THE TRIBES AND CASTES OF THE

CENTRAL PROVINCES OF INDIA

VOL. IV Page no. 149 to 153

 R. V. RESSELL

HEERALAL

Majhwar, Manjhi, Majhia- A small mixed tribe who have apparently originated from the Gonds, Mundas and kawars. About 14000 Majhwars were returned in 1911 from the Raigarh, Sarguja and Udaiypur state. The word Manjhi means the headman of tribal sub division being derived from the Sanskrit Madhya, are he who is in the center in Bengal Manjhi has the meaning of the steersman of a boat or ferryman, and this may have been its original application, as the steersman might well be he who sat in the centre. When a tribal party makes an expedition by boat, the leader would naturally occupy the position of steersman, and hence it is easy to see how the term Manjhi came to be applied to the leader or head of the clan and to be retained as a title for general use. Sir H. Risley gives it as a title of the Kewat or fisherman and many other castes and tribes in Bengal. But it is also the name for a village headman among the Santals, and whether this meaning is derived from the prior signification of steersman or

is of independent origin is uncertain. In Raigarh Mr. Hira Lal state that the Manjhi or Manjhias are fisherman and are sometimes classed with Kewats. They appear to be Kols who have taken to fishing and being looked down on by the other cols on this account, took the name of Majhia or Manjhi, which they now derive from Machh, a fish. “The appearance of the Manjhias whom I saw and examined was typically aboriginal and their language was a curious mixture of Mundari, santal and korwa, though they stoutly repudiated connection with any of these tribes. They could count only up to three in their own language, using the Santal words mit, baria, pia. Most of their terms for parts of the body were derived from Mundari, but they also used some Santali and Korwa words. In their own language they called themselves Hor, which means a man, and is the tribal name of the Mundas.’’

          On the other hand the Majhwars of the mirzapur, of whom Mr. Crooke gives a detailed and interesting account, clearly appear to be derived from the Gonds. They have five subdivisions, which they say are descended from the five sons of their

first Gond ancestor. These are Poiya, Takam, Marai, Chika and Oiku. Four of these names are those of Gond clans, and each of the five sub tribes is further divided in to a number of exogamous septs, of which a large proportion bear typical Gond names, as Markam, Netam, Tekam, Masham, Sindram and so on. The Majhwars of Mirzapur also, like the Gonds, employ Patharis or Pardhans as their priests, and there can thus be can no doubt that they are mainly derived from the Gonds. They would appear to have come to Mirzapur from Sarguja and the Vindhyan and Satpura hills, as they say that their ancestors ruled from the fort of Mandla, Garha in Jabbalpore, Sarangarh, Raigrah and other places in the Central Provinces. They worship a deified Ahir, whose legs were cut off in a fight with some Raja, since when he has become troublesome ghost. “He now lives on the Ahlor hill in Sarguja, where his petrified body my still be seen, and the Manjhis go there to worship him. His wife lives on the Jhoba hill in Sarguja. Nobody but a Baiga dares to ascend the hill, and even the Raja of Sarguja when he visits the neighbourhood sacrifices a black goat. Manjhis believe if these two deities   are duly propitiated they

can give anything they.” The story makes it probable that the ancestors of these manjhis dwelt in Sarguja. The Manjhis of Mirzapur are not boatman or fisherman and have no tradition of having ever been so. They are backward tribe and practise shifting cultivation on burnt- out patches of forest. It is possible that they may have abandoned their former aquatic profession on leaving the neighbourhood  of the river, they may have simply adopted  the name especially since it has the meaning of a village headman and is used as a title by the Santal and other castes and tribes. Similarly the term Munda, which at first meant the headman of a Kol village, is now the common name for the Kol tribe in Chota Nagpur.

          Again the Manjhis appear to be connected with the Kawar tribe. Mr. Hira Lal states that in Raigrah they will take food with Kewat, Gond, Kawars or Ahirs, but will not eat rice and pulse, the most important and sacred, with any outsides exept Kawars; and this they explain by statement that their ancestors and those of the Kawars were connected. In the Mirzapur the Kaurai Ahirs will take food and water from the Majhwars, and these Ahirs are not improbably derived from the Kawars. Here the Majhwars also an oath taken when touching a broadsword as most binding, and the Kawars of the Central Provinces worship a sword as one of their principal deities. Not improbably the Manjhis may include some Kewats, as this caste also used Manjhi for a title; and Manjhi is both a sub caste and title of the Khairwars. The general conclusion from the above evidence appears to be that the caste is a very heterogeneous group who’s most important constituents come from the Gond, Munda, Santal and Kawar tribes. Whether the original bond of connection among the various people who call themselves Manjhi was the common occupation of boating and fishing is a doubtful point.

