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[edit] Chandala

Synonyms: Chandal [Orissa] Groups/subgroups: Bada, Chota [Orissa]

• Subcastes: Amarabadi, Bachhar, Baqqal, Ban, Berua, Chasi (in western Bengal), Dhani (in central Bengal), Ghasi,

Halwah (in east Bengal), Helo, Jalia, Jelo, Jiani, Kandho, Karal, Kesarkalo, Kotal Majila, Nalo, Nunia, Panphule, Pod, Sandwipa, Saralya, Saro, Siali, Siule [H.H. Risley] Titles: Arakash, Arrai, Bagh, Bhala, Biswas, Das, Dauk, Dhali, Dule, Hait, Hajra, Haldar, Hathi, Hauikar, Khan, Laskar, Mahara, Majumdar etc. [H.H. Risley] Surnames: Chakra, Chalan, Golori, Khemundu, Majhi, Mondol, Nayaka, Pang, Suna, Surya, Tanti [Orissa] Exogamous units/clans: Andarbaria, Baosulia, Bodolia, Chakra, Dhangia, Gourgolia, Jumbharia, Khoratia, Kumbharia, Lohoria, Saaria, Sanbania, Subarna [Orissa]

• Sections/gotra: Bharadwaj (in western Bengal), Kashyap (in eastern Bengal), Lomasa, Sandilya [H.H. Risley]

[edit] Notes

The Chandals, one of the most interesting races in Bengal, are more generally known as Nama-Sudra, or Changa. The derivation of the former name is uncertain, but it is probably the Sanskrit Namas, adoration, which is always used as a vocative when praying, or the Bengali Namote, below, underneath. Changa again, in Sanskrit, signifies handsome, and was most likely used in irony by the early Hindus. The following synonyms are given by Amara Sinha, Plava (one who moves about), Matanga (? elephant hunter), Janmagama (life-taker), Nishad-svapacha (dog-eater), Antevasi (one residing on the confines of a village), Divakirti, and Pukkasa.

From the earliest recorded times the Chandalas have been an outcast and helot race, performing menial duties for the Brahmans, and living apart outside cities occupied by the paramount Aryan race. They are represented by Menu as the offspring of a Sudra male and a Brahman female, and as "the lowest of men," who are excluded from the performance of obsequies to their ancestors, and whose touch was as defiling as that of a corpse. In the Maha Bharata they are introduced as hired assassins, whose humanity, however, revolts against put-ting an innocent boy to death.

In the Ramayana they are described as ill-formed and terrible in aspect, dressing in blue, or yellow, garments with a red cloth over the shoulders, a bear's skin around the loins, and iron ornaments on the wrists. Even the liberal minded Abul Fazl describes the Chandals of the sixteenth century as "vile wretches who eat carrion." At the present day the term Chandal is throughout India used only in abuse, and is not acknowledged by any race, or caste, as its peculiar designation. In Hindustan it is the common name of the Kantha Brahman, and everywhere it is an epithet cast at the Dom. The higher subdivisions of the Nama-sudras apply it to the lower, while the lower transfer it to the Dom.

The Dacca Chandals retain an obscure tradition of having originally migrated from Gaya, and make mention of a certain Govardhan Chandal as an ancestor of theirs. There can be no doubt, however, that they belong to a powerful aboriginal, or Dravidian, tribe, who, driven before the Aryan invaders, or by later persecution, sought shelter in the marshy forests of Bengal. The fact that they alone among the population of lower Bengal use the Kayathi Nagari, the common written language of Dinajpur, and that a Chandal Raja ruled from the fort, whose ruins are still shown in the Bhowal jungle, prove that they were in early times a strongly organized commonwealth driven forth from their homes in the north in search of freedom, and security of religious worship.

Mr. Wells1 quotes a tradition of Hindu invention, current among the Chandals of Farridpur, to the effect "that they were originally a complete Hindu community consisting of persons of all castes, from the Brahman downwards, who, on having the misfortune to be cursed in a body by a vengeful Brahman of unutterable sanctity in Dacca, quitted their ancestral homes, and emigrated bodily to the southern wastes of Farridpur, Jessore, and Baqirganj."

