Koshti
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From The Tribes And Castes Of The Central Provinces Of India
By R. V. Russell
Of The Indian Civil Service
Superintendent Of Ethnography, Central Provinces
Assisted By Rai Bahadur Hira Lal, Extra Assistant Commissioner
Macmillan And Co., Limited, London, 1916.
NOTE 1: The 'Central Provinces' have since been renamed Madhya Pradesh.
NOTE 2: While reading please keep in mind that all articles in this series have been scanned from the original book. Therefore, footnotes have got inserted into the main text of the article, interrupting the flow. Readers who spot these footnotes gone astray might like to shift them to their correct place.
Koshti
Koshti, Koshta, Salewar
The Maratha and Telugu 1. General caste of weavers of silk and fine cotton cloth. They belong notice- principally to the Nagpur and Chhattlsgarh Divisions of the Central Provinces, where they totalled 1 5 7,000 persons in 1901, while 1300 were returned from Berar. Koshti is the Marathi and Salewar the Telugu name. Koshti may perhaps have something to do with kosa or tasar silk ; Salewar is said to be from the Sanskrit Salika, a weaver," and to be connected with the common word sari, the name for a woman's cloth ; while the English ' shawl ' may be a derivative from the same root.
The caste suppose them- selves to be descended from the famous Saint Markandi Rishi, who, they say, first wove cloth from the fibres of the lotus flower to clothe the nakedness of the gods. In reward for this he was married to the daughter of Surya, the sun, and received with her as dowry a giant named Bhavani and a tiger. But the giant was disobedient, and so Markandi killed him, and from his bones fashioned the first weaver's loom.3 The tiger remained obedient to Markandi, and the 1 This article is based on a good 2 V. Nanjundayya, Monograph paper by Mr. Raghunath Waman the Sale Caste (Mysore Ethnographical Vaidya, schoolmaster, Hinganghat, and Survey). others by Mr. M. E. Hardas, Tahsildar, ;i Willi this may be compared the Umrer, and Messrs. Aduram Chaudhri tradition of the sweeper caste thai and Pyare Lai Misra of the Gazetteer winnowing fans and sieves were first Office. made out of bones and sinews.
Koshtis think that he still respects them as his descendants ; so that if a Koshti should meet a tiger in the forest and say the name of Markandi, the tiger will pass by and not molest him ; and they say that no Koshti has ever been killed by a tiger. On their side they will not kill or injure a tiger, and at their weddings the Bhat or genealogist brings a picture of a tiger attached to his sacred scroll, known as Padgia, and the Koshtis worship the picture. A Koshti will not join in a beat for tiger for the same reason ; and other Hindus say that if he did the tiger would single him out and kill him, presumably in revenge for his breaking the pact of peace between them.
They also worship the Singhwahini Devi, or Devi riding on a tiger, from which it may probably be deduced that the tiger itself was formerly the deity, and has now developed into an anthropomorphic goddess. 2. Sub- The caste have several subdivisions of different types. The Halbis appear to be an offshoot of the primitive Halba tribe, who have taken to weaving ; the Lad Koshtis come from Gujarat, the Gadhewal from Garha or Jubbulpore, the Deshkar and Martha from the Maratha country, while the Dewangan probably take their name from the old town of that name on the Wardha river.
The Patwis are dyers, and colour the silk thread which the weavers use to border their cotton cloth. It is usually dyed red with lac. They also make braid and sew silk thread on ornaments like the separate Patwa caste. And the Onkule are the offspring of illegiti- mate unions. In Berar there is a separate subcaste named Hatghar, which may be a branch of the Dhangar or shepherd caste. Berar also has a group known as Jain Koshtis, who may formerly have professed the Jain religion, but are now strict Sivites. 1 The Salewars are said to be divided into the Sutsale or thread-weavers, the Padmasale or those who originally wove the lotus flower and the Sagunsale, a group of illegitimate descent. The above names show that the caste is of mixed origin, containing a large Telugu element, while a body of the primitive Halbas has been incorporated into it. Many of the Maratha Koshtis are probably Kunbis (cultivators) who have taken up weaving. The caste has
also a number of exogamous divisions of the usual type which serve to prevent the marriage of near relatives.
