The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India, Volume 2

The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India, Volume 2

The plural of caste names and a few common Hindustni words is formed by adding s in the English manner according to ordinary usage, though this is not, of course, the Hindustni plural. Note.The rupee contains 16 annas, and an anna is of the same value as a penny. A pice is a quarter of an anna, or a farthing. Rs. 18 signifies one rupee and eight annas. A lakh is a hundred thousand, and a krore ten million. Agaria.1A small Dravidian caste, who are an offshoot of the Gond tribe. The Agarias have adopted the profession of iron-smelting and form a separate caste. They numbered 9500 persons in 1911 and live on the Maikal range in the Mandla, Raipur and Bilspur Districts. The name probably signifies a worker with g or fire. An Agaria subcaste of Lohrs also exists, many of whom are quite probably Gonds, but they are not included in the regular caste. Similar Dravidian castes of Agarias are to be found in Mrzpur and Bengal. The Agarias are quite distinct from the Agharia cultivating caste of the Uriya country. The Raipur Agarias still intermarry with the Rwanbansi Gonds of the District. The Agarias think that their caste has existed from the beginning of the world, and that the first Agaria made the ploughshare with which the first bullocks furrowed the primeval soil. The caste has two endogamous divisions, the Patharia and the Khuntia Agarias. The Patharias place a stone on the mouth of the bellows to fix them in the ground for smelting, while the Khuntias use a peg. The two subcastes do not even take water from one another. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 22010
Author: Russell, R. V. (Robert Vane)
Release Date: Jul 6, 2007
Format: eBook
Language: English