Munda, Mura
Contents |
Munda, Mura
This section has been extracted from THE TRIBES and CASTES of BENGAL. Ethnographic Glossary. Printed at the Bengal Secretariat Press. 1891. . |
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Origin
Horo-hon A large Dravidian tribe of Chota Nagpur classed on linguistic grounds as. Kolarian, and closely akin to the Hos and Santals, and probably also to the Kandhs. The name Munda is of Sanskrit origin. It means headman of a village, and is a titular or funotional designation used by the members of the tribe, as well as by outsiders, as a distinctive name much in the same way as the Santa.ls call themselves Manjhi, the Bhumij Sal'dar, and the Khambu ()f the Darjiling hills Jimdar. The general name Kol, which is ftpplied to both M undas and Oraons, is interpreted by Herr J ellinghuus 10 mean pig-killer, but the better opinion seems to be that it is It variant of hol'o, the Mundari for man. Tho change of l ' to I is familiar and needs no illustration, while in explanation of the conver¬sion of It into k, we may cite han, the Mundari for ' child,' which in -Korwa becomes kOIl and karo, the Muasi form of horo, 'a man.' It ~nay be added that the Khari,ls of Chota Nagpur call the Mundas Kora, a name closely approaching Kol.
Tradition
The Munda myth of the making of mankind tells how the self¬existont primeval deiLies Ote Boram and Sing Bonga oreated a boy and a girl and put them together in a cave to people the world. At first they were too jnnocent to understand what was expected of them, but the gods /!howed them how to make rice-beer, which inflames the passions, and in course of time their family reached the respectable number of 1.welve of either sex. As is usual in myths of this class, the children were divided into pairs; and Sing Bonga set before them various ]einds of food for them to choose from before starting in the world. 'The fate of their descendants depended on their choice. Thus" the first and second pair took bullooks' and buffaloes' flesh, and they originated the Kols (Hos) and the Bhumij (Matkum); the next took of the vegetables only, and are the progenitors of the Brahmans and Chhatries; others took goats and fish, and from them are the Sudras. One pair took shell-fish and became Bhuiyi:1s; 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 Ghasis, who toil not, but live by preying on others."
Internal structure
The Mundas are divided into thirteen sub-tribes, several of which, such as Kharia-Munda, Mahili-Munda,Oraon¬ Munda, appear to be the result of crosses with neighbouring-tribes, while others again, like Bhuinhar-Munda and Manki-Munda, have reference to the land and communal system of the tribe. The Mahili-Munda sub-tribe has the pig for its totem, and for them pork is tabooed. But appetite has proved stronger than tradition, and the taboo is satisfied by throwing away the head of the animal, the rest of the carcase being deemed lawful food. The septs or kilis, which are very numerous, are maillly totemistic, and the totem is taboo to the members of the sept which bears its name. A list of the septs is given in Appenclix I. If it were possible to identify them all, and to ascertain precisely to what extent and in what manner the taboo of the totem is observed by each, the inform¬ ation would probably throw much light upon the growth of early tribal societies.
Marriage
A Munda may not marry a woman of his own sept. The sept-name goes by the father's side, and inter¬ marriage with persons nearly related through the mother is guarded against by reckoning prohibited degrees in the manner common in Behar. Adult marriage is still in fashion, and sexual intercourse before marriage is tacitly recognized. but in all respectable families matches are made by the parents, and the parties themselves have very little to say in the matter. The bride-price varies from Rs. 4 to Rs. 20. Sincitwdan, or the smearing of vermilion on the bride's forehead by the bridegroom and on the bridegroom's forehead by the bride, is the essential and binding portion. The practice described by colonel Dalton of marrying the bride to a mahua tree and the bridegroom to a mango seems now to have been abandoned. 'fraces still survive among the Mundas of a form of marriage, resembling the Santali nir bolok. It is called dlntko era, meaning a bride who has entered the household of her own accord. The children of a woman thus married seem to have an inferior status in respect of their rights to inherit the landed property of their father.. The late Babu Rakbal Das Haldar, Manager of the estate of the Maharaja of chota Nagpur, gave me an illustration of this fact. Some years ago the munda or headman of one of the villages of the Government estate of Barkagarh died, leaving an only son by a dhuko em wife, and a question was raised as to the latter's right to succeed. Under colooel Dalton's orders, a number of headmen of villages were called together, and their opinions were taken. No decided results, however, could be arrived at. Some thought the son should get the whole property. Others proposed to exclude him altogether, and a third party considered him entitled to maintenance. Eventually the question was compromised by admitting the son's right to one-fourth of the land and the whole of the personal property. The case is a curious comment on the uncertainty of tribal custom. Widows may marry again by the ritual known as s({gai, in which sindul'dan is performed with the left hand. Divorce is allowed at the instance of either party, and divorced women are permitted to marry again. In cases of adultery the seducer is required to pay to the husband the full amount of the bride-price.
