Encyclopedia of World Cultures Volume III - South Asia - B potx

The Bene Israel Indian Jews lived in Bombayandinvillagesonthe Konkan Coast, south of Bom-bay,inMaharashtraState.Todayless than5,000 Bene Israel liveinIndia, andmorethan30,000 liveinIsrae

14 Assamese

ahead Theirlives revolve around riceproduction.Theyhave

built their housessothat theirfieldscanbeeasilyviewedas

theircrops grow; the granaryispositionedatthe front of each

houseso afarmercan riseinthemorning andseehisstoreof

ricebefore anythingelse

Within theAssamesereligionaformofHinduismexists

with two contrasting emphases, that ofcaste and that of

sect In caste one findspolytheism, hierarchy,membershipby

birth (inherited status), collective ideas ofhumanity (caste

groups), mediation of ritual specialists, rites conducted in

Sanskritthroughpriests,complexityand extravagance of

rit-ual, multiplicityof images, andsalvationthrough knowledge

orworks In sects one can find monotheism, egalitarianism

amongbelievers,membership byinvitation(acquired status),

Badaga

ETHNONYMS:Badacar,Badager,Baddaghar, Bergie,Budaga,

Buddager, Buddagur,Burga,Burgher,Vadaca, Vadacar,

Vud-daghur, Wuddghur (all formerspellings)

Orientation

Identification The name "Badaga" (northerner) was

given tothisgroupbecausetheymigrated from the plains of

MysoreDistrict, just tothenorth of the Nilgiri Hills,inthe

decades following the Muslim invasion that destroyed the

greatHindu empireof Vijayanagar in A.D 1565. Badaga is

alsoa common namefor the Gaudas,whoarebyfarthe

larg-estphratryinthiscommunity Inthenineteenthcenturythe

name wasspelledin various ways.TheBadagasarethe

larg-est community intheNilgiriHills of Tamil NaduState

(for-merlyMadras) insouthernIndia,between latitude 11°and

1 °30' N

Location TheBadagasoccupyonlythesmall Nilgiris

Dis-trict at thejunction ofKerala, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu

states, but they share theirterritory with many othertribal

groupsandan evenlargernumber offairlyrecent immigrants

from the plains of south India The district area is 2,549

square kilometers, aboutthesame as thestate ofRhode

Is-land Althoughthe majorityofBadagasare still small-scale

farmers, thereis now asizablemiddleclasslivinginthe four

mainBritish-builttowns onthe plateau, andthe community

individual ideas ofhumanity (individual initiates), directcess to scriptural revelation, worship conducted inthever-nacularby thecongregation, simplicity of worship, incarna-tionofGodinthewrittenword, and salvation through faithand mysticalunion

ac-BibliographyCantlie, Audrey(1984).The Assamese London andDublin:Curzon Press

Censusof India 1961 Vol 3,Assam.New Delhi:Manager ofPublications

LeSHON KIMBLE

can boast several thousandcollege graduates Badaga tors,lawyers, teachers,andgovernmentofficials arevery plen-tiful, and there are also a few professors, agronomists, andpoliticians Although still largely a rural population, theyhave as high a rate of literacy (in TamilandEnglish) astheinhabitantsof Madras City Afewhouseholds can boast carsandimportedvideotape players.Several dozendoctors, engi-neers,and architects haverecently settled with theirfamilies

doc-inAmerica

Demography The Badagasnumber an estimated 145,000(1991), about 19 percent of the district population of630,169 (as of 1981) Progressive attitudes have made theBadagasanunusually successful farmingcommunity Popula-tionfiguresfrom the officialcensusesbear out this success:in

1812there were reportedly only 2,207 Badagas; by 1901 therewere34,178; today, about 145,000 Bydevelopingintensivecash-crop cultivation they have managed to accommodatethisgreatly increased labor force and improve their standard

ofliving With birth control in practice now for some twentyyears,theannualpopulation growth rate is down to about1.5percent (ourestimate)

LinguisticAffiliation Alland only speak Badaga, or more correctly Badugu, a Dravidian lan-guage.It is now adistinctlanguage,butitwasoriginallyde-rived fromsixteenth-century Kannada (or Canarese), whichbelongs to the South Dravidian Subfamily Today it containsmany words of EnglishandTamil origin, as well as many fromSanskrit In premodern times the language served as a linguafranca among the various Nilgiri tribes

