BAHELIYA.
Marriages rules. 4. The sub-castes already named are endogamous, and they observe, in the eastern districts, the ordinary formula of exogamy, which prohibits marriage in one’s own family, or that of the maternal uncle or father’s sister, as long as relationship is remembered. In Oudh they will not give a bride to a family in which, within the memory of man, a son has been married. A man cannot have two sisters to wife at the same time, but he may marry one sister on the death of another. Sameness of occupation and the use of, or abstinence from, wine are carefully regarded in forming marriage connections. A man can take a second wife in the lifetime of the first wife provided the council give permission; but this is not usually granted unless she is barren or incapacitated by some disease from cohabitation. If an unmarried girl is detected in an intrigue, her parents are fined five rupees, and have to feast the clansmen. Girls are usually married at the age of seven or eight. The negotiations are conducted by a Brâhman and barber. Once concluded, no physical defect is a sufficient cause for the annulment of a marriage. Wives can be put away by order of the council for adultery; but if the paramour be a member of the tribe, the offence is usually condoned by a money fine. Widows can marry by sagâi, but such marriages are generally made with widowers. The only ceremony is eating with the relations of the woman and making her put on new clothes and jewelry provided by her future partner. On his return home with his bride he is obliged to feast his clansmen.
Birth ceremonies. 5. During pregnancy an old woman of the family waves a pice or a handful of grain round the head of the patient and vows to present an offering to a deified ghost called Kâlu Bîr, and Niman Parihâr, who is one of the quintette of the Pânchonpîr, and is supposed to have some special connection with the use of spirituous liquors. The woman is attended by the Chamâin midwife, who cuts the cord and buries [[107]]it outside the house. At the entrance of the delivery room a fishing net, a branch of the thorny bel tree (Aegle marmelos) and the family pestle are placed to keep off malignant spirits; and a fire is kept lighting there during the period of impurity with the same object. They have the usual dread of menstrual impurity common to all these races. On the day her child is born the mother gets no food, except a mixture of ginger and coarse sugar mixed up in water. From the next day she receives her usual food. Those who have lost their children get the baby’s ears bored before it leaves the delivery room. On the sixth day is the Chhathi, when mother and child are bathed. From this time the place of the midwife is taken by the barber’s wife, who attends till the twelfth day, when the barahi ceremony is performed. The house is plastered and the earthen vessels replaced. The nails of the mother and all the family are cut, mother and child are bathed, and the clansmen are feasted on wine and cakes (pûri). When the mother first visits the well after her confinement she bows down to it and offers fried gram (ghughuri) on the platform, which she also marks with a little red lead, a practice which may be a survival of some form of sacrifice, human or animal. If the child is a boy the midwife receives four annas and two sers of grain: for a girl, two annas and the same amount of grain. They so far practise the couvade that the husband does not work on the day his child is born. The original motive has been forgotten, and the explanation given is that he does so to express his joy at his wife’s safe delivery. At the age of five or seven the child’s ears are bored, and this is considered an initiation into caste: after this the child must observe the caste regulations regarding food.
