Bauri
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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Contents |
Bauri
Traditions
A cultivating, earth-working, and palanquin-bearing caste of Western Bengal, whose features and complexion stamp them as of non-Aryan descent, although evidence is wanting to affiliate them to any particular tribe now in existence. Their meagre folk-lore throws no light on their origin. According to one story they were degraded for attempting to steal food from the banquet of the gods; another professes to tmce them back to a mythical ancestor named Bahak Rishi (the bearer of burdens), and tells how, while returning from a marriage procession, they sold the palanquin they had been hired to carry, got druuk on the proceeds, and assaulted their guru, who cursed them for the sacrilege, and condemned them to rank thence¬forward among the lowest castes of the community. Another name of this ancestor is Rik Muni, the same as the eponym of the Musahars or Bhuiyas, but it would be straining conjecture to infer from this any connexion between the Bauris and the Bhuiyas.
Internal structure
The Bauris are divided into the following nine sub-castes :-¬ (1) Mallabhumia, (2) Sikharia or Gobaria, (3) Panchakoti, (4) Mola or Mulo, (5) Dhulia or Dhulo, (6) Malua or Malua, (7) Jhatia or Jhetia, (8) Kathuria,
(9) Pathuria. Some of these may perhaps bo nothing more than different local names for what was originally the same sub.caste, but this point is not really very material, by reason of the marked reluotanoo of the lower castes to intermarry families living at a distance. Assuming, for example, that Mola or Mulo and Malla-bhumia, two sub-castes of Bauris found in the 24-Palganas and Murshedabad, are really the saIDe as the Malua or Malua. sub-caste common in Manbhum, it would by no means follow that the eastern and western members of this sub-caste would be willing to intermarry. And if there were no intermarriage, the groups would rightly be treated as true sub-castes. On the whole therefore, in spite of the suspicious similarity of some of the names, I incline to think that the nine groups enumerated above are really distinct at the present day, whatever may have been the case some generations back. As for the origin of the sub• castes, the names Mallabhumia, Malua., and perhaps Mola, denote a group originally resident in pergunnah Manbhum or in the country south of the Kasai; the Dhulia sub-caste is supposed to have come from Dhalbhum; and the Sikharia from Sikharbhum, the tract between the Kasai and Barakar rivers, which includes the Pachete estate. Panchakoti again denotes the central portion of the Pachete estate. Gobaria is said to refer to a domestic custom of cleaning up the remnants of meals with cowdung, which has some¬how come to be deemed a characteristic of the Sikharia sub-caste; while Jhatia is explained as denoting a group who simply sweep away the fragments of a meal without washing the place where it had been spread.
Exogomy
The few exogamous subdivisions which we find among the Bauris have clearly been borrowed dignitatis Caused from the higher castes, and are inoperative for matrimonial purposes, as marriage between members of the same gotra is not forbidden. They profess to observe the standard formula mamera, chaohera, eto., and in addition to prohibit marriage between persons desoended from the same ancestors within seven degrees on the male and three degrees on the female side ; but the caste is extremely illiterate: there is no machinery among them for main taining genealogies, and thus guarding against consanguineous marriages, and in actual practice such marriages are believed to be far from uncommon.
The absence of compact exogamous groups, suoh as we find among tribes apparently closely akin to the Hauris, may possibly be due to the latter having adopted the profession of palanquin bearing, and thus having been brought into closer contact with Hindus than was the oase with their more independent congeners. Traces of totemism, however, still survive in their reverence for the red backed heron and the dog, and perhaps in their strong objec tion to touching horse-dung. The heron is looked upon as the emblem of the tribe, and may not be killed or molested on pain of expulsion from the caste. Dogs also are sacred. A Bauri will on no account kill a dog or touch a dead dog's body, and the water of a tank in which a dog has been drowned cannot be used until an entire rainy season has washed the impurity away. "In regard to dogs," says Colonel Dalton, "I was gravely informed by some of their elders that as they killed and ate oows and most other animals, they deemed it right to fix on some beast which should be as scared to them as the oow to the Bnihman, and they selected the dog, because it was a useful animal while alive, and not very nice to eat when dead-a neat reconciliation of the twingcs or conscience and cravings of' appetite." This ingenious explanation, however valueless in itself, shows that their own customs had become unintelligible to the Bauris themselves, and serves to illustrate the tendency to imitate Brahmanical usages.
Admission of outsiders
Like the Bagdis, Bauris admit into their caste members of any caste higher than themselves in social standing. No regular ceremony is appointed for such occasions: the new member merely pays to the caste panchayat a sum of money, varying From Rs. 10 to Rs. 15, to be spent on a feast, in which for the first time he openly eats with his adopted caste brethren. The origin of this singular practice, which is entirely out of accord with the spirit of the caste system at the present day, is apparently to be sought in the lax views of the J3auris and Bagdis on the subject of sexual morality. In every other caste a woman who has an intrigue with an outsider is punished by expulsion from the caste; but Biigais and Bauris not only allow their women to live openly with men of other castes, but receive those men into their own community when, as frequently happens, they are outcasted by their own people for eating rice cooked by their mistresses.
Marriage
Marriage among the Bauris is either infant or adult, the tendency being for those who can afford it to marry their daughters as infants. Polygamy is permitted: a man is allowed to have as many wives as he can afford to maintain. Widows may marry again, and are usually expected to marry their deceased husband's younger brother. No ceremony is gone through; the bridegroom pays Re. 1-4 to the bride's father, and gives a feast to the members of the caste. Divorce is recognised. It is effected by the husband taking away from his wife the iron ring which every married woman wears, and proolaiming to the pa1umanik and panchayat the fact or his having divorced her. In some districts a wife may divorce her husband. for ill-treatment., decrtion, or adultery. Divorced wives may always marry again. The marriage ceremony in use among the Bauris of Western Bengal differs little from that of the Bagdis, except that there is no pool of water in the middle of tho marriage bower, and the bride sits on the left of the bridegroom instead of facing him. In districts further east an attempt is made to follow the standard Hindu ritual, and the interchange of garlands is held to be the bindmg portion of the procedure.