Badagas-Badaga 15

History and Cultural Relations

The earlyBadagas, refugeesfrom the Muslim invaders of

My-sore, had to cut their farmsteads out of the Nilgiri forests

They continuedsomeslash-and-burncultivation there until

the 1870s By thattime theland demands of Britishteaand

coffeeplanters, then resident for halfacentury, had createda

market for farmland, which tempted many Badagas to sell

some of their land But most of theirlandwas retained By

theearly twentieth centurytheywerepursuingadvanced

edu-cation and some urbanprofessions

For many yearsnowthe Badagashave beenadaptingto

theirown use certainalien customsandtechniques.Nowhere

is this more evident than in agriculture

SettlementsThevillages, each inhabited only by Badagas of a particular

clan and usually containing no more than several hundred

people, consist ofparallelrows of stone or brick houses with

tiled roofs They lie along the slope of a hill on its leeward

side, for protection from the westerly monsoon The fields

spreadout all around.Upto a half-dozentemplesand shrines

for different Hindu gods are found in each village Modern

villages have electricity and piped water to communal taps,

but notlong ago the watersupplywas anearby stream or at

best a channel running into thevillage from a stream One

other universalfeature is avillagegreen, important as a

coun-cilplace, playground, dance ground, funeralplace, and

gen-eral grazing area for the calves The traditionalBadaga

two-room houses, still in common use, are built in groups of a

dozenorlessto form a continuous line alonga level piece of

ground They are now made of whitewashed brick and have

tiled or corrugated-iron roofs, but the traditional building

material was wattle and daub. Scarcely any thatched roofs

now remain.

EconomySubsistence and Commercial Activities In general

Badagasuse fields around thevillagesto practice mixed

farm-ingofmillets, barley, wheat,and a variety ofEuropean

vegeta-bles, two of which-the potato and cabbage-have now

as-sumedmajor commercial importance Millets were thestaple

until thiscentury, andtheywere sometimes cultivated in

for-estclearings bythe slash-and-burn technique Badaga

farm-ers use no irrigation; instead, they relyon the rainfall of two

regularmonsoon seasons.Duringthis centurytheyhave

grad-ually shifted from subsistencefarmingof traditional grains to

cash-crop farming of potatoes and cabbages After several

seasonsofdisease, potatoes wererecently superseded by

nu-merous small plantationsof tea (whichwas first introduced

herebythe British in 1835) andcabbagefields.Cropsof

Eu-ropean origin are now grown on machine-made terraces with

the help of chemical fertilizers, truck transport, improved

seed,and even crop insurance; similartechniquesare used on

theteaplantations,which must maintain world market

stan-dards Herdsof buffalo and cows arekeptfordairypurposes;

theseare less numerous than in the past, andtheyare never

keptfor meat, eventhoughmostpeopleare not vegetarians.

Poultry are frequently kept and ponies occasionally

Bee-keepingispracticed now, but in earlierdays onlywildhoney

was collected in the forests. Although potatoes and

pur-chased rice arethestaples nowadays, theBadagas allyatewheat andvarious millets Their mixedfarming pro-duces agoodvariety of both local andEuropeancrops, andtheir diet also may be complementedwithsomewild forestplants Most Badagasarenonvegetarian, eatingmuttonandoccasional wildgame Thereis noevidence ofopium addic-tion, although this was anopium-producing community in

tradition-the last century Illicitliquorisproduced.

Industrial Arts Although Badagashave beendoinging and urban trades for about a century, until 1930 theylookedtotheKotastosupplyall of theirneedsinpottery,car-

build-pentry, leather, blacksmithing, silver ornaments, thatching,

and furniture Badagas include no specialized artisan

Kotavillages Until 1930everyBadaga familyhadaKotasociatewhoprovidedaband ofmusicianswhenever therewas

as-a wedding or funeral in that family and who regularly nished the Badagaswith pottery, carpentry, thatching, andmostleather and metalitems In returnforbeing jacks-of-all-trades to the Badagas (who had no specialized artisans in

fur-their own community), the Kotas were suppliedwith clothand aportionof the annual harvestbytheirBadagaassoci-

ates.TheTodas,avegetarianpeople,weretheonlygroupin

theNilgiriHills whomtheBadagaswerewillingtoacceptas

nearequals.The two communitiesusedtoexchangebuffaloand attend each other'sceremonies. SomeTodasstillsupplytheirassociateswith baskets and otherjungle-grownproduce,

