Indian Antiquary Vol 60

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 49

FEBRUARY, 1931]
WHY KEWAT WOMEN ARE BLACK
WHY KEWAT WOMEN ARE BLACK.
(A Chhattisgarhi Folk-song.)
BY RAI BAHADUR HIRA LAL. The town of Bilaspur, the headquarters of the distriot of the same name in the Central Provinces, derives its name from Bilåsa, a Kevata woman, who is said to have burnt herself at that place under circumstances which form the subject of a popular Chhattisgarhi song known as Kevadina-gita, usually sung by Dewars, a tribe of wandering mendicants found in that country. Bilasa was a very beautiful woman and was so rich that she used to expose her fish on a silver tray, while she herself sat on a golden chair. The Raja of Ratanpur, so the story goes, once went to Bilaspur and visited the bâzâr, where this Kevațina at once attracted his attention. Her beauty captivating him, he opened conversation with her by asking the price of various kinds of fish she had for salo. Clever as she was, she gave the prices in equivocal terms; for instance, sho said that the price of the aichha fish was equal to that of a Teli (oilman), and the price of a crab equal to that of a barber, thus subtly alluding to the qualities of the fish she vended, the aichha being an oily fish, and the crab being noted for its tight grip, which she compared with that of a barber, who holds a man's head firmly while shaving him. The Raja's servants, observing that their master was no match for the woman in a battle of wits, suggested that she might be caught hold of and taken along, whereupon the Kevatina fled from her shop. As she was pursued, she held up her garment to the sun (Sürya), praying that he would save her honour, and thereupon her dress took fire and she was consumed to ashes. Seeing what had happened, the Râjâ went on his way, and the village children ran to the river, where her husband was busy catching fish, and told him that his wife had committed satt, under the belief that he had been eaten by crocodiles. In order to ascertain the true cause of her death he engaged some soroerers, by whose power of witchcraft the Kevatina descended into the flame of a lamp, and intimated that owing to her fair complexion and beauty the R&já had desired to outrage her modesty, and therefore she had burnt herself. She stated, further, that she had asked a boon from God that all Kevatinas should henceforth be born black, so that they should run no risk of being dishonour. ed, and also that in commemoration of her immolation (a sanctifying act) her caste should be considered purified. That is the reason why Kevatinas are black and why persons of all castes eat chand and murra (gram and rice) parched by them without any objection.
The Chhattisgarhi songs are a curious mixture of jingling rhymes and prose-a sort of compromise between the'two, with a view perhaps to avoid monotony-of which a fair speci. men is afforded by the Kevatina-gita reproduced below. The song also furnishes some points of linguistic and ethnographic interest :
Chhitaki kuriyal mukuta’ dudra, Bhitari Kevațina kase singara3 ; Kho pa pare ringi chingi,
Okara bhitara sona ke singi.? i Kuriyd is a peculiar Chhattisgarhf word for a hut.' It seems to be derived from kurai, or branches of the kurru tree (Gardenia lucida), with which the hut is made. The word kurai has now become generalized, and is not restricted to the branches of the kurru alone, but is applied to the branches of any tree used for roofing a hut.
? Mukuta or mukata = 'many' or 'much. It is also used in this sense in Baghelkhandi Hindi.
3 Singdra kaand is a peculiar idiom in Chhattisgarhi, equivalent to singdra karna. Kaand otherwise implies a sort of contempt, and is used of animals, .g., ghoda kaso, get the horse ready!
4 Khopā means & corner, As, for instance, of a house or room. The lower castes in Chhattisgarh tie their hair in a knot, not on the back of the head, as the Marathi women do, but at a corner in front.
6 Ringt ching is the same as rangi changa, gaudy.'
& Okara = uald or uske: kara, or kar, is generally used for kd with demonstrative or interrogative pro. nouna, e.g., kedkar, 'whose'?
Singl is a comb, deriving its name from onga, or horn,' of which it used to be made, The word has become more generalized, and a wooden comb may also be called sirgt.