and benevolence : — “ The Waralis inhabit the very jungly districts of the zillah, and the system of taxation pursued in them is the Nangar-bandl, so called from ndngar, a plough, each of which is rated at from five to fifteen rupees per annum, partly a fixed money payment, and partly a commutation in kind, the commutation rate being annually fixed by the Collector, according to prevailing bazar prices, just as the fiars are fixed in Scotland. The Nangar-bandi system obtains in all the Mahals from A'shari round by the eastern side of the Jawar territory, south- ward along the Ghats to where the Kolwan Taluka joins Morbid, about twen- ty miles below the Tal Ghat. It is a system which is well suited to the people, whose superstitious aversion to measurement and minute surveys it has been as yet found difficult to overcome ; and if it were properly adminis- tered, that is to say, if the quantity of land for each plough were marked out as a whole, they would become much more attached to it. As it is, if a man puts an additional plough to increase its productiveness, on the same land which last year he scratched with only one, he has to pay for two. The im- plements of his industry and his stock are thus at once taxed double ; the ‘ taille’ system, in fact, is here carried as far as ever it was in France, and consequently the depressed state of agriculture and the cultivators is easily to be accounted for. It would not be necessary for Government to be at the expense of a minute survey for such a country — indeed the country is not worth it — but it would require neither great expense nor much time to settle the number of ploughs for each village, and to register the boundaries of the 16 KATODIS 01} KATKARIS. land assigned to each plough, so that the cultivator within them might do as he pleased/’ It is the richness of the soil, I would remark, which in many places retards its cultivation. The vegetation in the forests is so luxuriant, that the inhabitants fail to subdue it. There are many kulas, or family divisions, amongst the Waralis, such as the Ravatia, Bantria, Bhangara (that of the chief), Bhavar, Sankar, Pileyand Meria, Wangad, Thakarid, Jadava, Karbat, Bhendar, Kondaria, etc. The clans, indeed, are so numerous, that we are forced to come to the conclusion that they must at one time have been a very powerful people. The popula- tion appears to be at present nearly stationary. On account of the unhealthi- ness of the jungles many of the children are cut off at a very early age. No person marries in his own clan. The Warali villages have not the common officers found in similar places among the Marathds. They have, generally speaking, a headman, who is in some degree responsible to the Government for their behaviour. The Wara- lis are not particularly noted for crime. We have seen what is the general system of worship among the Waralis. Unless when calamities overtake them, they are not frequent in their visits to the images of the Wdghid, which at the best are only very rude forms of a tiger. They have an annual service for the dead, when their bhagats, or elders, repeat incantations, kindle lights, and strew dowers at the place where the ashes of the dead have been scattered. They partially observe the two festivals of the Shiviyd and DivdU, which are connected with the warm and cold seasons of the year, and which, though celebrated by the Hindus in general, are often supposed to be ante-Brahmanical. I have alluded to the readiness of the Waralis to listen to the Gospel mes- sage, and even to declare that their customs are vain and foolish, and worthy of a complete abandonment. They are by no means so systematically, intelligently, and habitually attached to error as the common Hindus, and they are certainly, in appearance, more willing to receive the truth than the majority of the inhabitants of this country. They are consequently not to be overlooked in the general arrangements which may be made for the propaga- tion of Christianity. It is amongst persons in a situation somewhat similar to their own that much success has been experienced by some missionaries in the south of India and in Barmah. The Free Church of Scotland’s Mission in Bombay has of late years founded a branch-station among them, the head-quarters of which are at Golwad, in the N. Konkan. It is conducted by native converts (superintended by the Rev. D. Nauroji) and is gradually gaining their confidence. The Government, too, is doing its part for their improvement. The name of Sir Bartle Frere is much respected among those of them who are located on the coast. A valuable letter respecting them (quite in harmony with what I have said of them above) was addressed to the Acting Collector of Thana, on the 2Gth March 1852, by Mr. H. B. Bruce, C.S. The Katodis or Kdtkaris. The Katodis receive their name from the occupation on which they are The Katodis. principally dependent for support — the manufacture of the Kat, or terra japonica, from the Khair tree, or acacia catechu. They principally inhabit the part of the Northern Konkan KATODTS OR KATKARIS. 17 which lies along the base of the Sahy&dri range, and is intermediate between the NY:sik mid Puna roads. A fewhundreds of them are to be found on the east- ern face of the Ghats on the same latitude as the district which I have now mentioned, and running into the JBhor and Sdtara territories on the Miiwals. Major Mackintosh, who has written an interesting notice of the manner in , . . which they prepare the catechu, and of some of their peculiar habits, speaks of them as also inhabiting the jungles of the Athavisf, between the Daman-Ganga, and Taptt rivers. “ They may be considered as nomades to a certain extent,” he says, “ for, notwith- standing they always reside in the same country, yet they frequently change their place of residence. If we are to believe their own account, they have been settled in the Atlnivisf from time immemorial. They have the tradition among them that they are the descendants of the demon Havana, the tyrant monarch of Lanka, and the same whom the god Rama vanquished, and whose exploits are related by the distinguished poet Valmiki.” They are the most degraded body of natives with whom I am acquainted. They have not settlements of their own like the Waralis, but they live, as outcastes, near villages inhabited by other classes of the community. They are hold in great abhorrence by the common agriculturists, and particularly by tin; Brahmans, and their resi- dences are wretched beyond belief. Their miserable huts are situated where all the refuse of the villages is thrown, and they have there companionship with all that is impure. Looking to the position in which they are found, and to the profession of familiar intercourse with malignant spirits which they make, we can scarcely fail to associate with them the words of the Revelation — “ With- out are dogs and sorcerers.” Though they receive considerable sums from the native merchants for the catechu which they prepare during the cold season, they are most improvident in their habits, and often compelled by m, • , , want to feed on what is most loathsome to the human ilieir habits. . T , ... , . , ,, species. 