Art. VII.–The Tribes and Castes of Bengal, by H. H. Risley. Vols. I. and II. Ethnographic Glossary, Vols. I. and II. Anthropometric Data

J. F. Hewitt

doi:10.1017/S0035869X00022395

Art. VII.–The Tribes and Castes of Bengal, by H. H. Risley. Vols. I. and II. Ethnographic Glossary, Vols. I. and II. Anthropometric Data

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J. F. Hewitt

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No one can fully appreciate the great value of this work to all students of ethnology until they realize the historical importance of an accurate classification of the characteristic differences which divide the social strata known as the castes living in a country occupying the geographical position of Bengal. Bengal is practically the country of the Deltas of the Ganges and Brahmaputra, and of the Western rivers, which rise in the Vindhyan range, called by Hindu geographers the Sukti mountains, and flow down thence to the Ganges and the Bay of Bengal. It has always been one of the great highways by which Southern tribes moved northward and Northern tribes southward, and was, owing to its geographical advantages and its fertile soil, civilized and settled before the advent of the Aryan conquerors to North-western India. It is for this reason that we find in Bengal the undisturbed remains and the still living and almost unchanged representatives of some of the principal races who are described by the poets of the Rigveda under the general name of Dasyus, a name which, as Zimmer shows, merely means the people of the country or “desh.” It was from the union of the people of Bengal called the Maghadas or Mughs with the Northern Kushikas or sons of Kush the tortoise that the first great Indian Empire arose, which was formed by the two races ruled by the king called in the Mahābhārata Jarasandha.

Type: Original Communications
Information: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 25 , Issue 2 , April 1893 , pp. 237 - 300

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0035869X00022395 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1893

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References

^{page 237 note 1} Zimmer, , Altindisches Leben, chap. iv. pp. 109–112Google Scholar.

^{page 238 note 1} Mahābhārata Sabha (Rajasuyarambba) Parva, xvii., Baboo Pertap Chunder Roy's translation, pp. 54–57.

^{page 240 note 1} Bühler's Manu, x. 47; Sacred Books of the East (S.B.E.), p. 413.

^{page 240 note 2} Introductory Essay, vol. i.; Ethnographic Glossary, p. xxxiii.

^{page 240 note 3} Rigv. v. 29, 10.

^{page 242 note 1} Introductory Essay, vol. i. Ethnographic Glossary, pp. x–xv.

^{page 243 note 1} Ethnographic Glossary, vol. ii. App. i. p. 14.

^{page 243 note 2} Ib. vol. i. p. 158, s.v. Brahman.

^{page 245 note 1} Vol. i. Brahman, pp. 159–160.

^{page 245 note 2} Vol. i. Dosadh, pp. 255–256. As explained in vol. ii. Rautia, p. 203.

^{page 245 note 3} Vol. ii. Sonar, p. 257.

^{page 246 note 1} Vol. i. Dosadh, p. 256.

^{page 246 note 2} Sayce, , Hibbert Lectures for 1887, and Lecture iii. p. 156, note 6Google Scholar.

^{page 246 note 3} Morris's Anguttara Nikaya, Chatukka Nipata, Chakkavagga 39. 2, part ii. p. 42, published by the Pali Text Society.

^{page 246 note 4} Eggeling's Ṣat. Brāh. i. 2, 3 and 6, S.B.E. vol.xii. p. 50, Haug's Aitareya Brāhmana, ii. 8, vol. ii. p. 90.

^{page 247 note 1} Elliot's Supplementary Glossary, s.v. Cheroo.

^{page 247 note 2} Sayce's Hibbert Lectures for 1887, Appendix iii., the Magical texts p. 457, and the tablet concerning evil spirits, p. 463.

^{page 247 note 3} Ethnographic Glossary vol. ii. Eautia, p. 204.

^{page 247 note 4} Sachau's, Alberuni's India, chap. xiv. vol. i. p. 252Google Scholar.

^{page 247 note 5} Mahābhārata Vana (Drupadi harana) Parva, cclxxvi–ccxci. pp. 811–863.