According to a tradition of the Dacca Chandals they were formerly Brahmans, who became degraded by eating with Sudras, but others assert that in days of yore they were the domestic servants of Brahmans, for which reason they have perpetuated many of the religious observances of their masters. For instance, the Chandal celebrates the Sraddha on the eleventh day, as Brahmans do, and the Gayawal priests conduct the obsequial ceremonies of the Bengali Chandals without any communication.

Mr. Beverley, again, is of opinion that Chandal is merely a generic title, and the tribe identical with the Mals of the Rajmahal Hills, an undoubted Dravidian clan, and demonstrates from the census figures that in many districts the number of Chandals is in the inverse ratio to the Mals. There appear to be some grounds for this supposition, but an obvious error occurs in the return of 4,663 Mals in Dacca, where none exist, and the omission of any Malos, who are numerous. The latter, though undoubtedly a remnant of some aboriginal race, have not as yet been identified with the Mals.

Dr. Buchanan considered the Chandal of Bengal to be identical with the Dosadh of Bihar. Although both are equally low in the scale of caste, and characterized by an unusual amount of independence and self-reliance, very great differences actually exist. The Dosadh worships deified heroes belonging to his tribe, the Chandal never does. The Dosadh invokes Rahu and Ketu, the former being his tutelary deity, while we find no such divinity reverenced by the Chandal. Finally, the Sraddha of the Dosadh is celebrated on the thirtieth day as with the Sudras, that of the Chandal on the eleventh as with Brahmans.

The Chandals of Eastern Bengal have separated into eight classes, that never eat, and seldom intermarry, with each other:�

1. Halwah from Hal, a plough, are cultivators. 2. Ghasi are grass-cutters. 3. Kandho, from Skandha, the shoulder, are palanquin bearers. 4. Karral, are fishmongers. 5. Bari, probably a corruption of Barhai, a carpenter. 6. Berua from Byada, Ber, and inclosure. 7. Pod. 8. Baqqal.

The Halwah claim precedence over all the others, not only as being of purer descent, but as preserving the old tribal customs unchanged. They associate with and marry into Karral families, but repel the other classes. The Pod, numerous in Hughli and Jessore, but unknown in Dacca, are cultivators, potters, and club-men (Lathiyals).

Although subdivided according to trades Chandals actually work at anything. They are the only Hindus employed in the boats (Bajra) hired by Europeans, they form a large proportion of the peasantry, and they are shopkeepers, goldsmiths, blacksmiths oilmen, as well as successful traders.

They are, however, debarred from becoming fishermen, although fishing for domestic use is sanctioned. In the census returns of 1872, the Chandals, correctly included among the semi-Hinduized aborigines, are met with in every district of Bengal, forming, however, a very small fraction of the population in the most northern, western, and south eastern divisions. They are chiefly congregated in the districts of Baqirganj (326,755); Jessore (271,325); Dacca (191,162); Farridpur (156,223); Mymensingh (123,262); and Silhet (122,457), forming a total of 1,191,184 persons, of 73 per cent, of the whole Chandal race in Bengal, which comprises 1,620,545 individuals.

The Chandals of Eastern Bengal have only one gotra, the Kasyapa, and the large majority are Vaishnavas in creed. They have a Patit Brahman of their own, but he is not so necessary to them as to the Sudra castes.

The washerman and barber are Chandals, as professional workmen decline to assist them. The Bhuinmali is loth to work for them, there being much secret jealousy between the castes, which in some places has broken out into open feuds. At village festivals the Chandal is treated as equal in rank with the Bhuinmali and Chamar, and obliged to put off his shoes before he sits down in the assembly. The clean Sudra castes occasionally, and the unclean tribes always, sit with the Chandal, and at times will accept his dry pipe.

