Ho
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
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Ho
An aboriginal tribe of the Chota Nagpur Division, Bengal, akin to the Mundas, Bhumijs, and Santals. The word Ho (Mundari, Iloro) means a ' man ' in the tribal vernacular, which differs but slightly from Mundari. The Hos, who numbered 386,000 in 1901, are the characteristic tribe of the Kolhan Government estate in Singhbhum District, which they conquered from the earlier inhabitants and success- fully defended against all comers until subdued by the British in the early part of the nineteenth century.
Their process earned them the sobriquet of the Larka (or ' fighting ') Kols. They are great s[)orts- men, and every year in May they meet together and beat the jungles for game of all descriptions. Their national weapon is the bow and arrow. The great majority of the tribe are Animists, and, unlike their allied tribes, very few of them have as yet become converts to Christianity. They are an exceedingly exclusive race, and are well off^ as they hold their lands on easy terms. The bride-price is absurdly high, varying from ID to 30 head of cattle, as compared with 3 head with the Mundas. As a consequence, the large number of adult unmarried girls is a pecu- liar feature in the social state of the community.
Ho
A section of Tantis in Behar.
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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Ho
Larka Kolh, a non-Aryan tribe of the district of Sing¬bhum, classed for linguistic purposes as Kolarian. The name H 0 seems to be merely a contracted form of the word h01'O, 'man,' which is used by the cognate tribes of Munda and Santal as their national designation.1 The two latter tribes, it should be noted, are not called horo by outsiders, and a Santal will as often as not describe himself by the title of M{mjhi. In the case of the Hos, the tribal name of the original stock whence Hos, Mundas, and Santals are sprung has obtained popular recognition, in a slightly altered form, as the distinctive name of the branch which inhabits Singbhum, and which may now be regarded as a separate tribe. For intermarriage between Hos and Mundas or Santcils, though not absolutely forbidden by custom, is certainly tmcommon, and may be expected soon to fall into disuse.
Internal structure
'l'he internal structure of the tribe is Shown in appendi x. ey ave no sub-tribes, but the sopts are very numerous, and many of them appear to be totemistic. Six of the sept names are common to them and to the Santals. The rule of exogamy is strictly observed, and a man may on no account marry a woman of his sept. With this exception their views on the subject of prohibited degrees appear to be lax, and I understand that marriages with near relatives on the mother's side are tolerated provided that a man does not marry his aunt, his first cousin, or his niece. For the rest I have nothing to add to the passages quoted below from Oolonel Dalton's classical aqcount of the Ho tribe, which, so far as I can ascertain, is substantially correct at the present day. Owing to the use in the Census returns of the general name Kol to denot~ Mundas, Bos, and Oraons, it has been found impossible to draw up any statistical table showing the number of Hos in 1872 and 1881. In the former year 150,925 Kols were registered in Singbhum, while in 1881 the number of Kols in that district is given as 187,721, to which may be added 539 returned under various sept names. If, then, we might assume that all persons registered in Singbhum as Kols were really Hos, the figures would stand thus: 1872, 150,925 ; 1881, 188,260. But Oraons and Mundas are also found in Singbhum, and it is impossible to separate them from the total set down for Kols. I have there¬fore thought it best not to attempt to construct any statistical table showing the distribution of the tribe. It is the les8 necessary to do so as there are probably not many H os outside of Singbhum. The tribe are fairly fortunate in their relations to the land, and presumably for this reason are not accustomed, like the Mundas and Oraous, to leaye their homes during the cold weather to assist in gathering in the rice harvest of Bengal Proper. .
Tradition of origin
"The Hos appear to have no traditions of origin or migrations that throw much light on their history. They generally admit that they are of the same family as the Mundas, and that they came From Chota agpur. The Oraons sometimes say that the exodus of the Hos was caused by their invasion, but I cannot believe that the Hos could ever have given way to so inferior a race; and the tradition usually received is that the Oraons made friends with the Mundas and were allowed to occupy peaceably the north-western corner of the plateau, whore the latter apparently have never taken root. The Hos are the only branch of the Kols that have preserved a national appellation. The M undas of Uhutia N agpur are sometimes called Kokpat or Konkpat Mundas, and that may be a national word; but Ho, Hore, or Horo means in their own language' man,' and they are not the only people that apply to themselves exclusively the word used in their language to diEtinguish human beings from brutes.
They probably left OhuM Nagpur before their brethren there had assumed the Sanskrit word' Munda' as their distinctive name, taking with them their old constitution of confederate village communities under hereditary headmen, which system they have retained to the present day. But they did not find in Singbhum an unoccupied country. It is admitted on all sides that one part of it WtJ,s in possession of the Bhuiyas, and another beld by the people who bave left many monuments of their ingenuity and piety in the adjoining district of Manbhum, and who were certainly the earliest Aryan settlers in this part of rndia,-the Sarawaks or J ains. The former were driven from their possessions iu what is now the Kolban, and fell back into Para.hat. What bElcame of the Jains we know not. Tiley have left their marks in Dhalbhllm and the eastern and north• easteru quarters of the district; and it is not improbable that the Sudras, GoMas, and Kurmfs, now settled in Parahat, Kharsawan, Schaikala, and Dhalbhum, may be remnants of the colonies they founded. But it is also probable that many were absorbed into the family that conquered them; and this may account for the greater beauty of the Has as compared with other Kols, and for their having in use a number of common vocables of Sanskrit origin, though they insulated themselves as muoh as possible, despised the Hindus, and for a long time had little or no interoourse with them.
