Mowar
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.
Mowar
A small caste of cultivators found in the Chhattlsgarh country, in the Raipur and Bilaspur Districts and the Raigarh State. They numbered 2500 persons in 1 90 1. The derivation of the name is obscure, but they themselves say that it is derived from Mow or Mowagarh, ' Eastern India, vol. iii. p. 105. 2 Rajendra Lai Mitra, Indo-Aryans, vol. i. pp. 222, 223.
a town in the Jhansi District of the United Provinces, and they also call themselves Mahuwar or the inhabitants of Mow. They say that the Raja of Mowagarh, under whom they were serving, desired to marry the daughter of one of their Sirdars (headmen), because she was extremely beautiful, but her father refused, and when the Raja persisted in his desire they left the place in a body and came to Ratanpur in the time of Raja Blmbaji, in A.D. 1770.
A Bilaspur writer states that the Mowars are an offshoot from the Rajwar Rajputs of Sarguja State. Colonel Dalton writes ^ of the Rajwar Rajputs of Sarguja and other adjoining States that they are peaceably disposed cultivators, who declare themselves to be fallen Kshatriyas ; but he remarks later that they are probably aborigines, as they do not conform to Hindu customs, and they are skilled in a dance called Chailo, which he considers to be of Dravidian origin. In another place he remarks that the Rajwars of Bengal admit that they are derived from the miscegenation of Kurmis and Kols.
The fact that the Mowars of Sarangarh make a representation of a bow and arrow on their documents, instead of signing their names, affords some support to the theory that they are probably a branch of one of the aboriginal tribes. The name may be derived from luowa, a radish, as the Mowars of Bilaspur are engaged principally in garden cultivation.
The Mowars have no subcastes, but are divided into a number of exogamous groups, principally of a totemistic nature. Those of the Surajha or sun sept throw away their earthen pots on the occasion of an eclipse, and those of the Hataia or elephant sept will not ride on an elephant and worship that animal at the Dasahra festival. Members of other septs named after the cobra, the crow, the monkey and the tiger will not kill their totem animal, and when they see the dead body of one of its species they throw away their earthen cooking-pots as a sign of mourning.
The marriage of persons belonging to the same sept and also that of first cousins is prohibited. If an unmarried girl is seduced by a man of the caste she becomes his wife and is not expelled, but the caste will not eat food cooked by her. But a girl going wrong with an outsider is finally cast ' Ethnology of Bengal, p. 326. caste.
out. The marriage and other social customs resemble those of the Kurmis, The caste employ Brahmans at their ceremonies and have a great regard for them. Their gurus or spiritual preceptors are Bairagis and Gosains. They eat the flesh of clean animals and a few drink liquor, but most of them abstain from it. Their women are tattooed on the arms and hands with figures intended to represent deer, flies and other animals and insects.
The caste say that they were formerly employed as soldiers under the native chiefs, but they are now all cultivators. They grow all kinds of grain and vegetables, except turmeric and onions. A few of them are landowners, and the majority tenants. Very few are constrained to labour for hire. In appearance the men are generally strong and healthy, and of a dark complexion.
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Mowar
Town in the Katol tahsll of Nagpur District, Central Provinces, situated in 21*^ 28' N. and 78° 27 E., on the Wardha river bordering Berar, 53 miles north-west of Nagpur city. Population (1901), 4,799. Mowar was created a municipality in 1867. The municipal receipts during the decade ending 1901 averaged Rs. 3,600. In 1903 4 they were Rs. 4,000, the chief sourre of income being market dues. It has a small dyeing industry, but with this exception the population is solely agricultural. The town is surrounded by groves and gardens on all sides except towards the river, A large weekly market is held. There is a vernacular middle school.