          The Manjhis of Sarguja, like those of Raigarh, appear to of Munda and Santal rather than of Gond origin. They have no more subdivision, but a number of totemistic sept. Those of the Bhainsa or buffalo sept are split into the Lotan and Singham subsepts, lotan meaning a place where buffaloes wallow and sing a horn. The Lotan Bhainsa sept say that their ancestor was born in a place where a buffalo had wallowed, and the Singham Bhainsa that their ancestor was born while his mother was holding the horn of a buffalo. These sept consider the buffalo sacred and will not yoke it to a plough or cart, through they will drink its milk. They think that if one of them killed a buffalo their clan would become extinct. The Bhaghni Majhwars, named after the bagh or tiger, think that a tiger will not attack any member of their sept unless he has committed an offence entailing temporary excommunication from caste. Until this offence has been expiated his relationship with the tiger as head of his sept is in abeyance and the tiger will eat him as he would any other stranger. If a tiger meet a member of the sept who is free from sin, he will run away. When the Baghni sept hear that any Majhwar has killed a tiger they purity their houses by washing them with cow dung and water. Member of the Khoba or peg sept will not make a peg or drive one into the ground. Those of the Dumar or fig-free sept say that their first ancestor was born under this tree. They consider the tree to be sacred and never eat its fruit, and worship it once a year. Member of the sept named after the shiroti tree worship the tree every Sunday.

          Marriage within the sept is prohibited and for three generation between persons related through females. Marriage is adult, but matches are arranged by the parents of the parties. At betrothal the elders of the caste must be regaled with cheora or parched rice and liquor. A bride price of Rs 10 is paid, but a suitor who cannot afford this may do service to his father-in-law for one or two year in lieu of it. At the wedding the bridegroom put a copper ring on the bride’s finger and marks her forehead with vermilion. The couple walks seven times round the sacred post, and seven little heaps of rice and pieces of turmeric are arranged so that they may touch one of them with their big toes at each round. The bride’s mother and seven other women place some rice in the skirt of their cloths and the bridegroom throws this cover his shoulder. After this picks up the rice and distributes it to all the women present, and the bride goes through the same ceremony. The rice is no doubt an emblem of fertility, and its presentation to the women may perhaps be expected to render them fertile.

          On the birth of child the navel-string is buried in the front of the house. When a man is at the point of death they placed a little cooked rice and curds in his mouth so that he may not go hungry to the other world, in view of the face that he has probably eaten very little during his illness. Some cotton and rice are also placed near his head of the corpse in the grave so that he may have food and clothing in the next world. Morning is observed for five days, and at the end of this period the mourners should have their hair cut, but if they cannot get it done on this day, the rite may be performed on the same day in the following year.

          The tribe worship Dulha Dev, the bridegroom god, and also make offerings to their ploughs at the time of eating the new rice and at the Holi and Dasahra festivals. They dance the Karma dance in the month of Asarh and Kunwar or at the beginning and end of the rains. When the time has come to Gaotia headman or the Baiga priest fetches a branch of karma tree from the forest and sets it up in his yard as a notice and invitation to the village. After sun set all the people, men women and children assemble and dance round the tree, so the accompaniment of a drum known an Mandar. The dancing continues all night, and in the morning the host plucks up the branch of the karma tree and consigns it to a stream, at the same time regaling the dancers with rice, pulse and a goat. This dance is a religious rite in the honor of karma Raja and is believed to keep sickness from the village and bring it prosperity. The tribe eats flesh but abstain from beef and pork. Girls are tattooed on arrival at puberty with representations of the tulsi or basil, four arrow-head in the form of a cross, and the foot-ornament known as pairi.   

                                                                                                       Courtesy 

                R. S. Kewat.

(Founder and managing director, majhi samaj mahasangh)