Gorait
Contents |
Gorait
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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A title of the headmen of the Dom caste in Bhagalpur, who have under them servants, called Ohharidars, to execute or communicate their orders to vil¬lages; a watchman and messenger in Behar, usually of the Dosadh caste.
This section has been extracted from THE TRIBES and CASTES of BENGAL. Ethnographic Glossary. Printed at the Bengal Secretariat Press. 1891. . |
NOTE 1: Indpaedia neither agrees nor disagrees with the contents of this article. Readers who wish to add fresh information can create a Part II of this article. The general rule is that if we have nothing nice to say about communities other than our own it is best to say nothing at all.
NOTE 2: While reading please keep in mind that all posts in this series have been scanned from a very old book. Therefore, footnotes have got inserted into the main text of the article, interrupting the flow. Readers who spot scanning errors are requested to report the correct spelling to the Facebook page, Indpaedia.com. All information used will be gratefully acknowledged in your name.
Gorait
Origin
Korait, Baika1', a non-Aryan caste of musicians, comb¬makers, and cotton-carders found in the south¬ west of the Lohardaga district, and perhaps m Hazaribagb. It may be inferred from the totemistic character of their sections, a list of which is given in Appendix I, that they are an off'shoot from one of the aboriginal races, while the variant Romit rather snggests that they may be connected with the Rora caste. Resemblances between names, however, are but blind guides in questions of tribal affinity, and I doubt whether we can safely do more than surmise that Rorait may probably have been the original name of the caste, which was corrupted into Gorait from its similarity in sound to the familiar title of the village messenger and watohman. Their specialised and comparatively deO'raded avocations, and the fact that they are not employed as village messengers, exolude the supposition that the converse prooess can have been at work, and that the bond of a common ocoupation may have formed a number of Goraits properly so oalled into an endog¬amous group bearing that name. Indeed, although nearly every village in Behar and Chota N agpur has its Gorait, the profession, owinO' perhaps to its members being so soattered, shows no tendency towa;us hardening into a caste.
Marriage
Goraits marry their daughters both as infants and as adults, but the former practice is deemed the more respectable, and is followed by all who oan afford it. After the bride has been selected, the parents of the bridegroom go to her parents' house to see her. On this oocasion a feast is given by the bride's people, at which the liquor-an essential element in all non-Aryan rejoioings-is provided by the father of the bridegroom, and four annas, eight annas, or one rupee is presented to the bride as muh-dekhi, or fee for the privilege of seeing her face. On the next day the girl's parents visit the boy, and are entertained wholly at his father's expense. Lastly, if both parties are satisfied with this mutual inspection, the boy's people go to the bride's house and present to her a new sari, a he-goat, and Rs. 3 to buy ornaments with. These constitute the bride-price (dati) .
On the day before the wedding the bridegroom's party march in procession to the bride's house and stop there for the night. Next morning the fathers of the bride and bridegroom shake hands and embrace one another (samdhi milan). Then, in the presenoe of some elders of the caste, the headman of the village and the priest of the rural gods (pdhn) , who are received with great ceremony, the marriage is completed by the bride and bridegroom smearing vermilion on each other's foreheads (sindlwddn), while the elders solemnly exhort them to work hard, eat, m'ink, and prosper and not get divorced. This meagre ceremony takes plaoe in a bamboo marriage shed (rnal'lt/va) ereoted in the courtyard. Brahmans are not oalled in, and the villaD'e barber takes no part in the oeremony. On the evening of the same d~y the bridegroom's party take the bride and bridegroom, both seated in the same palanquin, to the latter's house, where sincl16rdim is aD'ain performed. On that night the bridegroom, if he has attained pub~rty, sleeps with the bride. After three days the oouple go to the bride's house and stay there nine days, returning finally to their own home on the tenth day.
Polygamy is permitted, and there is no rule limiting the number of wives. A widow may marry again, and her ohoioe is not fettered by the obligation to marry her late husband's younger brothel'. The ritual used at the marriage differs from tbat in use at the m8J:riage of a virgin in that no rJ'W,1•!twa is constructed and tho money portion of the bride-price is only Re. 1. Silld~wdan is performed in the presence of the widow's relatives, but there is no marriage procession, and the bride is tal,en home without any display. According to some authorities jf the widow elects to live on with her brother-in-law, it is sufficient to announce this intention to the relatives, and no ceremony of any kind is required.
A divorce (cMora-r.!zltu1•i) may be granted by the caste counoil (panoMyat) if the wife is proved to be unohaste, or if she frequently runs away to bel' father's house without the permission of her husband. Proceedings may also be initiated by the wife ou the ground that her husband is too old for her or is an habitual drunkard. Divorced women may marry again by sagai.
Religion
Goraits profess to be Hindus, but they have not yet attained to the dignity of employing Brahmans. they worship Dev i Mai and a tribal spirit called Purubia, to whom a goat is sacrificed once a year. In cases of illness an exorcist (mati baiga) is called in to detect the demon or witoh who is giving trouble. If this personage ascribes the visitation to the wrath of the tribal god, the pahn is sent for, and a goat, pig, sheep, or fowl sacrificed. Those who can afford to do so burn the dead, but the bodies of the poor are buried with the head to the north. No regular srdddh is performed. On the tenth day after death the nearest relative of the deoeased gets himself shaved and gives a feast to the friends of the family.
Social status
In point of social status Goraits rank with Lohras and Gbasis, Social status. and no respeotable people will take water from their hauds. They eat beef, pork, and field-rats, and mdulge freely in spirit.uous and fermented liquors. As has been already stated, they find employment as hired musioians at weddings and various kinds of festivities, as makers of bamboo combs and carders of cotton. Some are employed in agrioulture as non-occupancy raiyats or agricultural labourers (Dlulnga)'s) engaged by the year for a lump sum of Rs. 5 paid down at the time of bu:ing, one kdt and a half (about 38 seers) of paddy per month, and four yards of cloth at the end of the year. In 1881 there were 61 Goraits in Hazaribagh, 3,856 in Lohardaga, and 43 in Singbhum. There was no separate entry for Goraits in 1872.
Gorait
(From People of India/ National Series Volume VIII. Readers who wish to share additional information/ photographs may please send them as messages to the Facebook community, Indpaedia.com. All information used will be gratefully acknowledged in your name.)
Synonyms: Baikar, Korait [H.H. Risley] Surnames: Gorait [Bihar and/or Jharkhand] Exogamous units/clans: (a kind of eel), Adra, Aindowar, Bagh (tiger), Baghuar, Bar (ficus indica), Baroar, Induar, Kachhua, Kerketta, Khalkho (a fish), Kujri (a fruit), Kujur, Nonoar, Pithoar, Sandh (bullock), Sontirki (gold), Tirki, Topoar (a kind of bird) [H.H. Risley] Exogamous units/clans (kili/gotar): Dhan (paddy), Induar (fish), Kerketta (bird), Khalkho (fish), Sontirki (gold), Tapoar, Topo (bird) [Bihar and/or Jharkhand]