aswellasclarified butter(ghee). In returntheBadagasgivea

portion of their harvest Since 1930therelationshiphas come attenuated, as with the Kotas, largely because theBadaga populationhas increasedoutof all proportiontotheTodas andKotas;and also because theBadagasaredistinctly

be-more modernized The Kurumbas are seventribes ofjunglegatherers, gardeners,andsorcerers ontheNilgiri slopes.EachBadaga village has a "watchman," a Kurumba employedto

protect them from the sorcery of other Kurumbas He alsotakes partin someBadaga ceremonies as anauxiliary priestand supplies his Badaga friends with baskets, nets, honey,and otherjungle products The Badaga headman levies forhimafixed quantityofgrainfrom each householdinthe vil-lage Irulas and Uralisarethoughttobesorcererslike theKu-rumbas, if less effective ones,andaretreatedsimilarly.SomeChettis are itineranttraders who sell knickknackson afixedcircuitofBadaga villagesonce amonth,and have donesoforseveralcenturies. Theyalsohave minorceremonialconnec-

tionswiththeBadagas.Paniyansareagresticserfsonthe land

ofcertain Badagasand Chettis who inhabit the Wainad teau directly west ofthe Nilgiris proper Inaddition totheeconomic exchanges described above, the Badagas buy allkindsofgoodsinthe district'stownmarkets thatwerestarted

Pla-bythe British administrators around 1820.

Divisionof Labor Arigidsexualdivision oflaboris ent Men do the heavy field work ofplowing, sowing, andthreshing, whilewomendo thelighterwork ofweedingandhelpatharvest.Alldairyoperationsareconductedbymen orboys Women are responsible for preparing food Children

