Kitabı oku: «The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India, Volume 1», sayfa 33

2. His incarnations

He is generally considered to have had ten incarnations, of which nine are past and one is still to come. The incarnations were as follows:

1. As a great fish he guided the ark in which Manu the primeval man escaped from the deluge.

2. As a tortoise he supported the earth and poised it in its present position; or according to another version he lay at the bottom of the sea while the mountain Meru was set on its peak on his back, and with the serpent Vāsuki as a rope round the mountain the ocean was churned by the gods for making the divine Amrit or nectar which gives immortality.

3. As a boar he dived under the sea and raised the earth on his tusks after it had been submerged by a demon.

4. As Narsingh, the man-lion, he delivered the world from the tyranny of another demon.

5. As Wāman or a dwarf he tricked the King Bali, who had gained possession over the earth and nether world and was threatening the heavens, by asking for as much ground as he could cover in three steps. When his request was derisively granted he covered heaven and earth in two steps, but on Bali’s intercession left him the nether regions and refrained from making the third step which would have covered them.

6. As Parasurama⁴⁰² he cleared the earth of the Kshatriyas, who had oppressed the Brāhman hermits and stolen the sacred cow, by a slaughter of them thrice seven times repeated.

7. As Rāma, the divine king of Ajodhia or Oudh, he led an expedition to Ceylon for the recovery of his wife Sīta, who had been abducted by Rawan, the demon king of Ceylon. This story probably refers to an early expedition of the Aryans to southern India, in which they may have obtained the assistance of the Munda tribes, represented by Hanumān and his army of apes.

8. As Krishna he supported the Pāndavas in their war against the Kauravas, and at the head of the Yādava clan founded the city of Dwārka in Gujarāt, where he was afterwards killed. The popular group of legends about Krishna in his capacity of a cowherd in the forests of Mathura was perhaps at first distinct and afterwards combined with the story of the Yādava prince.⁴⁰³ But it is in this latter character as the divine cowherd that Krishna is most generally known and worshipped.

9. As Buddha he was the great founder of the religion known by his name; the Brāhmans, by making Buddha an incarnation of Vishnu, have thus provided a connecting link between Buddhism and Hinduism.

In his tenth incarnation he will come again as Nishka-lanki or the stainless one for the final regeneration of the world, and his advent is expected by some Hindus, who worship him in this form.

Image of Lakshmi, the Goddess of Wealth, the consort of Vishnu, with attendant

3. Worship of Vishnu and Vaishnava doctrines

In the Central Provinces Vishnu is worshipped as Nārāyan Deo, who is identified with the sun, or as Parmeshwar, the supreme beneficent god. He is also much worshipped in his incarnations as Rāma and Krishna, and their images, with those of their consorts, Sīta and Rādha, are often to be found in his temples as well as in their own. These images are supposed to be subject to all the conditions and necessities incident to living humanity. Hence in the daily ritual they are washed, dressed, adorned and even fed like human beings, food being daily placed before them, and its aroma, according to popular belief, nourishing the god present in the image.

The principal Vishnuite sects are described in the article on Bairāgi, and the dissenting sects which have branched off from these in special articles.⁴⁰⁴ The cult of Vishnu and his two main incarnations is the most prominent feature of modern Hinduism. The orthodox Vaishnava sects mainly differed on the point whether the human soul or spirit was a part of the divine soul or separate from it, and whether it would be reabsorbed into the divine soul, or have a separate existence after death. But they generally regarded all human souls as of one quality, and hence were opposed to distinctions of caste. Animals also have souls or spirits, and the Vishnuite doctrine is opposed to the destruction of animal life in any form. In the Bania caste the practices of Vaishnava Hindus and Jains present so little difference that they can take food together, and even intermarry. The creed is also opposed to suicide.

Faithful worshippers of Vishnu will after his death be transported to his heaven, Vaikuntha, or to Golaka, the heaven of Krishna. The sect-mark of the Vaishnavas usually consists of three lines down the forehead, meeting at the root of the nose or below it. All three lines may be white, or the centre one black or red, and the outside ones white. They are made with a kind of clay called Gopichandan, and are sometimes held to be the impress of Vishnu’s foot. To put on the sect-mark in the morning is to secure the god’s favour and protection during the day.