^{page 248 note 1} Gen. ii. 14.

^{page 248 note 2} Gen. x. 11.

^{page 248 note 3} Lenormant, , Chaldsæn Magic, p. 396Google Scholar, shows that in this passage Ur, the capital of the land of Akkad, is meant by the city called Akkad, while Calneh, as we are told in the Talmud, represents the city of Nipur in the land of Shinar. This name, with the forms of Singar, the Egyptian Sinker, and Sindjar (p. 401–402), were alternative forms of the Assyrian Sumir, and in them the r is the suffix of derivation, making them verbal nouns, but whether the original root was “sum” or “suk” is according to Lenormant uncertain. If the root, was “sum,” the name would mean “The low country”; if from “suk,” “The watered country.” The Babylonian empire was divided into the two provinces of Akkad, the Highlands, and Sumir, the plain country of the Euphratean Delta, which would naturally be called the wet country.

^{page 249 note 1} West's Bundahish, xi. 2–4, xv. 27, xvii. 4; S.B.E., vol. v. pp. 32, 33, 58, 62.

^{page 249 note 2} The worship of this snake goddess Manasa is the especial cult of Bengal. She is worshipped by all castes on the 5th and 20th of each of the four rainy months from the middle of June to the middle of October, and also on the Nagpunchami, the 5th of the light half of August. The Kulin Brahraans of Brahrampur in Dacca are among her most assiduous worshippers (vol. i. Bagdi, p. 41). She was the great rain bringing snake, the mother of life.

^{page 250 note 1} Vol. ii. app. i. p. 35.

^{page 250 note 2} Ib. p. 63.

^{page 250 note 3} Ib. p. 78.

^{page 250 note 4} Ib. pp. 96–97.

^{page 250 note 5} Ib. p. 110.

^{page 250 note 6} Ib. p. 11.

^{page 250 note 7} Ib. p. 13.

^{page 250 note 8} Ib. p. 125.

^{page 250 note 9} These divisions are those known as Parhas, Pirs, or Pergunnahs.

^{page 250 note 10} Bühler's Manu, v. 1 and 3, S.B.E. vol. xxv. pp. 169–170.

^{page 250 note 11} Rigv. x. 46, 2 and 9.

^{page 251 note 1} Māhabhārata, Vana (Tutha-yatra) Parva, cxvi-cxvii. pp. 358–362.

^{page 251 note 2} Rigv. vii. 18, 1–6.

^{page 251 note 3} Elliot's, Supplementary Glossary, N.W.P. s.v. Bhurs, pp. 82–84Google Scholar.

^{page 252 note 1} Hunter's Gazetteer, s.v. Barābar, vol. ii. p. 175.

^{page 252 note 2} Sherring on the Bhars of the Provinces, N.W., Journal Koyal Asiatic Society, Vol. V. pp. 376–400Google Scholar.

^{page 252 note 3} Ādi (Hedimva-badha) Parva, clviii. p. 458.

^{page 252 note 4} Mahābhārata Ādi (Adivamsavatarma), Parva, lxiii. pp. 171–172.

^{page 253 note 1} Bühler's Manu, iii. 198, S.B.E. vol. xxv. p. 112.

^{page 253 note 2} Eggeling's Ṣat. Brāh. i. 6. 4 and 9; ii. 4. 4. 20, S.B.E. vol. xii. pp. 178, 381.

^{page 253 note 3} Rigv. x. 27. 15 and 19.

^{page 253 note 4} Rigv. v. 45. 7 and 8.

^{page 253 note 5} Eggeling's Ṣat. Brāh. iii. 5. 1. 13–21, S.B.E. vol. xxvi. pp. 113–115.

^{page 253 note 6} Mahābhārata Ādi (Sambhava) Parva, lxv. p. 185.

^{page 254 note 1} Rigv. x. 108. 8–10.

^{page 254 note 2} Beal, , Buddhist Records of the Western World, vol. i. p. 137, noteGoogle Scholar.