appar-16 Badaga

find much of their timetaken up withschool, although girls

are also expected to help in the home

Land Tenure According to legend, Badagas acquired

their first landasgifts from the Kotas and Todas already

set-tledinthearea;astimepassedtheysimply clearednewplots

from the forests Until 1862 such swidden cultivation was

still common, but henceforward it was prohibited by state

law This regulation has not been a great hardship, however,

because the richer and more valuable fields are the

perma-nent onesclose toeachvillage Irrigation is very rare but

ter-racing isnowwidespread House sites often have gardens

at-tached Formorethan acentury each farmer has registered all

of his landholdings with the localgovernment and has paid

an annual land tax proportional to the amount of land and

the quality of the soil Government also registers nonfarm

land for suchpurposes as a village site, public grazing,

crema-tiongroundorcemetery,temple site, roadway, or government

forest

Kinship

KinGroupsandDescent Eachvillagebelongs to just one

clan andcommonlycontains several lineages made up of

nu-merous extendedfamilies About a century ago a new Badaga

Christian phratry emerged, which is now made up of

numer-ousclans eachfollowing the usual rules of exogamy A male

always belongs to hisfather's extended family, lineage, clan,

phratry,and village This is also true of girls, but only up to a

point:oncetheymarry theyusually move to a new village and

are merged with the social units of their husbands There are

nofamily names, though lineages, clans, and phratries usually

have names, and villages always do

KinshipTerminology Badagas have a Dakota-type

ter-minology The cousin terminology is of the bifurcate-merging

(Iroquois) type

Marriage and FamilyMarriage Thefavored marriage partner is a cross cousin,

preferably a father's sister's daughter, or else a mother's

brother's daughter But other, more distant relatives are

ac-ceptable, providedclanexogamy isobserved Beyond this the

Badagas have what are, for Hindus, some unusual

regula-tions.Mostremarkable perhaps is that hypogamy is as

accept-able as hypergamy; marriages may occur between couples

coming from certain clans of different status, yet in these

casesitdoes notmatterwhether the groom is from the higher

orthe lower clan Generation level is recognized as a

distin-guishingfeature of men alone; women may change their

gen-erationlevels if theymarrysuccessive husbands belonging to

different generations It is even theoretically possible for a

mantomarry awoman and herdaughter and granddaughter

simultaneously, provided he does not thereby marry his own

offspring All three wives would thus attain the generation

level oftheir cohusband Gerontogamy-old men taking

young wives-is not at alluncommon Although a dowry has

becomearequirement during the past few years, it is not a

tra-ditionalpart of theBadaga marriagearrangements Instead a

bride-wealthof up to 200 rupees was, and still is, paid by the

groom's family This sum does not purchase the girl but is

payment for the ornaments she brings with her to the

wed-ding, and hence it has increased over the years with the price

ofgold Every Badagavillage belongsto oneparticularclanoranother and hence isexogamous: at marriage abride has toleave her natalvillage andmovetoher husband's Polygynyisacceptable, thoughnotnearlyas common asmonogamy Thenewly married couple always takes up residence in the hus-band's natal village, either under his father's roofin apatri-local extended family, or in a new house built nearby It is verycommon for them to sleep in a small room built on the ve-randa of the father's house untilthe first child comes, whenthey make arrangements to get their ownhouse Althoughayoung wife mayrepeatedly visit herownparents forshort peri-ods, especially to give birth, the married couple never livewith them Divorce and remarriage are easy for men, even forwomen, and are acceptable practices Widows can remarrywithout adverse comment Divorce is quite common, with thechildren and all property belonging to the husband.Domestic Unit Both nuclear and extended familiesoccur, but the small size of the houses places restrictions onlarge extended families They usually split up once the patri-arch of the family has died A nuclear family may often in-clude a mother or close collateral relative who is widowed.Al-

though household servants are now rare, until about fiftyyears ago there were indentured children from poor Badagahomes working as domestic serfs

Inheritance Property is impartible until the owner'sdeath, and then the land can be divided equally between hismale heirs, normally his sons Although an agreement on thepartition of the land may be written down and signed by thebeneficiaries, there are still many disputes over the inheri-tance of land The general principles of inheritance are: maleheirs should divide the land and cattle equally among them-selves, or, alternatively, they should maintain them as a jointproperty if they continue to be a joint household; females donot inherit anything; and the family's home goes to theyoungest brother among the heirs This latter practice ofulti-

mogeniture allows the widowed mother of those heirs to behoused and cared for by a younger and hopefully vigorousson If a wealthy man leaves other houses too, these aredi-

vided up among his other sons In poorer families the house issomehow partitioned among the sons and their wives, but theyoungest son is nonetheless the owner and has to be compen-sated by them for the space they use Headmanship of a vil-lage or group of villages is hereditary, and it passes from oneincumbent (before or after his death) to his brother and then

to the eldest son of the deceased man Some household cles or money may be given to a wife or daughters by a dyingman, at his request

arti-Socialization Babies are breast-fed for a year, then weaned

on solid food; in fact they begin eating boiled rice at 3 to 5months For about a century children have gone to localschools, from the age of 6 Younger children usually stay nearhome during the day, even though their parents may be outworking in the fields Grandparents and other elders stay inthe village to mind and educate the small children In lateryears the children help with housework and cultivation whenneeded and when school obligationspermit.The main child-hood ceremonies are naming (before the fortieth day), headshaving,earboring, starting at school, nostril piercing, milk-ing initiation (for boys at age 7 or 9), and girls' puberty rites.Tattooing (formerly done on girls) is no longer practiced

Badaga 17

Sociopolitical Organization

India is a constitutional and democratic republic, and the

Badagashave beeninvolvedinelectingrepresentativestothe

statelegislature since 1924.Buttheirowntraditional

socio-political organization alsois still alive

Social Organization The community is divided into a

number ofphratries.It is not correct tocall theseunits

sub-castes,fortheyare notaltogether endogamousandtheyhave

no forms of occupational specialization.They are like

sub-castes,however,inthattheyformahierarchy,with thecon.