"r propose to select the Hos as the branch of the people who, from their jealous isolation for so many years, their independence, their long occupation of one territory, and their contempt for all othcr classes that came in contact with them, especially the Hindus, probably furnish the best illustratioll, not of the Mundarfs in their wildest state, but of what, if left to themselves and permanently located, they were likely to become. Even at the present day the exolusi veness of the old Hos is remarkable. They will not allow alit:lns to bold lands near their villages; and indeed if it were left to them no ,hangers would be permitted to settle in the KoThan. Now there are settlements of Goalas, Kurmis, and others; but though such settlements are under the authority of the Kol rnanki of the PI}', the Kols hold little communioation with them, and jealously watch aud circumsoribe the spread or their cultivatiou. They argue that they are themselves rapidly inoreasing, and the waste lauds should all be reserved for their progeny. The only persons of alien race they tolerate, and, so far as sui.ts their own convenience, associate with, are the few Tantis (weavers), Goalas (herdsmen), potters, and blacksmiths who ply their respeotive trades for the benefit of the commuuity; but these people, who are in all probability remnants of the Aryan colonies that the Hos subj ugated, must learn their language and generally conform to their customs. The old Hos will not conform to theirs. It is only the rising generation that takes kindly to the acquisition of another language. 'fbe Hos have a tl'ldition concerning the creation of the world and the origin of the human race, which is given in Culonel TickeIl's account of the tribe, published in volume ix of the Jot/mal qf tltp Asiatic
Society oj Bellgal, p. 797. Ote Boram and Sing Bonga were self-created; they made the earth with rocks and water, antI they clothed it with grass and trees, aud then created animais,-first, those that man domesticates, and afterwards wild beasts. When all was thus prepaJ'ed for the abode of man, a boy and girl were created, and Sing Bonga placed them in a cave at the bottom o.f a great ravine; and finding them to be too innocent to give hope of progeny, he instructed them in the art of making iUi, rice-beer, which excites the passions, and thus the world became peopled.
When the first parents had produced twelve boys and twelve girls, Sing Bonga prepared a feast of the flesh of buffaloes, bullocks, goats, sheep, pigs, fowls, and vegetables; and making the brothers and sisters pair off, told each pair to take what they most relished and depart. Then the first and second pair took bullocks and buffaloes' flesh, and they originated the Rols (Hos) and the Bhumij (Matkum) ; the next took of the vegetables only, and are the progenitors of the Brahmans and Rshatriyas; others took goats and fish, and from them are the Sudras. One pair took the shell-fish, and became Bhuiyas; two pairs took pigs, and became Santals. One pair got nothing; seeing which the first pairs gave them of their superfluity, and from the pair thus provided spring the Gbasis, who toil not, but live by preying on others. The Has have now assigned to the English the honour of descent from one of the first two pairs-the elder. The only incident in the above tradition that reminds one of the more highly elaborated Santal account is the divine authority for the use of strong drinks.
Physical type
"The Has of Singbhum and the Mundaris of the southern pa1'ganas of the Lohardaga district are physi¬cally a muoh finer people than the Bhumij, the Santa19, or any other of the Rolarians. The males average five feet five or six inches in height; the women five feet two. The average height of a number of the Jwing tribe I found to be¬for males, less than five feet; and for women, four feet eight. In features the Hos exhibit muoh variety, and I think in a great many families there is considerable admixture of Aryan blood. Many have bigh noses and oval faces, an d young girls are sometimes met with who have deliciLte and regular features, finely chiselled straight noses, and perfectly-formed mouths and cbins. The eyes, however, are seldom so large, so bright, and gazelle-like as tbose of pure Hindu maidens; but I have met strongly-marked Mongolian features, and some are dark and coarse like the Santals. In colour they vary greatly,-28, 29, and 30 of Brossac's table; the copper tints are the commonest ones. Eyes dark brown (about 2 of Brossac) ; hair black, straight, or wavy, and rather fine ; worn long by males and females, but the form er shave the fore¬head. Both men and women are noticeable for their fine erect carriage and long free stride. The hands and feet are large, but well formed.
Dress and ornaments
The men care little about their personal appearance. It requires a great deal of education to reconcile th em to t e encum ranee 0 cot ug ; and even those who are wealthy move about all but naked, as proudly as if they were clad in purple and fine linen. The women in an unsophisticated state are equally averse to superfluity of clothing. In remote villages they may still be seen with only a rag between the legs, fastened before and behind to a string round the waist. This is called a botoi. The national dress is, however, a. long strip of cloth worn as a girdle round the loins, knotted bohind, 323 RO. and the ends brought between the legs and fastened to the girdle in front; but in the principal group of villages about Chaibasa the young women dress themselves decently and gracefully. The style of wearing the hair is peculiar, Clollected in a knot artificially enlarged, not in the centre of the back of the head, but touching the back of the right ear. Flowers are much used in the coiffure. The neok ornaments most in vogue a year or two ago were very small black beads; but in this one small item of their simple toilette fashion changes, and the beads most prized one year are looked on with repugnance the next. As with the Santals, very massive bracelets and armlets are worn, and anklets of bell-metal. It is a singular sight to see the yOlmg women at the markets subjecting themselves to the torture of being fitted with a pair of these anklets.
They are made so that they can just, with great violence, be forced on. The operation is performed by the manufacturers, who put moistened leather on the heel and instep to prevent excori¬ation. The girl, clinging to and resting on one of her companions, cries bitterly at the violence inflicted on her, and the operation is a long one; but when it is over, she admires her decorated foot aud instep, and smiles through her tears. The Ho women have adopted as their distinctive mark or goclna an arrow, which they regard as their national emblem. A Ho unable to write, if asked to attach his mark or sign manual to a document, does so by making a rude representation of all an-ow. The Munda women use the same goclna marks as the Juangs and the Khan-ias. The L arkas are lightl.y assessed, and, cultivating their own lands, never join any of the numerous bands of labourers emigrating to the tea districts. They care not to work for hire, and never, if they can avoid it, carry loads. The use of the block-wheelen dray is universal among them, and all the carrying necessary in their agricultural operations is done by it.
