Indian Antiquary Vol 02

SR No.: 032494
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jas Burgess
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 428
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 20 MB

Page 76

68
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[MARCH, 1873.
The present chief of the caste is said to be a descendant of the persons appointed by the
gods.
There is a belief among the people that if a death occurs in a house on a Tuesday or & Friday, another death will quickly follow, anless a fowl is tied to one corner of the bier which carries the deceased to his long home. This fowl is buried with the deceased. Those castes who do not eat fowl replace it with the bolt of the door. This may account for why a fowl forms a portion of the burial-fee.
The only caste, so far as I can learn, in which the custom of placing a coin in the mouth of the deceased is still practised, is the Vokkaliga; the coin must be a gold one. The body is always buried with the feet to the north.
The word Kulwadi ("he who knows the ryots") is derived from kula- the technical term by which a ryot cultivating government land is known. In the word kula we find crystallized a story of other days. One of the Bellala kings, whose devotion to religion had gained him the
favour of the gods, had been presented with a | phial containing “Sidda rasa,"-a liquid which
converted iron into gold. On this the king determined to abolish the payment of the land-tax in coin, and ordered that each ryot should pay into the government treasury the "gula," or plough-share, used during the year. All the iron thus collected the king turned into gold. In the course of time the initial g has become k, and from the custom of paying the “ Gula," the ryot came to be called a “ Kula."
ON THE SUB-DIVISIONS OF THE BRAHMAN CASTE IN NORTHERN ORISSA.
BY JOHN BEAMES, B.C. S, M.R.A.S. As a slight contribution to our knowledge of and the divisions of the two classes are fairly the divisions of caste in India, a subject still represented in most parts of the district, though involved in much obscurity, the following remarks the southern class is less numerous than the on the gotras, or families, of the great Brahman northern. The former are held in greater caste in this part of Orissa may be found useful." esteem for learning and purity of race than the
Tradition relates that the original Brâhmans latter. of Orissa were all extinct at the time of the rise The S'renis are divided, first, according to the of the Ganga Vansa line of kings, but that Veda, whose ritual they profess to observe, and 10,000 Brâhmans were induced to come from Kanauj and settle in Jâjpûr, the sacred city on
1.-SOUTHERN LINE. the Baitaranî river. The date of this immigration is not stated, but the fact is probably his
1. Rig-Veda. torical, and may have been synchronous with the
GOTRA.
UPADRI. well-known introduction of Kananjis Brahmans Bâsishtha.
Sârangi. into the neighbouring province of Bengal by
Mahâpâtra. King Adisura in the tenth century.
2. Sama-Veda. When the worship of the idol Jagannath began
Käsyapa ..................Nanda. to be revived at Puri, the kings of Orissa induced
Dharagautama ......... Tripathi. many of the Jâjpur Brahmans to settle round
Gautama .................. Udgåtâ, vulgo Utá. the new temple and conduct the ceremonies.
Parasara ................. Dibedi, vulgo Dube. Thus there sprang up a division among the
Kauņdinya ............... Tripathĩ, vulgo Tihari. Brâhmans; those who settled in Puri being called the Dakhintya Sreni, or southern class,
3. Yajur-Veda. and those who remained at Jâjpûr, the Uttara BharadwajaSreni, or northern class. This latter spread a. Bharadwaja ...... Sarangi. all over northern Orissa. Many of the southern 6. Sambhukar ......... Misra. Brâhmans, however, are also found in Balasor ; c. Lândi .............Nanda.
• This brief article was put together from notes made at different times, and something similar was supplied by me to Dr. W. W. Hunter and has been printed by him in the appendix to his work on Orissa. The above article, trowever, exhibits the classification more fully and clearly han Dr. Hunter's note, and contains some additional facts which I have learnt since the appearance of that work.
+ The date is not certain. Babu Rajendralal Mitra fixes
it at about A.D. 964.-Journal Asiatic Society of Bengal, vel. XXXIV., p. 189.
This ought to come before the Same-Veda, but my native informants stick to it that the Sâma-Vedis rank above the Yajur Vedis. I record the fact without understanding the reason.
$ The great Bharadwaj gotra is divided into the three septs here given.