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.[1] The 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 village watchmen, 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 of bainks or septs, the names of which are territorial or totemistic. Among the latter may be mentioned the Kulhariya from kulhāri, an axe, and the Barmaiya from the bar or banyan tree; members of these septs pay reverence to an axe and a banyan tree respectively at weddings.