Madhunapit
Contents |
Madhunapit
This section has been extracted from THE TRIBES and CASTES of BENGAL. Ethnographic Glossary. Printed at the Bengal Secretariat Press. 1891. . |
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Origin
Madak, a confectioner caste of Bengal Proper who regard themselves as distinct from the Mayarc1.. In explanation of their origin the story IS told that the religious reformer Chaitanya being one day in a hurry ordered two of his servants to shave him. They carried out the command, but pointed out to their master that expulsion from caste privileges was the penalty which their obedience had brought upon them. Chaitanya accordingly bade them become confectioners and make sweetmeats for him. Since that time their descendants have followed the same trade, and their purity, according to Hindu ideas, is such that even goddesses partake of the dainties they prepare. Another more romantic version is, that a barber named Madhu, who was called in to shave the head of Chaitanya on the occasion of his becoming a Sannyasi, was so impressed with the importance of the function he had performed that he asked to be released from his hereditary profession; for, he said. having touched the head of Chaitanya, how could he cut the toe-nails of ordinary men? As Chaitanya flourished about the beginning of the sixteenth century, this legend would make the Madhunapit caste a comparatively recent offshoot from the Napit. Such an origin, however, is not in great favour among the members of the caste, who prefer to assume a special act of creation.
Marriage
The sub-castes and section of the Madhunapit are shown in Appendix 1. Neither series throws any light upon the origin of the caste. A man may not marry a woman belonging to his own section, nor one who stands toward him in the religious relation of sapinda or samcmodaka. Madhunapits marry their daughters as infants, forbid widows to remarry, and do not recognize divorce. Although not mentioned by name in the various couplets defining the N ava-Sakha, the Madhu¬ napit are generally admitted to belong to that group, and Brahmans will take water from their hands. Considering that the Napit and Madak are unque tionably members of the Nava-Sakha group, and the Madhunapit certainly derive their origin from one or other of these ca tes, their title to be Nava-Sakha seems to be beyond dispute. Most of them are Vaishnavas by creed.
Occupation
The Madhunapit, says Dr. Wise, is the most respected confectioner in Eastern Bengal, for the caste Mayara or Madak is rarely met with, and the Ha1wai is usually a Ghulam Kayasth, a Khontta Brahman, or a Kandu. They assume great airs, neither intermarrying with other castes¬ not even with barbers-nor shaving themselves. In former days they would not fry sweetmeats in ghi or butter, but now they are less fastidious. The common sweetmeats prepared by the Madhu¬ napit are jalebi, amrita, Khaja, chhena pera, Laddu, gaja, and sar-bhaja. The delicacies offered to idols are pera, barji, ilachi dana, batasa, aod sandes. The Madhunapit do not cultivate the soil, but are found employed as writers, goldsmiths, grocers, cloth merchants, and policemen.