Vām-Mārgi, Bām-Mārgi, Vāma-Chari Sect

Vām-Mārgi, Bām-Mārgi, Vāma-Chari Sect. ⁴⁰⁵—A sect who follow the worship of the female principle in nature and indulge in sensuality at their rites according to the precepts of the Tāntras. The name signifies ‘the followers of the crooked or left-handed path.’ Their principal sacred text is the Rudra-Yamal-Damru Tāntra, which is said to have been promulgated by Rudra or Siva through his Damru or drum at the end of his dance in Kailās, his heaven in the Himalayas. The Tāntras, according to Professor Monier-Williams, inculcate an exclusive worship of Siva’s wife as the source of every kind of supernatural faculty and mystic craft. The principle of female energy is known as Sakti, and is personified in the female counterparts of all the Gods of the Hindu triad, but is practically concentrated in Devi or Kāli. The five requisites for Tantra worship are said to be the five Makāras or words beginning with M: Madya, wine; Mānsa, flesh; Matsya, fish; Mudra, parched grain and mystic gesticulation; and Maithuna, sexual indulgence. Among the Vām-Mārgis both men and women are said to assemble at a secret meeting-place, and their rite consists in the adoration of a naked woman who stands in the centre of the room with a drawn sword in her hand. The worshippers then eat fish, meat and grain, and drink liquor, and thereafter indulge in promiscuous debauchery. The followers of the sect are mainly Brāhmans, though other castes may be admitted. The Vām-Mārgis usually keep their membership of the sect a secret, but their special mark is said to be a semicircular line or lines of red powder or vermilion on the forehead, with a red streak half-way up the centre, and a circular spot of red at the root of the nose. They use a rosary of rudrāksha or of coral beads, but of no greater length than can be concealed in the hand, or they keep it in a small purse or bag of red cloth. During worship they wear a piece of red silk round the loins and decorate themselves with garlands of crimson flowers. In their houses they worship a figure of the double triangle drawn on the ground or on a metal plate and make offerings of liquor to it.

Image of the boar incarnation of Vishnu

They practise various magical charms by which they think they can kill their enemies. Thus fire is brought from the pyre on which a corpse has been burnt, and on this the operator pours water, and with the charcoal so obtained he makes a figure of his enemy in a lonely place under a pīpal tree or on the bank of a river. He then takes an iron bar, twelve finger-joints long, and after repeating his charms pierces the figure with it. When all the limbs have been pierced the man whose effigy has been so treated will die. Other methods will procure the death of an enemy in a certain number of months or cause him to lose a limb. Sometimes they make a rosary of 108 fruits of the dhatūra⁴⁰⁶ and pierce the figure of the enemy through the neck after repeating charms, and it is supposed that this will kill him at once.

Wahhābi Sect

Wahhābi Sect. ⁴⁰⁷—A puritan sect of Muhammadans. The sect was not recorded at the census, but it is probable that it has a few adherents in the Central Provinces. The Wahhābi sect is named after its founder, Muhammad Abdul Wahhāb, who was born in Arabia in A.D. 1691. He set his face against all developments of Islām not warranted by the Korān and the traditional utterances of the Companions of the Prophet, and against the belief in omens and worship at the shrines of saints, and condemned as well all display of wealth and luxury and the use of intoxicating drugs and tobacco. He denied any authority to Islamic doctrines other than the Korān itself and the utterances of the Companions of the Prophet who had received instruction from his lips, and held that in the interpretation and application of them Moslems must exercise the right of private judgment. The sect met with considerable military success in Arabia and Persia, and at one time threatened to spread over the Islamic world. The following is an account of the taking of Mecca by Saud, the grandson of the founder, in 1803: “The sanctity of the place subdued the barbarous spirit of the conquerors, and not the slightest excesses were committed against the people. The stern principles of the reformed doctrines were, however, strictly enforced. Piles of green huqqas and Persian pipes were collected, rosaries and amulets were forcibly taken from the devotees, silk and satin dresses were demanded from the wealthy and worldly, and the whole, piled up into a heterogeneous mass, were burnt by the infuriated reformers. So strong was the feeling against the pipes and so necessary did a public example seem to be, that a respectable lady, whose delinquency had well-nigh escaped the vigilant eye of the Muhtasib, was seized and placed on an ass, with a green pipe suspended from her neck, and paraded through the public streets—a terrible warning to all of her sex who might be inclined to indulge in forbidden luxuries. When the usual hour of prayer arrived the myrmidons of the law sallied forth, and with leathern whips drove all slothful Moslems to their devotions. The mosques were filled. Never since the days of the Prophet had the sacred city witnessed so much piety and devotion. Not one pipe, not a single tobacco-stopper, was to be seen in the streets or found in the houses, and the whole population of Mecca prostrated themselves at least five times a day in solemn adoration.”