Child birth
After the birth of a child both mother and father are considered unclean, bisi, for eight days, during which period the other members of the family are sent out of the house, and the husband has to cook for his wife. If it be a difficult case of parturition, the malignancy of some spirit of evil is supposed to be at work, and after divination to ascertain his name a sacrifice is made to appease him. At the expiration of the eight days the banished members of the family return, friends are invited to a feast, and the child is ceremol1i• ously named. The name of the grandfather is usually given to the first-born son, but not without an ordeal to asoertain if it wil l prove fortunate. As the name is mentioned, a grain of U1'ict (pulse) is thrown into a vessel with water; the name is adopted if it floats, rejected if it sinks.
Marriage
"Owing to the high price placed on daughters by their fathers, the large number of adult unmarried girls seen in every considerable village in the Kolhan is a very peculiar feature in the sooial state of the community. In no other country in India are spinsters found so advanced' in years. In many of the best families grey-headed old maids may be seen, whose charms were insufficient to warrant the large addition to the usual pnce, called pall, imposed in oonsideration of the high connection that the union 1V0uid confel'. 'rhe palt is calcuhtted, and for the most part paid, in cattle, indicatiug that the cu tom dates from a time when there was no current ooin; and fathers of mimki dignity demand from forty to frfty head or cattle for each of their girls. Dr. Hayes, findiug that in consequence of this practice the number of marriages was annually diminishing and immoral intimacy between the sexes increasing, convened in 18()t; a meeting of representative men for the express purpose of discussing this question; and after a long debate it was unanimously agreed that a reduction should be made. It was resolved that in future a pan was not to exceed ten head of cattle; and that if one pair of oxen, one cow, and seven rupees were given, it should be received as an equivalent for the ten head. For the poorer classes it was fixed at seven rupees. Even thus modified the pan in Singbhum is higher than it is in Ohutia Nftgpur for the multitude. 'rhe mimlols and hoadmen of the latter country, conforming to the Hindu oustoms, have given up exacting it. Iu olden times young men counteracted the machinations of avaricious parents agaiust the conrse of true love by forcibly carrying off the girl, and still at times evade extortion by running away with her.
'l'hen the parents have to submit to uch terms as arbitrators think fair. This abduction it was necessary to put a stop to, and elopements are not considered re~pectable ; so, until the conference, prices had a tendency to rise rather than fall. The old geueration of miwkis vehemently opposed any reducti uu. The second generation, since the accession or the British, are now in the ascendant, and they entertained more enlightened views; but, notwithstanding the compact, I have not yet heard or a marriago in high life in whiuh tho reduced p((1t has been accepted. It is certaiuly not from any yoarning for celibacy that the marriage of 8iugbhum maidens is so 101lg postponed. The girls will tell you frankly that they do all they can to please the young lUon, and I have often heard them pathetically bewailing their want of uecess.
They make themselves as attraotive a they cau, flirt in tho most demonstrativo mannor, and are Dot too coy to receive in public attentions from those lhey admire. They may be often seen in well-assorled pairs returning from market with arms interlaced, and looking at each oth!'r as lovingly as if they were so many groups of Oupids and Psyches; but with all this the' ?/len wilt not jil'upose.' Tell a maiden you think bel' nice looking, she is sure to reply, ' Ob yes, I am; but what is the use or it i" the young men of myacqualllt-anee don't see it.' Even when a youth has fully made up his mind to marry, it may happen that fate is against the happiness or the young couple: bad omeHS are seen that cause the match to be post¬poned or brokeu off; or papa cannot, or will not, pay the price demanded. , Vhen a young man has made his ohoice, he communi¬cates the fact to his parouts j and a deputation of the friends of the fumily is sent tu the gill'ti house to a certain all that should be known rcg,u'ding her famIly, age, appearance, and means.
If the information obtailled alld lho result of the inRpection be satisfactory, and the omeIlS observed on the road have been prupitious, an offering is made on the part of the young man; and if it be received, the deputation are invited to stay, and are feasted. Thfl report of the deputation being favourable, a day is fixed for a meeting between the parents, and the terrible question of the pan discu sed. At this poiut many matches are broken off, in consequence of greed on one side or stinginess on the other. The amount agreed on has to be paid before the day can be fixed for the marriage; and when delivery of the cattle is made, a pot of beer bas to be given from the bride's side for each animal. At last if all this is Irot over, the appointed day arrives, and the bride is escorted to the village for her intended by all her young female friends, with music and dancing. the young men and girls of the village, and those invited from neighbouring villages, form a cortege for the bridegroom. They go out and meet the bride's pa.rty, and, after a dance in the grove, iu which the bride and bridegroom take part, mounted on the hips of two of their female friends, they enter the village together, where there is a great feast, a great consumption of the rice-beer, and much more uancing and singing. ceremony there is none; but the turning poiut in the rite is when the bride and groom pledge each other.
A cup of beer is given to each'; the groom pours some of the contents of his cup into the bride's cup, and she returns the compliment. Drinkin~ the liquor thus blended they become of one k,/i, that is, the bride is admitted into her husband's tribe, and they become one, 'l'his has, I believe, succeeded an older cuslom of dl'ilJking from the same cup, After remaining with her hu~bn.ud for three days only, it is the correct thing for the wife to run away from him and tell all her friends that sbe loves him not, aud will see him no more. This is perhaps reparation to the dignity of the sex, injured by the bride's going to the bridegroom's house to be married, instead of being sought for and taken as a wife from her own. So it is correct for the husband to show great anxiety for the loss of his wue and diligently seek her; and when he finds her, be carries her off by main force.
I have secn a young wife thus found and claimed and borne away, scrceching and struggling, in the arms of her husband fTom the midst of a crowded bazar. Noone inter• feres on these occasions, aUlI no one assists. If the husband cannot mn.nage the business himself, he must leave her alone. After this little escapade the wife at once setilcs down, assumes her place as the well-contented mistress l,f the household, and, as a rule, in no country iu the world are wives better treu.ted. Dr. Hayes says :-' A Kol or lio makes a regular comp!1uion of his wife. She is consulted in all diffioulties, and receives the fullest oonsideration due to her sex.' Indeed, it is not uncommon in the Kolha.n to see husbands so subjeot to the influence of their wives that they may be regarded as henpeoked. Instances of infidelity in wives are very rare. never heard of one, but I suppose such things occur, as there is a regulated penalty. The unfaithiul wife is discarded, and the seducer must pay to the husband the entire value of the pan.
