Kachhi
This article was written in 1916 when conditions were different. Even in Readers will be able to edit existing articles and post new articles directly |
From The Tribes And Castes Of The Central Provinces Of India
By R. V. Russell
Of The Indian Civil Service
Superintendent Of Ethnography, Central Provinces
Assisted By Rai Bahadur Hira Lal, Extra Assistant Commissioner
Macmillan And Co., Limited, London, 1916.
NOTE 1: The 'Central Provinces' have since been renamed Madhya Pradesh.
NOTE 2: While reading please keep in mind that all articles in this series have been scanned from the original book. Therefore, footnotes have got inserted into the main text of the article, interrupting the flow. Readers who spot these footnotes gone astray might like to shift them to their correct place.
Kachhi
Kaehhi
An important cultivating caste of the northern 1. General Districts, who grow vegetables and irrigated crops requiring intensive cultivation. The distinction between the Kachhis and Malis of the Hindustani Districts is that the former grow regular irrigated crops, while the latter confine their operations to vegetables and flower-gardens; whereas the Mali or Marar of the Maratha country is both a cultivator and a gardener.
The Kachhis numbered about 120,000 persons in 191 1, and resided mainly in the Saugor, Damoh, Jubbulpore and Nar- singhpur Districts. The word Kaehhi may be derived from kachhar, the name given to the alluvial land lying on river banks, which they greatly affect for growing their vegetables. Another derivation is from kachlini, a term used for the process of collecting the opium from the capsules of the poppy.1 The caste are probably an offshoot of the Kurmis.
Owing to the resemblance of names they claim a connection with the Kachhwaha sept of Rajputs, but this is not at all probable. The caste is divided into a number of subcastes, most of 2. Sub- which take their names from special plants which they grow. Thus the Hardia Kachhis grow haldi or turmeric ; the Alias cultivate the al or Indian madder, from which the well-known red dye is obtained ; the Phulias are flower-gardeners ; the Jirias take their name from jira or cumin ; the Murai or Murao Kachhis are called after the mali or radish ; the Pirias 1 Crooke's Tribes and Castes, article Kaehhi.
nage customs
take their name from the piria or basket in which they carry earth ; the Sanias grow san or hemp ; the Mor Kachhis are those who prepare the maur or marriage-crown for weddings ; and the Lilia subcaste are called after the indigo plant (In or nil). In some localities they have a subcaste called Kachhwahi, who are considered to have a connection with the Rajputs and to rank higher than the others. 3. Mar- The social customs of the Kachhis resemble those of the Kurmis. The descendants of the same parents do not inter- marry for three generations. A man may have two sisters to wife at the same time.
In the Damoh District, on the arrival of the bridegroom's party, the bride is brought into the marriage-shed, and is there stripped to the waist while she holds a leaf-cup in her hand ; this is probably done so that the bridegroom may see that the bride is free from any bodily defect. Girls are usually married before they are ten years old, and if the parents are too poor to arrange a match for their daughter, the caste-fellows often raise a subscription when she attains this age and get her married.
The bride- groom should always be older than the bride, and the difference is generally from five to ten years. The bridegroom wears a loin-cloth and long coat reaching to the ground, both of which are stained yellow with turmeric ; the bride wears a red cloth or one in which red is the main colour.
The girl's father gives her a dowry of a cow or jewels, or at least two rupees ; while the boy's father pays all the expenses of the wedding with the exception of one feast. The bridegroom gives the bride a present of three shoulder-cloths and three skirts, and one of these is worn by her at the wedding ; this is the old northern method of dress, but married women do not usually adhere to it and have adopted the common sari or single body-cloth. The principal ceremony is the bhanwar or walking round the sacred post.
While the bride and bridegroom are engaged in this the parents and elderly relatives shut themselves into the house and weep. During the first four rounds of the post the bride walks in front bowing her head and the bridegroom places his right hand on her back ; while during the last three the bridegroom walks in front holding the bride by her third finger. After this the bride is hidden somewhere in the house and the
bridegroom has to search for her. Sometimes the bride's younger sister is dressed up in her clothes and the bridegroom catches her in mistake for his wife, whereupon the old women laugh and say to him, ' Do you want her also ? ' If finally he fails to find the bride he must give her some ornament. After the wedding the bridegroom's marriage-crown is hung to the roof in a basket. And on the sixth day of the following month of Bhadon (August), he again dresses himself in his wedding clothes, and taking his marriage-crown on a dish, proceeds to the nearest stream or river accompanied by his friends.
Here he throws the crown into the water, and the wedding coat is washed clean of the turmeric and unsewn and made up into ordinary clothes. This ceremony is known as moscJiatt and is common to Hindu castes generally. Widows are permitted to marry again, and the most usual match is with the younger brother of the deceased husband. Divorce is allowed at the instance either of the husband or wife, and may be effected by a simple declaration before the caste committee.
After a birth neither the mother nor child are given 4. Chiid- anything to eat the first day ; and on the second they bring ir ' a young calf and give a little of its urine to the child, and to the mother a little sugar and the half of a cocoanut. In the evening of this day they buy all kinds of hot spices and herbs from a Bania and make a cake with them and give it to the mother to eat. On the second day the child begins to drink its mother's milk. The navel-string is cut and buried in the room on the first day, and over it a fire is kept burning con- tinuously during the period of impurity. The small piece which falls from the child's body is buried beneath the mother's bed.
The period of impurity after the birth of a girl lasts for four days and five days for a boy. On the sixth day the mother is given rice to eat. Twelve days after a child is born the barber's wife cuts its nails for the first time and throws the clippings away. The ears of boys and girls are pierced when they are 5. Ear- four or five years old ; until this is done they are not con- Piercm£- sidered as members of the caste and may take food from any one. The ear is always pierced by a Sunar (goldsmith), who travels about the country in the pursuit of this calling. of the dead.
A brass pin is left in the ear for fifteen days, and is then removed and a strip of wood is substituted for it in a boy's ear and a peacock's feather in that of a girl to enlarge the hole. Girls do not have their nostrils pierced nor wear nose- rings, as the Kachhis are a comparatively low caste.
They are tattooed before or after marriage with patterns of a scorpion, a peacock, a discus, and with dots on the chin and cheek-bones. During the period of her monthly impurity a girl is secluded in the house and does not eat flesh or fish. When the time is finished she goes to the river and bathes and dresses her hair with earth, which is a necessary ceremony of purification. 6. Disposal The bodies of children under five and of persons dying from smallpox, snake-bite or cholera are buried, and those of others are cremated.
In Chhindwara they do not wash or anoint the corpses of the dead, but sprinkle on them a little turmeric and water. On the day of the funeral or cremation the bereaved family is supplied with food by friends.
The principal deity of the Kachhis is Bhainsasur, who is regarded as the keeper of the vegetable garden and is represented by a stone placed under a tree in any part of it. He is wor- shipped once a year after the Holi festival with offerings of vermilion, areca-nuts and cocoanuts, and libations of liquor. The Kachhis raise all kinds of vegetables and garden crops, the principal being chillies, turmeric, tobacco, garlic, onions, yams and other vegetables. They are diligent and laborious, and show much skill in irrigating and manuring their crops.