servative Lingayat group, theWodeyas, at the top and the

headmen's official servants, the Toreyas, atthe bottom

Be-tweenthesetwoextremesthereare onephratryof vegetarians

and three phratriesofmeat eaters It isarguable that meat

eatersand vegetariansconstitute twomoieties.TheChristian

Badagas, startedbythe firstProtestant conversion in 1858,

now constituteaseparate meat-eating phratryranked below

the Toreyas butrespectedfor theirprogressive habits Each

phratry ismade up of several exogamous clans: two eachin

thecaseofToreyas, Bedas,andKumbaras,threeinthecase

ofWodeyas, and more in the other cases

Political Organization. Traditionally Badagas lived in a

chiefdom,and theyarestill underaparamountchief Thisis a

hereditary positionalways held by theheadmanofTuneri

vil-lage Below him arefour regional headmen, eachincharge of

allBadaga andKotavillageswithinonequarter(nadu)ofthe

Nilgiri Plateau At themostlocal levelavillagehasits own

headman, and severalneighboring villages (anynumber upto

thirty-three) constitutea commune.Eachcommunetakesits

namefrom its leading village; itsheadmanis also the

com-muneheadman

SocialControl TheBadagacouncil system still hassome

influence,although its judicial authority has been greatly

un-dermined by modemcourtsoflaw and the Indian legal

sys-tem.Eachheadman has hisowncouncil,made upinthecase

of communes by the constituent village headmen; the

re-gional council is made up of thecommuneheadmen; and the

paramountchief's council, rarely called together,consistsof

all the headmen from all levels The legal procedure requires

that a dispute or crime be considered first by the hamlet

council-with the headman's judgmentbeing final-but a

decision canbe appealed up through the hierarchy of

coun-cils Major land disputes andcasesofmurder formerly would

be brought to the paramount chief after consideration by

councils at a lower level Inearly times the headmen could

dictate severe punishments, including ostracism and

hang-ing.Today the headmen are mainly involved in small disputes

andinceremonialduties, and the district magistrate's court

handles more serious cases

Conflict Although intervillage feuding and factionalism

arestill common, and the massacring ofsupposed Kurumba

sorcerers sometimes occurredinthe last century, warfare as

such was unknown between the Nilgiri peoplesinpre-British

days, although itoften occurred on the adjacent plains of

south India Badagas have no offensive weapons, only the

nets and spears that were once usedinhunting A few now

own shotguns for the same purpose

Religion and Expressive Culture

Religious Beliefs Except for perhaps 2,500 Christians(Protestants and Roman Catholics in similar proportions,converts since 1858), all Badagas are Hindus of the Shaivitepersuasion A sizable minorityare however of the Lingayatsect,which is almost confinedtoKarnatakaState (formerlyMysore).This is a medieval sect, whichadoptedShivaas itsonly deity and which still worships him through a phallic sym-bol, the linga AmongBadagasthesect isrepresentedintheentiremembership ofseveralclans,namely Adikiri, Kanakka,Kongaru,and the three which make up theWodeya phratry.TheHindu Badagas, including these Lingayatclans,worshipquite anumber ofgods,all of which are sometimesexplained

as 'aspects" ofShiva These include Mahalinga and amma (the smallpox goddess), together with many deitiesunknown outside the Badaga community, among them theancestral Hiriodea and his consort, Hette

Mar-Religious Practitioners Most villages have twoorthreekinds of priest Inaddition, the Lingayat clans have gurus toperform theirspecial life-cyclerituals, andvarious Christianmissionaries, priests, andnuns work in thevillages too Men

of Woderu clan, one of the three clans of thehigh-rankingWodeya phratry, function as village priests for all non-Lingayatvillages The position is hereditary and usually life-long AllWodeyas are vegetarian and form an endogamousunit, thus maintaining the high standards of purity expected

of priests The Haruva clan, some of whom claim descentfrom Brahmans, are a non-Lingayat group who also supplysomehereditary priests (even though it is widely felt that theclaim to Brahman descent is unsubstantiated) In additionsomevillages have an accessory priest from a Kurumba tribewho, like the other twosorts of priest, helps in theperform-anceofafew annualceremonies Haruvapriestsusuallyper-form regular templeworship and also the life-cycle ceremo-niesfor individual families All priests are traditionally paidthrough a levy of grain or other produce from each house inthevillage they serve There is no hierarchy of thepriesthood,exceptthat the Lingayat gurus,spiritualadvisers who performlife-cyclerituals,do belong at the lowest level in anationwideLingayat hierarchy Because menstruation is considered animpurity, women never serve as priests Some however be-comepossessed during ceremonies and speak for the gods Afew men exorcise ghosts, although this service isoftenper-formed for the afflicted by non-Badaga exorcists and charmmakers (mantravadis)

Ceremonies Each village celebrates abouta dozen valsdungthe year The most important are Dodda Habba,

festi-"Great Festival," whichbegins the agricultural year in vember, and Deva Habba, "GodFestival," whichcelebratesthe harvestinJuly Mad Habbais intendedto keep smallpoxaway for the year and iscelebrated in a few villages by a fire-walking ceremony in which the devotees walk unscathedacross glowing charcoal with no protection for their feet Lifetransitions aremarkedby ceremonies, including thosemen-tioned above associated with childrearing, weddings, and fu-nerals On rare occasions each Badaga commune used tohold a huge memorial ceremony (manevale) in honor of awhole generation of the dead, once the last member of it hadpassed away This ceremony was last performed in 1936

