Kumar, Kumbhakara, Kumhar
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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Kumar, Kumbhakara, Kumhar
This caste comprises 281,758 persons in Bengal propeR, and in Dacca they number 14,835. Those belonging to Eastern Bengal can give no history of themselves, but are satisfied with the following ridiculous story of their origin. At the marriage of Siv, a "Ghat," or water jar, was wanted, but no one could make it. The god therefore took a bead from his necklace, and with it created a potter; while with a second he made a woman, who became the potter's wife. The man was father of all such as work in pottery, and hence the name Rudra (a title of Siv) Pal applied to all potters.
The Kumars of Dacca have four subdivisions:�
Rudra Pal, Bara Bhagiya Kumars, Chhota Bhagiya Kumars, or Mittiya Kumars, Magi Kumars.
The first three eat and drink together, but never intermarry. They have the same Purohit, and the only difference between them is, that the two former manufacture earthenware vessels for cooking purposes, while the last make water vessels, vats, and jars. The Bara Bhagiya Kumars, again, have separated into two clans, the first, descended from Tilak Pal, only make black utensils, the second, sprung from Madhava Pal, like the Chhota Bhagiya, only manufacture red.
The Magi subdivision is outcasted, having a Purohit of its own. Their debasement is referred to the days when the Mags harried Eastern Bengal, and, entering houses, defiled the inmates..
There seems no reason, however, for concluding that these degraded potters are the offspring of Mags by Kumar women, as they resemble in every feature the genuine stock of potters.
With scarcely a single exception, potters are Vaishnavas in creed. They have only one gotra, the Aliman, and one patronymic, Pal. The caste is a clean Sudra one, and the Brahman is common to the Nava-sakha.
In Dacca the manufacture of pottery is still in its infancy. The wheel in use is the Roman rota, a circular table of baked clay weighted along the rim, revolving rapidly on a pivot cut from the heart of a tamarind tree. The neck and shoulders of all globular vessels are made with the wheel (Chak); but the body is fashioned by hand, often by women. A round ball of hardened clay (Pitna) is held inside, while with a wooden mallet (Boila) the material is beaten from the outside into the requisite shape and thinness. Two kinds of earth are used by the Dacca Kumars, one called "Bali," the other "Kala mitti;" and one part of the former mixed with two of the latterr are employed in the production of the strongest pottery.
For making the common red earthenware vessels, red laterite earth from Bhowal is used, the colour of the rim being deepened by coating it with a mixture of Catechu (Kath) and fuller's earth. The cheap red and black earthenware are both prepared with the same clay, the latter being blackened by covering up the kiln at a certain stage, and adding oil cake to the fire. Bengali potters cannot glaze, or fix the colours on the ware; but are content to paint the vessel after it has been baked. Their colours are always mixed with mucilage, obtained from Bela, or tamarind seeds. Red paints are prepared with red lead; yellow with arsenic (Hartal); green by mixing yellow arsenic and indigo; and black with lamp-black, charred rice, or "Nal" reeds. A gloss is often imparted with the white of duck's eggs, but as this washes off before long, "Garjan" oil is more generally used. Idols, toys, and tobacco-bowls, are also painted with these colours, and the images of deities are further embellished by having powdered mica sprinkled over them while the paint is still wet.
The manufactory of the Kumar well repays a visit. Beneath the same thatched roof are the kiln, store-house, and dwelling-house, while at the door the clay is prepared. The kiln is called the "Pon," from the Sanskrit Pavana, that which purifies, and the hut the "Ponghar." The kiln is divided into compartments, in which the newly made vessels are arranged, earth being heaped over all. Wood is never used to heat it, but grass, reeds, or bamboo stems are the ordinary combustibles.
The Dacca Kumars manufacture bricks, tiles, earthenware of all shapes and sizes, idols, and toys, the two last being moulded, if of small size.
As long as there is no demand for articles of artistic beauty, Bengal pottery will remain in its present backward condition, while the necessity of scouring plates and dishes after each meal, and the obligation of breaking all cooking vessels after a death, or pollution from any cause, make Hindus prefer the cheap and brittle articles, rather than the more expensive and durable English ones. The most expert potters, those of Kish-naghar, are said to have acquired the art in Calcutta.
