Library

The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India,...

3. Exogamous sections.

Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition Russell, R. V. (Robert Vane)
Open passage
Their septs are of the usual low-caste type, being named after animals, inanimate objects or nicknames of ancestors. One of them is Pānch-biha or ‘He who had five wives,’ and another Kul-dīp or ‘The sept of the lamp.’ Members of this sept will stop eating if a lamp goes out. The Janta Ragda take their name from the mill for grinding corn and will not have a grinding-mill in their houses. They say that a female ancestor was delivered of a child when sitting near a grinding-mill and this gave the sept its name. Three septs are named after other castes: Kumhārbans, descended from a potter; Gāndbans, from a Gānda; and Luha, from a Lohār or blacksmith, and which names indicate that members of these castes have been admitted into the community.

Source attribution

The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India, Volume 3, Project Gutenberg eBook #41424

2. Subcastes. 4. Marriage.