The apprehensions of the Sultan of Turkey were aroused and an army was despatched against the Wahhābis, which broke their political power, their leader, Saud’s son, being executed in Constantinople in 1818. But the tenets of the sect continued to be maintained in Arabia, and in 1822 one Saiyad Ahmad, a freebooter and bandit from Rai Bareli, was converted to it on a pilgrimage to Mecca and returned to preach its doctrines in India. Being a Saiyad and thus a descendant of the Prophet, he was accepted by the Muhammadans of India as the true Khalīfa or Mahdi, awaited by the Shiahs. Unheeded by the British Government, he traversed our provinces with a numerous retinue of devoted disciples and converted the populace to his reformed doctrine by thousands, Patna becoming a centre of the sect. In 1826 he declared a jihād or religious war against the Sikhs, but after a four years’ struggle was defeated and killed. The sect gave some trouble in the Mutiny, but has not since taken any part in politics. Its reformed doctrines, however, have obtained a considerable vogue, and still exercise a powerful influence on Muhammadan thought. The Wahhābis deny the authority of Islamic tradition after the deaths of the Companions of the Prophet, do not illuminate or pay reverence to the shrines of departed saints, do not celebrate the birthday of Muhammad, count the ninety-nine names of God on their fingers and not on a rosary, and do not smoke.

Part I
Glossary of Minor Castes and Other Articles, Synonyms, Subcastes, Titles and Names of Exogamous Septs or Clans

Note.—In this Glossary the references under each heading are to the detailed articles on castes, religions and sects, in Part I. and Part II. of the work. The synonyms, subcastes and titles have been taken from the main articles and are arranged here in index form as an aid to identification. Section or clan names, however, will not usually be found in the main articles. They have been selected from an alphabetical list prepared separately, and are included as being of some interest, in addition to those contained in the articles. The Glossary also serves the purpose of indicating how subcaste and clan names are common to several castes and tribes.

Glossary

Abhimanchkul.—A section of Komti in Chānda. They abstain from using a preparation of lead which is generally ground to powder and applied to wounds.

Abhīra.—An immigrant nomad tribe from which the modern Ahīr caste is believed to have originated. A division of Marātha and Gujarāti Brāhmans, so called because they are priests of the Abhīras or the modern Ahīrs.

Abdhūt.—Name for a religious mendicant. Applied to Gosains, q.v.

Achārya, Achāraj.—(Superintendent of ceremonies.) Title of the heads of the Swāmi-Nārāyan sect. A surname of Adi Gaur Brāhmans in Saugor.

Adhia.—(Half.) A subcaste of Telis considered to be illegitimate in Betūl.

Adhaighar, Arhaighar.—(2½ houses.) A subdivision of Sāraswat Brāhmans.

Adhāli.—A name given to Malyārs by outsiders.

Adigaur.—A subdivision of Brāhman, probably a branch of the Gaur Brāhmans, though in Saugor they are considered to be Kanaujias.

Adkandh, Adikandh.—(Superior Khonds.) A subcaste of Khonds, being the most Hinduised section of this tribe. A title of Khond.

Adnath, Adinath.—A subdivision of Jogi. Adināth was the father of Matsyendranāth and grandfather of Gorakhnāth, the first great Jogi.