Occupation
" The Hos are fair marksmen with the bow and arrow, and great sportsmen. From childhood they practise Archery every lad herding cattle or watching crops makes this his whole pastime, anu skill is attained even in knocking over small birds with blunt arrows. They also keep hawks, and the conntry in the vicinity of their villages is generally destitute of game. In the months intervening between the harvest-home and the rains they :frequently go in large parties to distant jungles; and with them, as with the Santals, there is every year in Maya great meet for sport, in which people of all classes of the neighbourhood and surrounding villages take part. Prom the setting in of the rains to the harvest the time of the people is fairly employed in cultivation, to which they pay great attention. The women have their full share of labour in the fieids ; indeed, the only agricultural work they are exempted from is ploughing. They work from early morn till noon; then comes the mid-day meal, alter which their time is pretty much at their own disposal.
The young people then make themselves tidy, stroll about the village, or visit neighbouring villages; and the old people, sitting on the gravestones, indulge in deep potations of rice-beer, and smoke, or gossip, or sleep. Amongst the amusements of the Hos I must not omit to mention pegtojJs. They are roughly made of blocks of hard wood, but their mode of spinning and playing them, one on another, is the same as with us. Pegtopping has been noticed as an amusement of the Khasias of Assam. Their agricultuml implements consist of the ordinary wooden plough tipped with iron; a harrow; the kodali or large hoe; a sickle; the tangi or battle-axe, which is used for all purposes; the block-wheeled dray; and an implement with which to remove earth in altering the levels of land to prepare it for irrigation and rice cultivation. The latter consists of a broad piece of board firmly attached to a pole and yoke, so that its edge touches the ground at an angle as it is drawn by oxen or buffaloes attached to it. The Has make these agricultural implements themselves; every man is to some extent a carpenter, handy with his adze and clever in simple contrivances. The Kols plough with cows as well as oxen; but it is to be recollected that they make no other use of the animal, as they never touch milk.
Buffaloes are preferred to bullocks as plough cattle. They have a rude kind of oil-press in every village. The Mundarls and Larkas raise three crops of rice, -the early or gOl'a, the autumnal or bad, and the late or bera crop. Indian corn and the millets, marua and gondli, are also cultivated as early crops. Wheat, gram, mustard seed, and sesamum they have also taken to as cold weather and spring crops. Tobacco and cotton they have long cultivated, but not in sufficient quantities even for their own consumption. They have no notion of weaving, and if left to their own resources f('r clothing would probably resume their' leaves; but every village has one or two families of Tantis, or weavers, who are now almost undistinguishable from the Hos. The villagers make over their cotton to the weavers, and pay for the loom labour in cotton or grain.
Festivals
"The Hos are a purely agricultural people, and their festivals are Festivals. all connected with that pursuit. In describing these festivals I avail myself of information on the subject kindly collated for me by W. Ritchie, Esq., District Superintendent of Police, Singbhum. The chief requisite for festi-vities of all kinds is the prepal'ation of an ample quantity of the home-made beer called Wi. It is made from rice, which is boiled and allowed to ferment till it is sufficiently intoxicating; its proper preparation is considered one of the most useful accomplishments that a young damsel can possess. The Hos keep seven festivals in the year. The first or principal is called the JJlaglt parab or Dpsaltli Bonga. This is held in the month of Magh, or January, when the granaries are full of grain, and the people, to use their own expression, full of devilry. They have a strange notion that at this period men and women are so overcharged with vicious propensities that it is absolutely necessary to let off steam by allowing for a time full vent to the passions.
The festival, therefore, becomes a Saturnale, during which servants forget their duty to their mastors, children their reverence for parents, men their respect for women, and women all notions of modesty, delicacy, and gentleness,-they become raging Bacchantes. It opens with a sacrifice to Desauli of three fowls,-a cock and two hens, one of which must be black,-offered with some flowers of the pctlds -tree (Butea jl'ol1dosa), bread made from rice-flour, and sesamum . seeds. The sacrifice and offerings al'e made by the village priest, if there be one; or if not, by any elder of the village who possesses the necessary legendary lore. He prays that dcHing the year they are about to enter on they and their children may be preserved from all misfortune and sickness, and that they may have seasonable rain and good crops. Prayer is also made in some places for the souls of the departed. At this period an evil spirit is supposed to infest the locality, and to get rid of it the men, women, and children go in procession round and through every part of the village, with sticks in their hands as if beating for game, singing a wild chant and vociferating violently till they foel assured that the bad spirit must have fled,-and they make noise enough to frighten a legion.
These religious ceremonies over, the people give themselves up to feasting, drinking immoderately o£ rice-beer till they are in the state of wild ebriety most suitable £01' the process o£ letting olf steam. The Ho population o£ the villages forming the environs of OMibasa are at other seasons quiet and reserved in manner, and in their demeanour towards women gentle and decorous. Even in the flirtations I have spoken of they never transcend the bounds of decency. The girls, though full of spirits an 1 somewhat saucy r have innate notions of propriety that make them modest in demeanour, though devoid of aU prudery; and of the obscene abuse so frequently heard from the lips of common women in Bengal, they appear to have no know¬ledge. They are delicately sensitive under harsh language of auy kind, and never use it to others; and since their adoption of cloth¬ing, they are careful to drape themselves decently as well as grace¬fully.