1 have seen in their cooking vessels the coarsest vegetables and roots. The animals which they devour they enumerated to me in the following order : “ chickens, goats, deer, rats, coucals, lizards, squirrels, hlood-suchers, the black-faced monkey (Semnipithecus entellus) doves, partridges, barbets, and serpents and the conclusion was inevitable that they will readily eat whatever they can digest, with the exception of the brown-faced monkey, which they declare is inhabited by a human soul! They are often very depraved, as well rs debased, and are particularly addicted to drunkenness. “ Should one of them happen,” says Major Mackintosh, to “ pass near a liquor shop, without either money or grain to barter for a dram, he will most likely pawn the only rag of cloth on his person to gratify his ap- petite, and go home naked, in the hope that he may redeem the pledged article on some future day. Owing to their ignorance and prodigality, their circumstances frequently become very desperate ; and they have consequent- ly to contend against misery and the many temptations to which want reduces them. They have the credit of being great robbers, stealing corn from the cultivators’ fields and farm-yards, also committing robberies in the villages at night, and plundering solitary travellers during the day.” Such is the dread entertaiued of their magical powers that few of the Natives have sufficient courage to give information to the authorities respecting their misdeeds. I am not aware that they frequently resort to violence or murder. It was in 1832 that I first met with a few individuals belonging to the Katkari tribe. Having had occasion to address the inhabitants of a village 3 A T 18 K ATOP IS OB. KATKARIS. on the continent to the north-east of Bombay, I was struck with the at- tention which many of them were lending to my discourse. “AVhen I, and a Native convert who was with me, began to return home,” I wrote at the time, “ two men came running up to us on the way. They appeared to be much interested in what they had heard, and with much simplicity declared ‘ Your word is true.’ They belong to that curious class of the Natives called Kdtkari, who principally live in the jungle and 0011001 firewood, and prepare kat, the produce of the catechu mimosa, which the Natives use as an astrin- gent along with the betel-nut and lime. They took my companion to their huts ; and when he came back, he said that they and their neighbours, about a score in number, had got him to promise that he would afterwards spend a day or two with them.” From this time I occasionally met with individuals of the Katkaris but I had no particular intercourse with them till 1 undertook with Mr. James Mitchell the tour among the Wa rails mentioned above. In his journal under date the 11th of February 18:19 1 find the following entry: “In the after- noon we rode to Morbir. On the way thither, in one of the villages which we passed, at which we had stopped to inquire if any could read, that we might leave some books, we found a few families of the K tkarls — a people to inquire into whose circumstances was a particular object of our coming in this direction. On visiting them we found only one of the men at home, the rest having gone into the jungles, some to cut wood for the villagers, and some to seek for roots to use for their own food. The appearance of their houses — mere huts — was wretched in the extreme; they were very little better as habitations than the open air. The women and children had a half-famished appearance, and wild and savage manner. The young, on see- ing us, generally took to their heels, as so many wild goats, and when we proposed to the elder people to give a few pice to each of the young who would make his appearance, it was with difficulty they could induce any number of them to come out from their hiding places, or return from their flight. Dr. Wilson gave the Patel some money to be distributed among the children. Our interest in them, which was intense, seemed to please the people. As it was getting late, we could not converse long with them, but took on the man with us to Morbir, intending to get information from him regarding the tribe ; on reaching the place, however, the people informed us that there was a colony of them in the village ; we, therefore, rewarded the person we had brought with us, and let him return to his own village, as the Government Kiirkun here promised to call some of their principal men to meet us in the morning.” Most of the subsequent day we devoted to the work of conferring with, and instructing the Katkaris of Morbir and a neighbouring village. In order to induce them to remain with us till our curiosity was satisfied, we promised that those who would contiuue to sit with us should each receive a day’s wages for their patience, which had never in this way been formerly tried. I proposed to them the same set of queries which we had used with the Waralis, and made an exact record of the answers which we obtained. The result of our inquiries, not already forestalled, may be given in a small space. After having mentioned the liberty which they take with reference to food, and the fact of their devouring the sacred monkey of India, I need hardly say that they avowed a total disconnexion with Brahmanical institutes. KATODIS OR KATKARIS. 19 Then - names are entirely different from those of the Hindus, and lead to the inference which has already been made in the case of the Wcralis. They represented themselves as accustomed to call on the name of the Supreme God (I'shvara) without proffering any particular requests when engaged in his worship, except those which pertain to their immediate bodily wants and the removal of their complaints. Their notions of the divine spirituality they expressed to us by saying, that “God comes like the wind, and goes like the wind.” To the Divine Being they attributed the rain which waters the fields; but whether or not he is the author of life they could not tell. They appeared scarcely at all conscious of any moral responsibility, and they ob- served that their friends had died without offering up a single prayer, 01 manifesting the slightest anxiety about their final destiny. Of the nature of the future state they actually know nothing; and they could scarcely under- stand our meaning, when we asked them whether their souls have to transmi- grate or not into other bodies'. “ We give the crows something to eat,” they said, “ when our relatives die.” On a particular day of the year we cry out Kira, Kara, to the memory of our