Agamudayan.—A large Tamil cultivating caste, of which a few members reside in the Central Provinces in Jubbulpore and Raipur. They are the families of Madras sepoys who have retired from regiments stationed in these places. The Agamudayans sometimes call themselves by the title of Pillai, which means ‘Son of a god’ and was formerly reserved to Brāhmans.

Agarwāla, Agarwāl.—A subcaste of Bania. See Bania-Agarwāla.

Agastya.—An eponymous section of Brāhmans.

Aghorpanthi.—Synonym for Aghori.

Agnihotri.—A surname of Kanaujia and Jijhotia Brāhmans in Saugor. (One who performs the sacrifice to Agni or the god of fire.)

Agnikula.—A name given to four clans of Rājpūts said to have been born from the fire-pit on Mount Abu. See article Panwār Rājpūt.

Agrahari.—A subcaste of Bania found chiefly in Jubbulpore District and Raigarh State. Their name has been connected with the cities of Agra and Agroha.

Agrajanma.—(First-born.) A synonym for Brāhmans.

Ahāria.—Clan of Rājpūt. Synonym for Sesodia.

Ahīr.—The professional caste of herdsmen. A clan of Marātha. A subcaste of Rāwat and Sālewār Koshti in Nimār. A subcaste of Bishnoi, Gurao, and Sunār.

Ahīrwār.—A resident of the old town of Ahar in the Bulandshahr district. Subcaste of Kori.

Ahivāsi, Ahiwāsi.—(From Ahiwās, ‘The abode of the dragon,’ the hermitage of Sanbhari Rishi in Mathura.) A Brāhmanical or pseudo-Brāhmanical tribe. They are said to be sprung from a Brāhman father and a Kshatriya mother, and were formerly pack-carriers. Found in Jubbulpore and the Nerbudda Valley.

Ahke.—(Seduced.) A sept of the Uika clan of Gonds in Betūl. They are said to be so named because their priests once seduced a Dhurwa girl, and her son was given this name.

Aithāna.—A subcaste of Kāyasth.

Ajodhia.—Subcaste of Jādam.

Ajudhiabāsi.—See Audhia.

Akāli.—Order of Sikh devotees. See article Sikh.

Akhādewāle.—A class of Bairāgis who do not marry. Also known as Nihang.

Akhroti.—A subdivision of Pathāns. (From akhrot, walnut.)

Akre.—A bastard Khatīk. Title of a child a Khatīk gets by a woman of another caste.

Alia.—A grower of the āl plant. A subcaste of Bania and Kāchhi, a synonym of Chasa.

Alia, Alkari.—These terms are derived from the āl or Indian mulberry (Morinda citrifolia). The Alias are members of the Kāchhi caste who formerly grew the āl plant in Nimār for sale to the dyers. Its cultivation then yielded a large profit and the Alias devoted themselves solely to it, while they excommunicated any of their members who were guilty of selling or giving away the seed. The imported alizarin has now almost entirely superseded the indigenous dye, and āl as a commercial product has been driven from the market. Alkari is a term applied to Banias and others in the Damoh District who were formerly engaged in the cultivation of the āl plant. The members of each caste which took to the cultivation of this plant were somewhat looked down upon by the others and hence became a distinct group. The explanation generally given of the distaste for the crop is that in the process of boiling the roots to extract the dye a number of insects have to be killed. A further reason is that the red dye is considered to resemble or be equivalent to blood, the second idea being a necessary consequence of the first in primitive modes of thought, and hence to cause a certain degree of pollution to those who prepare it. A similar objection is held to the purveying of lac-dye as shown in the article on Lakhera. Notwithstanding this, clothes dyed red are considered lucky, and the āl dye was far more commonly used by Hindus than any other, prior to the introduction of aniline dyes. Tents were also coloured red with this dye. The tents of the Mughal Emperors and royal princes were of red cloth dyed with the roots of the āl plant.⁴⁰⁸ Similarly Nādir Shāh, the victor of Pānipat, had his field headquarters and lived in one small red tent. In these cases the original reason for colouring the tents red may probably have been that it was a lucky colour for battles, and the same belief may have led to the adoption of red as a royal and imperial colour.

