1. Origin of the caste.
Gurao.[1]—A caste of village priests of the temples of Mahādeo in the Marātha Districts. They numbered about 14,000 persons in the Central Provinces and Berār in 1911. The Guraos say that they were formerly Brāhmans and worshippers of Siva, but for some negligence or mistake in his ritual they were cursed by the god and degraded from the status of Brāhmans, though subsequently the god relented and permitted them to worship him and take the offerings made to him.
Guraos with figures made at the Holi festival called Gangour
It is related that a certain Brāhman, who was a votary of Siva, had to go on a journey. He left his son behind and strictly enjoined on him to perform the worship of the god at midday. The son had bathed and purified himself for this purpose, when shortly before midday his wife came to him and so importuned him to have conjugal intercourse with her that he was obliged to comply. It was then midday and in his impure condition the son went to the shrine of the god to worship him. But Siva cursed him and said that his descendants should be degraded from the status of Brāhmans, though he afterwards relented so far as to permit of their continuing to act as his priests; and this was the origin of the Guraos. It seems doubtful, however, whether the caste are really of Brāhman origin. They were formerly village priests, and Grant-Duff gives the Gurao as one of the village menials in the Marātha villages. They have the privilege of taking the Naivedya or offerings of cooked food made to the god Mahādeo, which Brāhmans will not accept. They also sell leaf-plates and flowers and bel leaves[2] which are offered at the temples of Mahādeo; and on the festival of Shivrātri and during the month of Shrāwan (July) they take round the bel leaves which the cultivators require for their offerings and receive presents in return. In Wardha the Guraos get small gifts of grain from the cultivators at seed-time and harvest. They also act as village musicians and blow the conch-shell, beat the drum and play other musical instruments for the morning and evening worship at the temple. They play on the cymbals and drums at the marriages of Brāhmans and other high castes. In the Bombay Presidency[3] some are astrologers and fortune-tellers, and others make the bāsing or coronet of flowers which the bridegroom wears. Sometimes they play on the drum or fiddle for their spiritual followers, the dancing-girls or Kalāvants. When a dancing-girl became pregnant she worshipped the Gurao, and he, in return, placed the missi or tooth-powder made from myrobalans on her teeth. If this was not done before her child was born, a Kalāvantin was put out of caste. In some localities the Guraos will take food from Kunbis. And further, as will be seen subsequently, the caste have no proper gotras or exogamous sections, but in arranging their marriages they simply avoid persons having a common surname. All these considerations point to the fact that the caste is not of Brāhmanical origin but belongs to a lower class of the population. Nevertheless in Wardha they are known as Shaiva Brāhmans and rank above the Kunbis. They may study the Sāma Veda only and not the others, and may repeat the Rudra Gayatri or sacred verse of Siva. Clearly the Brāhmans could not accept the offerings of cooked food made at Siva’s shrine; though the larger temples of this deity have Brāhman priests. It seems uncertain whether Siva or Mahādeo was first a village deity and was subsequently exalted to the position of a member of the supreme Hindu Trinity, or whether the opposite process took place and the Guraos obtained their priestly functions on his worship being popularised. But in any case it would appear that they were originally a class of village priests regarded as the servants of the cultivating community, by whose gifts and offerings they were maintained. Grant-Duff in enumerating the village servants says: “Ninth, the Gurao, who is a Sūdra employed to wash the ornaments and attend the idol in the village temples, and on occasions of feasting to prepare the patraoli or leaves which the Hindus substitute for plates. They are also trumpeters by profession and in this capacity are much employed in Marātha armies.”[4]
2. Internal structure.
The caste has several subdivisions which are principally of a territorial nature, as Warāde from Berār; Jhāde, inhabitants of the forest or rice country; Telanga, of the Telugu country; Dakshne, from the Deccan; Mārwāri, from Mārwār, and so on. Other subcastes are the Ahīr and Jain Guraos, of whom the former are apparently Ahīrs who have adopted the priestly profession, while the Jain Guraos are held in Bombay to be the descendants of Jain temple servants who entered the caste when their own deities were thrown out and their shrines annexed by the votaries of Siva.[5] In Bombay, Mr. Enthoven states “That the Koli and Marātha ministrants at the temples of Siva and other deities often describe themselves as Guraos, but they have not formed themselves into separate castes and are members of the general Koli or Marātha community. They cease to call themselves Guraos when they cease to minister at temples.”[6] In the Central Provinces one of the subcastes is known as Vājantri because they act as village musicians. The caste have no regular exogamous sections, but a number of surnames which answer the same purpose. These are of a professional type, as Lokhandes, an iron-dealer; Phulzares, a maker of fireworks; Sontake, a gold-merchant; Gaikwād, a cowherd; Nākade, long-nosed, and so on. They say they all belong to the same gotra, Sānkhiāyan, named after Sānkhiāya Rishi, the ancestor of the caste.