At a Koshti wedding in Nagpur, the bride and bridegroom 3. Mar- with their parents sit in a circle, and round them a long ' hempen rope is drawn seven times ; the bride's mother then holds a lamp, while the bridegroom's mother pours water from a vessel on to the floor. The Salewars perform the wedding ceremony at the bridegroom's house, to which the bride is brought at midnight for this purpose. A display of fireworks is held and the thun or log of wood belonging to the loom is laid on the ground between the couple and covered with a black blanket.
The bridegroom stands facing the east and places his right foot on the thftn, and the bride stands opposite to him with her left foot upon it. A Brahman holds a cur- tain between them and they throw rice upon each other's heads five times and then sit on the log. The bride's father washes the feet of the bridegroom and gives him a cloth and bows down before him. The wedding party then proceed with music and a display of fireworks to the bridegroom's house and a round of feasts is given continuously for five days.
The remarriage of widows is freely permitted. In Chanda if the widow is living with her father he receives Rs. 40 from the second husband, but if with her father-in-law no price is given. On the day fixed for the wedding he fills her lap with nuts, cocoanuts, dates and rice, and applies vermilion to her forehead. During the night she proceeds to her new husband's house, and, emptying the fruit from her lap into a dish which he holds, falls at his feet.
The wedding is completed the next day by a feast to the caste- fellows. The procedure appears to have some symbolical idea of transferring the fruit of her womb to her new husband. Divorce is allowed, but is very rare, a wife being too valuable a helper in the Koshti's industry to be put away except as a last resort. For a Koshti who is in business on his own account it is essential to have a number of women to assist in sizing the thread and fixing it on the loom. A wife is really a factory-hand and a well-to-do Koshti will buy or occasionally steal as many women as he can. In Bhandara a recent case is known where a man bought a girl and married her to his son and eight months afterwards sold her customs.
to another family for an increased price. In another case a man mortgaged his wife as security for a debt and in lieu of interest, and she lived with his creditor until he paid off the principal. Quarrels over women not infrequently result in cases of assault and riot. 4. Funeral Members of the Lingayat and Kabirpanthi sects bury their dead and the others cremate them. With the Tirmen- dar Koshtis on the fifth day the Ayawar priest goes to the cremation-ground accompanied by the deceased's family and worships the image of Vishnu and the Tulsi or basil upon the grave ; and after this the whole party take their food at the place.
Mourning is observed during five days for married and three for unmarried persons ; and when a woman has lost her husband she is taken on the fifth day to the bank of some river or tank and her bangles are broken, her bead necklace is taken off, the vermilion is rubbed off her forehead, and her foot ornaments are removed ; and these things she must not wear again while she is a widow. On the fourth day the Panch or caste elders come and place a new turban on the head of the chief mourner or deceased's heir ; they then take him round the bazar and seat him at his loom, where he weaves a little. After this he goes and sits with the Panch and they take food together.
This ceremony indicates that the impurity caused by the death is removed, and the mourners return to common life. The caste do not perform the shraddh ceremony, but on the Akhatij day or commencement of the agricultural year a family which has lost a male member will invite a man from some other family of the caste, and one which has lost a female member a woman, and will feed the guest with good food in the name of the dead. In Chhindwara during the fortnight of Pitri- paksh or the worship of ancestors, a Koshti family will have a feast and invite guests of the caste.
Then the host stands in the doorway with a pestle and as the guest comes he bars his entrance, saying : Are you one of my ancestors ; this feast is for my ancestors ? ' To which the guest will reply : ' Yes, I am your great-grandfather ; take away the pestle.' By this ingenious device the resourceful Koshti combines the difficult filial duty of the feeding of his ancestors with the entertainment of his friends.
The principal deity of the Koshtis is Gajanand or Gan- pati, whom they revere on the festival of Ganesh Chathurthi or the fourth day of the month of Bhadon (August). They clean all their weaving implements and worship them and make an image of Ganpati in cowdung to which they make offerings of flowers, rice and turmeric. On this day they do not work and fast till evening, when the image of Ganpati is thrown into a tank and they return home and eat delicacies. Some of them observe the 77/ or third day of every month as a fast for Ganpati, and when the moon of the fourth day rises they eat cakes of dough roasted on a cowdung fire and mixed with butter and sugar, and offer these to Ganpati.