Alkari.—Synonym for Alia.

Alua.—A subcaste of Uriya Brāhmans, so named because their forefathers grew the ālu or potato.

Amal.—A section of Komti. The members of this section do not eat the plantain.

Ambadār.—(Mango-branch.) A section of Rāwat (Ahīr).

Ambashta.—A subcaste of Kāyasth.

Amethia.—(From Amethi, a pargana in Lucknow District.) A sept of Rājpūts, who are Chauhāns according to Sir H.M. Elliott, but others say they are a branch of the Chamār Gaur.

Amisht.—A subcaste of Kāyasth.

Amnāit.—Subcaste of Bhatra.

Amrite.—(From Amrit nectar.) A section of Kirār.

Anapa.—(Leather-dealers.) Subcaste of Mādgi.

Anavala.—A subdivision of Gujarāti or Khedāwāl Brāhmans. They derive their name from the village Anaval in Baroda. They are otherwise known as Bhatela, Desai or Mastān.

Andhra, Tailanga.—One of the five orders of the Pānch Dravid Brāhmans inhabiting the Telugu country.

Antarvedi.—A resident of Antarved or the Doāb, the tract of land between the Ganges and the Jumna rivers. Subcaste of Chamār.

Apastambha.—A Sutra of the Vedas. A subdivision of Brāhmans following that Sutra and forming a caste subdivision. But they marry with Rig-Vedis, though the Sutra belongs to the Black Yajur-Vedi.

Athārvarvedi, Anthārwarvedi.—A subcaste of Brāhmans who follow the Athārvar-Veda and are very rarely met with.

Arab.—This designation is sometimes returned by the descendants of the Arab mercenaries of the Bhonsla kings. These were at one time largely employed by the different rulers of southern India and made the best of soldiers. In the Marātha armies⁴⁰⁹ their rate of pay was Rs. 12 a month, while the ordinary infantry received only Rs. 5. General Hislop stated their character as follows:⁴¹⁰

“There are perhaps no troops in the world that will make a stouter or more determined stand at their posts than the Arabs. They are entirely unacquainted with military evolutions, and undisciplined; but every Arab has a pride and heart of his own that never forsakes him as long as he has legs to stand on. They are naturally brave and possess the greatest coolness and quickness of sight: hardy and fierce through habit, and bred to the use of the matchlock from their boyhood: and they attain a precision and skill in the use of it that would almost exceed belief, bringing down or wounding the smallest object at a considerable distance, and not unfrequently birds with a single bullet. They are generally armed with a matchlock, a couple of swords, with three or four small daggers stuck in front of their belts, and a shield. On common occasions of attack and defence they fire but one bullet, but when hard pressed at the breach they drop in two, three, and four at a time, from their mouths, always carrying in them from eight to ten bullets, which are of a small size. We may calculate the whole number of Arabs in the service of the Peshwa and the Berār Rāja at 6000 men, a loose and undisciplined body, but every man of them a tough and hardy soldier. It was to the Arabs alone those Provinces looked, and placed their dependence on. Their own troops fled and abandoned them, seldom or never daring to meet our smallest detachment. Nothing can exceed the horror and atarm with which some of our native troops view the Arab. At Nāgpur in November 1817 the Arabs alone attacked us on the defence and reduced us to the last extremity, when we were saved by Captain Fitzgerald’s charge. The Arabs attacked us at Koregaon and would have certainly destroyed us had not the Peshwa withdrawn his troops on General Smith’s approach. The Arabs kept General Doveton at bay with his whole army at Nāgpur for several days, repulsing our attack at the breach, and they gained their fullest terms. The Arabs worsted us for a month at Mālegaon and saved their credit. They terrified the Surat authorities by their fame alone. They gained their terms of money from Sir John Malcolm at Asīrgarh. They maintained to the last for their prince their post at Alamner and nobly refused to be bought over there. They attacked us bravely, but unfortunately at Tālner. They attacked Captain Spark’s detachment on the defence and destroyed it. They attacked a battalion of the 14th Madras Infantry with 26-pounders and compelled them to seek shelter in a village; and they gave us a furious wind-up at Asīrgarh. Yet the whole of these Arabs were not 6000.”