No-18 Badaga

Arts While the verbal arts are highly developed in the

formsof sung epic poetry,tales, proverbs,andriddles,no

vis-ual arts are practiced at all Even embroidery for Badaga

shawlsisdone bywomenof the Toda tribe

Medicine OverthecenturiestheBadagashavedeveloped

theirownfolk medicine:itspracticeislargelyinthe hands of

women, and it depends heavily on mixturesoflocalherbs

Spellsarerelatively unimportantincuring,thoughcrucialin

ghostexorcism

Death andAfterlife The funeral is the mostimportantof

life-cycleceremoniesand theonlyone tobe conductedbythe

villageand itsheadman rather than by one'sownfamily.Its

ritual can lastfor a total of 11days, culminatinginthe release

ofthe soulfrom thevillageenvironment

Seealso Kota; Kurumbas; Toda

Thurston andKadamkiRangachari.Vol 1, 63-124.Madras:Government Press

PAUL HOCKINGS

Baiga

ETHNONYMS: Bhuiya,mija, Bhumijan

Bhumia, Bhumiaraja, Bhumij,

Bhu-BibliographyHockings,Paul Edward (1978).ABibliography fortheNilgiri

Hills ofSouthern India 2 vols New Haven,Conn.: Human

Relations Area Files

Hockings,Paul Edward(1980a).AncientHinduRefugees:

Ba-daga Social History, 1550-1975 The Hague: Mouton

Pub-lishers; NewDelhi: Vikas PublishingHouse

Hockings, Paul Edward(1980b).Sexand Diseasein a

Moun-tain Community New Delhi: Vikas Publishing House;

Co-lumbia, Mo.: South Asia Books

Hockings, Paul Edward (1982) "Badaga Kinship Rules in

Their Socio-Economic Context." Anthropos 77:851-874

Hockings, Paul Edward (1987) "The Man Named Unige

Mada(Nilgiri Hills, Tamilnadu)."InFolktalesofIndia,edited

by Brenda E F Beck, PeterJ. Claus, Praphulladatta

Gos-wami,andJawarharlal Handoo, 125-129 Chicago:

Univer-sityofChicagoPress

Hockings, Paul Edward (1988a) "The Badagas." In Blue

Mountains: TheEthnography andBiogeography ofaSouth

In-dianRegion,editedby PaulHockings, 206-231 NewDelhi:

OxfordUniversity Press

Hockings,Paul Edward (1988b).Counselfromthe Ancients:

AStudy of Badaga Proverbs, Prayers, Omens, and Curses

Ber-lin: Mouton de Gruyter

Jagor, Andreas Feodor (1876) "Die Badagas im

Nilgiri-Gebirge." IVerhandlungen der Berliner Gesellschaft fur

An-thropologie, Ethnologie und Urgeschichte 1876.1 Printedin

ZeitschriftfurEthnologie 8:190-204

Jagor,Andreas Feodor(1914).AusFedorJagor's Nachlassmit

Unterstitzuung derJagor-Stiftung hereausgegeben vonder

Ber-liner Gesellschaft ftur Anthropologie, Ethnologie und

Urges-chichte unter Leitung von Albert Griinwedel Siidindische

Volksstamme Vol 1. Berlin: DietrichReimer.

Thurston, Edgar, and Kadamki Rangachari (1909)

"Ba-dagas."In CastesandTribes ofSouthernIndia,editedby Edgar

OrientationIdentification The Baiga (who call themselves Bhumi-arajaorBhumijan) areaMundaorKolarianpeople (partofthe Bhuiya tribe) located in the centralhighlands of India.The name"Baiga"means'sorcerer,medicineman"and is ap-plied in this sense to the priestsof the Chota Nagpur tribe.The Bhuiyar of Mirzarpur arealso called Baiga, as are any in-dividuals who serve in the capacity ofvillagepriestinthisim-mediate region(cf the usage of thePardhan,Ghasiya, Khar-war, and Gond) The Kol and Gond consider the Baiga aspriests having knowledge of the secrets of the region's soil.They also recognize the Baiga as a more ancient people thanthemselves and respect their decisions inboundary disputes

Itisbelievedthat the Baiga migrated from Chhattisgarh intothe Satpura Hills on the western borders of the plains, andwere among the earliestresidents of the Chhattisgarh Plainsand the northern and eastern hill country