But they throw all this aside during the Magh feast. Their natures appear to undergo a temporary change. Sons and daughters revile their parents in gross language, and parents then: children; men and women become almost like animals in the indulgence of their amorous propensities. rrhey enact all that was ever portrayeu by prurient artists in a Bacchanalian f stival or Pandean orgy; and as the light of the sun they adore, and the presence of numerous spectators seem to be no restraint ou their indulgence, it cannot be expected that chastity is preserved when the shades of night fall on such a scene of licentiousness 'and debauchery. This festival is not kept at one period in all the villages. the time during which it is held in different villages of a circle extends over a period of a month or six weeks; and, under a preconcerted arrangement, the festival commences at each village on a different date, and lasts three or four days. so the inhabitants of each may take part in a long succes¬sion of these orgies. As the utmost liberty is given to girls, the parents never attempting to exercise any restraint, the girls of one village sometimes pair off with the young men of another, and absent themselves for days.
Liaisol!8 thus prolonged generally end in marriages. The ordinary Ho dance is similar to the rasa dance of the Sanbils,-an amorous, but not a very rapid or lively movement; but the Magh dance is like a grande qa/ope,-a very joyous, frisky, harum-scarum scamper of boys and girls through the village and From one village to another. the Mundaris keep this festival in much the SRme manner as the Hos, but one day is fixed for its com¬mencement everywhere,-the full of the moon in Magh,-and there is less commingling of the boys and girls from different villages. The resemblance to a ~aturnale is very complete, as at this festival the farm-labourers are feasted by their masters and allowed the utmost freedom of speech in addressing them. It is the festival of the harvest-home,-the termination of one year's toil and a slight respite from it before they commence again.
At this feast the Mundari.s dance the jadil?'a, remarkable for the very pretty and peculiar manner in which the lines of performers interlace their arms behind their backs. The llext in the order of festivals is what i called Bllit Bonga by the Hos, corresponding to the SarhiLt of the Mundarls. Bah means flower; and the festi val take place when the sal tree is in full bloom in March or April,-a favourite season with many tribes, for it is then that the death of Gautama is commemorated. With the lIos and Mundarls it is held in honour of the founders of the village and the tutelary deity or spirit, called DarM by the Oraons. 'rhe boys and girls collect basketsful of the flowers, make garlands of them, weave them in their hair, and decorate their houses with them. Each house makes an offering of these flowers, and sacrifices a cock. The people dance for a couple of days and ' nights incessantly, and refresh themselves meanwhile with beer; but in the Kolhan it is the qui.et style of dance, and there are no open breaches of decorum. The dance on this occasion of the Mundarls is called the baltni. The boys and girls poussette to each other, olapping their hands and pirouetting, so as to cause dos-a.-dos concllssions, which are the source of much mirth. The selection of the s(il !Jowers as the offering to the founders or the village is appro¬priate, as there are few villages that do not occupy ground once oovered by sal forest; and at this period new ground, if there be any, is cleared for cultivation. the third festival is the Damul'ai, which is celebrated in May, or at the time of the sowing of the first rice crop.
It is held in honour of the ancestral shades and other spirits, who, if unpropitiated, would prevent the seed b'om germinating-. A he-goat and a cock are sacrificed. The fourth festival is the .IIiret BOI/[Jct, in June; the Mundaris call it harihar. It is to propitiate Desauli and Jahir Burhi for a blessing on the crops. In the Munllari villages every householder plants a branch of the MelwCL in his field and contributes to the general offering, which is made by the priest in the sacred grove, a fowl, a pi.tcher of beer, and a handful of rice. In Singbhum a he-goat is offered. This is followed by the Balt¬ta~Lli Bonga, which takes place in July. Each cultivator sacrifices a fowl, and after some mysterious rites a wing is stripped oil' and inserted in the cleft of a bamboo and stuck up in the rice-field and dung heap. If this is omitted, it is supposed that the rice will not come to maturity. It appears more like a charm than a sacrifice. This corresponds with the kctra1n in the Kol villages of Ohutia N agpur, where the hoja is danced. The women in this danoe follow the men, and change their positions and attitudes in obedience to signals from them. When the movement called fur/a is asked for, the women all kneel and pat the grllunu with their hands in time to the music, as if coaxing the earth to be fruitful. On the day appointed a branoh of the karam tree is cut anu planted in the ciklmL or dancing place. This festival is kept by Hindus in Ohutia Nao-pur as well as by Kols. The sixth festival is the offering of the ~fU'St fruits of the harvest to Sing Bonga; it is solemnized in August. wben
the gOl'a rice ripens, and till the sacrifice is complete the new rice must not be eaten. The offering, in addition to the rice, is a white cock. This is a thanks-offering to the Creator and Preserver. It is called Jwn-nanICL, and oonsidered of great importance. To eat new rice without thus thanking God is regarded as impious. The seventh festival is the Kctlam Bonga, when an offering of a fowl is made to Desauli on the remoyal of the rice straw b'om the threshing-floor, ka lalll, to be staoked. The palms or priests of the Kol villages ill Chutia. Nagpur have another festival, for the performance of which they are in possession of some rent-free land, called daldwtal'i . . the sacrifi(;es are, every second year a fo wI, every third year a ram, every fourth year a buffalo, to Mal'ang Burn; and the mflin object is to induce him to send seasonable rain. The above are all general festivals; but the Hos, on their individual account, mako many sacrifices to the gods. In cases of sickness and calamity they commence by sacrificing what is small and of little value; but if the desired change is retarded, they go on until the patient dies or their Iive-stock is entirely exhausted.
Sorcery and witchcraft
"All disease in men or animals is attributed to one of two Sorcery and witchcraft. causes,-the wrath of some evil spirit, who has to be appeased, or to the spell of some witch or sorcerer, who should be destroyed or driven out of the land. In the latter case a 8okha, or witch-finder, is employed to divine who has cast the spell, and various modes of divination are resorted to. One of the most common is the test by the stone and pail(r,. The latter is a large wooden cup, shaped like a half cocoanut, used as a measure for grairr. It is placed under a £lat stone as a pivot for the stone to turn on. A boy is then seated on the stone, supporting himself by his hands; and the names of all the people in the neighbourhood are slowly pro¬nounced, and fl,S each name is uttered a few grains of rice are thrown at the boy. When they come to the name of the witch or wizard, the stone turns and the boy rolls off. This, no doubt, is the effect of the boy's falling into a state of coma and losing the power of supporting himself with his hands. In former times the person denounced and all his family were put to death, in the belief that witches breed witches and sorcerers.
