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.
R. S. Kewat.
(Founder and managing director, majhi
samaj mahasangh)
