Gond: Jharkhand, Chota Nagpur
Contents |
The Gonds of the Bengal province of 1891
This section has been extracted from THE TRIBES and CASTES of BENGAL. Ethnographic Glossary. Printed at the Bengal Secretariat Press. 1891. . |
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Origin
A non-Aryan tribe, classed on linguistic gr0unds as Dravidian, properly belonging to the Central Provinces,l but found also in the Tributary States of Chota Nagpur', in the south of Lohardaga and in Singbhum. In the States of Sarguja, Korea, and Udaipur most of the feudal tenures held on terms of military service dil'ectly under the Chief are in the hands of Gonds-a fact which suggests that the tribe lliust have been among the earliest permanent settlers in that part of the oountry. The Gonds or Bengal are divided into rour sub-tribes :-Gond, Raj-Gond, Dhokar•Gond, and
Internal structure
Doroa-Gond or Naik. The Gond represent the bulk of the tribe, while the Raj-Gond are supposed to be descended from families .who attained to the dig-nity of Ohief. The Dhokar-Gond are a wandering race, who make a living by begging and thieving. The Doroa-Gond or Naik are found only in Singbhum. According to Colonel Dalton, they were the military retainers of the MaMpatra of Bamanghati, a feudatory of the RiLja of Moharbhanj, who were driven out of Bamanghati with their leader and permitted to settle in Singbhum in consequence of his having rebelled against his lord paramount. Their sections, shown in Appendix I, are totemistic. One of them, Bes?'a (hawk), occurs also among the Santals.
Marriage
Gonds practise both infant and adult-marriage, but under Hindu influence the former practice tends Mamage. continually to become more popular and to be looked upon as a badge of social distinction. The ceremony is modelled on that in use among the lower castes of Hindus. Sindtwdan and marriage to a mango-tree form prominent parts of the ritual, while according to some the binding portion of the rite consists in the village barber pouring a vessel of water over both bride and bridegroom. Widows are allowed to marry again, the usual practice being for the widow to marry her late husband's younger brother. No religious ceremony is in use on such occasions, nor is it customary to send for the Brahman and Hajjam, who officiate at the marriage of a virgin. All that is necessary is to assemble a sort of committee of relations, before whom the bridegroom gives the bride a new oloth and a lac bracelet and promises to maintain her in a suitable fashion. The proceedings end, as is the manner of the non-Aryan tribes, with a feast, at which everyone gets very drunk.
Widow remarriage
Madhya Pradesh: 2016
The Times of India, May 10 2016
There are no widows in this tribal belt of MP
Amarjeet Singh1
Among the Gonds of Madhya Pradesh's Mandla district, it's almost impossible to find a widow. According to their tradition, if a woman's husband dies, she is married to the next bachelor in the family -even if that is her grandson.
If no male is willing or available, the woman is then offered specially designed silver bangles called `pato' by elders of the community on the tenth day of her husband's death. Thereafter, she is considered married and lives in the house of the woman who offered her the bangle.
Patiram Warkhade's grandfather died when he was just six. On the ninth day of his de ath, Patiram was married off to his grandmother, Chamri Bai, under the tradition of `naati (grandson) pato'. “Later, we participated in all religious ceremonies as husband and wife.When I grew up, I married the girl of my choice because the community allows minors married under this system to remarry as adults,“ says 42-year-old Patiram, who lives in Behanga village. However, the girl of his choice had to be content with the status of `second wife' till his grandmother died five years ago.
Usually , there's no physicality in this kind of relationship because of the considerable age gap between the spouses.But even if the two get intimate, the community does not disapprove or intervene.
Sundaro Bai Kurwati, 75, was married off under the tradition of `devar pato' to her husband's brother, Sampat, who is now 65. “My husband died two years after our wedding. The community elders refused to eat at his shraddh because my brother-in-law was initially reluctant to marry me. It was only after he agreed that the elders ate. We have been happily married for decades now,“ Sundaro says.
Kripal Singh Warkhade (55) says he married his sisterin-law, Honsu Bai, who is five years elder to him. “It's our tradition. Why should she remain a widow?“ Kripal says. Despite the pressure, a handful of women re fuse to remarry . Like Bhagwati Warkhade, a 28year-old and mother of two, whose husband died two years ago.“Though I didn't want to remarry , I was given the status of a married woman under `panch pato' tradition. The `panchs' (village elders) have the power to do so,“ Bhagwati says.
The Gonds uphold this practice even after moving out of their native village. “It's alive even among the educated youth of our community. In a city like Bhopal, there are at least two engi neers working with Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited who have married under devar pato,“ tribal leader Gulzar Singh Markam tells.
“It is so common in our culture that despite the fact that the marriage is only symbolic in case of `naati pato', villagers playfully tease the child when they see him playing with the grandmother,“ Gulzar says.
He may call it symbolic, but after `nati pato', the grandson is considered head of the family.
Religion
The Bengal members of the tribe affect to be orthodox Hindus, and worship the standard gods with the assist¬ ance of a degraded olass •of Brahmans, who also officiate at their marriages. Although to this extent they have embraced the popular Religion, they still worship the charac¬teristic deities of the non-Hinduised Gonds-Bar Deo and Dulha Deo. They burn their dead, but the relatives mourn for three days only, after which period they purify themselves by bathing and shaving, and make offerings of bread and milk to the spirit of the departed. Their social rank is very low, as in spite of their professed conformity to Hinduism they eat fowls and other unclean food. Ooncerning their appearance and characteristics, Colonel Dalton has the following remarks ;¬
Social dates
Socially I consider the Hinduised or semi-Hinduised Gonds to be the least interesting of the great families ocm us. of the aborigines of India. They have none of the lively disposition of the Oraons or of the free, dignified demeanour which characterises many of the Singbhum Kols. They are in character reserved, sullen, and suspicious. They are indifferent cultivators and careless about the appearance of their home¬ steads, and they are withal singularly ill-favoured; and though some of the wealthier families bave formed a series of alliances with othel' races, which bave improved theiT looks, I can point to many who have tried this in vain, and wbo show to this day features more closely resembling the lower Negro type than any I have met with amongst the tribes of Bengal. They often have short crisp curly bail', and though it is said, and no doubt truly, that this is far removed from the regular woolly covering of a Negro's head, I have generally found such haiT in conjunc¬tion with features very noticeably Negro in type, and accompany¬ing a very dark skin. They are larger and heavier in build than the Oraons and Kols, and with none of the graceful physique to be found in both these tribes."
The following statement shows the number and distribution of Gonds in 1872 and 1881 :¬
See also
Gond: Jharkhand, Chota Nagpur
