Gulgulia
Contents |
Gulgulia
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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Gulgulia
Origin and Internal structure
A wandering non-Aryan tribe, who live by hunting, . . . teaching monkeys to dance, selling indigenous drugs, begging, and petty thieving. Their Origin is, ut it obbecure but it seems likely that they are a branch of the Bediyas. I have been unable to obtain any trustworthy information regarding the internal structure of the caste. Some Gulgulias in Gya assured me that they had three sub• castes¬Bantari, Pachpania, and Sukwar-and I mention this statement in case it may be of use to other inquirers. My informants seemed to be stupid and ignorant men, and I doubt whether their evidence was worth much. 'l'hey have a legend that Rukmini, the reputed ancestress of the Pasi caste, had a son, called MohaMM, who in his turn had seven sons, Gaiduha, ByadM, Tirsulia, Maghaya, Turk (the Mahomedan Pasi), Gilehri, and Gulgulia. These seven sons challenged each other to jump oil' the top of a palmyra tree (tar). Gilehri (the squirrel) jumped first and landed unhurt. Tirsulia, who went second, was killed on the spot, whereupon MohabaM, seeing that Gilehri had led the others into trouble, smote him with his hand and cursed him to be reokoned among the inferior animals and to be fortunate only in this, that he should jump from great heights and oome to no harm. This is the reason why the squirrel is a good jumper and bears the marks of five fingers on his back.
The story goes on, in a somewhat inconsequent fashion, to say that the next to leave the family was Gulgulia, who observed that his brothers, after serving their customers with teu'i, always washed the cup, however low the caste of the man who had drunk from it. This struok the youngest brother-in folklore it is usually the youngest brother who takes a line for himself-as showing a great want of self-respeot, and he at once decided to throw over his family and adopt a wandering liie.
His descendants are true to the traditions of their mythical eponym, and during the dry season at least have no fixed habitations. In the rains they build themselves a sort of tente d'abti about eight feet long by six feet wide, of two bamboo uprights and a ridge pole covered in with a tilt of sirki matting (Sacchal'um sata, Roxb.), which reacbes to the ground on either side. The whole thing can be struck and calTied off at a moment's notice if the owner and his family want to cbange their quarters in a hurry-a common chance with a tribe of predatory instincts, whom the police are ever ready to credit with every petty thefi that baffles their slender detective ability. Such huts or rather tents are usually found on the outskirts of large villages, and the Gulgulias, though they will never admit that they have a fixed residence anywhere, do in fact usually return, if not to the Bame village, at least to the same neighbourhood, for the rainy season, when frequent shifting even of the most portable habitation is apt to cause much discomfort, especially to people who keep no beasts of burden and calTY their house themselves.
Marriage
Gulgulias affect to practise infant-malTiage, but admit that poverty often leads to a girl's marriage being degered until she has passed the age of puberty. As is the case with gypsies in other parts of the world, their women have a certain reputation for chastity, and sexual indiscre¬tions are said to be rare. When anything of the kind occurs, the woman in fault is turned out of the caste, and the man with whom she has gone wrong is fined Rs. 10 or so by the chief of the pancMyat. This official is elected by an assembly of the local representatives of the caste, and holds office until displaced by the same authority. The marriage ceremony is a meagre copy of the ritual followed by low-caste Hindus. The functions of priest are usually performed by two men selected at the time from the family of the bride and bridegroom, but sometimes the village barber is called in to officiate. A bride-price of from four to six maunds of rice and Rs. 3 in cash is usually paid. Polygamy is allowed, but is rarely resorted to owing to tho extreme poverty of the caste. A widow may many again, and it often happens that she marries her deceased husband's younger brother. '1'0 him in any case belongs the custody of her children by her late husband, but in some cases it would appear that the panchayat of the caste exorcises the right of allotting the children to the widow in the event of her marrying an outsider.
Religion
The Religion of the Gulgulias appen.rs to be a form of the animism which characterises the aboriginal races. They "0 glon. worship a host of spiritual powers, whose attri¬ butes are ill-defined, and who are not conceived as wearing any bodily form. This at least may be inferred from the fact that they make no images, and that Baktaw:lr, the tuteln.ry deity of the Paino, Gulgulias, is represented by a small mound of hardened clay set up in an earthen plate. A.mong their objects of worship we find also Jagdamai 01' Devi, Ram Thakur, Baren, Setti, Goraiya, Bandi, Parameswari, and Dak. In Hazaribagh they worship Danu in the form of a stone daubed with five streaks of red lead and set up outside the house. The offerings made to these deities consist usually of rice, milk, fruit, and sweetmeats, which are afterwards eaten by the worshippers.
Funerals
In disposing of the dead they have the curious practice of pouring some country spirit into the dead man's mouth and killing a fowl, so that the spirit may be satisfied and may not come back to trouble his relatives with bad dreams. The corpse is then burned and the ashes thrown into a tank.
Occupation
Although the squirrel is the reputed ancestor of the caste, Gulgulias are so far from regarding the animal as sacred that its flesh forms their favourite food. Spearing squirrels with a series of seven reeds (narsar), which fit one into the other like the joints of a fishing rod, is a pursuit at which they are specially expert, and some say that the name Gulgulia is derived from a peculiar noise, sounding like gut gut, which they make in order to attract the squirrel's attention while they are gradually bringing the narsar within stabbing distance. Another theory is that they are called Gulgulias, 'the chatterers,' because they use a peculiar patois or thieves' slang understood only among themselves. The narsar is also used for spearing birds. Gulgulias never ccupa Ion. cultivate themselves, but they are in the habit of gleaning what is left on the ground after the crops are cut. Begging, pilfering, and exhibiting goats and monkeys are theil' chief means of livelihood. They bny monkeys from the Birhors, whom they affect to look down upon for their promiscuous habits in the matter of food. Gulgulias themselves profess to abstain from beef, but they eat pork, field-rats, a vanety of small birds and animals, and the leavings of all Hindu castes except the Dhabi, Dom, Musahal', Hari, and ChamaI'. Their women sell drugs and profess to oure a variety of small ailments, suoh as earache, tooth¬ache, rheumatism, aud the like. It is rumoUl'ed that they also know remedies for barrenness, and will supply medicines which facilitate parturition and bring about abortion.
The following statement shows the number and distribution of the Gulgulias in 1881. There is no separate eutry of them in 1872;-
Gulgulia
(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.)
Groups/subgroups: Bantari, Pachpania, Sukwar [H.H. Risley] Surnames: Choudhuri, Modi [Bihar and/or Jharkhand] Exogamous units/clans: Kungora (vegetableman), Maldahaia, Sonerkhaii [Bihar and/or Jharkhand] Exogamous units/lineages (bans): [Bihar and/or Jharkhand]