Location The locus of Baigaculture is an area formerlypart of the Central Provinces of India and now part ofMadhya Pradesh It extends from about 22' to 24' N and 80'

to 82' E

Demography In 1971 therewere 178,833 Baiga.Linguistic Affiliation TheBaiga have lost all trace of theirnative Austroasiatic language and have assimilated thespeech of their neighbors Verrier Elwin (1939) reported that

in Bilaspur they adoptedChhattisgarhi, in Mandla and bulpore they spoke a modified Eastern Hindi, in Balaghatthey spoke Marathi, Hindi, Gondi (or a combination ofMarathi, Hindi, and Gondi), and Baigani (a language ofIndo-Aryan Stock belonging to the Indo-European Phylum)

Jub-History and Cultural RelationsBaiga contact with otherpeoples and knowledge of regionsbeyond their own has beenminimal Many have never heard

of major urban areas adjacent to their immediate environs,such as Nagpur, Delhi, andBombay Relations with the Brit.ish during colonial rule werefavorable overall; the only sub-stantial point of contentionbetween the two parties waslimi-tations placed on bewar (shifting agriculture) by the British

As India sought independencefrom British rule,cal traditions about MahatmaGandhi began to emerge,su-perhuman status being ascribedto him by the Baiga Never-theless, Gandhi's attitude toward alcohol prohibition did