There is no doubt that the Arabs are one of the finest fighting races of the world. Their ancestors were the Saracens who gained a great empire in Europe and Asia. Their hardihood and powers of endurance are brought to the highest pitch by the rigours of desert life, while owing to their lack of nervous sensibility the shock and pain of wounds affect them less than civilised troops. And in addition their religion teaches that all who die in battle against the infidel are transported straight to a paradise teeming with material and sensual delights. Arab troops are still employed in Hyderābād State. Mr. Stevens notices them as follows in his book In India: “A gang of half-a-dozen, brilliantly dishevelled, a faggot of daggers with an antique pistol or two in each belt, and a six-foot matchlock on each shoulder. They serve as irregular troops there, and it must be owned that if irregularity is what you want, no man on earth can supply it better. The Arab irregulars are brought over to serve their time and then sent back to Arabia; there is one at this moment, who is a subaltern in Hyderābād, but as soon as he crosses the British border gets a salute of nine guns; he is a Sheikh in his own country near Aden.”

The Arabs who have been long resident here have adopted the ways and manners of other Musalmāns. Their marriages are in the Nikāh form and are marked by only one⁴¹¹ dinner, following the example of the Prophet, who gave a dinner at the marriage of his daughter the Lady Fātimah and Ali. In obedience to the order of the Prophet a death is followed by no signs of mourning. Arabs marry freely with other Sunni Muhammadans and have no special social or religious organisation. The battle-cry of the Arabs at Sitabaldi and Nāgpur was ‘Dīn, Dīn, Muhammad.’

Arakh.—A caste. A subcaste of Dahāit, Gond and Pāsi.

Aranya.—Name of one of the ten orders of Gosains.

Are.—A cultivating caste of the Chānda District, where they numbered 2000 persons in 1911. The caste are also found in Madras and Bombay, where they commonly return themselves under the name of Marāthi; this name is apparently used in the south as a generic term for immigrants from the north, just as in the Central Provinces people coming from northern India are called Pardeshi. Mr. (Sir H.) Stuart says⁴¹² that Are is a synonym for Arya, and is used as an equivalent of a Marātha and sometimes in a still wider sense, apparently to designate an immigrant Aryan into the Dravidian country of the south. The Ares of the Central Provinces appear to be Kunbis who have migrated into the Telugu country. The names of their subcastes are those of the Kunbis, as Khaire, Tirelle, a form of Tirole, and Dhanoj for Dhanoje. Other subdivisions are called Kāyat and Kattri, and these seem to be the descendants of Kāyasth and Khatri ancestors. The caste admit Brāhmans, Banias, and Komtis into the community and seem to be, as shown by Mr. Stuart, a mixed group of immigrants from Mahārāshtra into the Telugu country. Some of them wear the sacred thread and others do not. Some of their family names are taken from those of animals and plants, and they bury persons who die unmarried, placing their feet towards the north like the forest tribes.

Arka.—A sept of Gonds in Chānda who worship the sāras crane.

Armachi.—(The dhaura tree.) A totemistic sept of Gonds.

Arora, Rora.—An important trading and mercantile caste of the Punjab, of which a few persons were returned from the Nimār District in 1901. Sir D. Ibbetson was of opinion that the Aroras were the Khatris of Aror, the ancient capital of Scinde, represented by the modern Rori. He described the Arora as follows:⁴¹³ “Like the Khatri and unlike the Bania he is no mere trader; but his social position is far inferior to theirs, partly no doubt because he is looked down upon simply as being a Hindu in the portions of the Province which are his special habitat. He is commonly known as a Kirār, a word almost synonymous with coward, and even more contemptuous than is the name Bania in the east of the province. The Arora is active and enterprising, industrious and thrifty.... ‘When an Arora girds up his loins he makes it only two miles from Jhang to Lāhore.’ He will turn his hand to any work, he makes a most admirable cultivator, and a large proportion of the Aroras of the lower Chenāb are purely agricultural in their avocations. He is found throughout Afghanistan and even Turkistan and is the Hindu trader of those countries; while in the western Punjab he will sew clothes, weave matting and baskets, make vessels of brass and copper and do goldsmith’s work. But he is a terrible coward, and is so branded in the proverbs of the countryside: The thieves were four and we eighty-four; the thieves came on and we ran away; and again: To meet a Rāthi armed with a hoe makes a company of nine Kirārs (Aroras) feel alone. Yet the peasant has a wholesome dread of the Kirār when in his proper place: Vex not the Jāt in his jungle, nor the Kirār at his shop, nor the boatman at his ferry; for if you do they will break your head. Again: Trust not a crow, a dog or a Kirār, even when asleep. So again: You can’t make a friend of a Kirār any more than a sati of a prostitute.”