Religion
At the head of the Munda religion stands Sing-Bonga, the sun, a beneficent but somewhat inactive deity,. who concerns himself but little with human affairs, and leaves the details of the executive government of the world to the gods in charge of particular branches or departments of nature. Nevertheless, although Sing-Bonga himself does not send sickness or calamity to men, he may be invoked to avert such disasters, and in this view sacrifices of white goats or white cocks are offered to him by way of appeal from the unjust punish¬ments believed to have been inflicted by his subordinates. Next in rank to Sing-Bonga oomes Bl'.ru-Bonga or Marang-Buru, also known as Pat-Sarna, a mountain god, whose visible habitation is usually supposed to be the highest or most remarkable hill or rook in the neighbourhood. " In chota Nagpur," says colonel Dalton,! "a remarkable bluff, near the village of Louhma, is the Marang-Bul'll or Maha-Buru for a wide expanse of country. H ere people of all castes assemble and sacrifice-Hindus, even Mahomedans, as well as Kols. There is no visible 0bject of worship; the sacrifices are offered on the top of the hill, a bare semi-globular mass of rock. If animals are killed, the heads are left there, and afterwards appropriated by the pahan or village priest." Marang¬Bul'll is regarded as the god who presides over the rainfall, and is appealed to in times of drought, as well as when any epidemic sickness is abroad. The appropriate offering to him is a buffalo. Ikir Bonga rules over tanks, wellt! and large sheets of water; Garha¬era is the goddess of rivel'S, streams and the small springs which occur on many hill sides in chota Nagpur; while Nage - era is a general name applied to the minor deities or spirits who haunt the swampy lower levels of the terraced rice-fields.
All of these are believed to have a hand in spreading disease among men, and require constant propitiation to keep them out of mischief. White goats and black or brown cocks are offered to Ikir Bonga, and eggs and turmerio to the Nage. Des'Yali or Kara-Sarna is the god of the village who lives with his wife Jahir Burhi or Sarhul-Sarna in the Sarna or sacred grove, a patch of the forest primeval left intact, to afford a refuge for the forest gods. Every village has its own Deswali, who is held responsible £01' the crops, and receives periodical worship at the agricultural festivals. His appropriate offering is a Jeadt or he-buffalo; to his wife fowls are sacrificed. Gumi is another of the Sarna deities whose precise functions I have been unable to ascertain. Bullocks and pigs are sacrificed to him at irregular intervals. chandor appears to be same as chando Omol or Chanala, the moon worshipped by women, as the wife of Sing Bonga and the mother of the stars. Colnnel Dalton mentions the legend that she was faithless to her husband, and he cut her in two, 'but repenting of his anger he allows her at times to shine forth in full beauty.' Goats are offered to her in the Sarna. IHprom is properly the homestead, but it is used in a wider sense to denote the group of dead ancestors who are worshipped in the homestead by setting apart for them a small portion of every meal and with periodical offerings of fowls. They are supposed to be ever on the watch for chances of doing good or evil to their descen¬dants, and the Mnnda fully realise the necessity for appeasing and keeping them in good humour.
