Nahal
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.
Nahal
A forest tribe who are probably a i. The mixture of Bhils and Korkus. In igii they numbered f"^^ f"'^ -^ ' _ Its sub- I 2,000 persons, of whom 8000 belonged to the Hoshangabad, divisions. Nimar and Bctul Districts, and nearly 4000 to Berar. They were classed at the census as a subtribe of Korkus, According to one story they are descended from a Bhll father and a Korku mother, and the writer of the KhdndesJi Gazetteer calls them the most savage of the Bhils. But in the Central Provinces their family or sept names are the same as those of the Korkus, and they speak the Korku language. Mr. Kitts " says that the Korkus who first went to Berar found the Nahals in possession of the Melghat hills.
Gradually the latter caste lost their power and became the village drudges of the former. He adds that the Nahals were fast losing their language, and the younger generation spoke only Korku. The two tribes were very friendly, and the Nahals acknowledged the superior position of the Korkus.
This, if it accurately represents the state of things prevailing
for a long period, and was not merely an incidental feature
of their relative position at the time Mr. Kitts' observations
were made, would tend to show that the Nahals were the
older tribe and had been subjected by the Korkus, just as
the Korkus themselves and the Baigas have given way to the
Gonds. Mr. Crosthwaite also states that the Nahal is the
drudge of the Korku and belongs to a race which is
supposed to have been glorious before the Korku star arose,
and which is now fast dying out.
In any case there is no doubt that the Nahals are a very mixed tribe, as they will even now admit into the community Gonds, Korkus and nearly all the Hindu castes, though in some localities they will not eat from the other tribes and the lower Hindu castes and therefore refuse to admit them. There are, moreover, ^ This article is mainly compiled Records, Betul. from papers by Mr. Hira Lai and 15;ibu ^ Berar Census Report (1881), Gulab Singh, Superintendent of Land p. 158.
two subdivisions of the caste called Korku and Marathi Nahals respectively. The latter are more Hinduised than the former and disclaim any connection with the Korkus. The Nahals have totemistic exogamous septs. Those of the Kasa sept worship a tortoise and also a bell-metal plate, which is their family god. They never eat off a bell-metal plate except on one day in the month of Magh (January), when they worship it.
The members of the Nagbel sept worship the betel-vine or ' snake-creeper,' and refrain from chewing betel-leaves, and they also worship the Nag or cobra and do not kill it, thus having a sort of double totem. The Bhawaria sept, named after the bJiaunr or black bee, do not eat honey, and if they see a person taking the honeycomb from a nest they will run away.
The Khadia sept worship the spirits of their ancestors enshrined in a heap of stones {khad), or according to another account they worship a snake which sits on a heap of pebbles. The Surja sept worship Surya or the sun by offering him a fowl in the month of Pus (December-January), and some members of the sept keep a fast every Sunday. The Saoner sept worship the san or flax plant.
2. Mar- Marriage is prohibited between members of the same
riage. sept, but there are no other restrictions and first cousins
may marry. Both sexes usually marry when adult, and
sexual license before wedlock is tolerated. A Brahman is
employed only for fixing the date of the ceremony. The
principal part of the marriage is the knotting together of
the bride's and bridegroom's clothes on two successive days.
They also gamble with tamarind seeds, and it is considered
a lucky union if the bridegroom wins.
A bride-price is usually paid consisting of Rs. 1-4 to Rs. 5 in cash, some grain and a piece of cloth for the bride's mother. The remarriage of widov/s is allowed, and the couple go five times round a bamboo stick which is held up to represent a spear, the ceremony being called barchhi se bhdnwar phirna or the marriage of the spear. 3. Rdi- The Nahals worship the forest god called Jharkhandi in gion. ^}^g month of Chait, and until this rite has been performed they do not use the leaves or fruits of the palds} aonld ^ or ' Butea fro7tdosa. ' Phyllanthiis emblica.
mango trees. When the god is worshipped they collect branches and leaves of these trees and offer cooked food to them and thereafter commence using the new leaves, and the fruit and timber. They also worship the ordinary village godlings.
The dead are buried, except in the case of members of the Surja or sun sept, whose corpses are burnt. Cooked food is offered at the grave for four days after the death. The Nahals were formerly a community of hill-robbers, 4. Occupa-
- Nahal, Bhil, Koli ' being the phrase generally used in old
"°"' documents to designate the marauding bands of the western Satpura hills. The Raja of Jitgarh and Mohkot in Nimar has a long account in his genealogy of a treacherous massacre of a whole tribe of Nahals by his ancestor in Akbar's time, in recognition of which the Jitgarh pargana was granted to the family. Mr. Kitts speaks of the Nahals of Berar as having once been much addicted to cattle-lifting, and this propensity still exists in a minor degree in the Central Provinces, accentuated probably by the fact that a considerable number of Nahals follow the occupation of graziers.
Some of them are also village watchmen, and another special
avocation of theirs is the collection of the oil of the markingnut
tree {Semecarpus anacardiuin). This is to some extent a
dangerous trade, as the oil causes swellings on the body,
besides staining the skin and leaving a peculiar odour. The
workers wrap a fourfold layer of cloth round their fingers with
ashes between each fold, while the rest of the body is also
protected by cloth when gathering the nuts and pounding
them to extract the oil. At the end of the day's work
powdered tamarind and ghi are rubbed on the whole body.
The oil is a stimulant, and is given to women after delivery
and to persons suffering from rheumatism.
The social status of the Nahals is very low and they cat 5. Social
the flesh of almost all animals, while those who graze cattle
^^'"^•
eat beef. Cow-killing is not regarded as an offence. They
are also dirty and do not bathe for weeks together. To get
maggots in a wound is, however, regarded as a grave offence,
and the sufferer is put out of the village and has to live alone
until he recovers.
Nahal
(From People of India/ National Series Volume VIII. Readers who wish to share additional information/ photographs may please send them as messages to the Facebook community, Indpaedia.com. All information used will be gratefully acknowledged in your name.)
Groups/subgroups: Raghuvanshi, Tavadia [Madhya Pradesh and/or Chhattisgarh]
