VI.-A General Account of the Pabris or

Hill Bhuiyas of Bonai.

By Rai Bahadur Sarat Chandra Roy, M.A.
I-Habitat.

Of the various aboriginal tribes inhabiting the tributary states of Orissa, the Pabri (Pahari) or Hill Bhuiyas of the Bonai and Keonjhar states are, with the exception of the Juangs of Keonjhar, ethnologically most interesting. I took advantage of the last Puja vacation to make a preliminary study of the Hill Bhuiyas of the Conai state and the result of my enquiries is summarized in this and following chapters.

The state of Bonai lies between 21° 39' and 22° S' North Latitude and 85° 23′ East Longitude and The Country. is bounded on the North by the Saranda Pargana of the Singhbhum district and the Nagra Pargană of the Feudatory States of Gangpur, the Feudatory States of Bāmṛā and Pal Lahara, on the West, too, by the Bamra State, and on the East by the Feudatory State of Keonjhar. The river Brahmani which is formed by the union, at village Panposh in the Gangpur State, of the Chota Nagpur rivers the Sankh and the South Koel enters the Bonai State near village Banki and traverses the state from north to south dividing it into halves. It is mainly the open tracts of land between either bank of the river and the hill ranges that rise a few miles beyond on the east and west of the river which is suitable for regular wet cultivation of rice, and it is in these tracts that the Hinduized Bhuiyas, the Gonds and other Hinduized tribes and a few Hindu castes live. The Hinduized Bhūiyās of the Plains call themselves Khandait (swordsmen) Bhūiyās or Panch Saia (Five Hundred) Bhuiyas, and form the

militia of the state, imitate many Hindu customs, and look down upon the Hill Bhuiyas or Pabris, as they are called, as savages. The Hill Bhūiyas in their turn do not eat at the hands of the Hinduized Bhuiyas whom they call "Talér Bhūiyās or "Bhuiyas of the lowlands".

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The Pabri or Hill Bhuiyas occupy the jungle-covered hilly regions extending east and north-east from about the tenth mile after the Brahmanī is crossed at Bonaigarh, the capital of the state, up to the easternmost limits of the state and passing beyond the Bonai state into the state of Keonjhar. Of this large tract only a small portion to the north-east around village Kuirā forms a fairly well watered valley, and the Bhūiyās of this tract known as Kuirā Parganā practise regular wet cultivation of rice and call themselves "Panch Saia "Bhūiyas although there can be no doubt that they were originally Pabris or Hill Bhūiyas like the Bhuiyas of Pabri Parganā, and they still form marriage alliances with the latter and follow practically the same customs and usages. The more well-to-do amongst these Bhuiyas of the Kuirā Parganā now seek the aid of Brahman priests at their marriages and disclaim relationship with the Pabri Bhūiyās. A few settlements of Pabri Bhuiyas are also met with in the Kumri Parganā to the south-east of Pabri Parganā. In this paper I shall deal mainly with the genuine Pābri Bhuiyas of the Hills of Bonai and refer only incidentally to the customs of the other Bhuiyas of the state to show how the latter have diverged from the primitive customs still obtaining among the Pabris.

The land of the Pabri Bhuiyas rises several hundred feet above the central valley of the Brahmaņi and consists of a series of most inaccessible hill ranges covered with tangled forests in which the tiger, the panther, the hyena and the wild dog prowl about for their animal prey and, if possible, for some stray human victim; where the wild elephant, the bison, the wild pig (Sus Indicus) and the bear roam about in search of food and occasionally cause great damage to the scanty maize

and other crops and vegetables grown on the hill slopes Ly the Pabri Bhuiya. The nilgai (Portex pictus), the sambar (Rusa aritotelis), the chithal or spotted deer (Axis maculatus), the mouse deer (Meminna Indica) and the four-horned antelope (Fatrecerus quadricornis) are pretty common in these heavy jungles, and constitute occasional game for the Hill Bhuiyās, who, however, live chiefly on vegetable diet.