^{page 254 note 3} Hislop's Aboriginal Tribes of the Central Provinces, published by the Central Provinces Government, where the poem is printed in the vernacular with a translation.

^{page 255 note 1} West's Bundahish, xxix. 5, S.B.E. vol. V. p. 117.

^{page 255 note 2} The connexion between the alligator and the Maga is also shown in the name Maga, which is given to the crocodile god Sebek in the Egyptian hymns to the god Shu (Brugsch, , Religion und Mythologie der Aëlten Egyptier, Leipzig, 1888, s. 269, pp. 718 and 722)Google Scholar.

^{page 255 note 3} The Mithila Brahmans in Tirhut are called Ojhas, and one of the sub-castes of the Gaura Brahmans is called Ojha. These last are the priests of the wealthy and important caste of Agurwals, who trace their descent from the snake (Ethnographic Glossary, vol. iv. p. 138, s.v. Ojha; vol. I. pp. 8 and 5, s.v. Agurwal.

^{page 255 note 4} Ethnographic Glossary, vol. ii. p. 208.

^{page 256 note 1} Elliot's Supplementary Glossary, s.v. Bais.

^{page 256 note 2} Ethnographic Glossary, vol. i. p. 40.

^{page 256 note 3} Ib. p. 80.

^{page 256 note 4} Ib. p. 186.

^{page 256 note 5} Ib. p. 192.

^{page 256 note 6} Ib. p. 370.

^{page 256 note 7} Ib. p. 508.

^{page 256 note 8} Vol. ii. p. 298.

^{page 256 note 9} Ethnographic Glossary, vol. i. p. 398.

^{page 257 note 1} Ib. vol. i. Introductory Essay, pp. xx–xxii.

^{page 257 note 2} Ethnographic Glossary, vol. ii. app. i. p. 135.

^{page 257 note 3} Ib. p. 126. These Ashvini Tantis are peculiar in their habits and do not, like the Pan-Tantia, allow widows to marry, eat fowls, and indulge in strong drink. Vol. ii. p. 162, Pan-Tanti.

^{page 259 note 1} Ethnographic Glossary, vol. i. Introductory Essay, pp. xlix. 1, Oraon, vol. ii. p. 141.

^{page 259 note 2} Mahābhārata Sabha (Digvijaya) Parva, xxxi.

^{page 259 note 3} Morgan, , Ancient Society Tabular Statement, p. 744Google Scholar.

^{page 260 note 1} Ethnographic Glossary, vol. i. Kandh, pp. 399–401.

^{page 260 note 2} The sword is an object of worship in some of the hill-shrines in Chota Nagpore, and I distinctly remember seeing a sword as the only image in one of these. I think it was in Burwa in the Lohardagga District, but I cannot be certain, as I have not any note here to refer to.

^{page 261 note 1} Ethnographic Glossary, vol. i. Kandh, p. 407.

^{page 261 note 2} Ib. p. 402.

^{page 261 note 3} Ib. p. 408.

^{page 261 note 4} Monier-Williams, Buddhism, p. 216; Deal's, Records of the Western World, vol. ii. pp. 103, 174Google Scholar.

^{page 261 note 5} Jacobi, Jaina Sūtras, Kalpa Sūtra, 128; S.B.E. vol. xxii. p. 266.

^{page 261 note 6} Ethnographic Glossary, vol. i.; Binjhia, p. 135.

^{page 262 note 1} Ib. vol. i. Ho, p. 328; Bhuiya, p. 114.

^{page 262 note 2} Ethnograpic Glossary, vol. ii. Oraon, p. 140.

^{page 263 note 1} Ethnographic Glossary, vol. i. Kurmi, p. 531.

^{page 264 note 1} But at the same time distilled spirits must have been made at a very early period, for in the Mahābhārata Arjun and Krishna are represented as drinking Mahua liquor, and this incident must have belonged to the early form of the poem before the introduction of the Brahmanical revisions which made Krishna the slayer of Madhava the demon of strong drink, and the inspired sage who preached the doctrines of the Bhagavat-gita.