Although Kumars are prohibited from using the Chak during the month of Baisakh, because Visva-Karma, the great artificer, rested from his labours during that month, they are permitted to dig and store clay. A potter never cultivates the soil, or serves as a domestic servant, but he has no objections to become a trader, a cloth merchant, a writer, or a servant to a shopkeeper. The village potter occasionally holds "Chakaran" land on the condition that he supplies the vessels required at all festivals observed by the Zamindar, or the village community. Hindu households generally contract for their annual supply of earthenware, while a few pay the market rate for what is wanted. The pottery made at Rai Bazar, in Dacca, bears a great name throughout Eastern Bengal, and in the cold season, boats laden with cocoa-nuts arrive from Sondip, Noakhally, and Baqir-ganj, returning full of pots and pans from this mart. Vijayapur, in Tipperah, is another bazar famous for the excellence of its pottery.
Kumars still worship the ancient Vedic deities Agni, Brahma, Indra, and Pavana, and on the first of Jyeshtha (May-June), at the termination of the idle month, special services are held in their honour, at the same time as the festival of Visva-Karma is celebrated.
In the city of Dacca the Kumars have two Dals, or trades unions, one known as Islampur, the other as Bhagalpur, after two quarters of the city where the potters chiefly reside; while outside the city every four or five villages have a Dal to promote the interests of the trade. The headman is styled Paramanik who, on account of the increase in the size of the caste, is obliged to employ assistants, Naiks, or Gumashtas. They are treated with little deference, and merely execute the orders of their master.
It is considered a dishonouring act for a Kumar to accept a wife without paying money to the father; of late years the price has risen so much that the poorer young men find it difficult to procure wives at all.
(a.)Raj-Mahalia Kumhars
This class of potters is quite distinct from the Khonta Kumhars on the one hand, and the Bengali Kumar on the other. They originally came from Raj-mahall with a member of the Banga Adhikari family, and having tarried in Dacca for several generations, lost caste, while those who subsequently arrived from Hindustan were in their turn likewise degraded. There are about two hundred houses belonging to these potters in Ja'farganj, Sultanganj, Rai Bazar, and Karwan, suburbs of Dacca, and it is remarkable that the caste still speaks a language made up of Hindi and Bengali. Having been settled in Bengal for many years, the clean Sudra castes drink from their water vessels, while the Sudra Brahman, and other servants, work for them. The Sraddha, moreover, is celebrated after thirty days, as with the Nava-Sakha.
Their gotras are Kasyapa Kanaka, Rishi, and Aladoshi; the common title being Rudra Pal.
Raj-mahallia Kumhars have a curious custom, which is a source of much wit among Bengalis. They thatch the drying houses with green grass, merely fastening it down with weights, but never tying it, and when dry the thatch is used for lighting the kiln fire. They manufacture cooking pots for vegetables, milk-pans (Ras-dohana), and salvers on which sweetmeats and other delicacies are handed round at weddings, but will not make idols, or platters used in offerings to deities.
Like the Bengali Kumars they do no work during the month of Baisakh, and on the first Saturday of that month celebrate the worship of Visva-Karma. Their trade implements and manufactures are, on that occasion, arranged on the top of the kiln, and ornamented with Bel leaves, while the usual oblations are presented. The Purohit, meanwhile, mutters a few incantations, soliciting the favour of the divine workman.
The wives of these Kumhars assist their husbands, fashioning the globular part of the vessels, while the men make the necks and rims.
Kumhars are singular in placing over their wells an earthenware rim, or "Chak," admirably suited for preventing the ingress of filth. It is made by themselves, but has not been adopted by any other class.
(b.)Kumhar
This, the lowest of the potter tribe, is generally distinguished by the epithet Khonta, or debased, and claims to belong to the Maghaiya potter family of Patna. They drink water from the vessels of the Kumars, and the Kumars from theirs, but hold no communication with the Raj-mahallia Kumhars. None of the other Bengali Sudras, however, admit their equality.
The Kumhar has only one gotra, the Kasyapa, and in Bihar Pandit is a respectful term of address. In Dacca they are all Nanak Shahis in creed, the Mahant of the Shuja'atpur Akhara being the Guru. They work throughout the month of Baisakh, and on the Dashara make oblations of rice, wheat-flour, clay, and red lead to Mahadeo, their patron deity.
Kumhars only work with "Chikni-mitti," or potter's earth, manufacturing with the Chak, or horizontal wheel, long necked flasks (Curahi), lotahs, pipes, waterspouts, balusters, (Garadia), and toys, but never idols.
On the tenth day after death the Kantha Brahman performs a religious service at which he tastes the oblation rice. On the following day the Sraddha is celebrated as among Chandals and Ekadasi Jogis.