Marriage ceremonies. 6. The marriage ceremonies are of the ordinary low-caste type. A Brâhman is consulted as to whether the union is likely to be propitious (garna ganna). The betrothal is concluded by giving the bride’s father a rupee or less to clench the bargain. Baheliyas appear invariably to marry their brides by the dola form, in which the ceremonies are performed at the house of the bridegroom. Some eight days before the wedding the bride is brought over to the bridegroom’s house. Two or three days before the wedding day a pavilion (mânro) is erected, in the centre of which a ploughshare (haris), the stalk of a plantain tree and a bamboo are fixed. Under these are placed the family pestle and mortar and grindstone for spices. Besides these are placed a water [[108]]jar (kalsa) covered with a saucer (parai) filled with barley and decorated with lumps of cowdung and splashes of red lead. The same evening the matmangar ceremony is performed in the usual way. The day before the wedding is the bhatwân, when the clansmen are feasted. On the wedding day the bridegroom is bathed, his nails are pared, and he is dressed in a red coat with a yellow loin cloth. He then parades on horseback through the village, and on his return sits down with his clansmen. At night he is called into the house, and he and the bride are seated in a square in a courtyard, when the bride’s father washes their feet with water (pânw-pûja). The Brâhman then recites the verses (mantra), and the pair worship Gauri and Ganesa. The bride’s father, then taking some kusa grass and water, gives his daughter to the bridegroom (kanyâdân). He next applies red lead to the parting of her hair: their clothes are knotted together, and they move five times round the centre pole of the pavilion, while parched maize is thrown over them (lawa parachhan). The pair go into the retiring room (kohabar), where his brother-in law’s wife (sarhaj) plays jokes on the bridegroom by sitting on his back and refusing to release him until she receives a present. A lighted lamp with two wicks is placed there, and the bridegroom joins the two wicks together as an emblem of union with the bride. Next follows a feast to the clansmen, who return next day. After the marriage is concluded Kâlu Bîr and Parihâr are worshipped. On the fourth day after the wedding, the bride and bridegroom, accompanied by the barber’s wife, go to a neighbouring tank or stream and then drown the sacred water jar (kalsa) and the marriage festoons (bandanwâr). On their way home they worship the old fig trees of the village, which are supposed to be the abode of evil spirits, with an offering of water and washed rice (achchhat). Some offer also sweetmeats and grain. The binding part of the marriage ceremony is the washing of the bridegroom’s feet by the bride’s father, and the rubbing of red lead by the bridegroom on the parting of the bride’s hair.
Death ceremonies. 7. When a man is dying he is taken into the open air and gold, Ganges water, and leaves of the tulasi (ocymum sanctum) put into his mouth. If these things are not procurable, curds and coarse sugar are used. Four men carry the corpse to the cremation ground, where the body is washed, shrouded in new cloth, and the hair shaved. It is then laid on the pyre, with the legs turned towards the south. The [[109]]next-of-kin walks round five times and burns the mouth with a torch of straw, and then fires the pyre. On their return home the mourners chew the leaves of the bitter Nîm tree, and pass their feet through the smoke of burning oil. Next day the Pandit gets the barber to hang a water jar from the branch of a pîpal tree. That day the clansmen are fed. The feast is known as “the boiled rice of milk” (dûdh ka bhât). The period of mourning is ten days, during which the chief mourner keeps apart, and always carries a water vessel (lota) and a knife to protect him from evil spirits. He cooks for himself, and, before eating, lays a little food outside the house for the use of the dead. He bathes daily and renews the water in the pot (ghant) hung up for the dead man. On the tenth day the clansmen assemble at a tank, shave, bathe, and throw the rice balls (pinda) in the water. The Mahâbrâhman receives the clothes and personal effects of the dead man, which he is supposed to pass on for his use in the next world. A feast to the clansmen concludes the period of mourning. They make the usual offerings to the dead (srâddha) in the first fortnight of Kuâr.
Religion. 8. Baheliyas are seldom regularly initiated into any Hindu sect. Their clan deities, in the Eastern Districts, are Kâlu Bîr and Parihâr, who are worshipped at the Kajari festival, in the month of Sâwan. To Kâlu Bîr a young pig is offered, and wine poured on the ground. Parihâr receives a sacrifice of fowls and cakes. In Oudh they worship Hardeo or Hardaur Lâla, the cholera godling. His offering consists of cakes, fruit, etc. To Kâlê Deo a goat is sacrificed, and a pig to Miyân. Men alone join in this worship. Parched grain and milk are offered to the household snake at the Nâgpanchami festival. They respect the Sun and Moon, bow to them, but do not give them any special worship. The ordinary low village Brâhmans act as their priests at domestic ceremonies. They consume the animals they sacrifice, except pigs, from which most abstain. They have the usual Hindu festivals—the Phagua, Kajari and Dasami.
Social habits and customs. 9. The women wear nose rings (nathiya), ear ornaments (karanphûl), necklaces, wristlets (dharkaua), arm ornaments (bâju), and anklets (pairi, kara). Like other Hindus they give two names to their children. They swear by the Ganges, on their own heads, and on those of their sons. They believe in magic and witchcraft, but do not practise these [[110]]arts themselves. They will not kill a cow, monkey, or squirrel; they will not touch a Bhangi, Dom, Dhobi, or the wife of their younger brother or nephew. They drink liquor freely, and eat the flesh of fowls, goats, deer, and sheep, but not pork or beef. Men eat first, and women after them. They salute by the form pailagi or the ordinary salâm; Brâhmans and Râjputs drink water from their hands; Banyas eat pakki cooked by them; Chamârs and other menials eat kachchi.