fathers. We don’t know, however, the reason. We do as others do.” They burn their dead, and, contrary to the custom of the Hindus, the bodies of their children who survive only a few days. Diseases, they remarked, walk up and down, and rest where they please. Their aged men are their priests ; but, except when they use incantations for the control of devils, and celebrate marriages, and are about to commence their annual work of the preparation of the kat, they have few ceremonies to perform. The ceremony of wedding, on which the Natives in general are accustomed to lay so much stress, is with them a very simple affair, and is performed by placing, without any form of words, a chaplet of leaves or paper, first on the head of the bride, and then of the bridegroom, and afterwards besmearing them with turmeric, a popular unguent. The cost of a wife is fixed at two rupees ; but about ten times this sum is required to pay the ex- penses of the feasting an 1 rioting, which are the invariable consequences of the first formation of a matrimonial connexion. Children are named as soon as they are born. The family circle is anything but the abode of peace ; but women are viewed as more on a parity with men than among other classes of the aborigines. They are greatly addicted to prognostications respecting lucky and unlucky days, but they do not state the grounds of their conjec- tures. When they proceed to the jungles, for the purpose of preparing the kat, they hold their encampments as sacred, and will allow no persons of other castes to approach them without giving previous warning. It is from the inner portion of the Khair tree that, by the process of boiling and afterwards inspissating the juice and reducing it to the form of a cake, they procure the catechu. Before felling a single tree in the forest, they select, according to their families, one of the kind on which they have to operate, which they constitute a god, and which they worship by presenting to it a cocoanut, burning frankincense, applying a red pigment, and soliciting it to bless their undertaking. It is singular that they are not accustomed to partake of the catechu which they manufacture. Of the pith of the tree, however, they are very fond. The Katkarls whom I have seen have all belonged to two clans — the T1 . _ p . Helam and the Pawdr. Major Mackintosh mentions other two — the Jddava and the Shindy. It is scarcely possible at present to form an estimate of the extent of their entire population 20 DUBALAS AND JUNGLE THAKURS. Their Festivals, etc. I do not think that it is likely that such efforts to bring the Katkaris within the pale of Hinduism will be made by the Brahmans and religious mendi- cants of this quarter as are now to be witnessed among the aborigines in other parts of India. Though, from sympathy with their neighbours, and a desire to share in the offerings of superstition, they pay some regard to the Holi, Di villi, and Dashahara, the three most popular festivals of the Hindus, the Kt tkaris have no respect for the Hindu gods. Instead of seeking to place themselves under the restrictions of other castes, they sometimes, in revenge for supposed insults, compel strangers, by the hands of their women, whose touch communicates defile- ment almost irremediable, to join their own community. Christian benevo- lence in fact, powerful and disinterested, is required to descend to the depths of their degradation. Without entering at present on the general question of the conversion of the aborigines, I would remark that the Moravian system of erecting villages would probably be found most suitable to their circum- stances. I have no 'doubt that if ground were assigned to them on easy terms by the Government, and if they were put in possession of the means of bring- ing it under cultivation, and prevented from dissipating these means by a resort to the liquor-shop, they might be content to establish themselves as a body of agriculturists. I am happy to be able to say that the authorities here are showing for them a paternal concern, much in the way to which I have now alluded, and that success promises to be the result. Till they are more collected together, and till schools can be formed for their special benefit, the prospect of their education must be considered remote. Few other native children would sit with their youth under the same teacher till they are reformed in their habits. The Dubalas. The word dnbctla is a Prakrit form of the Sanskrit durbal t, ‘ without Dub'ilas strength,’ ‘ weakened,’ ‘oppressed.’ It is applied to considerable numbers of the members of the wild tribes on the Coasts of the Northern Konkan and the Surat Collectorate and in the petty native states connected with them, who like their ancestors in many cases, have lost their tribual and clan connexions, and who have been .till lately, virtually endaved, though not much loathed for caste defilement, (on account of their occasionally rendered domestic service). I am not certain that the disposal of them by private pecuniary arrangements has altogether ceased, though, of course, it is not sanctioned by the British authorities. Some of them, however, have claimed their liberty and now dispose of their own services, or act for themselves as labourers. They keep to the name which they have received, but this for want of a better, by which they can be distinguished from other people. A few of them about Umargaum and its neighbourhood have got cattle and carts of their own. The Jungle Thdkurs. A secession from both the Kulis and the Wdralls took place both in the , Athavisi of Gujarat and the Northern Konkan, in the e. un„ e 1.1 uis. ( j a y S 0 f Mahmud Begada and other Muhammadan princes of Gujarat. When these princes were pushing their conquests and using violence for the conversion of the Hindus to Islamism, some of the Thdkurs (barons) of Gujar&t fled to the jungles, and induced considerable numbers of KAMI' SHIS OB BEDABS AND DEPRESSED ABORIGINAL TRIBES. 