Paik
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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.
Paik
A small caste of the Uriya country formed from military service, the \.q.xvs\ pdik meaning ' a foot-soldier.' In 1 90 1 the Paiks numbered 19,000 persons in the Kalahandi and Patna States and the Raipur District, but since the transfer of the Uriya States to Bengal less than 3000 remain in the Central Provinces. In Kalahandi, where the bulk of them reside, they are called Nalia Sipahis from the fact that they were formerly armed with iialis or matchlocks by the State. After the Khond rising of 1882 in Kalahandi these were confiscated and bows and arrows given in lieu of them.
The Paiks say that they were the followers of two warriors, Kalmir and Jaimir, who conquered the Krdahandi and Jaipur States from the Khonds about a thousand years ago. There is no doubt that they formed the rough militia of the Uriya Rajas, a sort of rabble half military and half police, like the Khandaits. But the Khandaits were probably the leaders and officers, and, as a consequence, thougli originally only a mixed occupational group, have acquired a higher status than the Pfuks and in Orissa rank next to the Rajputs.
The Paiks were the rank and file, mainly recruited from the forest tribes, and they are counted as a comparatively low caste, though to strangers they profess to be Rajputs. In Sambalpur it is said that Rajputs, Sudhs, Bhuiyas and Gonds are called Paiks. In Kalahandi they wear the sacred thread, being invested with it by a Brfdiman at the time of their marriage, and they say that this privilege was conferred on them by the Raja. It is reported, however, that social distinctions may be purchased in some of the Uriya States for comparatively small sums. A Bhatra or member of a forest tribe was VOL. IV y
observed wearing the sacred thread, and, on being questioned, stated that his grandfather had purchased the right from the Raja for Rs. 50. The privileges of wearing gold ear ornaments, carrying an umbrella, and riding on horseback were obtainable in a similar manner. It is also related that when one Raja imported the first pair of boots seen in his State, the local landholders were allowed to wear them in turn for a few minutes on payment of five rupees each, as a token of their right thereafter to procure and wear boots of their own.
In Damoh and Jubbuipore another set of Paiks is to be found who also claim to be Rajputs, and are commonly so called, though true Rajputs will not eat or intermarry with them. These are quite distinct from the Sambalpur Paiks, but have probably been formed into a caste in exactly the same manner.
The sept or family names of the Uriya Paiks sufficiently indicate their mixed descent. Some of them are as follows : Dube (a Brahman title), Chalak Bansi (of the Chalukya royal family), Chhit Karan (belonging to the Karans or Uriya Kayasths), Sahani (a sais or groom), Sudh (the name of an Uriya caste), Benet Uriya (a subdivision of the Uriya or Od mason caste), and so on. It is clear that members of different castes who became Paiks founded separate families, which in time developed into exogamous septs.
Some of the septs will not eat food cooked with water in company with the rest of the caste, though they do not object to intermarrying with them. After her marriage a girl may not take food cooked by her parents nor will they accept it from her. And at a marriage party each guest is supplied with grain and cooks it himself, but everybody will eat with the bride and bridegroom as a special concession to their position. Besides the exogamous clans the Paiks have totemistic gots or groups named after plants and animals, as Harin (a deer), Kadamb (a tree), and so on. But these have no bearing on marriage, and the bulk of the caste have the Nagesh or cobra as their sept name. It is said that anybody who does not know his sept considers himself to be a Nagesh, and if he does not know his clan, he calls himself a Mahanti. Each family among the Paiks has also a Sainga or title, of a highsounding nature, as Naik (lord), Pujari (worshipper), Baidya
(physician), Rant (noble), and so on. Marriages are generally celebrated in early youth, but no penalty is incurred for a breach of this rule. If the signs of adolescence appear in a girl for the first time on a Tuesday, Saturday or Sunday, it is considered a bad omen, and she is sometimes married to a tree to avert the consequences.
Widow-marriage and divorce are freely permitted. The caste burn their dead and perform the sliraddh ceremony. The women are tattooed, and men sometimes tattoo their arms with figures of the sun and moon in the belief that this will protect them from snake-bite. The Paiks eat flesh and fish, but abstain from fowls and other unclean animals and from liquor. Brahmans will not take water from them, but other castes generally do so. Some of them are still employed as armed retainers and are remunerated by free grants of land. caste.