The taint is in the blood. When, during the Mutiny, Singbhum district was left for a short time without officers, a terrible raid was made against all who for years had been suspected of dealings with the evil one, and the most atrocious murders were committed. Young men were told off for the duty by the elders; neither sex nor age were spared. When order was restored, these crimes were brought to light, and the actual perpetrators condignly punished; and since then we have not only had no recurrcnce of witch murders, but the superstition itself' is dying out in the KoIMn. In other districts accusations of witchcraft are still frequently made, and the persons denounced are snbjected to much ill-usage if thoy escape with their lives. Some of the sokltrts, instead of divining the name of the person who has oast the evil eye on the suffering patient, profess to summon their own familiar spirits, who impart to them the needed information. The soklta throws somo rice on a winnowing SIeve, and J laces a light in front of it. He then mutters incantations and rubs the rice, watching the flame, and when this flickers it is owing to the presence of the familiar; and the okha, to whom alone the spirit is visible, pretends to receive from it the revelation.
which he communicates to the inquirer, to the effect that the sufferel' is afllicted by the familiar of some rival .soklut, or sorcerer, 01' witch, whom he names. The villagers then cause the attendanco of the person denounced, who is brought into the presence of the suItorer and ordered to haul out his evil spirit. It is useless for him to pleaJ that ho has no such spirit: this only leads to his being unmercifully beaten. Ilis best line of defonce is to admit what is laid to his oharge, and to act as if he roally were master of tho situation. Some change for the better in the patient may take place, which is ascribed to his deli vory from the familiar, andt he sorcerer is allowed to depart. But if there is no amolioration in the condition of the sick person, the chastisement of the sorcerer is continued till he can bear no more, and not unfrequently he dies undor the ill-treatment he is subjected to, or from its effects. A milJer method is when the person denounced is required to offer sacrifices of animals to appoase or drive away the possessing devil; this he dare not refuse to do.
And if the sickness thereupon ceases, it is of course conclu led that the devil has departed; but if it continue, the sorcerer is turned out of his home and driven from the village, if nothing worse is done to him. It must not be supposed that these super¬stitions are confined to the Kols; they are common to all classes of the population of this province. I have elsewhere noticed their prevalence in the Southern Tributary Mahals, and the alleged existence of secret witch-schools, where dlLmsels of true Aryan blood are instructed in tho black art and perfected in it by practice on forest trees. Even Brahmans are sometimes accused. I find in a report by Major Rough sedge, written in 1818, an account of a Brahman lady who was denounced as a witch and tried; and having escaped in the ordeal by water, she was found to be a witch and deprived of her nose. the sokha does not always denounce a fellow¬being; he sometimes gives out that the family b!tut is displeased and bas caused the sickness. And in such cases a most extensive propitiatory offering is demanded, which the master of the house provides, and of which the sokha gets the lion's share. I .find an instance of the oracle giving out that Desauli, the village bhut, had caused the trouble; but on further inquiry it was averred that It spi.teful old woman had on this occasion demoralised the honourable and respectable guardian of the village. And though he was propi¬tiated, the hag was made to suffer very severely for her malignancy. It will be seen that it is not only women that are accused of having dealings with the imps of darkne,ss. Persons of the opposite sex are as frequently denounced; nor are the female victims invariably of the orthodox old hag type. In a recent case eight women were denounced by a sokha as witches who had introduced epidemic cholera into the village and caused a terrible mortality, and amoug these were some very young girls. They were ill-treated until they admitted all that was imputed to them and agreed to point out and remove the spell they had prepared. 'l'hey pretended to search for
dead birds, which, it was said, they had deposited as charms, but nothing was produced; and oue of the poor creatures, fearing further ill•usage, destroyed herself by jumping into a well. In Singbhum the wild Kharrias are looked upon as the most expert sorcerers; and the people, though they not uufrequently fleek their aid, hold them in great awe.
Disposal of the dead
"The funeral ceremonies of the Hos are deserving of special notice, as they show great reverence for the Dead and the an e variety an singularity rites performed may materially aid us in tracing the connection of the people we are describing. Inmy account of the Khasias I have already drawn attention to the similarity between their funeral ceremonies and those of the Hos. 'rhe funeral rites of the Hos aud Garos have also many points of resemblance. On the death of a respectable Ho a very substantial coffin is constructed and placed on faggots of firewood. The body, carefully washed and anointed with oil and turmeric, is re¬verently laid in the coffin; all the clothes, ornaments, and agricultural implements that the deceased was in the habit of using are placed with it and also any money that he had about him when he died. Then the lid of the coffin is put on, and faggots placed around and above it, and the whole is burned. The cremation takes place in front of
the house of the deceased. N ext morning water is thrown on the ashes, search made for bones, and a few of the larger fragments are carefully preserved, whilst the remainder, with the ashes, are buried. The selected bones are placed in a vessel of earthenware,-we may call it au urn,-and hung up in the apartment of the chief mourner, generally the mother or widow, that she may have them continually in view, and occasionally weep over them. Thus they remain till the very extensive arrangements necessary for their fi',~l disposal are effected. A large tombstone has to be procured, and it is sometimes so pon~erous that the men of several villages are employed to move It. Some wealthy men, knowing that their successors may not have the same influence that they possess, select during their lifetime a suitable monument to commemomte tlteir worth, and have it moved to a handy position to be used when they die. When required for use it is brought to the family burial pl::tce, which with the Hos is close to the houses, and near it a deep round hole is dug for the reception of the cinerary urn. When all is ready a funeral party collect in front of the deceased's house-three or four men with very deop-toncd drums, and a group of about eight young girls.