Festivals
'The festivals of tbe tribe are the following :-(1) Sarhul or Sarjum-Baba, the spring festival correspond¬ ing to the Baha or bah-Bonga of the Santals and Has in Chait (March-April) when the sal tree is in bloom. Each household sacrifices a. cock and makes offerings of sal flowers to the founders of the village in whose honour the festival is held. (2) Kadleta or Batauli in Asarh at the commenoement of the rainy season. "Each cultivator," says Colonel Dalton, ., sacrifices a fowl, and aHar some mysterious rites a wing is stripped off 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." (3) Naua or Jom-Nana, the festival of new rice in Asin when the highland rice is harvested. A white cock is sacrificed to Sing-Bollga, and the first u'uits of the harvest are laid before him. Until this has been done, it would be an act of impiety to eat the new rice. (4) Kharia puja or Kolom Singh, called by the Hos Deswali Bonga or Magh Parab celebrating the harvesting of the winter rice, the main crop of the year. Five lowls and various veget.ables are offered to Deswali, the god of the village at the khalihan or threshing floor. Among the Has of Sing¬bhum the festival.is kept as a sort of sat1tnwle, during which the people give themselves up to drunkenness and all kinds of debauchery. This is less conspicuou~ly the case with the Mundas of the plateau who live scattered among Hindu and Christian neighbours, and do not form a compact tribal community like the Hos of the Kolhan. The festival, moreover, is kept by the Mundas on one day only, and is not spread over a month or six weeks, during which time the people of different villages vie with each other in dissipation, as they do in the Kolhan. 'The funeral ceremonies of Mundas do not differ materially from those of the lIas, of which Colonel Dalton's description has been quoted in the first volume of this Glossary.
Succession
Succession among the Mundas is governed by their own customs, which appear to have been little affected by their own custom, which appear to have been little affected by the influence of Hindus law. Property is equally divided among the sons, but no division is made until the youngest son is of age. With them, as with the Santals, daughters get no share in the inheritance; they are allotted among the sons just like the live-stock. " Thus if a man dies, leaving three sons and three daughters and thirty head of cattle, on a division each son would get ten head of cattle and one sister; but should there be only one sister, they wait till she marries and divide the pan," or bride¬price, which usually consists of about six bead of cattle. Among the Hos of Singbhum the bride-price is higher than with the Mundas, and the question of its amount has there been found to affect seriously the number of marriages .
Village communes and officials
According to ancient and universal tradition, the central table land of Chota Nagpur Proper was originally divided into parhas or rural communes, com¬ prising from ten to twenty-five villages, and presided over by a divisional chief, called the raja or mundct of the p(l1'ha.. In 1839, titular TajaS of the pal'ha were still existing in the Fiscal Division of Khukra near Itanchl, who retained considerable authority in tribal di8putes, and at times of festival and hunting. But this element in the Munda village system has now fallen into decay, and survives only in the jlwndas or flags of the parha villages, and in the peculiar titles bestowed on the culti¬vators themselves. The exclusive right to fly a particular flag at the great dancing festivals is jealously guarded by every Munda village, and serious fights not unfrequently result from the violation of this privilege. Besides this, individual villages in a padza bear specific titles, such as "aja, diwan, Kumear, thakur chhota lal etc., similar to those which prevail in the household of the reigning family, which obviously refer to some organization which no longer exists. I am informed that these officials still make the arrangements for the large hunting partie~ which take place at certain seasons of the year. A Kol village community consists, when perfect, of the following officers :-Munda, mahato, pahn, bhandari, gm'ait, gorait, and loha1•. Washermen, barbers, and potters have been added since 1839, and even now are only found near much frequented halting places, and in villages where the larger Hindu tenure-holders live. The Kols invariably shave themselves, and their women wash the clothes.
