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on the leafy throne above him and scrutinized the heart of every man, must have come to know of his misdemeanour. From that time forth, his guilty conscience pricked him every now and then; his sinful heart did not afford him any rest; and he constantly feared that the enraged godling would punish him for his misconduct. If any accident befell him or those nearest and dearest to him, it was looked upon in the light of a punishment inflicted upon him or his kinsmen by the offended godling. Even if no accident happened to him or to his relatives, his own guilty and troubled conscience was sure to bring about some ether evil to himself. I

On a consideration of the foregoing evidence, we venture to propound the theories (1) that the aborigines, namely, the Mundās, the Birhōrs and the Bhumij of Chota Nagpur, and the Santals of Santālia regard the mango tree as the habitation of their tribal godlings; (2) that these lesser deities, from their leafy homes, witness and thereby sanctify the actual marriages of the aboriginal bridegrooms with their human brides; and (3) that it is for these reasons that the first-named three aboriginal tribes of Chota Nagpur perform the ceremony of the Uli-Sakhi and the Am-Bibāhā with the mango tree.

1 Sleeman's Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Official, Vol. II, pp. 111-113.

IX.-Is Mahli a Real Caste-name ?

By Rai Saheb Chuni Lal Ray, B.A.

A few months before the Census of 1911, I was camping at Rahe (thana Sonāhātu, Subdivision Khunti, District Ranchi) when one of the census enumerators of the village came to me and sought my advice how to distinguish in the enumeration book between the two classes of Mahlis which he said there were in that part of the district. I gave him the stereotyped answer, viz., that subcastes were not to be entered, and advised him to describe both classes of Mahlis as "Mahlis" simply in the enumeration book. The average enumerat or would probably have been satisfied with this, but so was not my interrogator. He said that the two classes spoke two different languages, and that although they might be shown as belonging to the same caste, it would certainly be incorrect to state that the two classes spoke the same language. This aroused my curiosity, and I enquired of the enumerator if he could take me to any place where I could see both classes of Mahlis; he asked me to follow him to the next village, which I did. There he called a number of men and arranged them into two groups, one class calling themselves Or Mahlis or Bans Mahlis and basket-weavers by profession, the other class known as Patars or Patar Mahlis, whose principal occupation, I was told, was oil-pressing. The Or Mahlis told me that they were not the same caste as the unclean Patars, whose gibberish they could not understand; the Patars similarly assured me that they could not follow the language of the Ōrs who, they said, were no better than Dōms and Tūris. I asked members of each class to speak in their own dialect and watched them speaking; and I found that, although evidently it was an exaggeration to say that the language of the Patars was not intelligible to Ors, and vice versa, it was pretty

elear that they spoke distinctly different dialects. The dialect of the Or Mahlis contained a number of words which were common in Santali but were not used in Mundāri, while the Patar Mahlis were speaking, so far as I could make out, in exactly the same dialect of Munḍāri as is used by Mundās in that part of the country. Thus:

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Ama'k ciminang hopon. Ciminang ama'k honko
mena'kkoa.
mena'kkoa.

English equivalent.

I am reaping paddy.

I am going (to the field): to reap paddy.

I do not know.

There are no relatives of mine on the hills (i.e. on the Ranchi plateau).

How many children have you ?

In answer to my question where their kutums (relatives bymarriage) could be found, both Ors and Pātars named numerous villages in what is known as Panch Pārgānā (the five Pārgānās Rāhe, Tamar, Bundu, Silli and Basantpur) and the adjoining thānās of Manbhum district; the Ors spoke also of kutums in Jonha and Ranchi thānās, while the Patars spoke of kutums towards Khunti. One of the villages mentioned by the Patars was Takra in thānā Khunti, a place that I had passed a few days before and where I had come across a colony of Munḍās. who were, like the Pātars, oil-pressers by profession and who, I had been told, were known by the distinctive name of Khanghar Munḍās. I hazarded a guess, and asked them if they knew: anything about the Khanghar Mundās of Tākrā, to which they at once replied that Khanghars of Takra were their kutums » and that Patar and Khanghar were but different names used in different localities for one and the same caste. Khanghar

