Siva kī jholi
Us men ka Koli,
or ‘The Koli was born from Siva’s wallet.’
2. Subdivisions.
In the Central Provinces the tribe have the five subdivisions of Sūrajvansi, Malhār, Bhilaophod, Singāde, and the Muhammadan Kolis. The Sūrajvansi or ‘descendants of the sun’ claim to be Rājpūts. The Malhār or Pānbhari subtribe are named from their deity Malhāri Deo, while the alternative name of Pānbhari means water-carrier. The Bhilaophod extract the oil from bhilwa[7] nuts like the Nāhals, and the Singāde (sing, horn, and gādna, to bury) are so called because when their buffaloes die they bury the horns in their compounds. As with several other castes in Burhānpur and Berār, a number of Kolis embraced Islām at the time of the Muhammadan domination and form a separate subcaste.
In Berār the principal group is that of the Mahādeo Kolis, whose name may be derived from the Mahādeo or Pachmarhi hills. This would tend to connect them with the Korkus, and through them with the Kols. They are divided into the Bhās or pure and the Akarāmāse or impure Kolis.[8] In Akola most of the Kolis are stated to belong to the Kshatriya group, while other divisions are the Nāiks or soldiers, the begging Kolis, and the Watandārs who are probably hereditary holders of the post of village watchman.[9]
3. Exogamous divisions.
The tribe have exogamous septs of the usual nature, but they have forgotten the meaning of the names, and they cannot be explained. In Bombay their family names are the same as the Marātha surnames, and the writer of the Ahmadnagar Gazetteer[10] considers that some connection exists between the two classes. A man must not marry a girl of his own sept nor the daughter of his maternal uncle. Girls are usually married at an early age. A Brāhman is employed to conduct the marriage ceremony, which takes place at sunset: a cloth is held between the couple, and as the sun disappears it is removed and they join hands amid the clapping of the assembled guests. Afterwards they march seven times round a stone slab surrounded by four plough-yokes. Among the Rewa Kāntha Kolis the boy’s father must not proceed on his journey to find a bride for his son until on leaving his house he sees a small bird called devi on his right hand; and consequently he is sometimes kept waiting for weeks, or even for months. When the betrothal is arranged the bridegroom and his father are invited to a feast at the bride’s house, and on leaving the father must stumble over the threshold of the girl’s door; without this omen no wedding can prosper.[11]