The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India, Volume 3

by R. V. Russell

3. Subcastes.

In Raigarh the Kharias have only two subtribes, the Dūdh, or milk Kharias, and the Delki. Of these the Delki are said to be of mixed origin. They take food from Brāhmans, and explain that they do so because an ancestress went wrong with a Brāhman. It seems likely that they may be descended from the offspring of immigrant Hindus in Chota Nāgpur with Kharia women, like similar subdivisions in other tribes. The Delkis look down on the Dūdh Kharias, saying that the latter eat the flesh of tigers and monkeys, from which the Delkis abstain. In Bengal the tribe have two other divisions, the Erenga and Munda Kharias.