Religion
Bauris profess to be Hindus of the Sakta sect, but in Western Bengal, at any rate, their connexion with Hinduism is of the slenderest kind, and their favourite objects of worship are Manasa, Bhadu, Mansingh, Barpahari Dharmanlj, and Kudrasini. the cult of the two former duties ha been d.escribed in the article on the Bagdis. Goats are sacrificed to Mansingh, and fowls to Barpahali, which is merely another name for the "great mountain" (Marang Buru) or the Santals. Pigs, fowls, rice, sngar, and ghee are offered to Kudrasini on Saturdays and Sundays at the akhra or dancing place of the village through the medium of .a Bauri priest, who abstains from flesh or fish on the day preceding the sacrifice. The priest gets as his fee the fowls that are offered and the head or leg of the pig; the worshippers eat the rest. It should be mentioned here that in Western Bengal Bauris have not yet attained to the dignity of having Brahmans of their own. Their priests are men of their own caste, termed Lava or Degharia, some of whom hold layali land rent-free or at a nominal rent as remuneration for their services. The headman of the village (paramanik) may also officiate as priest. The Bauris of Eastern Bengal employ a low class of Barna Brahmans. Kali and Visvakarma are their favourite deities. In most districts Bauris have adopted the Hindu practice of burning their dead; but in Bankura corpses are buried with the head to the north and face downward, the object of this attitude being to prevent the spirit from getting out and giving trouble to the living. A rude funeral ceremony is performed on the eleventh day after death, when the relations feast together and the nearest relative of the deceased has his head shaved.
Occupation
Agricultural labour and palanquin-bearing are supposed to be o' the original occupations of the caste, and this tradition corresponds pretty closely to the facts as we now find them. They work also as wood-cutters and masons, and in Bardwan a few have risen to be traders and money lenders. In some respects they are more particular than would be expected, considering the low social position they hold. A Bauri who takes to curing leather, works as a syce, or keeps a liquor¬shop, is turned out of the caste. comparatively few Bauris are raiyats with occupancy rights, but the majority may probably be put down as under-raiyats or landless day-labourers, They were well known as indigo-cultivators and workers in the vats in the prosperous days of Bengal indgo, and nomadic tillage of char lands is one of their characteristic pursuits. In Manbhum and Bankura many of them hold substantial tenures on terms of police service-a fact which lends colour to the view that they are among the earliest settlers in that part of the country_ Thus in Manbhum we find two sadials, one cligwar, two tlaib dig¬weirs, 17 village sarda1's, and 49 tabiddrs of the caste; while in Bankura the Bauris are represented by 14 Sardar ghatwals, 16 sadials, 8 digwars, 375 tabiclars, and 554 chakran chattkidars.
Social status
The social rank of Bauris is very low.
Members of the higher castes will not take water From their hands, us. and they themselves eat with Bagdis, Kewats, Lohars, and the non-Aryan Kurmis of Western Bengal. They are, in-fact, hardly distinguishable From the Haris of Bengal and the Ghasis of Chota Nagpur, and are despised everywhere except in Manbhum and Birbhum, where they are allowed by the Hindus to do certain menial offices which are usually done by people of higher castes. With few exceptions, they are entirelyindilIerent to the mce scruples regarding food, which have so important a bearing on the status of the average Hindu, for they eat beer, pork, rowls, all kinds of fish, and rats, and are much addicted to strong drink. Nevertheless they pique themselves on not eating snakes and lizards, like the Oraons.
The following statement shows the number of Bauris in 1872 and 1881:¬
Bauri
(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: Bhoi, Buna, Kandi [Orissa] Groups/subgroups: Gobariya, Jhanta, Mana, Nula, Sikharia, Tula [Bihar and/or Jharkhand] Buna, Ghumura, Mahabhoi, Tanhara [Orissa] Gobara, Jhanta, Mana, Mula, Sikharia, Tula [West Bengal] Subcastes: Bagh, Dhulia, Dhulo, Gobaria, Jhetia, Kathuria, Mallabhumia, Malua, Mola, Mula, Panchakoti, Pathuria, Sikaria [H.H. Risley] Titles: Bisoi, Dakra, Deshmandal, Majhi [Bihar and/or Jharkhand] Dasa [Orissa] Deshmondal, Khetrapal, Manjhi, Mukhya, Paramanik [West Bengal] Behara, Digha, Mandal, Manjhi, Maulavi, Paramanik [H.H. Risley] Bauri, Chalak, Oas, Kshetrapal, Mudi, Ray [Bihar and/or Jharkhand] Behera, Das, Hati, Kandi, Naik, Pani, Rout, Samal [Orissa] Bauri [Tripura] Bauri, Chalak, Das, Kshetrapal [West Bengal] Kachap (tortoise), Nag (serpent), Sal (Sal fish) [Bihar and/or Jharkhand] Basant, Gunicha, Negeswar (snake god), Saraswathi [Orissa] Kachhap (tortoise), Nag (cobra), Sal (a fish) [West Bengal] II22 Communities, Segments, Synonyms, Surnames and Tides Gotra: Kashyap [Bihar and/or Jharkhand] Kashyap [Orissa] Kashyap [West Bengal] Kashyap [H.H. Risley] "Sections: Aliman, Mahdukulya, Majhi [H.H. Risley] Exogamous units/lineages: Sal [Bihar and/or Jharkhand] Sal [West Bengal]
