Tiyars
This article is an extract from
THE TRIBES and CASTES of BENGAL. Ethnographic Glossary. Printed at the Bengal Secretariat Press. 1891. . |
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Tiyars
In various parts of India races called by this name are found, but it is highly improbable that they spring from the same parent stock. Dr. Caldwell2 states that Teers (properly Tivars, or islanders) of Southern India "are certainly immigrants from Ceylon." In Maisur3 the Tiyars, or Shanars, included among the Panchaman, or outcast tribes, worship peculiar gods symbolised by stones, drink spirits, and eat the flesh of swine, fowls, and goats. Wilson defines Tiyar as a caste in Malabar, whose occupations are agriculture and "tari" drawing. Sir H. Elliot4 identifies the Tiyar of Hindustan with the Dhimar, an offshoot of the Kahar caste. Mandelslo,5 again, in 1638, found in Gujarat a tribe called "Theer," or "Halal-Khors," employed as sweepers and executioners, "qui ne sont Payens, ni Mahometans." In Oudh the "Teehurs have no fixed or defined religion, live in great poverty, eating anything, are expert thieves, but industrious peasants, and are disowned by both Hindus and Muhammadans."6
1 In Purchas they are called "Tiberi," and in other books of travel "Teer-men."
2 "Grammar of the Dravidian Languages," Introd. p. 110.
3 Buchanan's "Mysore," ii, 415.
4 "Supplemental Glossary," i. 80.
5 "Voyage des Indes," Liv. i, 219.
6 "The People of India," ii, 83.
In Bengal, on the other hand, the fisher Tiyar belongs to a semi-Hinduized aboriginal, or perhaps Dravidian race, deriving its name from the Sanskrit Tivara,1 a hunter, or perhaps fisherman. In most districts the tribe has assumed the honourable title of Raj-bansi, as the Kochh have also done, probably, as Buchanan thinks, because in prehistoric times they were settled in the Gangetic provinces, and ruled over by a Rajah of their own.
As a race the Tiyars are short and muscular, with prominent cheek bones, dark brown, almost black, complexions, thick and generally projecting lips, and long coarse hair worn in a cue, which has often a reddish tinge towards the tip, a peculiarity common to them and other low castes, which, although in the first instance produced by exposure, is now, if not hereditary at least characteristic. In Eastern Bengal, where no subdivisions exist, the Tiyars call themselves Raj-bansi, or sometimes, as in Mymensingh, Tilak Das, while those living on the Ganges lay claim to the title of Suraj-bansi. According to Buchanan the Tiyars of Bhagalpur are divided into Baman-jagya," who are cultivators and clean Sudras, and "Govariya, who fish, eat pork, drink spirits, and are outcasts. Wherever they are regarded as pure, a Dasnami ascetic acts as Guru, and a Maithila Brahman as Purohit; when impure, a Gosain of Bengal is Guru, and a Patit, or degraded Brahman, is Purohit.
In Bihar and Bengal generally, Tiyars are reckoned impure, and along the northern bank of the Ganges Tiyars employed in manufacturing mats of the "Nal" reed, and known as Nal Tiyars, are considered so utterly vile that the fisher Tiyars repudiate any fellowship with them.
The Tiyar caste is distributed irregularly through Bengal. In Bihar they number 49,717 souls, while in Bengal proper 331,661 individuals are returned, of whom 141,213, or 42 per cent, belong to Rangpur; 49,709 to the 24 Pergunnahs; 23,051 to Hughli; 16,304 to Midnapur; 17,364 to Dinajpur; 14,451 to Mymensingh; and only 7,988 to Dacca. In Orissa, again, there are only 3,743 Tiyars.
In Dacca the Tiyars occupy an uncertain position, in one part of the district being pure and Pancha-varta, having the five Sudra servants working for them, while in another, being unclean, these servants are members of their own caste. Tiyars in Eastern Bengal are usually fishermen, but where the fishery has become unproductive, or the river has silted up, they are found cultivating the soil, keeping shops, and acting as boatmen. They manufacture their own nets, but their long narrow boats, called "Jalka," are made by Chandals.
1 From the root "Tira," a shore, and connected with "Dhivara" a fisherman.
As is done by all Bengali fishermen, the Jal Palani, on the "Tilwa" Sankranti in Magh (Jan.-Feb.), when the sun enters Capricorn, is observed by the Tiyars. The close time lasts from two to fifteen days, but the demand for fish being steady they catch on the eve of the festival an extra supply, and keep them alive for purposes of sale, there being no offence in selling, although there is in catching, fish at that period, when prices being high, profits are unusually good.
Among Tiyars three social grades are recognised, the highest being the "Pradhan," or chief families, next the "Paramaniks," while the rest go to form the "Gana," or lower orders. The last can only intermarry with the higher by paying a large sum of money, the father receiving in all cases money for his daughter, so that female children are more valued than among the true Hindus. Widows never marry, but either earn a livelihood by selling fish, by manufacturing string, or, if desirous of change of life and scene, by becoming Boistubis (Vaishnavis).
Tiyars are almost to a man Vaishnava in creed, their religious ceremonies being always held beneath trees. The Seorha (Trophis aspera), a very common scrubby plant, is held in especial veneration by them, and its shade is usually selected as the scene of their worship; but should this tree be not at hand, the Nim, Bel, or Gujali (Shorea robusta), forms an efficient substitute. Hindustani Tiyars sacrifice a goat to Kali on the Diwali, and the animal, not being decapitated in the orthodox Hindu way, is stabbed with a sharp pointed piece of wood, a practice universal among the aboriginal races of India, after which, as with the Dosads, the flesh is eaten by the worshippers. Bengali Tiyars, on the other hand, sacrifice a swine to Bura-Buri on the Paus (Dec.-Jan.) Sankranti, slaughtering it in the same way as their Hindustani brethren. At the Ganga festival in Jeth (May) they offer a white kid, pigeons, and milk, and adore with great solemnity Manasa Devi, in the month of Sravan (July-August).
As was natural, the Tiyars have peopled the waters and streams with beneficent and wicked spirits, whose friendship is to be secured, and enmity averted, by various religious rites. Along the banks of the river Lakhya they worship Pir Badr, Khwajah Khizr, and, in fulfilment of vows, offer through any Mussulman, a goat to Madar, whom they regard as a water god, but who may be identified with Shah Madar Badi'uddin. In stormy weather, and in bad fishing seasons, they invoke Khala-Kumari, a Naiad, to whom the first fruits are presented in the same way as Hindus do to Lakshmi.
In Purneah Tiyars worship a peculiar deity, called Prem Rajah, or Pamiraj, who they say belonged to their tribe, and was celebrated brigand residing at Bahuragar in Tirhut. Having been on many occasions favoured by the deity, he was translated (Aprakasa), and disappeared along with his boat. In 1864, one Baijua Tiyar gave out that Pamiraj had appeared to him in a vision, and ordained that the Tiyars should cease to be fishermen, and devote themselves instead to certain religious rites which would procure general prosperity. Great excitement ensued, and in February, 1865, about four thouuand Tiyars from Ghazipur, Benares, and the adjoining districts, assembled at Gogra in Purneah, and after offering holy water to a private idol belonging to Baijua, which he said came to him out of a bamboo post, 3,000 goats were sacrificed. Shortly afterwards another meeting of the tribe was held in the Benares district, at which a murder was committed. This movement was a repetition of a precisely similar one among the Dosads of Bihar, in 1863, and, like it, was short-lived and unsuccessful.1