^{page 264 note 2} Ethnographic Glossary, Rajwar, vol. ii. p. 193.

^{page 265 note 1} Ib. Munda, vol. ii. p. 102.

^{page 265 note 2} Ib. Bagdi, vol. i. p. 39.

^{page 265 note 3} Ib. Binjhia and Kharwar, vol. i. pp. 136, 475; Rautia, vol. ii. p. 201.

^{page 265 note 4} Ethnographic Glossary, vol. i. Cheroo, p. 201.

^{page 266 note 1} Ib. vol. i. Dom, pp. 250, 246.

^{page 266 note 2} Ib. vol. i. Dom, p. 246.

^{page 266 note 3} Caldwell, , Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian Languages, p. 546Google Scholar; Elliot, , Races of the North-West Provinces, p. 84Google Scholar.

^{page 266 note 4} Ethnographic Glossary, vol. i. Dom, p. 240; Carnegy, , Notes on the Men of Avadh (Oude), p. 24Google Scholar.

^{page 266 note 5} Ib. Babhun, pp. 30, 32, 34.

^{page 267 note 1} Ethnographic Glossary, vol. i. Dom, p. 245.

^{page 267 note 2} Ib. vol. ii. p. 117.

^{page 267 note 3} Ib.Ib. p. 300.

^{page 267 note 4} Ib.Ib. p. 167.

^{page 267 note 5} Ib. vol. i. p. 33.

^{page 267 note 6} Ib. p. 72.

^{page 267 note 7} Ib. p. 101.

^{page 267 note 8} Ib. p. 156.

^{page 267 note 9} p. 372.

^{page 267 note 10} Ib. p. 442.

^{page 267 note 11} Vol. ii. p. 257. Sakti worship leads to licentious orgies, like those denounced by the Hebrew prophets in connection with the worship of the Ashera, or pole, the husband of the land.

^{page 268 note 1} Ethnographic Glossary, vol. i. p. 32. These seven steps (Saptapadi) are according to the Grihya Sūtra taken round the Stheya water, sacred to the water god, Indra or Sakra, and the ceremony precedes that in which the bride is led round the fire. Oldenberg, Sānkhayana Grihya Sūtra, i. 13. 9. 13; i. 11. 5. 6; S.B.E. vol. xxix. pp. 36–38, p. 36, note 9.

^{page 269 note 1} Ethnographic Glossary, vol. i. Kurmi, p. 532.

^{page 269 note 2} Ib. vol. i. Kewut, p. 456.

^{page 272 note 1} Ethnographic Glossary, vol. i.p. 112.

^{page 272 note 2} Gawa is the Kol word for village.

^{page 273 note 1} Ethnographic Glossary, vol. ii. Oraon, pp. 145, 146.

^{page 274 note 1} Ib. vol. ii. Oraon, p. 147.

^{page 275 note 1} Eggeling's Satapatha Brāhmana, i. 8. 1. 7; S.B.E. vol. sii. p. 218.

^{page 275 note 2} Ib.Ib. ii. 5. 2. 1.; Ib. p. 391.

^{page 275 note 3} Ib. ii. 6. 1. 4–6.; Ib. p. 421.

^{page 275 note 4} Rigv. x. 15.

^{page 275 note 5} Ethnographic Glossary, vol. ii. app. i. pp. 15, 16; 18–25.

^{page 276 note 1} Eggeling's Satapatha Brāhmana i. 7. 1. 1; S.B.E. vol. xii. p. 183; Aitareya Brāhmana, iii. 26; Rigv. iv. 27. 3.

^{page 276 note 2} Eggeling's Ṣatapatha Brāhmana, iii. 6. 2. 9–11; S.B.E. vol. xxvi., pp. 150, 151.

^{page 276 note 3} Mahābhārata Ādi (Astika) Parva, xxxiv.

^{page 276 note 4} Eggeling's Ṣatapatha Brāhmaṇa, iii. 3. 3. 11; S.B.E. vol. xxvi. p. 72.

^{page 277 note 1} Rigv. iv. 30, 18.

