The most important group in Bengal are the Bhogtas, who are found, says Colonel Dalton, “In the hills of Palāmau, skirting Sargūja, in Tori and Bhānwar Pahār of Chota Nāgpur and other places. They have always had an indifferent reputation. The head of the clan in Palāmau was a notorious freebooter, who, after having been outlawed and successfully evaded every attempt to capture him, obtained a jāgīr[7] on his surrendering and promising to keep the peace. He kept to his engagement and died in fair repute, but his two sons could not resist the opportunity afforded by the disturbances of 1857–58. After giving much trouble they were captured; one was hanged, the other transported for life and the estate was confiscated.” Mr. Crooke notes that the Khairwārs since adopting Hinduism performed human sacrifices to Kāli. Some of our people who fell into their hands during the Mutiny were so dealt with.[8]
In the Central Provinces there is a group known as Sūrajvansi or Descendants of the Sun, or Janeodhāri, ‘Those who wear the sacred thread.’ This is the aristocratic division of the caste, to which the chiefs and zamīndārs belong, and according to the usual practice they have consolidated their higher position by marrying only among themselves. Other groups are the Duālbandhi, who say that they are so called because they make a livelihood by building the earthen diwāls or walls for houses and yards; but in Mīrzāpur they derive the name from duāl, a leather belt which is supposed to have been the uniform of their forefathers when serving as soldiers.[9] The Pātbandhi or silk-makers, according to their own story, are thus named because their ancestors were once very rich and wore silk; but a more probable hypothesis is that they were rearers of tasar silk cocoons. The Beldār or Matkora work as navvies, and are also known as Kawarvansi or ‘Descendants of the Kawars,’ another tribe of the locality; and last come the Khairchūra, who take their name from the khair tree and are catechu-makers.
4. Exogamous septs.
The tribe have a large number of exogamous groups named after plants and animals. Members of the mouse, tortoise, parrot, pig, monkey, vulture, banyan tree and date-palm septs worship their totem animal or tree, and when they find the dead body of the animal they throw away an earthen cooking-pot to purify themselves, as is done when a member of the family dies. Those of the Dhān (rice), Non (salt), Dila (plough) and Dhenki (rice pounding-lever) septs cannot dispense with the use of these objects, but make a preliminary obeisance before employing them. Those of the Kānsi sept sprinkle water mixed with kāns[10] grass over the bride and bridegroom at the marriage ceremony, and those of the Chandan or sandalwood sept apply sandal-paste to their foreheads. They cannot clearly explain the meaning of these observances, but some of them have a vague idea that they are descended from the totem object.
5. Marriage.
Marriage is either infant or adult, and in the latter case a girl is not disposed of without her consent. A bride-price varying from five to ten rupees is paid, and in the case of a girl given to a widower the amount is doubled. The Hindu ceremonial has been adopted for the wedding, and an auspicious day is fixed by a Brāhman. In Bengal Sir H. Risley notes that “Remnants of non-Aryan usage may be discerned in the marriage ceremony itself. Both parties must first go through the form of marriage to a mango tree or at least a branch of the tree; and must exchange blood mixed with sindur, though in the final and binding act sindur alone is smeared by the bridegroom upon the bride’s forehead and the parting of her hair.” As has been pointed out by Mr. Crooke, the custom of smearing vermilion on the bride’s forehead is a substitute for an earlier anointing with blood; just as the original idea underlying the offering of a cocoanut was that of substitution for a human head. In some cases blood alone is still used. Thus Sir H. Risley notes that among the Birhors the marriage rite is performed by drawing blood from the little fingers of the bride and bridegroom and smearing it on each of them.[11] The blood-covenant by which a bride was admitted to her husband’s sept by being smeared with his blood is believed to have been a common rite among primitive tribes.