21 the Hindus of different tribes to join their standard, and to bind themselves by an oath to support their cause. The descendants of this mixed multitude, ■who had not pretensions to re-establish themselves in the higher castes, are now to be found, in comparatively small numbers, in the districts now mention- ed. Those in our own neighbourhood (near Kalyan, Matheran, etc.) can scarcely be distinguished in appearance from the Waralis. Their knowledge of Hinduism is very faint. They shun the Brahmans, and are shunued by the Brahmans. The principal object of their worship on Math dr an, arid that of the Gavalis — a wandering tribe of herdsmen often associated with them — is a devil named Pishunath (properly Pashundtha ) the Lord-of-cattle. They pro- cure their livelihood by collecting firewood, carrying small loads, and catching rats and other vermin, which they relish as much as we do our hares and rabbits. Like the other jungle tribes they are immoderately fond of spirits. The Rdmushis or Bedars. The Rdmushis of the Maratha country correspond with the Bddars or Bddas of the Nizam’s territories. They are principally found in the hilly district through which the Nira flows, and in those which are intermediate between the Blmna and the Krishna, above their junction, in which are the territories lately occupied by the highest personage of their body, the Raja of Shorapur. The founder of this family came into notice by aiding Aurangzib in the subjugation of the Bijdpur State, for which service he was made a Raja and a royal Mansubddr of 5,000 men. His successors had considerable territory, power, and wealth. In later times they were tributary to the Nizam’s government. The last of them in power having compromised himself during the troublous times of 1857-58 was being taken a prisoner to Madras, when he committed suicide by shooting himself. His estates having been escheat- ed fell to the lot of the Nizdm. There is a strong Dra vidian element even among the Ramushis now settled in the Mardtha country, showing that after settlement in the south they have migrated to the north-west, in which they have been particularly remarkable for their wildness and lawlessness. They are great devotees of the god Khandobi of Jdjurf, about twenty-five miles to the south of Pumi. This deity who, there is reason to suppose, was merely a king of Devagiri, who obtained the apotheosis for his military bravery, they hold, in common with the other Hindus of the west of India, to be an incarnation of Shiva. There is a great deal of religious fanaticism among them. Of the Hindu classical gods, R ima is their favourite. Their own name they explain as equivalent to Rdmavanshi, ‘ of the lineage of Rama’, that is, probably of the jungle tribes said to have been attached to his cause. Perhaps it is from Ranavdsi, ‘ dwelling-in-the-wilderness’. III. The Depressed Aboriginal Tribes. The depressed Aboriginal Tribes, to which I now turn, have much that is interesting connected with them. Here, it will be ob- served, I refer to tribes, and not to mere fractions of these like the Bhangis, or broken people, originally brought down by the Muhammadans from the upper provinces of Hindustan to perform for them the lowest offices, mentioned above, often employed as servants in Na- tive families, without any caste defilement being as- sociated with them. I have in my eye large bodies of General Remarks, tribes or outcastes, Bhangis. and the Dubalas , Dubalas, 22 DEPRESSED ABORIGINAL TRIBES. Natives, evidently the remains of nationalities subdued and long grievously op- pressed and abhorred by those who have been their conquerors and have held themselves in every respect to be their superiors. I refer to such tribes as the Dheds of Gujarat, the MahArv, or Parvdris, and M&ngs of the Marath i countrv, and the Bedars of the Southern Maratha Country and the north of the Karn i- tak. These, from their abundance in the provinces ov^r which they are every- where scattered, are the remains of powerful peoples. I connect them with the earlier Turanian immigrations into India, with which the adherents of the A'ryas must for ages have maintained a serious struggle. Their physioo-nomy evidently marks them as of Cushite origin ; and though not particular in colour or wooly hair, some of them resemble in some respects the African type, viewed in its general aspects. I have seen individuals of them, indeed, mistaken for Africans by strangers. In considering them to be of Scythian or Turanian or Hamitic origin, I am not doing violence to the father of Grecian history ; for it is evident that among the Scythian nations mentioned by Herodotus there must have been tribes of Hamitic as well as Japhetan descent. They have evidently not so closely allied themselves with the A'ryas as the later Tura- nian immigrants did, whose language probably was not very remote in some respects from the Aryan or Sanskrit tongue, and who did not differ from them in a very marked manner in physiognomy. Few of the members of the tribes to which I refer have yet acquired the real pronunciation of the northern langua- ges, even though they speak these languages. In their use of the double conso- nants, whichthey decompose, in their change of the vowels, in their aggravation and misplacement of the nasals, and in their interjection of superfluous exple- tive grammatical fragments of olden tongues, and in their murder of the ATyan grammar, they are sure to be recognized. The most ridiculous mistakes are sometimes the consequence of their peculiar pronunciation. I give a single ex- ample as related by the Brahmans. A reader of the Hindu Puranas came into a village, and thus addressed the Mahar, whose duty it was to act as village mes- senger, rpjfr sprier strr print trtrFi^ 3RR m, i. e., “ Go into the village and tell the people, “ The Pauranik But a has opened out the Puranas ; come and listen to him.” The obedient messenger, with a full comprehension of his meaning, thus delivered himself : qipir %rT557 * as they are often called,) of p U1 . t the god Vithala at Pandharpur. Tukarama, the celebrated poet, singer, and devotee who flourished in the time of Sbivaji, the founder of the Maratlni empire, was a follower of Chait- anya, and extensively propagated his views in the Marat ha Country, f though with less reference to him as an authority than might have been expected. His praise of Krishna is of a preferential and rapturous character; and the various gods of the Hindu Pantheon he mainly concentrates in him, localizing him in his principal manifestation as Vithala at Pundharpur on the Bhima, and in a shrine supposed by some (without decided proof as it appears to me) to have originally belonged to the Buddhists. A Brahman named Pundalik seems to have had great influence in bringing this shrine and its images of Vithala and his wife Kakhumai (the Bukhman! of the Sanskrit books) into notice and celebrity. I am not aware that there is any form of initiation into the tenets of Tukarama ; but they are very extensively em- braced in the Maratha Country. The Pandharpur pilgrims are very nume- rous, especially among the inhabitants of the Dakhan. The cholera fre- quently breaks out among them, and is spread by them throughout the laud, to the destruction of hundreds and thousands, A n occurrence which took place a few months ago may perhaps set some limits to their numbers. I mention it according to the most creditable testimony which I have received. Growing jealousy of the celebrity of the Pandharpur shrine, it is supposed, has for some time been cherished by the votaries of the great Shaiva idols in the southern parts of India. Three Gosavis from the south, influenced by this feeling, entered the temple of Vithoba, with stones (as they proved to be) in the form