Nevertheless, vile as he is according to Hindu notions, the Chandal is polluted if he touches the stool on which a Sunri is sitting. Furthermore, the Sudra Brahmans will nowadays eat food in a rich Chandal's house, and a Srotriya will accept of a meal, but not partake of it within his walls, although were he to do so in the utterly vile Saha's, he would be irretrievably lost.

The Chandal is very particular as regards caste prejudices. He never allows an European to stand or walk over his cooking place on board a boat, and if his master inadvertently does so, while the food is preparing, it is at once thrown away. He is also very scrupulous about bathing before meals, and about the cleanliness of his pots and pans. Still more, he takes a pride in his boat, and the tidy state in which he keeps it contrasts forcibly with the appearance of one manned by Muhammadan boatmen.

Many customs characteristic of non-Aryan tribes are being gradually abandoned by the Nama-Sudra. Widow marriage, formerly universally practised, has within a few years been prohibited, and the Chandalni bride, who in old days walked, is now carried in state in a palanquin. Although he has adopted many Hindu ideas, the Chandal still retains his partiality for spirits and swine's flesh.

After the birth of a male child, the Chandal mother is ceremonially unclean for ten days, but for a female child the period varies from seven to nine days. Should the child die within eighteen months, a Sraddha is observed after three nights, but should it live longer, the obsequial ceremony is held at the expiration of ten days. On the sixth day after the birth of a boy, the Shashthi Pujah is performed, but omitted if the child be a girl. Whenever a Chamain, or Ghulam Kayasth female, is not at hand, the Chandalni acts as midwife, but she never takes to this occupation as a means of livelihood.

The Chandals retain many peculiar religious customs, survivals of an ancient and time-worn cultus. At the Vastu Pujah on the Paush "Sankrant," when the earth personified is worshipped, the Chandals celebrate an immemorial rite, at which the caste Brahman does not officiate. They pound rice, work it up into a thin paste, and colouring it red or yellow, dip a reversed cup into the mess, and stamp circular marks with it on the ground around their cottages and on the flanks of the village cattle. This observance, not practised by any other caste, has for its object the preservation of the village and its property from the enmity of malignant spirits.

Throughout Bengal the month of Sravan (July-August) is sacred to the goddess of serpents, Manasa Devi, and on the thirtieth day, the Chandals in Eastern Bengal celebrate the "Nao-Ka-Pujah," literally boat worship, or as it is more generally called, "Chandal Kudni," the Chandals rejoicing. As its name imports, the occasion is a very festive one, in Silhet being observed as the great, holiday of the year.

The gods and goddesses of the Hindu mythology are paraded, but the queen of the day is the great snake goddess. Manasa Devi. A kid, milk, plantains, and sweetmeats are offered to her, and the day is wound up with processions of boats, boat races, feasting, and drinking. On the Dacca river the sight is singularly interesting. Boats manned by twenty or more men, and decked out with flags, are paddled by short rapid strokes to the sound of a monotonous chaunt, and as the goal is neared, loud cries and yells excite the contending crews to fresh exertions. The Kuti Muhammadans compete with the Chandals for prizes contributed by wealthy Hindu gentlemen.

The Chandal is one of the most lovable of Bengalis. He is a merry, careless fellow, very patient and hard working, but always ready, when his work is done, to enjoy himself. Chandals are generally of very dark complexions, nearer black than brown, of short muscular figures and deep expanded chests.

A few are handsome, but their dark sparkling eyes and merry laugh make ample amends for their generally plain feature. Singing is a favourite amusement, and a Chandal crew is rarely without some musical instrument with which to enliven the evening after the toils of the day. When young, the Chandal is very vain of his personal appearance, always wearing his hair long, and when in holiday attire, combing, oiling, and arranging it in the most winsome fashion known. Many individuals among them are tall and muscular, famed as clubmen and watchmen.

During the anarchy that accompanied the downfall of the Maghal power, the rivers of Bengal swarmed with river Thugs, or Dakaits, who made travelling unsafe, and inland trade impossible. The Chandals furnished the majority of these miscreants, hut since their dispersion the Chandal has become a peaceable and exemplary subject of the English Government.

1 Appendix to Census Report of 1872, p. vi.