Some of the Salewars are Vaishnavas and others Lingayats : the former employ Ayawars for their gurus or spiritual pre- ceptors and are sometimes known as Tirmendar ; while the Lingayats, who are also called Woheda, have Jangams as their priests. In Balaghat and Chhattlsgarh many of the Koshtis belong to the Kablrpanthi sect, and these revere the special priests of the sect and abstain from the use of flesh and liquor. They are also known as Ghatibandhia, from the ghat or string of beads of basil-wool (tulsi) which they tie round their necks. In Mandla the Kablrpanthi Koshtis eat flesh and will intermarry with the others, who are known dis- tinctively as Saktaha. The Gurmukhis are a special sect of the Nagpur country and are the followers of a saint named Koliba Baba, who lived at Dhapewara near Kalmeshwar.
He is said to have fed five hundred persons with food which was sufficient for ten and to have raised a Brahman from the dead in Umrer. Some Brahmans wished to test him and told him to perform a miracle, so he had a lot of brass pots filled with water and put a cloth over them, and when he withdrew it the water had changed into curded milk. The Gurmukhis have a descendant of Koliba Baba for their pre- ceptor, and each of them keeps a cocoanut in his house, which may represent Koliba Baba or else the unseen deity. To this he makes offerings of sandalwood, rice and flowers. The Gurmukhis are forbidden to venerate any of the ordinary Hindu deities, but they cannot refrain from making offerings to Mata Mai when smallpox breaks out, and if any person has the disease in his house they refrain from worshipping 586 KOSHTI part the cocoanut so long as it lasts, because they think that this would be to offer a slight to the smallpox goddess who is sojourning with them. Another sect is that of the Matwales who worship Vishnu as Narayan, as well as Siva and Sakti. They are so called because they drink liquor at their religious feasts.
They have a small platform on which fresh cowdung is spread every day, and they bow to this before taking their food. Once in four or five years after a wedding offerings are made to Narayan Deo on the bank of a tank outside the village ; chickens and goats are killed and the more extreme of them sacrifice a pig, but the majority will not join with these. Offerings of liquor are also made and must be drunk by the worshippers. Mehras and other low castes also belong to this sect, but the Koshtis will not eat with them. But in Chhindwara it is said that on the day after the Pola festival in August, when insects are prevalent and the season of disease begins, the Koshtis and Mangs go out together to look for the narbod shrub, 1 and here they break a small piece of bread and eat it together.
In Bhandara the Koshtis worship the spirit of one Kadu, patel or headman of the village of Mohali, who was imprisoned in the fort of Ambagarh under an accusation of sorcery in Maratha times and died there. He is known as Ambagarhia Deo, and the people offer goats and fowls to him in order to be cured of diseases.
The above notice indicates that the caste are somewhat especially inclined to religious feeling and readily welcome reformers striving against Hindu polytheism and Brahman supremacy. This is probably due in part to the social stigma which attaches to the weaving industry among the Hindus and is resented as an injustice by the Koshtis, and in part also to the nature of their calling, which leaves the mind free for thought during long hours while the fingers are playing on the loom ; and with the uneducated serious reflection must almost necessarily be of a religious character. In this respect the Koshti may be said to resemble his fellow- weavers of Thrums. In Nagpur District the Koshtis observe the Muharram festival, and many of them go out begging on the first day with a green thread tied round their body and a beggar's wallet. They cook the grain which is given 1 Bauhlnia Rusa.
to them on the tenth day of the festival, giving a little to the Muhammadan priest and eating the rest. This observ- ance of a Muhammadan rite is no doubt due to their long association with followers of that religion in Berar. Before beginning work for the day the Salewar makes 6. Supersti- obeisance to his loom and implements, nor may he touch tlons - them without having washed his face and hands. A woman must not approach the loom during her periodical impurity, and if anybody sneezes as work is about to be begun, they wait a little time to let the ill luck pass off. In Nagpur they believe that the posts to which the ends of the loom are fastened have magical powers, and if any one touches them with his leg he will get ulcers up to the knee. If a woman steps on the kuchi or loom-brush she is put out of caste and a feast has to be given to the community before she is readmitted.