of the usual metallic boxes suspended from the necks of LingV yats, pulled them over their heads, and began to belabour the image of the god without mercy. Before they could lie stopped they effected serious in- juries in its face, belly, and feet. They were soon caught, and afterwards most severely beaten, but no person was found ready to venture on a prosecution of them before the Magistrate of the District, ready to do what is right in the case on the principles of toleration recognized by the British Government. The news of this anartlia (‘catastrophe’) spread with telegraphic rapidity throughout the west of India. Its indications have been variously interpreted. It is perhaps the most extraordinary case of the votaries “ of Hara versus those of Hari,” which has occurred in India. The violence exercised on both sides in the case is much to be regretted. The Satndmis . The Sat names (with tbesandhi Sadndmis) or Rdyaddsis are making great T . progress in several of the Central and Western Provinces of India (as in Chatisgadh), especially among tlie Cham- bhars, or Chamars, to whom Rayadasa is said to have belonged. Recognizing the Rayadasis and Sadnamis as two allied sects, and noticing the fact of a few' of them being found in West Berar, Mr. Lyall, C.S., correctly says, “ Both sects are knowm both in Hindustan and the Panjab, and as their votaries * Dependants on the allowances furnished to them on pilgrimage, from Vdra, a day. t See Introduction to Tukarama’s Doe ms by Janardan Sakharam Gadgil, LL.B., and “Ad- dress to India ” by Dr. Wilson, p. 36. NARAYAN SVAMITES. 35 belong mainly to the lowest castes, while their tendency is against idolatry and Pharisaic intolerance, it is of importance to watch the spread of this resistance to corrupt, and conservative Brahmanism.”* It is of importance, on the other hand, to bear in mind that these sects, so far as they follow the principles of their founders, are pantheists and not theists. Two Vaishnava sects more important than those now mentioned are alto- gether omitted in the valuable work of Professor H. H. Wilson — the Followers of Ndrdyana Svdmi and the Mdnablidvas. N dray an Svdmites. Ndrdyana Svdmi, or rather Sahdjdnanda Svdmi, was born about the , T , , „ , year 1780 at Chapai in the Lakhnawa territories. His .Narayana Svamites. -A ,. f . , , , , • • , J studies were much quickened by his visits to a remark- able shrine at Makora, about four kos from his birth-place. In the year 1800 he began to sit at the feet of Ramtmanda Svaini at Lolioj in the Pan- chala Desha His preceptor proceeded from that place to Alnnadabad in Gujarat about the year 1804, where he was soon joined by his pupil. Sahaja- nanda began to practise something like mesmerism. He awakened much persecution against himself, which added greatly to his notoriety. He found refuge at Jaitapur in the Gaik aw ad’s territories, where his teachings were directed in a marked manner against the Vallabhdcharya or Maharaja sect, yet supporting the preferential worship of Krishna. He attracted to himself hun- dreds and thousands of people of varied castes. He is said to have received great literary assistance from Dinandtha, a Rayakavala Brahman. He afterwards settled at Charotar, between Kheda and the mouth of the Mahi, where a little before his death, in 1829 or 1830, a temple was built to Lakshmi Narayana. Bishop Heber, who had an interview with him at Khdda, found in him what he calls “a strange mixture of pure Theism and Hinduism” ; but con- sidered him entitled to the designation of a Reformer. His own shilcshapatra (popularly ascribed to Dinanatha), or Epistle of Instructions; a copy of which presented by him to Sir John Malcolm (now my property), does not permit ns to form such a favourable opinion of him as that which is expressed by the accomplished and benevolent bishop. The following are a few of its injunctions in an abbreviated but accurate form — “ Except at Jaganndtlia Puri unacceptable food or water prepared by a person of inferior caste is not to be taken, even though it may have been presented to Krishna (19). The Sh&stras in which Krishna and his incarnations are confuted are not to be acknowledged (29). The water and milk in an impure state should not be drunk ; bathing, efc., should not be made with water with minute animalcules in it (30). My male followers should make on the forehead a vertical mark with a round spot in it like the moon ;aud women unmarried should make a circular mark of red powder only (52). Having respectfully bowed to the images of Radhaand Krishna let them repeat reverently the mantra (of eight syllables), and then engage in wordly business (54). Nothing should one eat or drink without its being first offered to Krishna (60). Never hold a discussion with your A 1 chary a, but reverently provide him with food, money, and clothes according to your ability (71). A pilgrimage should be performed to Dvarika, the chief Tlrtha. (83) Vishnu, Shiva, Ganapati, Parvati, and the Sun, forming the Panchayatana, should be worshipped by my followers (84). When injury from ghosts, etc., occurs, Narayana should be invoked, or the mantra of Hanuman repeated, and * Report on the Census of West Berar. Supplement to Gazette of India. 1868, p. 946 36 MANABHAVAS. not that of any inferior (ksliudra) deity (85). The Vedas, the Sutras of Vyasa, the Purina called the Shrimad-Blnigavata, and the thousand names of Vishnu from the Mah&bharata, and the Shrimad -Bhagavad-Gita, and the Vidur-Niti, and the Shri-Vasudeva Mahatmya of the Vaislmava Khanda of the Skanda Purina, and the legal Smriti of the Rishi Yajnavalkya, are the eight chosen true Shastras (93-95). The fifth and tenth sections (of the Bhagavata) are respectively my bhciktishdstra, yogashdstm, and dharmasluistra. The com- mentary of Ramanuja on the Bhagavad-Gita is approved by me as a treatise on the soul (100). Vairagya is a dislike of every thing except Krishna (10I). My tenet is the Vishishtddvalta, * and the desired heaven is Goloka, where the service of Krishna in the form of Brahma [as opposed to absorption] is mukti or liberation (121). A tenth part of the money and grain received as income by my followers should be given to Krishna, and a twentieth part to the poor (121). Those who are associated with me should daily recite this epistle or hear it recited by others. In the want of a reader, they should worship with great respect at my word and my image (208, 209).’’ This is unmistakeable Hinduism, though it is Hinduism greatly curtailed and simplified. It is this curtailment and simplification of a vast system of faith and practice, difficult of comprehension and retention in the mind, which, I am persuaded, is one of the most powerful causes of the rapid spread in modern times of Indian sectarianism. The reasons of the preference of Krishna are too apparent to require comment. Let the native reformers beware of inconsiderately encouraging the numerous messengers of Svami Nar&yana now perambulating Gujarat. The Manabhavas. The Manabhavas. The Manabhavas, like the sect now mentioned, are devotees of Krishna, male and female. My information of them is derived principally from intercourse with some of their principal men, whom I have met in the Nizam’s country and the province of Khandesh Their chief guru has his head -quarters at Karinja, about eighteen kos from Amar&vati in Berar, where he generally resides during the four months of the rains. Some years ago he had trained and initiated about 300 disciples, who wander about instructing multitudes in his peculiar tenets. He himself is a wanderer during the greater part of the year, riding generally in a palanquin or on the back of an elephant or horse, and receiving contributions, general ly in money, from his constituents. His subordinate teachers give him all that they obtain, except what is needed by themselves for food and clothing. They are vegetarians, their food, they say, being annam, rice, gram, &c., while vnadya- mdhsa, (intoxicants) and flesh are forbidden (vivarjita) . They wear no tuft on the crown of their heads, or moustachios, and don’t suffer their beards to grow to any length. Black is the favourite colour of their dress, which consists principally of a blanket five cubits in length, in which they rvrap themselves, and a turban tinged with black, or shamaranga , dark blue. Their book -readers do not, however, refuse an angarakha (coat) when it is presented to them. Their favourite authority is the Bhagavad-Gita. They observe no festivals but those of the Gokulashtami in the month of Shnivana and the Dattatreya in Mar- gashirsha. The official name of their A'charyas is Kavishvara. Each A'cha- * See page 26 above. SHAIVA SECTS. 37 rya elects his successor from the most learned and devoted of his followers. When he comes into office he takes his seat upon a gad! (or cushion of state) like a prince. He gives no salutation to those who approach him ; but he extends to them his blessing in a form of words, which I have copied, said to be taken from the Padma Purana. They are very unwilling to reveal their mantra. One of their principal men when I was pressing him on this subject, but who was unwilling to give me the information which I wanted from him, quoted this verse in defence of his silence : — (Your) age, wealth, domestic deficiency, mantra, affairs of privacy, medicaments, •charity, honour, and dishonour,” are nine secrets which should be kept as such. He ultimately, however, wrote down his mantra for me (at Phaltan near the River Nira, a place often frequented by the Mdnabhavas). It was in these wor j s HIHRI RTHRF5', HR "Worship, in the name of Krishna, his lotus feet.” Though they profess celibacy, many of them are known to be addict- ed to temporary marriages, and to be dissolute in their habits. They add to their numbers by taking under their care children devoted to the gods in fulfil- ment of vows, as well as by the teachings of their bands wandering through- out the country. Mr. M. A. C. Lyall, C.S., late Commissioner of West Berar, says they are connected with the Jaya Kishaniyas of the Panjab ; but one of their principal Mathasisat Rithapur near Elichapur. Krishna is considered by the Manabhavas to be now nirdkdra (without form), though they say he has assumed three avataras — one for instructing Matsyakunda of the SuryaVansha, in the Satya Y uga ; one for instructing Yadu Chakravarti of the Soma Vansha, in the Treta ; and one for instructing Arjuna, in the Dvapara. Their legendry seems to a considerable extent to be peculiar to themselves. They profess to be opposed to idolatry ; but they have their own reservations in this matter. They are decided pantheists. They are no favourites of the Brahmans. They seem to be on the increase in the Maratha districts. They form now a considerable community. The Shaiva Sects. The great founder of the Shaiva Serfs was undoubtedly Slianharachdrya . , , who was born probably in the eighth century of the Christian era. He is represented as having been originally a N timburi Brahman of the Kerala-Desha, or Malabar. Though an extensive literature is attributed to him, he seems to have been of an erratic disposition, and to have travelled through a great part of India. Three Mathas in Southern India bear his name, one of which is at Sliringiri in the Maisur ; another at Kudalgl, in the same Province, near the junction of the Tunga and the Bhadra, and the other at Shankeshvara in the Southern Maratha Country. Towards the close of his life he visited Kashmir, Badari- kashrama, and Kedarnatka where he is reported to have died at the early age of thirty -two. He is said to have had four pupils ( Padmapdda , Hastamalaka, Sareshvara or Mandana, and Trotaka ) who respectively among themselves had other ten learners ( Tirtha and A'slvrdma ; Vana and Aranya ; Sarasvati t For a somewhat different reading, see Hitopadeslia, 140. 38 SHAIVA SECTS. and Puri ; Bhdrati Dashnamis or Dandfs. Atitaa. Jem's. senses, and Kauaphatas. and Givi ; Pdrvata and Sdgara ) who are esteemed the patriarchs of the Dashnami or Dandi (Staff), Shaiva Sect. Three and a half of these ten classes are esteemed purer than the reminder who called themselves At lias, ‘ past away,’ or ‘ liberat- ed’ (from worldly cares or feelings). With these classes are connected the Yocj'ls or Jog is, who profess to practise the Yoga, and who by various austerities, positions, and practices pretend that they thus get the victory over the reach the abstraction which issues in final absorption into the deity. Among the Yogis, the Kdnaphatas or ‘ Split Ears,’ the disciples of Gorakhanatha,are very conspicuous. They have a special establishment of their own in Kachli, described by the late Captain Postans ; and occasionally individuals of the fraternity are found wandering about in the Bombay Presidency. A Yogi, well instructed in English and Sanskrit, appeared in Bombay a few years ago. He stated to Dr. Bhau Daji and myself, that on the occasion of a severe illness he had had, he was supposed by his relatives to have died, and that as they had performed the funeral rites for him, they could not again receive him into caste, when he revived. He was on a journey, when we saw him, to the great Tirthas of India. His practice of the Yoga, he said, was only “ experimental while he was not finding himself making progress in his aim at utter forgetfulness of mundane objects. The majority of the Brahmans of the Indian Peninsula acknowledge one or other of the successors of Slian- karaeh&rya as their Swami. Though they are Shaivas they denominate themselves Smdrtas, observers of the Smritis ; and acknowledge, more or less, all the gods of the Indian pantheon. Smartas. Tenets of Skankara- charya. The following is a summary of the