^{page 277 note 2} Mahābhārata Ādi (Adivamsavatarna) Parva, lxiii. p. 171.

^{page 277 note 3} Review of Robertson Smith's Lectures on the Religion of the Semites by Prof. Hirschfeld, J.R.A.S. July, 1891, pp. 507, 508, 510.

^{page 278 note 1} Darmesteter's Zendavesta, Zamyād Yast, x. 6; S.B.E. vol. vol. xxiii. p. 302, also p. 222, note 5; West's Bundahish, xxxi. 25; S.B.E. vol. v. p. 136.

^{page 278 note 2} Rigv. i. 51. 11. i. 83. 5.

^{page 278 note 3} Ādi (Sambhava) Parva, cxv–cxvii. pp. 337–342.

^{page 278 note 4} Sayce's Assyrian Grammar Syllabary, Nos. 67 and 66. No. 67 is the ideograph for tur and the three ideographs for nun, thus the essential sign is for the suffixes and are signs denoting divinity.

^{page 279 note 1} Lenormant, Chaldæan Magic, pp. 395, 402. See note 3, p. 444.

^{page 279 note 2} Sayce's Assyrian Grammar, Syllabary, Nos. 99, 100, 101, 462.

^{page 279 note 3} Lenormant, Chaldæan Magic, pp. 206, 18.

^{page 280 note 1} Darmesteter's Zendavesta, Tīr Yaṣt, vi. 33; S.B.E. vol. xxiii. p. 104.

^{page 280 note 2} West's Buiidahish, ii. 7; S.B.E. vol. v. p. 12.

^{page 280 note 3} Darmesteter's Zendavesta, Tīr Yast, ii. 4; S.B.E. vol. xxiii. p. 94.

^{page 280 note 4} Ib.Ib. vi. 12; Ib. p. 97.

^{page 280 note 5} Ib.Introduction to Tīr Yaṣt Ib. p. 92.

^{page 281 note 1} Darmesteter's Zendavesta, Sīrōzah, 7; Tir Yaṣt, vi. 34; S.B.E, rol. xxiii. p. 6, note l, p. 102.

^{page 282 note 1} Childers' Pali Dictionary, s.v. Tavatrimso.

^{page 282 note 2} Mill's Yasna, i. 10. iv. 15. vi. 9, etc.; S.B.E. vol. xxxi. pp. 198, 216, 220.

^{page 282 note 3} J.E.A.S. Sept. 1890, Art. X. pp. 561, 567.

^{page 282 note 4} Eggeling's Ṣat. Brāh. iv. 3. 3. 1 and 2, iv. 5. 5. 12; S.B.E. vol. xxvi. pp. 332, 408.

^{page 282 note 5} Curtius, Griechsiche Etymologie, No. 26, p. 138.

^{page 283 note 1} Eggeling's Sat. Brāh. iii. 1. 3. 11. 12; S.B.E. vol. xxvi. pp. 14, 15. Indra changed the star-god, who brings the rain into the rain-pole, or Ashera, consecrated by Vasu.

^{page 284 note 1} Rigv. iv. 42, 9, gives the dialogue between them in which they state their pretensions to rule.

^{page 284 note 2} Justi, Zend Dictionary.

^{page 284 note 3} Darmesteter's Zendavesta, S.B.E. vol. iv.; Introduction to Vendidād, iv. 12. p. lxiii; Vendidād, i. 18, p. 9, Rigv. i. 152. 2.

^{page 285 note 1} Mahābhārata Astika Parva, xxxv. and xxxvii.

^{page 285 note 2} Zimmer, Altindisches Leben, chap. xiii. p. 372, note

^{page 285 note 3} Their name may also be connected with that of Martu, the god of the West, among the Akkadians, for it was as the wind-goddess of the South-west Monsoon, that the Maruts assumed such a prominent place in Indian natureworship.

^{page 286 note 1} Eggeling's Ṣat. Brāh. ii. 6. 2. pp. 437–444. I have discussed the whole subject in Art. VIII. April, 1890, J.R.A.S. pp. 357–374.

