4. Social customs
The principal deity of the Rāmosis is Khandoba, the Marātha god of war.[3] He is the deified sword, the name being khanda-aba or sword-father. An oath taken on the Bhandar or little bag of turmeric dedicated to Khandoba is held by them most sacred and no Rāmosi will break this oath. Every Rāmosi has a family god known as Devak, and persons having the same Devak cannot intermarry. The Devak is usually a tree or a bunch of the leaves of several trees. No one may eat the fruit of or otherwise use the tree which is his Devak. At their weddings the branches of several trees are consecrated as Devaks or guardians of the wedding. A Gurao cuts the leafy branches of the mango, umar,[4] jāmun[5] and of the rui[6] and shami[7] shrubs and a few stalks of grass and sets them in Hanumān’s temple. From here the bridegroom’s parents, after worshipping Hanumān with a betel-leaf and five areca-nuts, take them home and fasten them to the front post of the marriage-shed. When the bridegroom is taken before the family gods of the bride, he steals one of them in token of his profession, but afterwards restores it in return for a payment of money. In social position the Rāmosis rank a little above the Mahārs and Māngs, not being impure. They speak Marāthi but have also a separate thieves’ jargon of their own, of which a vocabulary is given in the account of Captain Mackintosh. When a Rāmosi child is seven or eight years old he must steal something. If he is caught and goes to prison the people are delighted, fall at his feet when he comes out and try to obtain him as a husband for their daughters.[8] It is doubtful whether these practices obtain in the Central Provinces, and as the Rāmosis are not usually reckoned here among the notorious criminal tribes they may probably have taken to more honest pursuits.
[1] B. G. Poona, Part I., p. 409.
[2] An Account of the Origin and Present Condition of the Tribe of Rāmosis (Bombay, 1833; India Office Tracts. Also published in the Madras Journal of Literature and Science.)
[3] This paragraph is mainly compiled from the Nāsik and Poona volumes of the Bombay Gazetteer.
[4] Ficus glomerata.
[5] Eugenia jambolana.
[6] Calotropis gigantea.
[7] Bauhinia racemosa.
[8] Poona Gazetteer, part i. p. 425.