Asāthi.—A subcaste of Bania. They are both Jains and Hindus.

Ashrām.—Name of one of the ten orders of Gosains.

Ashthāna.—A subcaste of Kāyasth.

Athāradesia.—(A man of eighteen districts.) Subcaste of Banjāra.

Athbhaiya.—(Eight brothers.) A subdivision of Sāraswat Brāhman in Hoshangābād. An Athbhaiya cannot take a wife from the Chaubhaiya subdivision, to whom the former give their daughters in marriage.

Athia.—A subcaste of Chadār, so named because they worship their goddess Devi on the 8th day (Athain) of Kunwār (September), and correspond to the Brāhmanical Sākta sect, as opposed to the other Chadār subcaste Parmasuria, who correspond to the Vaishnavas.

Audhalia.—Synonym for Audhelia.

Audhia, Ajudhiabāsi.—A resident of Oudh. Subcaste of Bania and of Kasār and Sunār.

Audichya.—A subcaste of Brāhmans coming from Oudh.

Aughad.—A subdivision of Jogi. They resemble the Aghoris with the difference that they may not eat human flesh.

Aughar.—A subdivision of Jogi.

Aukule.—A subcaste of Koshtis. They are also called Vidurs, being of mixed descent from Koshtas and other castes.

Aulia.—(A favourite of God.) Title of Muhammadan saints.

Bāba.—Synonym of Gosain.

Bābhan.—Synonym for Bhuinhār, being the name of a landholding caste in Bengal. Used as a title by Bhuiyas.

Bābuān.—Title for the descendants of the former ruling families of the Chero tribe.

Bachhalya, Bachhap, Bachhilia.—(From bachha, a calf.) A section of Bania, Chadār and Khangār. A section of Patwa in Raipur. They do not castrate bullocks.

Bad.—(High or great.) Subcaste of Agharia and Sudh.

Bād or Bhānd.—A caste. Title of Khatīk.

Bad.—(Banyan tree.) A section of Joshi.

Badaria.—(From badar, cloud.) A section of Kandera.

Badgainya.—(From Badgaon (bara gaon), a large village.) A surname of Sarwaria Brāhmans. A section of Basdewa, Gadaria and Kurmi.

Badgūjar.—(From bada, great.) One of the thirty-six royal races of Rājpūts. A subcaste of Gūjar, also of Gaur Brāhman. A section of Mehtar.

Badhaiya.—(Barhai, carpenter.) A subcaste of Lohār and Kol. A sept of Savar.

Badhāria.—A resident of Badhās in Mirzapur. Subcaste of Bahna and Dhuri.

Bādi.—(A rope-walker.) Synonym of Nat.

Badkur.—Title used in the Dhobi caste.

Badwāik.—(The great ones.) A subcaste of Māna. A title of Dhobi and Pān or Gānda.

Bagaria.—(A young buffalo.) A sept of Dhanwār and Sonkar.

Bāgh, Bāghwa.—(Tiger.) A totemistic sept of Ahīr, Bhatra, Kawar, Munda, Oraon, Sonkar, Teli and Turi.

Baghel, Baghela.—(A tiger or tiger-cub.) A clan of Rājpūts which has given its name to Baghelkhand. A subcaste of Audhia Sunār and Chamār. A section of Bhilāla, Dhanwār, Gond, Lodhi, Māli, and Panwār Rājpūt.