^{page 286 note 2} Rigv. i. 117, 21.

^{page 286 note 3} Ethnographic Glossary, vol. ii. Oraon, p. 148.

^{page 287 note 1} Ait. Brāh. iv. 2. 9, Die Gubernatis Die Thiere in der Indo-Germanische Mythologie, German translation by Hartmann, p. 221; Rigv. i, 34. 9, i. 116. 2.

^{page 287 note 2} West's Bundabish, xix. 11; S.B.E. vol. v. p. 69.

^{page 287 note 3} Eggeling's Ṣat. Brāh. iii. 9. 1. 4–22; S.B.E. vol. xxvi. pp. 218–221. See the question further discussed in my article, J.R.A.S. April, 1890, Art. VIII. pp. 400–402.

^{page 287 note 4} Pennu is the Tamil for woman.

^{page 287 note 5} Ethnographic Glossary, vol. i. Khand, pp. 404, 405.

^{page 288 note 1} Ib. vol. i. Bhumij, p. 120.

^{page 288 note 2} Smith, Robertson, Religion of the Semites, Lecture x. note 7, pp. 445, 446Google Scholar; 2 Kings, xvi. 3.

^{page 289 note 1} Ethnographic Glossary, vol. i. Juang, p. 353.

^{page 289 note 2} Ethnographic Glossary, vol. ii. p. 208.

^{page 291 note 1} Sayce, , Hibbert Lectures for 1887, Lecture iii. pp. 134, 135Google Scholar.

^{page 291 note 2} Sayce, , Hibbert Lectures for 1887, Lecture i. p. 57Google Scholar, ii. p. 104. Hommel, F., Geschichte Babyloniens und Assyriens, pp. 327, 328Google Scholar.

^{page 291 note 3} Lenormant, , Chaldæan Magic, pp. 401, 404.Google Scholar

^{page 292 note 1} Brunnhofer, . Irān and Turān, p. 216Google Scholar.

^{page 292 note 2} Darmesteter's Zendavesta, Ā;bān Yaṣt, 128, 129; S.B.E. vol. xxiii, p. 83.

^{page 293 note 1} DrHommel, F., Geshichte Babyloniens and Assyriens, bk. i. chap. iii. s. 4, p. 376Google Scholar; Sayce, , Hibbert Lectures for 1887, appendix, ix. p. 495Google Scholar.

^{page 293 note 2} Sayce's Assyrian Grammar, Syllabary, Nos. 494, 455, 427.

^{page 293 note 3} Darmesteter's Zendavesta, Fravardin Yaṣt, 136; S.B.E. vol. xxiii. p. 223.

^{page 293 note 4} Ib. Vendidād Fargard, i. 10; S.B.E. vol. iv. p. 7.

^{page 294 note 1} Mahābhārata vana (Kundalāharana) Parva, ccxcix–cccix.

^{page 294 note 2} Darmesteter's Zendavesta, Fravardin Yaṣt, 136; Mill's Yasna, ix. 10; S.B.E. vol. xxiii. p. 223, and vol. xxxi. p. 234.

^{page 294 note 3} The modern Bhagulpore.

^{page 294 note 4} Mahābhārata Vana (Ghosha-Yatra) Parva, cclii.

^{page 295 note 1} Eggeling's Ṣat. Brān, iii. 1. 1. 8–10; S.B.E. vol. xxvi. pp. 4–5.

^{page 295 note 2} Müller, Max, History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, pp. 395, 398Google Scholar.

^{page 295 note 3} Eggeling's Ṣat. Brāh, iii. 6. 2. 9; S.B.E. vol. xxvi. p. 150.

^{page 296 note 1} Ethnographic Glossary, vol. i. Kaivartta, p. 376.

^{page 296 note 2} Ib.Ib. p. 377.

Article contents

Art. VII.–The Tribes and Castes of Bengal, by H. H. Risley. Vols. I. and II. Ethnographic Glossary, Vols. I. and II. Anthropometric Data

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