(1) MUNDA.-The mitnda is the chief of the bhuinhci1's, or de-scendants of the original clearers of the village. He is a person of great consequence in the village; and all demands from the bhuinlzli,'s, whether of money or labour, must be notified by the owner of the village through the munda. He is remunerated for his trouble by the bhuinhari land, which he holds at a low rate of rent, and receives no other salary. In pargalla Lodhma, and in the south¬eastern portion of Lohardaga he sometimes performs the mahato's duties as well as his own, and he then gets a small jdyzl' of half a pawa of land rent-free.
(2) MAHATO-The functions of a mahato have been compared to those of a patwarz or village accountant, but he may be more aptly described as a rural settlement officer. He allots the land of the village among the cultivators, giving to each man a gotZ or clod of earth as a symbol of possession; he collects the rent, pays it to the owner, and settles any disputes as to the amount due from the 1•ai.llats; and, in short, manages all pecuniary matters connected with the land. He is appointed by the owner of the village, and receives one pau;a of rajhas laud rent-free, as a ,jagir or service-tenure. But the office is neither hereditary nor permanent., and the mahato is liable to be dismissed at the landlord's discretion. Dismissal, however, is unusual, and the mahato is often succeeded by his son. Where the maliata collects the rents, he almost universally receives a fee, called uaUa, of balf an anna from each cultivator, or of one anna for every house in the village. In one village battd amounts to four annas and a balf on every pawa of land. Occasionally, where there is no Manda1'Z or agent for tbe owner's rent-paying land, the mahato gets three bundles (karC/zs) of grain in the straw, containing from ten to twenty sers apiece, at every barvest. Thus during the year he would receive three bundles of gallcUi from the cold weather crop, and the same amount from the g01'd or early rice, and the clan or late rice. In kMlsa villages, which are under the ' direct management of the MaharAja, tbe mahata often hold", in addition to his official ,iagzl', a single 'Pa~ca of land, called ':ha1'cha or 1'ozina klcet, from the proceeds of which he is expected to defray the occasional expenses incurred in calling upon cultivators to pay their rent, etc.
The functions of tbe mahato are shown in greater detail in the following extract from Dr. Davidson's Report of 1839 :-" On a day appointed, the thikaclcl?' or farmer proceeds to the aklwa or place of assembly of the village, where he is met by the mahata, palin, bhanclad, and as many of the 1'uyats as choose to attend. He pro¬ceeds, agreeably to the dictation of the mahata, to write down the account of the cultivation of the different ?'C/yats, stating the number of pawos held and the rent paid by each. Having furnished this account, any new myats who may wish to have lands in the village, after having the quantity and rent settled, have a gati gi ven to them. If any of the old ?'ayats require any new land, a goti is taken for that, but not for the old cultivation. The mahato collects the rent as the instalments become due, according to the above-mentioned account given to the farmer; and all differences as to the amount of rent payable by a rayat, if any ever arise, which very seldom happens, are settled by the opinion of the mahata. So well does this mode answer in practice, that in point of fact a dispute as to the amount of rent owed by a rayat is of rare occurrence. When a farmer wishes to cheat a ?'ayat, he accuses him of having cultivated more land than he is entitled to, or of owing him 11Wbwal' or grain-rent for land heJd in excess; and if s110h a thing as a dispute as to the amount of rent owed ever does arise, the '/nahato's evidence is gene¬rally considered conclusive by both parties." .
(3) PAIlN.-The importance of the pahn or priest of the village gods, may be inferred from the current phrase in which his duties are contrasted with those of the mahalO. The paizn, it is said, " makes the village" (gaol1 banota), while the mci1wto only" manages it" (goan chalata) . He must be a bhuinhtil', as no one but a descendant of the earliest settlers in the village could know how to propitiate the local gods. He is always chosen from one family; but the actual pahn is changed at intervals of from three to five years by the ceremony of the sup or winnowing-fan, which is used as a divining rod) and taken from house to house by the boys of the village. The blwinMI' at whose house the sup stops is elected pahn. On the death of a p6.lm, he is frequently, but not invariably, succeeded by his son. Rent-free lands are attached to the office of pahn under the following names :-(1) P6.lmi, the personal jagir or service¬tenure of the priest, generally containing one pawa of land. (2) Dtilikata1'i, for which the palm has to make offerings to Jahir Burhi, the goddess of the village. It is called clalikataTi, as it is sup¬posed to defray the expenses of the K(w1n festival, when a branch (dati) of the karma tree is cut down and planted in the fields. (3) Desanli , a sort of bhutkhetn or devil's acre, the produce of which is devoted to a great triennial festival in honour of Desauli, the divinity of the grove. This land is either cultivated by the palm himself, or by "raiyats who pay him rent. (4) PanbMl'a and takatu. are probably the same. Lands held under these names are cultivated by the pahn himself or his near relations; and whoever has them, is bound to supply water at the various festivals.
