The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India, Volume 2

by R. V. Russell

1. General notice.

Dhīmar, Kahār, Bhoi, Pālewār, Baraua, Machhandar.—The caste of fishermen and palanquin-bearers. In 1911 the Dhīmars numbered 284,000 persons in the Central Provinces and Berār, being most numerous in the Marātha Districts. In the north of the Province we find in place of the Dhīmars the Kahārs and Mullāhs, and in the east or Chhattīsgarh country the Kewats. But the distinction between these castes is no more than nominal, for in some localities both Kahār and Kewat are returned as subcastes of Dhīmar. In some parts of India the Bhois and Dhīmars are considered as separate castes, but in the Central Provinces they are not to be distinguished, both names being applied indiscriminately to the same persons. The name of Bhoi perhaps belongs more particularly to those who carry litters or palanquins, and that of Dhīmar to the fishermen. The word Dhīmar is a corruption of the Sanskrit Dhīvara, a fisherman. Bhoi is a South Indian word (Telugu and Malayalam boyi, Tamil bovi), and in the Konkan people of this class are known as Kahār Bhui. Among the Gonds Bhoi is considered as an honorific name or title; and this indicates that a large number of Gonds have become enrolled in the Dhīmar or Kahār caste, and consider it a rise in status. Pālewār is the name of the Telugu fishermen of Chānda. Machhandar signifies one who catches fish.

Dhīmar or fisherman’s hut.

2. Subcastes.

The caste has a large number of subdivisions of a local or occupational nature; among occupational names may be mentioned the Singaria or those who cultivate the singāra nut, the Nadha or those who live on the banks of streams, the Tānkiwālas or sharpeners of grindstones, the Jhīngas or prawn-catchers, the Bansias and Saraias or anglers (from bansi or sarai, a bamboo fishing-rod), the Bandhaiyas or those who make ropes and sacking of hemp and fibre, and the Dhurias who sell parched rice. These last say that their original ancestors were created by Mahādeo out of a handful of dust (dhūr) for carrying the palanquin of Pārvati when she was tired. They are probably the same people as the Dhuris who also parch grain, and in Chhattīsgarh are considered as a separate caste. Similarly the Sonjhara Dhīmars wash for gold, the calling of the separate Sonjhara caste. The Kasdhonia Dhīmars wash the sands of the sacred rivers to find the coins which pious pilgrims frequently drop or throw into the river as an offering when they bathe in it. The Gondia subcaste is clearly an offshoot from the Gond tribe, but a large proportion of the whole caste in the Central Provinces is probably derived from the Gonds or Kols, members of this latter tribe being especially proficient as palanquin-bearers. The Suvarha subcaste is named after the suar or pig, because members of this subcaste breed and eat the unclean animal; they are looked down on by the others. Similarly the Gadhewāle Dhīmars keep donkeys, and are despised by the other subcastes who will not take food from them. They use donkeys for carrying loads of wood, and the bridegroom rides to his wedding on this animal; and among them a donkey is the only animal the corpse of which can be touched without conveying pollution. The Bhanāre Dhīmars appear to be named after the town of Bhandāra.

3. Exogamous groups.

A large number of exogamous groups are also returned, either of a titular or totemistic nature: such are Bāghmār, a tiger-slayer; Ojhwa, from Ojha, or sorcerer; Guru pahchān, one who knows his teacher; Midoia, a guardian of boundaries, from med, a boundary or border; Gidhwe, a vulture; Kolhe, or jackal; Gadhekhāya, a donkey-eater; and Kastūre, musk; a few names are from towns or villages, as Tumsare from Tumsar, Nāgpurkar from Nāgpur; and a few from other castes as Mādgi, Bhoyar, Pindāria from Pindāri, a freebooter; Gondia (Gond) and Gondhali; and Kachhwāha, a sept of Rājpūts.

4. Marriage.

Marriage is prohibited between members of the same sept and also between first cousins. In many localities families do not intermarry so long as they remember any relationship to have existed between them. In Mandla, Mr. Govind Moreshwar states, the Nadha and Kehera subcastes do not intermarry; but if a man desires a girl of the other subcaste he can be admitted into it on giving a feast to the caste-fellows according to his means, and thus marry her. Two families may exchange daughters in marriage. A maiden who goes wrong with a man of the caste or of any higher caste may be readmitted to the community under penalty of a feast to the caste and of having a lock of her hair cut off. In the Hindustāni Districts women do not accompany the marriage procession, but in the Marātha Districts they do. Among the Bhanāra Dhīmars of Chānda the wedding may be held either at the bride’s or the bridegroom’s house. In the former case a bride-price of Rs. 16 is paid, and in the latter one of Rs. 20, because the expenses of the bride’s family are increased if the wedding is held at her house. A custom exists among the poorer Dhīmars in Chānda of postponing the marriage ceremony to avoid expense; a man will thus simply take a girl for his wife, making a payment of Rs. 1–4 or twenty pence to her father and giving a feast to the community. She will then live in his house as his wife, and at some subsequent date, perhaps in old age, the religious ceremony will be held so that the couple may have been properly married before they die. In this fashion the weddings of grandparents, parents and children have all been celebrated simultaneously. The Singaria Dhīmars of Chhindwāra grow singāra or water-nut in tanks, and at their weddings a crocodile must be killed and eaten. The Sonjharas or gold-washers must also have a crocodile, but they keep it alive and worship it, and when the ceremony is concluded let it go back again to the river. It is natural that castes whose avocations are connected with rivers and tanks should in a manner deify the most prominent or most ferocious animal contained in their waters. And the ceremonial eating of a sacred animal has been recorded among divers peoples all over the world. At a Dhīmar marriage in Bhandāra a net is given to the bridegroom, and sidori or cooked food, tied in a piece of cloth, to the bride, and they walk out together as if going to a river to fish, but the bride’s brother comes up and stops them. After a wedding in Mandla they kill a pig and bury it before the door of the bridegroom’s house, covering it with earth, and the bride and bridegroom step over its body into the house. Widow-marriage is freely permitted; in Mandla the marriage of a widow may be held on the night of any day except Sunday, Tuesday and Saturday. Divorce is allowed, but is of rare occurrence. Adultery on the part of a wife will be frequently overlooked, and the extreme step of divorcing her is only taken if she creates a public scandal. In such a case the parties appear before a meeting of the caste, and the headman asks them whether they have determined to separate. He then breaks a straw in token of the disruption of the union, and the husband and wife must pronounce each other’s names in an audible voice.[2] A fee of Rs. 1–4 is paid to the headman, and the divorce is completed.[3] In some localities the woman’s bangles are also broken. In Jhānsi the fine for keeping a widow is ten rupees and for living with the wife of another man sixty rupees.