To cure inflammation in the eyes they take a piece of plaited grass and wrap it round with cotton soaked in oil. Then it is held before the sufferer's eyes and set on fire and the drops of oil are allowed to fall into water, and as they get cold and congeal the inflammation is believed to abate. Among some classes of Koshtis the killing of a cat is a very serious offence, almost equivalent to killing a cow. Even if a man touches a dead cat he has to give two feasts and be fully purified. The sanctity of the cat among Hindus is sometimes explained on the ground that it kills rats, which attract snakes into the house. But the real reason is probably that primitive people regard all domestic animals as sacred. The Koshti also reveres the dog and jackal. The Salewars of the Godavari tract wrap a short rcct- 7 - Clothes angular piece of cloth round their head as a turban. Formerly, Mr. Raghunath Waman states, the caste had a distinctive form of turban by which it could be recognised, but under British administration these rules of dress are falling into abeyance. A few of the Salewars put on the sacred thread, but it is not generally worn. Salewar women hi a device representing a half-moon tattooed on the forehead between the ends of the eyebrows ; the cheeks are marked with a small dot and the arms adorned with a representation of the sacred tulsi or basil. etc.
The caste eat flesh and fish and drink liquor, and in the Maratha Districts they will eat chickens like most castes of this country. In Mandla they have recently prohibited the keeping of fowls, under pain of temporary expulsion.
Those who took food in charity-kitchens during the famine of 1900 were readmitted to the community with the penalty of shaving the beard and moustaches in the case of a man, and cutting a few hairs from the head in that of a woman. In Berar the Lad, Jain and Katghar Koshtis are all strict vegetarians. The Koshtis employ Brahmans for their cere- monies, but their social status is about on a level with the village menials, below the cultivating castes. This, however, is a very good position for weavers, as most of the weaving castes are stigmatised as impure. But the Koshtis live in towns and not in villages and weave the finer kinds of cloth for which considerable skill is required, while in former times their work also yielded a good remuneration.
These facts probably account for their higher status ; similarly the Tantis or weavers of Bengal who produce the fine muslins of Dacca, so famous in Mughal times, have obtained such a high rank there that Brahmans will take water from their hands
1 while the few Tantis who are found in the Central Provinces are regarded as impure and are not touched. The caste are of a turbulent disposition, perhaps on account of their com- paratively light work, which does not tire their bodies like cultivation and other manual labour. One or two serious riots have been caused by the Koshtis in recent years. The standard occupation of the caste is the weaving of the fine silk-bordered cloths which are universally worn on the body by Brahmans and other well-to-do persons of the Maratha country.
The cloth is usually white with borders of red silk. They dye their own thread with lac or the flowers of the palas tree {Butea frondosd). The price of a pair of loin-cloths of this kind is Rs. 14, and of a pair of dupattas or shoulder-cloths Rs. 10, while women's saris also are made. Each colony of Koshtis in a separate town . usually only weave one kind of cloth of the size for which their looms are made. The silk-bordered loin-cloths of Umrer and Pauni are well known and are sent all over 1 Sir H. Risley's Tribes and Castes of Bengal, art. Tanti.
India. The export of hand-woven cloth from all towns of the Nagpur plain has been estimated at Rs. 5 lakhs a year. The rich sometimes have the cloths made with gold lace borders. The following account of the caste is given in Sir R. Craddock's Nagpur Settlement Report : " The Koshti is an inveterate grumbler, and indeed from his point of view he has a great deal to complain of. On the one hand the price of raw cotton and the cost of his living have increased very largely ; on the other hand, the product of his loom commands no higher price than it did before, and he cannot rely on selling it when the market is slack. He cannot adapt himself to the altered environment and clings to his loom. He dislikes rough manual labour and alleges, no doubt with truth, that it deprives him of the delicacy of touch needed in weaving the finer cloths.
If prices rise he is the first to be distressed, and on relief works he cannot perform the requisite task and has to be treated with special indulgence. The mills have been established many years in Nagpur, but very few of the older weavers have sought employment there. They have begun to send their children, but work at home themselves, though they really all use machine - spun yarn. The Koshtis are quarrelsome and addicted to drink, and they have generally been the chief instigators of grain riots when prices rise.
They often marry several wives and their houses swarm with a proportionate number pi children. But although the poorer members of the community are in struggling circumstances and are put to great straits when prices of food rise, those who turn out the fine silk-bordered work are fairly prosperous in ordinary times."