Occupation. 10. Their occupation is hunting and trapping birds. Those who live by bird-catching are often known as Miskâr, said to be a corruption of mîr shikâr, “head huntsman,” or mâskâr, “eater of meat.” They have a most ingenious mode of trapping birds with a series of thin bamboos, like a fishing rod, on which bird-lime (lâsa) is smeared. This they push with great adroitness through the branches and leaves where a bird is sitting, and entangle his wings and feathers. They make excellent shikâris, and are noted for their skill in tracking game. Some work in the Mirzapur lac factories, and a few cultivate as non-occupancy tenants. They are a fine, active, manly race, but notoriously untrustworthy.
Distribution of Baheliyas according to the Census of 1891.
| District. | Hindus. | Muhammadans. | Total. | |||
| Karaul. | Raghubansi. | Sûrajbansi. | Others. | |||
| Sahâranpur | … | … | … | 2 | … | 2 |
| Muzaffarnagar | … | … | … | … | 229 | 229 |
| Meerut | … | … | … | 20 | 4 | 62 |
| Bulandshahr | … | … | … | 38 | 12 | 50 |
| Mathura | … | … | … | 199 | 12 | 211 |
| Agra | 354 | 80 | … | 131 | … | 565 |
| Farrukhâbâd | 1,279 | 1,149 | … | 655 | 21 | 3,104 |
| Mainpuri | 753 | 414 | … | 403 | 10 | 1,580 |
| Etâwah | 325 | 630 | … | 332 | 1 | 1,288 |
| Etah | … | 247 | … | 47 | … | 294[[111]] |
| Bareilly | … | … | … | 41 | 232 | 273 |
| Bijnor | … | … | … | 31 | … | 31 |
| Morâdâbâd | … | … | … | 53 | 7 | 60 |
| Shâhjahânpur | 251 | 2,108 | … | 712 | … | 3,071 |
| Pilibhît | … | 870 | … | 132 | 116 | 1,118 |
| Cawnpur | 2,482 | 33 | 5 | 456 | … | 2,976 |
| Fatehpur | 1 | … | 132 | 162 | … | 295 |
| Bânda | … | … | 24 | 86 | … | 110 |
| Allahâbâd | 25 | 1 | 355 | 912 | 33 | 1,326 |
| Jhânsi | … | … | 4 | 40 | … | 44 |
| Jâlaun | … | … | … | 36 | … | 36 |
| Lalitpur | … | … | … | 17 | … | 17 |
| Benares | 16 | … | … | 541 | 20 | 577 |
| Mirzâpur | … | … | … | 1,152 | 4 | 1,156 |
| Jaunpur | … | … | … | 322 | … | 322 |
| Ghâzipur | 11 | … | … | 80 | … | 91 |
| Ballia | … | … | … | 1 | … | 1 |
| Gorakhpur | 2 | … | 223 | 1,222 | 2 | 1,449 |
| Basti | … | 56 | 422 | … | 205 | 683 |
| Azamgarh | … | … | 30 | 256 | … | 286 |
| Tarâi | … | … | … | 11 | 100 | 111 |
| Lucknow | 19 | … | 226 | 501 | 176 | 922 |
| Unâo | … | … | … | 151 | 143 | 294 |
| Râê Bareli | … | … | … | 524 | … | 524 |
| Sîtapur | … | … | 31 | 866 | 18 | 915 |
| Hardoi | … | … | 203 | 136 | … | 339[[112]] |
| Kheri | … | … | … | 617 | … | 617 |
| Faizâbâd | … | … | 923 | 408 | … | 1,331 |
| Gonda | 4 | … | 86 | 956 | 171 | 1,217 |
| Bahrâich | 44 | … | 615 | 1,310 | 106 | 2,075 |
| Sultânpur | … | … | 571 | 582 | … | 1,153 |
| Partâbgarh | … | … | 1,186 | 1,264 | … | 2,450 |
| Bârabanki | … | … | 262 | 237 | … | 499 |
| Total | 5,566 | 5,588 | 5,298 | 15,642 | 1,660 | 33,754 |