The chief mourner comes forth, carrying the bones exposed on a decorated tray, and a procession is formed. The chief mourner, with the tray, leads; the girls form ill two rows, thoso in front carrying empty and partly broken pitfJhers and battered brass vessels; and the men, with drums, bring up the rear. The proces¬sion advances with a very ghostl.y dancing movement, slow alld solemn as a miuuet in time to the beat of the deep-toued drums, not straig-htforwarci, but mysteriously gliding,-now right, now left, now marking time, all in the same mournful r.adence-a sad dead march. The chief mourner carries the tray, generally on her head; but at reO'ular intervals she slowlv lower,; it, and as she does so the girls al~o gently lower and movurnfully reversethepitchers and brass vessels, and, looking up for the moment with eyes full of tears, seem to say, 'Ah! see! thoy are empty.' In this manner the remains are taken to the hou.se of every friend and relative of tile deceased within a circle of a few miles, and to overy house in the village. As the procession allproaches each hahitation, in the woird¬like manner descl'lbed, the mmates all come out, and the tray having been placed on the ground at their door, they kneel over it and mourn, shedding tears on the remains as their last tribute of affection to their deceased friend.
The bones are also thus conveyed to all his favourite haunts,-to the fields he cultivated, to the grove he planted, to the tank he excavated, to the threshing-floor where he worked with his people, to the tikhra or dancillg arena where he made merry with them,-and each spot which is hallowed with reminiscences of the deceased draws forth fresh tears from the monrners. In truth, there is a reality in their sadness that would put to shame the eiIorts of o~r . undertakers. and tho purc.hased gravity of the best mutes; and It lS far less nOISY and more smcere than the Irish 'keening.' When this part of the ceremony is completed the procession returns to the village, ana, slowly gyrating round the great slab, gradually approaches its goal. At last It stops ; a quantity of rice, cooked aud uncooked, and other food is now cast into the grave, and the oharred fragments of bone transferred from the tray to a new earthen vessel placed over it. the hole is then filled up and covered with the large slab, which effectually closes it against desecration. 'fhe slab, however, does not rest on the ground, but on smaller stones, which raise it a little. Witll the
Mundas, as among the Khasias, these slabs may cover the graves of several members of a family; but the ghost of a Ho likes to have his o-rave all to himself. A collection of these massive gravestones ind~ibly marks the site of every Ho or Mundarl village; and they may now be found so marking sites in parts of the country where there have been no Kols for ages. But in addition to the slab on the tom b, a megalithic mouument is set up to the memory of the deooa ed in some conspicuous spot outside the village. The pillars vary in height nom five or six to fifteen feet, and apparently frag¬ments of rock of the most fantastic shape are most favoured. Close to the station of Chaibasa, on the road to Keunjhar, may be seen a group of oenotapbs of unusual size,.-one eleven feet two inohes, another thirteen feot, and a third fourteen feet above the earth; and many others of smaller dimensions. The groups of such stones that have oome under my observatiou in the Mnnda and Ho country are al ways in line. '1 he oircula,r anangement, so oommon elsewhere, I have not Sben.
Religion
" I do not find that the present generation of Kols have any con-R Ii . ception of a heaven or a hell that may not be e glOD. traoed to Brahmanioal or Christian teaohing. They have some vague idea that the ghosts of the dead hover about, aud they make offerings to them; and some have, like the Chine e, an altar in the house, on which a portion of the' daily bread' is offered to them. But unless lmdel' a syl>tem of prompting, often inadvertently adopted, they will not tell you that this after-existence is one of reward or punishment. When a Ho swears, the oath has no reference whatever to a future state. He prays that if he speak not the truth, he may be afflicted with as many calamities as befell Job,-that he may suffer the loss of all his worldly wealth, his health, his wife, his chilurell; that he may sow without rcaping, or reap without gather¬iug; and finally, that he may be devoured by a tiger. It is a tremendous oatb, and it is a shame to impose the obligation of making it on so generally truthful a people; but they swear not by any hope of happiness beyond the gravo, and the miserable wandering life thoy assign to the shades oan only be looked forward to with dread. 'l'hey fear the ghosts and propitiate them as spirits of a somewhat malignant nature, but oan have no possible desire to pass into suoh
a state of existellce themselves, the funeral oeremonies I have desoribed are what 1 mvself witnessed. Colonel Tiokell tells us t.hat on the evening of the'buming 0f the corpse oertain prepamtions are made in the house in antioipation of a visit from the ghost. A port.ion of thc boiled rioe is set apart for it,-the commencement, we may presume, of the daily aot of family devotion above notioed,-and ashes are sjJl'inkled on the floor, in order that, should it oome, its footprints may be detected. The inmates then leave the house, and, oiroumambulating the pyre, invoke the spirit. Returning, they oarefully sorutinise the ashes and rioe, and if there is the faintest indication of these having been disturLecl, it is at once attributed to the returu of the spirit; and they sit down apart, shivering with horror, and crying Litter]y, as if they were by no means pleased with the visit) t.hough made at their earnest solioitation. I have often asked thc Kols if their custom of casting money, food, and raiment on the funeral pyre is at all connected with the idea of the resurrec-tion of the body, or if they thought the dead would benefit by the gifts bestowed. They have always answered in the negative, and gave me the same explanation of the origin and object of the custom that I received from the Chulikata Mishmis of Upper Assam, namely, that they are unwilling to derive any immediate benefit from the death of a member of their family; they wish for no such consolation in their grief. So they commit to the flames all his personal effects, the clothes and vessels he had used, the weapons he carried, and the money he had about him. But new things that have not been used are not treated as things that he appropriated, and they are not destroyed; and it often happens that respectable old Hos abstain from wearing new garments that they become possessed of to save them from being wasted at the funeral. When the interment of the bones is accomplished, the event is made known far and wide by explosions that sound like discharges from heavy guns. This is sometimes done
through the agency of gunpowder, but more frequently by the appli¬cation of heat and cold to fragments of schistose rock, causing them to split with loud noises.
