Bind, Bhind, Bindu
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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Bind, Bhind, Bindu
The Bind is a semi-Hinduized aboriginal race, widely scattered throughout India. Buchanan was of opinion that Oudh was their original home, but at the present day they are dispersed throughout the north-western provinces, Oudh, and the Gangetic valley. In 18651 it was computed that the Bind caste numbered 63,501 individuals in the north-western provinces, and in 1872 the census returns show a total of 10,563 in Bengal, of whom 6,002 belonged to Maldah, 1,100 to Pubna, 1,017 to Nadiya, and only 153 to Dacca. Settlements of Binds are, however, found along the left bank of the Padma, but less frequently than on the righ, or Farridpur side. Originally residents of the Benares district, they were driven by the great famine of 1770 to seek shelter in the fertile delta, which has ever since been their home.
It is extremely doubtful if the Ben of Oudh, generally a musician, is the same as Bin of Arrah, who works as a Beldar, and manufactures saltpetre. In Bhagalpur the Binds, or Beldars,as they are usually called, fish, dig, cultivate the soil, hunt, and act as drug collectors. Mr. Sherring,1 on the other hand, classifies the Bind, or Bin, with the Nuniya caste. In Dacca, again, the Bind recognize three subdivisions, Jutaut Binds, Nun Binds, and Bin. The first is the most aristocratic, while those belonging to the second are degraded, from working as palanquin bearers, manufacturers of salt (nun), diggers, and, it is said, gravediggers. Representtives of the Bin division are not met with in Eastern Bengal.
In Ghazipur the caste is reckoned clean, while in Arrah it has gained, according to native ideas, an enviable position, being employed by the sacred order to carry water in Brahmanical vessels without causing defilement. Binds in Bengal are unclean, and their brethren in the north-west repudiate any relationship with them. For this reason the Bengali Bind often finds it difficult to procure a wife from the small expatriated communities along the Padma.
A Dasnami Gosain periodically visits the Dacca Binds, acting as their Guru, while a degraded Kanaujiya Brahman officiates as Purohit. Many of the Bengali Binds belong to the Panch Piriya sect, others worship Siv, and at the Mahabali festival sacrifice a ram instead of a he-goat as is usual. At the Ganga Pujah a swine is offered to Jalka Devi, the popular goddess of the Chamars. The Patron deity, however, of all Binds is Kasi Baba, about whom the following childish story is told. A mysterious epidemic was carrying off the herds on the banks of the Ganges, and the ordinary expiatory sacrifices were ineffectual. One evening a clownish Ahir, on going to the river, saw a figure rinsing its mouth from time to time, and making an unearthly sound with a conch shell. The lout concluding that this must be the demon causing the epidemic, crept up and clubbed the unsuspecting bather.
Kasi Nath was the name of the murdered Brahman, and as the cessation of the murrain coincided with his death, the low Hindustani castes have ever since regarded Kasi Baba as the maleficent spirit that sends disease among their cattle. Nowadays he is propitiated by the following curious ceremony. As soon as an infectious, disease breaks forth the village cattle are massed together, and cotton seed sprinkled over them. The fattest and sleekest animal being singled out is severely beaten with rods. The herd, scared by the noise, scamper off to the nearest shelter followed by the scape bull, and by this means, it is thought, the murrain is stayed.
Like all up-country boatmen who visit Bengal, the Binds invoke Pir Badr, whenever a squall threatens. "Pir Badr!takya ek nazar! Pir Badr!" "bestow one glance!" is the ordinary ejaculation.
Karamat 'Ali and the Farazi Maulavis have of late years converted many of these outcast Binds, but the village Muhammadans will not as yet associate with them. These converts are usually styled by the peasantry "Chayli," from the Bengali word for the Bera, or fish trap.
Binds in the upper provinces are commonly addressed by the title Rawat, but in Bengal Chaudhari is their only designation.
Hindustani Binds are enterprising traders, often visiting Bengal during the cold seasons, with cargoes of wheat, pulse, and "gram." Bengali Binds lead an irregular life. Some cultivate the soil; others kill mullet with the harpoon, or catch them with "Sirki" screens, like the Berua. Many are cunning sportsmen, and during December and January net great numbers of wild fowl and snipe.
After the harvest the Binds wander about the country digging up the stores of rice accumulated by field rats in their burrows. From four to six pounds of grain are usually found, but even this quantity is sometimes exceeded. It is said that the Binds feast on the rats, but, as they remark, this would lessen the next year's profit, they carefully avoid injuring them. Another occupation is cutting tamarisk (jhau) on the sandbanks of the Padma, and selling it for firewood. By them are made the best mud brasiers, or Chulhas, used on board all native boats for cooking.
Finally, Binds freely indulge in spirit drinking, and are very partial to pork, when it can be procured.
1 "Hindu Tribes and Castes," p. 348.
1 "Supplemental Glossary," i, 287.
