Marpa

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Marpa

This section has been extracted from THE TRIBES and CASTES of BENGAL. By H.H. RISLEY, INDIAN CIVIL SERVICE, OFFICIER D'ACADÉMIE FRANÇAISE. Ethnographic Glossary. CALCUTTA: Printed at the Bengal Secretariat Press. 1891. .

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Marriage

A small iron-working. caste, possibly of Dravidian descent, found in the Santal Parganas. The information at my disposal does not warrant any conjecture regarding their origin. So far as I can ascertain, they have neither sub-castes nor sections, and their marriages are regulated by a very rough enumeration of prohibited degrees, which admits of intermarriage between persons descended from the same parents after the expiry of three generations on the father's side and oue on the mother's. Daughters are married either as infants or as adults, and polygamy is allowed without any theoretical limitation on the number of wives a man may take. Widows may marry again, but are under no restriction in their choice of a second husband. Divorce is permitted for adultery or for inability to agree, and divorced women may marry again.

Religion

Maryas profess to be Hindus, but they do not employ Brahmans for religious and ceremonial purposes, and the functions of the priest are discharged by selected members of the caste. The dead are buried and the ashes buried, but no regular Sraddh is performed, and the only funeral observance consists of a feast given to the caste brethren by a man's heir ten days after his death.

Social status

The caste ranks with Lohars, Chamars, and the lowest grades of Dravidian Hindus. They eat fowls and indulge freely in spirituous and fermented liquors. Iron working is believed to be their original occupation, and most of them are blacksmiths at the present day. Some, however, have taken to cultivation, and a few are said to have risen to the comparatively high position of tenure-holders. The Census Report of 1881 returned 857 Maryas in the Santal Parganas.