Social status
" In summing up the character of the people I have been describ¬Social status. ing it is necessary to separate the Hos from their cognates. The circumstances under which the character of the former has been developed are different, and they are in my opinion physically and morally superior to the Mundas, Bhumij, and Santals. They appear to me to possess l:t susceptibility of improve¬ment not found in the other tribes. They have been directly under our government for about thirty-seven years; and, coming to us liS unsophisticated savages, we have endeavoured to civilise them without allowing them to be contaminated. Whilst they still retain those traits which favourably distinguish the aborigines of India from Asiatics of higher civilisation,-a manner free £.rom servility, but never rude; a love, or at least the practice, of truth; a feeling of self• respect, rendering them keenly sensitive under rebuke,-they have become less suspicious, less revengeful, less bloodthirsty, less contumacious, and in all respects more amenable to the laws and the advice of their officers.
They are still very impulsive, easily excited to rash, headstrong action, and apt to resent imposition or oppression without reflection; but the retaliation, which often extends to a death•blow, is done on thc spur of the moment and openly, seoret assassination being a crime almost unthought of by them. As a fair illustration of their mode of action when violently incensed, I give the following :-A Bengali trader, accustomed to carry matters with a very high hand among his compatriots in the Jungle Mahals, demanded payment of a sum of money due to him by a Eo, and not receiving it, proceeded to sequestrate and drive oil' a pair of bullocks, the property of his debtor. The Eo on tbis took to his arms, let fly an arrow which brought down the money-lender, whose head he then cut off, went with it in his hand straight to the Deputy Commissioner, and explaining to that officer oxactly what had occurred, roquested that he might be condemned fur the crime without more ado! Murders are not now more frequent in the KoThan than in other districts, latterly less so; but whcn one does take place, the perpetrator is seldom at any trouble to conceal him-self or his crime.
The pluck of the lios, displayed in their first encounter with our troops in former wars, I have often seen exem-plified on minor occasions. In competitive games they go to work with a will and a strenuous exertion of theu.' full force, unusual in natives of India. Once at the Hancht ] air there was a race of carriages, often used by travellers in Chutia Nagpur, drawn and propelled by men. One of these came from Singbhum and had a team of TIos; a collision took place early in the race, and the arm of one of the Ho team was badly fractured. It fell broken by his side, but he still held on to the shaft of the carriage, and, cheering and yelling like the rest, went round the course. the extreme sensitiveness of both men and women is sometimes very painfully exhibited in the analysis of the numorous cases of suicide that every year ocour. A harsh word to a woman never provokes a retort, but it causes in the person offensiyely addressed a sudden depres¬sion of spirits or vehement outbreak of grief, which few persons would a second time care to provoke. If a girl appears mortified by anything that has been said, it is not safe to let her go away till she is soothed. A reflection on a man's honf:'sty or veracity may bo sufficient to send him to seH-destruotion. In a recent case a young
woman attempted to poison hersel£ because her unole would not partake of the food she had cooked for hiln. The police returns of Singbhum show that in nine years, from Hl60 to 1869, both inclusive, 186 men and women committed suicide in that district. I have already spoken of them as good husbands and wives, but in all the relations of life their manner to. each other is gentle and kind. I never saw girls quarrelling, ana never heard them abuse or say unkind things of each other; and they never ooarsely abuse, and seldom speak harshly to women. '.I'he only exception I know is when they believe a woman to be a witch. ] or such a one they havo no consid~ration. They havo no terms in their own language to expross the higher emotions, but they foel them all the same."
Ho
(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: Kol, Larka Kol [Bihar and/or Jharkhand] Kol, Kolha, Larka Kol [Orissa] Kol, Larka Kol [West Bengal] Groups/subgroups: Birwar, Chao, Kolhan, Ramganjia [ Orissa] Chatar, Gosra, Jerai, Pingua, Purti, Tiria [West Be ngal] Surnames: Badara, Banra, Bayepai, Buriuli, Chatamba, Deogam, Dukuri, Gagrai, Haiburis, Hasda, Hembrom, Hesa, Jamuda, Kudada, Kunrel, Laguri, Lugun, Purty, Samad, Singkd, So-o-ye, Tamsoye [Bihar and/or Jharkhand] Hembrom, Naik, Singh, Tiria [Orissa] Chatar, Jerai, Nayak, Singh, Tiria [West Bengal] Exogamous units/clans (killi): Badara, Banra, Bayep ai, Buriuli, Chatamba, Deogam, Oukuri, Gagrai, Haib uru, Hamda, Hansda, Hembrom, Hesa, Jamuda, Kudada, Kunkel, Lagu ri, Lugun, Purti, Samad, Singku, So-o-ye, Tamsoye [ Bihar and/or Jharkhand] Danga, Haibru, Hansda, Hembrom, Jamuda, Pingua, Sam ad, Tiria [Orissa] "Septs: Airu, Alru, Angaria, Babanga, Bandi, Bansa, Barpai, Birua, Bodru, Buraili Kalundia, Buri Samat, Chaki- Dukri, Champia Tubir, Chatra Tuiu, Chorai, Echaghatu, Embo ro, Gagria, Gatsora Haiboru Langi, Hansda, Hembaran, Hesa, Hone- Hoga, Jamulu, Janku-Samrai, Kalundia, Kisku, Lamamaka, Logari, Marli, Munduia, Murmu, Naguria, P araya, Pata Saya, Pingua, Podoro, Purthi Sauia, Sinkoi, Su ndi Deogam, Tihu, Tin, Tudi [H.H. Risley] Exogamous units/lineages (killi): [Bihar and/or Jha rkhand]