tenets of Shankaracharya : — Pxram- ( itmd , the Supreme Spirit, essentially viewed, is both nirguna, destitute of qualities, and nirdkara, without form. He is acted upon, however, by two proximate affinities (upddhis) mdyd and avidyd, illusion and non-cognition or ignorance. Mdyd is shuddlia, pure ; but avidyd is impure. Mdyd and avidyd are anddi siddha, fixed {existent), without-a-beginning. Paramdtmd when joined [san- srijyate) to mdyd is Psh vara, the Supreme Lord. Paramdtmd joined to avidyd is life or vitality {Jiva). Paramdtmd is like dkusha, ether or air ; mdyd is like a house ; avidyd is like a vessel. I'shvara is like the dkdsha in a house. Jiva is like the dkdsha in a vessel. Break a vessel to pieces, and only dkdsha will remain ; wherefore Paramdtmd and Jiva are a unity. If it be asked, how is sddkalpa, thought, united to Jiva, the reply is, that it arises from the yoga (conjunction) of avidya with Jiva. Paramdtmd is like iron ; Paramdtmd with Mdyd is like a loadstone. Sddkalpa, thought, is a Kriyd, an act or an effect. Sddkalpa may be either shuddha, or ashuddha, pure or impure. It is pure to I'shvara and impure to Jiva. The Antarydmi, ‘ the interior witness’ of men is a direct portion of deity. There is no Duality. If you will practise Munasapujd, say — ^fRl STHlt I cT 5W- i -wmi i m t hrt: ‘ According to the judgment of the body, I am thy servant ; according to the judgment of the living principle, I am a portion of thyself; according to the SELF-TORMENTORS. 39 judgment of myself or spirit thou (illusively supposed to exist) art I. This is my unchangeable creed. There is nothing but the Ego. Mukti, (liberation) follows the realization of this unity. This pantheism of the great Indian sophist is ultimately destructive of all morality, making man’s sin, God’s sin ; man’s ignorauce, God’s ignorance ; and man’s suffering, God’s suffering. In reference to the Shankeshvar Svami, the following note, according to Native Opinion, appeared in the Belgdum Samdchdr of the 1 2th June 1865 : — “ The Shankeshvar Svami (the high priest of the Slnvites) has a good knowledge of the Vedas. We have also observed that he possesses a fair degree of worldly knowledge. But this does not qualify him for his office He was here in Belgaum about eighteen months ago, when we had an opportunity of occularly observing the state of his establishment. ‘ To-day we have a feast at this man’s, to-morrow at that man’s : the dishes at such and such a party were <>ood, and the ghi at such and such was bad ; the present made by such and such a person on the occasion of washing the feet amounted to so much, and we still expect an invitation from such and such a person. We have now col- lected so much, and expect so much more. This amount cannot certainly fall below this, and we shall be able to save at least this much.’ Throughout the Svami’s establishment everyone, from the highest to the lowest, thinks of nothing but these things. The Svfuni himself too is so much engaged in such worldly thoughts that he is very probably not able to go through his daily round of religious duties strictly according to the Sinistra.” Self-tormentors. The Paramahansas. Self- Tormentors. Among; the Sliaiva devotees and mendicants there are some who attract very peculiar attention as self-tormentors. The Para- maltaiisas, literally the ‘ Supreme Geese’, so called for their professing to contemplate God under the symbol of a goose, — allege that they are insensible to heat and cold, pleasure and pain, satiety and want. Some impostors among them, as was the case about , forty years ago at Calcutta, pretend to live without food. The Aghoris, or ‘ Horribles follow a course of life becoming their name, being hideous in their bodily appearance, and indescribably disgusting in their food. Individual representatives of their class , are found at A'bu and the mountains of Girnar. c The U'rdvhabdhus, ‘ Arms-up-men’, keep one or both of their arms elevated till they are unable again to lower them. Some of these I have seen at various times in Bombay, exciting the wonder of many beholders. The A'kdshmulchis keep their faces to the sky till the stiffening of the muscles of their necks prevents them again seeing the earth which they tread. The BhuviimukMs suspend themselves (on trees generally) by the feet, with their heads nearly touching the ground and keep themselves in this position for hours.* The Nalchis cultivate long nails, sometimes extending to the measure of ten The A'kaslumikhis The Bhumimukhls The Nakhis. * Speaking of a village near Kheda in Gujarat, a contributor to the Oriental Christian Spectator (March 1843), says : “A Gosavi was there swinging in the sun with his head downwards, a practice continued two hours daily for the last four years, that he may obtain forgiveness of sins.” Most of the habitual self-tormentors whom I have met among the devotees of India have stated, in reply to my interrogatories, that it was not the fear of sin, but the desire of the accumulation of righteousness wheh urged them to their austerities. Tt is not to be doubted, however, that the idea of doing penance is associated in some cases with these austerities. 40 TMMUNDI AND JANGAMAS AND THE LINGAVANTAS. The Mukas. Shaktas. V amamargis. in the Sanskrit works or eleven inches, as I have seen at Mumbdddvi in Bombay. The The \ao-as Nagas are fierce warriors, who often enter into the service of the Native princes. The Vaisbnavas, however, have their Nagas as well as the Shaivas. Even they are not want- ing among the generally peaceful Kabir-Panthis. The Makas, devoted to the service of various gods, practise silence under vows and often for purposes of extortion. I lately met with a Bairagi said to have observed silence for the quarter of a century. The Pddapiditas torment themselves by pointed nails in their wooden r.. shoes. The Dinaydtrikas measure the ground by prostrations oi their bodies, otten tor hundreds of miles, while they proceed to chosen places of pilgrimage. Immundi. I can here scarcely venture to refer to the abominable doctrines and prac- tices of the impure Shaktas, devoteesand worshippers of the Shaktis or female mates of certain of the Devas and the Vdmamdrgis, or followers of the left hand way. The loathsome tenets of these sects are found called Tantras, Yavudas and Rahasyas for a set of which, for purposes of reprobation, I had some time ago to pay a con- siderable sum of money. The collection of these libri execrandi made by Professor H. H. Wilson is in the Bodleyan Library at Oxford. It is in the Bengal and Madras Presidencies that those who make them their religious standards are principally to be found, though there are several places in the Bombay Presidency, particuarly in Sindh, to which they are not altogether strangers. An important work, forming an expose of what the author calls (in plain English in its preface) “ the most filthy, infernal, and obscene super- stitions, and pretended miraculous powers of the Mantra Shastris,” using the works here referred to, has lately appeared in Sanskrit and Gujarati. The author of this work, who does credit to the native bench under the British Government, says, “ It is hoped that this publication will induce all those who are concerned in the welfare of this great nation to unite in one common effort to put down the diabolical tenets inculcated by the Vann and Kaula sects It will be a grand triumph to free Hindus from the snares of those knaves who pass by the polite names of Mantra Shastris and Upasakas, but who deserve to be denounced as enemies to all that is decent, virtuous and moral.” The moral plague of the north-west of India is not, it would appear, confined to the Vallabhacharyas. The Pavayi of Kachh and Knthiawad are to be remembered by our officials. Although it is believed that the produc- tion of them (for the vilest purposes) has now ceased in these provinces, they are unhappily not wanting in some of the contigu- ous Native States, if my latest information (of January 1873) be correct. The Jangamcis and the Lingavantas. The Jangamas, as their name implies, are the ‘ wandering’ devotees of the T sect of the Lingavantas or Lingayats. They are chiefly to be found in the Southern Mardtha Country, the Karnatak, and the Tamil Country, in which it is supposed the distinctive worship of the Phallic symbol of Shiva (not mentioned in the ancient litera- ture of the Hindus) originated. Their great authority is the Ba^sava Parana, which derives its name from the Vrishabha or bull (alias Nandi), the con- Pavayi. JANGAMAS AND THE LINGAVANTAS. 4t veyance of Shiva. They delight in the title of Vira Shaiva, or ‘ Shivite heroes They claimed, about twenty-six years ago, the privilege of carrying their chief priest in a palanquin borne crossways on the roads ; but in this they were resisted by the Smarta Svami of Shringiri, who produced an olden copper shashana, or patent, conferring on him this distinguished privilege of dignity and greatness. A civil law-suit was the consequence, which was ultimately decided by the Queen in Council. The grant recorded in the patent was (in deference to use and wont) by supposition held to be valid, but as no monopoly was established by the grant, the Lingayats gained the day. Fear of popular disturbance, however, has led to the interdiction of the coveted procession by either of the classes of the unfriendly religionists, as well as that called the Vydsa-tola, or procession of the “ hand of Vydsa ” (the reputed collector of the Vedas and Puranas) held up in defiance of the Linga- yats by those who consider themselves orthodox Hindus. The Jangamas meet with support from both the trading and agricultural classes, who belong to the sect with which they are connected. The principles, belief, and practices of that sect may be best learned from the summary translations from olden Kanarese of the Basava Parana and of the Channa Basava Parana, both ably executed by the Rev. G. Wurth of the German Mission to the Kanarese country, communicated to the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society by the Hon. W. E. Frere, Esq., and published (in 1868) in Volume VIII. of the\Journal of that Society. In the commencement of the first-mentioned of these Puranas the question is started, “ Is it right to praise Basava in a separate form, seeing that [as his conveyancer and companion] he is so perfectly united and identified with Shiva ? and answers in the affirmative, alleging that it is proper to praise him, because he being the propagator of Shiva worship on earth, all others derive their happiness from him. And from this he starts for the first time into fulsome praise of Basava, out of which we only notice the doctrine that Basava is the inseparable companion of Shiva. When Shiva is without shape, Basava takes shape ; when Shiva enters into a shape, Basava is his follower ; when Shiva goes about in the disguise of a follower, Basava reveres him with the utmost devotion ; when Shiva descends to the estate of an ordinary worshipper, Basava is his servant. The union of both is exceedingly close, and surpassess even the highest degree of union which is attainable by human devotion. Men may attain those well-known four states of heavenly bliss : — Sdlokya, Sdnnpya, Sdrupya, Sayujaya ; that is, they may be in the same world with Shiva, in his neighbourhood, partakers of his shape, united with him ; but they cannot, like Basava, become Sashiva, that is one with Shiva.” The Parana, then, in exaltation of Basava, proceeds to narrate how he became incarnate in the family of the Brahman Mandiraja and his wife Madilambika, in the village of Baguvari, and to relate his egregiously marvel- lous sayings and doings in the cause of his lord Shiva, as opposed to the other gods of the Hindu pantheon, and to the system of Brahmanic caste. When Basava, the son of Mandiraja and Madilambika, bad attained the age of eight years, his father wished to invest him with the sacrificial thread, but be refused to be so invested. “ I am a worshipper of Shivd ,” he said, “ and do not belong to the generation of Brahma. I am the axe laid to the root of the tree of caste. I cannot comply with your request.” Baladdva, then 6 A T 42 JAN GAM AS AND THE LINGAVANTAS. prime minister at the court of Bijalla of Kalyana [in the Dekhan], was present on this occasion, and it is said gave his daughter Gangadevi in marriage to Basava, who afterwards became an object of persecution by the Brahmans. An image (sic arunt ) which conveniently walked out of a temple audibily taught him to “ consider those who wear the mark of Shiva, the Jangamas, as Shiva incarnate”; to take them for examples in his doings ; to treat the Vira Shaivas [distinguished from ordinary Shaivas] as friends, though they might be his enemies ; to “ punish those who abuse Lingayats ” ; to “ spread this religion ” ; “ not to eat anything without having first offered it to God and <( not to desire any one’s life or property.” To these and similar injunctions was added the declaration, “ Know that the Jangama is I ”. For our present purpose these are almost sufficient explanations of the principles of the Lingayats. Both the Purdnas, translated or analysed by Mr. Wurth, are full of the most egregious fictions and fables. The second of the Lingavanta Purdnas receives its name from Channa- basava , the alleged son of Nagalambika, the sister of Basava by the Ghitkala (divina 'particida ) of Shiva, the alleged circumstances of whose infantile corporeal manifestation it describes in a most undignified and extravagant form. The author of that Purana was the Kanarese poet Virdpaksha, who, according to Mr. Wurth, flourished in the 1,507th year of the era of Shali- vahana. The summary of the poem is as follows : — 1.