Mundas whom I subsquently came across in Bundu and Khunti thānās acknowledged their identity with Patars (Rakhal Khanghar, chaukidar of Labga in thānā Bundu, is, for instance, sonin-law of Tui Patar of Maipa in thānā Tamar; and Lālā Pāhn, Kanre Pahn, Amru Pähn of Takra are related to Thakur Pātar and Gahan Patar of Nuridi, thānā Tamar). I have been told that the caste is known by still another name in Singhbhum district, viz. Tāmāria; and that the men in thānās Torpa and Basia who returned themselves as Mähli-Mundās are also Khanghar Mundas alias Patar Mallis. I had no occasion, however, to meet either Tamārias or MahliMundas after I got the information, and I am not in a position, therefore, to vouch for its correctness.

West of Ranchi town, in the area which alone is locally recognized as Nagpur proper and in Borwe (thānās Chainpur and Bishunpur) and in Biru (thānās Simdega, Kochedega and Kurdeg) the term "Mahli " stands for quite another class, known also as Goraits, who are neither basket-weavers like the Örs nor oil-pressers like the Pátars. Goraits are ordinarily described as village watchmen and runners by profession or as drummers or as makers of kakacs (combs) or as fishermen ; but probably their most important function in the social organization in Oraon villages is the services required of these Goṛaits in ceremonies connected with the births, marriages and deaths of Oraons. On the day that the newborn Oraon child is to get his name-theoretically the sixth day after birth, but in reality the day on which the pots of pachwai set for brewing after the child's birth are ready-the Gorait has to be called in to shave the child's head and to take a very important part in the name pininā (name-giving) ceremony. The Gorait is generally not an adept in shaving, and the shaving of the scalp is generally completed by a barber, or an Orãon, but the first tuft of hair must be removed by the Gorait's hands. The shaving over, the Gorait takes a cup made of a leaf, or leaves, fills it with water, and, placing it on the ground, takes his seat before it with a small quantity of rice in his hands. Names for the

child are suggested by the parents or their relatives; and as each name is suggested, the Gorait drops two grains of rice into the water from two opposite sides of the cup and watches if the grains meet as they sink to the bottom. If the grains do not meet, the name must be given up and a fresh name has to be suggested and two more grains of rice dropped into the water. The process is repeated with another name and another pair of grains of rice, and so on, till the meeting of two grains of rice dropped at the same instant proclaims the particular name which the child is to bear in life.

At Oraon marriages it is the Gorait's wife whose services are required. The first thing to be done when the bridegroom returns to his house with his newly-wedded wife is the isun sindur (oil and vermilion) ceremony. The Gorait's wife is called in, and she comes with a new kakae with which she parts the hair of the bridegroom and of the bride. She then besmears their heads and bodies with oil and then applies sindur (vermilion) to the heads of both. Although the sindurdān by the Gorait woman had been preceded by another at the bride's place, when the bridegroom and bride applied sindur to each other's foreheads, this second isun-sindur is an equally essontial item of the marriage rites, and not till this is over can the newly-wedded pair salute the bridegroom's parents and other seniors in the bridegroom's village and obtain their blessings.

In connection with the Orãon's funeral ceremonies the Gorait's services are equally necessary. After the cremation is over, the Gorait must be fed and propitiated first before food can be served out to the assembled relatives or to the spirit of the dead man invited to return to his old home. And for this service the Goṛait gets, besides a full meal, a new brass vessel (a chhipi) and some money, and also, if the relatives of the deceased are well-to-do, a piece of cloth. Goraits very often pride themselves as being for the Orãons what the Brahmans are to the Hindu castes, getting as they do, food and dakhina if the Oraons are to perform properly any of their social ceremonies. Oraons on the other hand assert that the Goraits are mere

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