(c) The ascription of a sacred character to the totem.
Stocks Named from Animals, Plants, etc.
First as to the stocks named from animals, plants, etc. There are two divisions of the Pûra Brâhmans of the Dakkhin, known as Bakriyâr and Chheriyâr, founded on the names of the male and female goat. In Upper India, the Kâchhis or market gardeners, and the Kachhwâha sept of Râjputs allege that they take their names from the Kachchhapa or tortoise, as the Kurmis refer their name to the Kûrma or turtle. The Ahban Râjputs and the Ahiwâsis of Mathura connect their names with Ahi, the dragon. The Kalhans Râjputs derive their name from the Kâlahans or black goose. Among Brâhmans and other high castes, Bhâradvaja, “the lark, the bringer of food,” has given its name to many sections. Mr. Risley thinks that the fact of there being a Kasyapa division of Kumhârs or potters, who venerate the tortoise, points to the name being a corruption of Kachchhapa, the tortoise, in which case their name would have the same origin as that of the Kâchhis already mentioned.
Many people, again, claim kindred with the sun and moon. Such are the Natchez of North America and the Incas of Peru.[5] There are many children of the sun and moon in Arabia,[6] and gypsies of the east of Europe have a legend that they are descended from the sun and moon; the sun having debauched his moon sister, was condemned to wander for ever, in consequence of which their descendants can never rest.[7] So in India, the Sûrajbansi and Chandrabansi Râjputs are said to take their names from Sûraj, the sun, and Chandra, the moon, respectively.
According to Captain J. Montgomerie,[8] round Kashmîr, and among the aboriginal tribes of the Himâlayan slopes, men are usually named after animals, as the Bakhtiyâris, one of the nomad tribes of Persia, name their children usually not after the Prophet, but after wild animals, such as the wolf, tiger, and the like, adding some descriptive epithet. In the same way a tribe of Lodi Pathâns in the Panjâb are known as Nâhar or “wolf.” This is said to be due to their rapacity, and may be as likely a nickname as a survival of totemism.[9]
Totem Names among the Drâvidians.
The evidence of this point is, as has been already said, much more distinct among the Drâvidians than among the more Hinduized races. Details of such names among the Agariyas, Nats, Baiswârs, and Ghasiyas have been given in detail elsewhere.[10] Thus, to take the Dhângars, a caste in Mirzapur, allied to the Orâons of Bengal, we find that they have eight exogamous septs, all or most of which are of totemistic origin. Thus, Ilha is said to mean a kind of fish, which members of this sept do not eat; Kujur is a kind of jungle herb which this sept does not use; Tirik is probably the Tirki or bull sept of the Orâons. In Chota Nâgpur, members of this sept do not touch any cattle after their eyes are open. It illustrates the uncertainty of these usages that in other places they say that the word Tirki means “young mice,” which they are prohibited from using.[11] Again, the Mirzapur sept of the Dhângars, known as Lakara, is apparently identical with that called Lakrar among the Bengal Orâons, who must not eat tiger’s flesh as they are named after the tiger; in Mirzapur they derive their name from the Lakar Bagha, or hyæna, which they will not hunt or kill. The Bara sept is apparently the same as the Barar of the Orâons, who will not eat the leaves of the Bar tree or Ficus Indica. In Mirzapur they will not cut this tree. The Ekka sept in Mirzapur say that this name means “leopard,” an animal which they will not kill, but in Chota Nâgpur the same word is said to mean “tortoise” and to be a totemistic sept of the Orâons. So, the Mirzapur Dhângars have a Tiga sept, which they say takes its name from a jungle root which is prohibited to them; but the Orâons of Bhâgalpur have a Tig sept, which, according to them, means “monkey.” The last of the Mirzapur septs is the Khâha, which, like the Khakkar sept of the Orâons, means “crow,” and neither will eat the bird. Similar instances might be almost indefinitely repeated from usages of the allied tribes in Mirzapur and the adjoining Bengal Districts.