(4) BHANDARL ---The bhandari or bailiff is the landlord's agent in respect of the management of the village. He is usually a Hindu, and represents the landlord's point of view in village questions, just as the p6.lm is the spokesman of the biminluirs or original settlers. He generally holds one pawa of land rent free from the owner, reoeiving also from every raiyat three karais or sheaves of each crop as it is cut-one of gonclli, one of early rice, and one of wet rice. Instead of the land, he sometimes gets Rs. 3 or B.s. 4 in cash, with 12 kats 01' 4~ cwt. of paddy.
(5) GORATT.-The gorait is, in fact, the chukidar or village watch¬man. He communicates the owner's orders to the miyats, brings them to the mahato to pay their rents, and selects coolies when required for public purposes. As a rule he holds no service land, but receives the three usual karazs or sheaves from every cultivator.
(6) AHlR or GOALAS'.-The ahil"s duty is to look after the cattle of the village, and to account for any that are stolen. He is remune¬tated by a payment of one kat of paddy for each pair of plough¬'bullooks owned by the cultivators whose cattle are under his charge. He also gets the three karazs or sheaves at harvest ~im8, besides an occasional sup or winnowing fan full of paddy. If cows are under the ahir s charge, the milk of every alternate day is his per¬quisite. In the month of Lfghall (December) he takes five sel's of lllilk round to the cultivators, receiving in return pakit/I'a or 20 sel's of paddy as a free gift. He always pays the abwab known as dtidani ghi, and in some villages has to give the baithawan ghi as well. In a very few oases the ahi1' holds half a pawa of land rent-free.
(7) LOHAR.-The lohar or blacksmith gets one kat of paddy and the three kamzs for every plough in the village, and is also paid two or three annas for every new pM,. or ploughshare. In a very few villages he holds half a pawa of land rent-free. 'The kotwat or oonstable and the chaukida1' or watchman do not belong to the genuine Munda viliage system, and need not be mentioned here. In the Fiscal Divsion of Tori the bulk of th.e inhabitants belong to the Khanvth sub-tnbe of Bhogtas, and the VIllage system differs from that which prevails on the central plateau. Here the pahn is the only official who holds service land, and he gets half a patti, or not quite two standard big/Ills. He performs the village pzV'as, and often does the work of a mahato, when the owner of the village is an absentee. But even then the landlord sometimes employs a bailiff, called MThit, to collect the rents. In the tract known as the Five Parganas, including Tamar, Bundu, SiIH, Rahe, and Barauda, as well as in the Mankipattz, or that part of Soupur pa/'gana which borders on Singbhum district, we yoeet with mankis and rJlil11da.~ who are undoubtedly the descendants of the original chiefs, and still hold the villages which their ancestors founded. Here thepal'lui divisions exist in their entirety, as groups of from twelve to twenty-lour villages, each of which has its own mitnda or village bead; while the whole commune is subject to a di visional headman called rnanki, who collects the £xed rents payable by the mundas. The chief village officer is the pahn, who holds from one to £ve kitts of land rent-free as datikata,•i. A kat in this sense is a measure of land analogous to, if not identical with, the khandi of the Kolban in Singbhum, and denotes the quantity of land which can be sown with one kid of seed. In this part of the country the mitncla sometimes has a deputy called dkan who assists him to collect his rents, and bhandarZs are occasionally met with.