During my stay in these parts I heard frequent complaints of wild elephants and wild pigs damaging the crops and vegetables of my Pabri friends, and in my journey through these jungle-covered hill ranges, footprints and fresh excrement of wild elephants were pointed out to me as indicating the recent presence of those animals; and one of my party succeeded in bagging a huge wild pig which required four strong men to carry the carcase. Wild fowl of various kinds are abundant in these jungles. The Sal (Shorea robusta) predominates in these forests, and among other important trees are the Sisu (Dalbergia sissoo), Asan (Terminalia tomentosa), Kusum (Schleichera triuga), and Piāsāl (Pterocarpus marsupium). Jungle fruits, edible roots and wild herbs of a few varieties found in their native jungles are utilized by the Hill Bhūiyās to supplement their scanty stock of food, and certain herbs and roots of their jungles are used by them for medicinal purposes.

The home of the Pabri Bhuiyas is on a much higher elevation than the plains of Bonai and is consequently much cooler and pleasanter. The

Climate.

hills rise to an elevation of from 2,000 to over 3,500 feet above sea level. Owing however to the presence of heavy tangled forests, the climate is at certain seasons unhealthy and malarious, although the indigenous population resist malaria much better than outsiders. Spleen among children is not uncommon and most people are liable to attacks of fever, especially after

II-A Pabri Settlement.

The settlements of the Pabris or Pāhāri Bhūiyās nestle in the valleys between successive hill ranges, generally close to one of the numerous tiny bouldercovered hill-streams that trickle down the valleys. Each settlement owns a large tract of forest

Houses and their Contents.

land within the limits of which the village site is shifted from time to time. They leave one site when all the trees on it have been cut down and the kōman and dāhi lands exhausted. and remove to another site within the area. They again return to the old site when new trees have grown up to some height. In some villages this shifting of sites is done once every ten years. Each village consists of from about a dozen to about 40 houses, and each house consists of from one to four huts. The huts are generally rectangular in shape with two sloping roofs. The walls are made of logs of wood planted vertically on the ground and plastered over with mud from inside; and the roofs are thatched. In the middle of the settlement is a decent and commodious hut called the Manda Ghar which is the dormitory for bachelors and also serves as an occasional guest house. Arranged round the inner walls of this hut are the chāngs, or tambourines, played upon by the young men in their dances. Some of these changs are supported against the wall, while others are suspended with string from deer horns affixed to the walls. In front of the Manda Ghar is a spacious yard which is called the darbar or meeting ground where dances are held in the evenings and where the tribal panchayats sit when occasion arises. On one side of this yard is a round woolen post from 3 to 4 feet high affixed to the ground which is called the Sabha Khunta (Auspicious post) or the "Gain-Sri-khuntā " or post representing the tutelary goddess of the village. When a new village site is selected, this post is first stuck up in its centre with ceremonies which will be described in a subsequent chapter; and the prosperity or otherwise of the village is bound up with this post. If it is blown down by the wind or is otherwise uprooted, the village site must be forthwith changed as otherwise dire misfortune

will overtake the settlement. By the side of the Manda Ghar is generally another smaller hut which serves as the seat or temple of the mother-goddess Thākurāņi. Close to the Manda

Ghar

are the houses of the village headmen-the Naek, or secular, and the Dihuri, or sacerdotal, headman. All around are the huts of the other families of the settlement. Narrow lanes and by-paths ran between rows of houses. Outside the older settlements are a number of jack-fruit trees and close to the settlements are hills on whose slopes the villagers have their scanty cultivation. On the comparatively more level ground between the hill slopes and the group of huts the villagers grow some vegetables such as pumpkins, beans, and yams.

The following description of the house of a headman of a Pabri settlement will give an idea of the mateContents of rial condition of a comparatively well-to-do Pabri family. The house of the Diburi of village Raonta consists of four huts. The main hut, which runs from north to south, is divided into two compartments by a partition of wooden posts placed side by side, leaving an opening at one corner. The entrance to this hut is through a wooden door moving on a socket in the eastern wall. The northern compartment is used as a combined kitchen and sleeping room, the hearths being in front of the door and close to the western wall. The southern compartment is used as the bhitar or "inner" tabernacle where the ancestor-spirits are believed to have their seat and where offerings are made to them. No outsider is admitted into this room, and valued possessions of the family, in the shape of money, clothes, utensils and store of maize, rice and other grains, are stored there. Coins and clothes are kept in a bamboo box. The richest family rarely owns more than three or four brass utensils, but the generality have none whatsoever. They eat from leaf plates and drink from leaf cups or pumpkin gourds; cooking vessels are all of earthenware. Palmleaf mats form their only bed. In a large settlement of nearly forty houses only two string beds could be found. The second hut, which is to the north of the first and also faces east, is called