mythologi-Baiffa 19

resultin somenegative Baiga sentiment Christian

mission-ary efforts have met with little success among the Baiga

Elwin observedthattraditionalvillagelife had beguntodecay

(because ofprohibitions againstbewar and hunting, the

ef-fects of the Hinducastesystem, andthe pressuresimposed by

forcedmodernization) and that the Baiganolonger produced

thoseitemsnecessary fordaily survival

SettlementsThe Baigabuild villages eitherinthe form ofalargesquareor

withhouses alignedonthe sides ofabroad street

(approxi-mately 10 metersinwidth).Villages are located in areas

con-venientforcultivation with consideration also being givento

the aesthetic value anddegree of isolation ofthe intended

site.Village locations vary (jungles, high hills, and valleys),

but,wheneverpossible,alocation atopasteep hill(with

lim-ited access by footpath) is preferred The village boundary

(mero) is markedby a large expanse of land (approximately

30 meters wide) and is delimited by intermittently placed

piles of stones Theboundaryisreinforcedbyamagicwall

in-tended toprotectagainst wild animals anddisease The

vil-lage burial place (marqhat) islocated within thisboundary

The fourth side of thevillage (whichisopen)isprotectedby

either abamboo or cactushedge Individualresidence units

within thevillage aredetachedstructuresconnectedby

nar-rowroads Surrounding thevillage one finds bari (land set

aside for the cultivation of tobacco, maize, and sweet

pota-toes) Pig houses (guda) are attachedto each house within

thevillagesquare Cattle sheds (sar) are similarinstructure

toandbarelydistinguishablefrom human habitations

Plat-forms (macha) fordryingand storingmaize arefoundinthe

centeror atthe side of thevillage square Granaries,

corpo-rate houses, temples, and shrines areabsent from Baiga

vil-lages.Asmallcompound(chatti)foruseby travelers and

offi-cialsislocated outside thevillagesquare.Often these squares

aredominatedbyasingle familyanditsrelatives; members of

otherfamilies build their housesinsmall groups at some

dis-tancefrom themain areaof habitation.AtypicalBaiga house

isrectangularinshape Itusuallyhasasmallveranda and a

single entrance The interiorisdivided into two partsby grain

bins or abamboo wall The first room contains stands for

water pots and a fire keptburning for warmth The inner

roomhasahearth forcooking,behind which is a place for the

gods(deosthan) Accesstotheinner roombyoutsiders is

pro-hibited The veranda of the house containsthe ricehusker,

pestle, and grindstone

EconomySubsistence and Commercial Activities The Baiga raise

pigs (which are held in particularly high esteem), poultry,

goats, andcattle (cows, bullocks,andbuffalo) Dogs and cats

arekept The Baigaalsogrowseveralkinds of tobacco for

per-sonal use and import an alcoholic beverage manufactured

from the corolla of themahuatree (Bassia latifolia) Ganjais

usedfrequently but opiumuse is rare.Rice,variouskindsof

grain (kodon, kutki, andsiker), sweet potatoes, cucumbers,dal

(lentils), maize, roots, leaves, herbs, and young bamboo

shoots are amongthe itemsgrownorgatheredfor

consump-tion.Pej (thebrothinwhichrice orgrainhas beenboiled)is a

staple Thefollowing fruittrees areamong those grownbythe

Baiga: mountain black plum, mango, forest mango, white

teak, coromandel ebony, wild fig, banyan, Indian quince, andsebastenplum Leaves of thebutter tree,which are ground toproducechutney, are alsogathered Fish isconsumed, and allmeats are considered to be acceptable for consumption.The followinganimalsarehunted: sambardeer, blackbuck,barking deer, hares, mongooses, peacock, and various wild-fowl The Baigaalso hunt rats (seventeen varieties of whichhave been noted) and gather eggs Bewar is practiced Anareaof forest isselected,its treescut(leaving stumps about afoothigh) and allowed to dry, then burned Seed is sowedafter the firstrain Landcultivatedinthismanner is workedforanaverage of three years Inaddition to hunting, fishing,animal domestication, and agriculture, the Baiga derive in-come from the manufacture of bamboo products, from thecultivation and sale ofhoney, and by hiring themselves out aslaborers

Industrial Arts The Baiga do not spin fibers or weavecloth Clothing is purchased in local markets Few imple-ments aremanufactured by Baiga artisans Iron implementssuch as the axe(tangia), sickle (hassia), arrowheads, diggingtools (kudari and sabar), wood plane (basula), drilling tool(bindhna), and a grass-clearing tool (raphi) are purchasedfrom the Agaria, the Lohar, or other neighboring peoples.Manykinds ofbamboo andleaf baskets are manufactured bythe Baiga forpersonal use Wooden beds are also producedlocally

Trade The Baiga rely on trade to secure iron implements,salt, blankets, alcoholic beverages, and articles of clothingfrom neighboring peoples Trade activity seems limited tothese items.Otherwise, the Baiga are in large partself-reliant.Division ofLabor There exists no clear division of laborbased ongender Women may engage in almost all of the ac-tivities undertaken by men Men and women share the re-sponsibilityfor cooking (the husband assuming full responsi-bility when the wife is menstruating), gathering water,fishing,andwoodcutting.Only men are allowed to hunt, andwomen are not permitted to make khumris (wicker hoodslined with mohlain leaves, used when it rains) or thatch roof-ing for houses Women may participate in cultivation byclearing andlighting the field debris Women may not, how.ever, touch plows Women are also prohibited from killingpigs, goats, and chickens

LandTenure Thegarden lands immediately surroundingthe villageand the fields used for bewar appear to be consid-ered as thepropertyoftheindividual members of particularhouseholds

KinshipKin Groups and Descent The Baigaare strictly endoga-mous, though Baiga menwho take non-Baiga wives may havetheir spouses admitted to the tribe by theperformance of cer-tain rites.The tribe is divided into several relatively endoga-mous jat Each of these jatoccupies a separate territory andthere isconsiderable intergroup rivalry over the issue of supe-riority Thevariousjatinclude the Binjhwar (also Binchwar),Mondya, Bheronnthya, Muria Baiga, Narotia, Bharotia,Nahar, Raibhaina, Kathbhaina, Kondwan (or Kundi),Gondwaina, Bhumia,Kurka Baiga, SawatBaiga,and Dudh-bhaina Thesejat are also subdivided intoexogamous garhand goti, the formerbeing of greater importance than the lat-

20 Baiga

ter Thegarhis a unitbasedonresidence.It isbelieved that

originallyeveryBaigamanwasattachedto aspecific jungleor

hill andwasrequiredto secure matesforhisdaughtersfrom

otherjungles orhills,therebypreventingincest.These garh

are not totemic.Elwin suggests that theBaigakinshipsystem

emphasizes classification over other concerns Descent is

patrilineal

Kinship Terminology Iroquois kinship terminology is

employedfor firstcousins.

Marriage and FamilyMarriage Premarital relations between men andwomen

are common and socially sanctioned Formal engagement

takesplaceatanyage, thoughfrequentlyafterpuberty. The

engagement processininitiatedbythe male Theconsentof

his desired spouse and her parents (alongwith payment of

thebride-price) are required before the betrothal may take

place Thechiefactors inthe ceremonyarethe dosi (twoold

menwho arerelated to thebride and groom and perform the

greater part of the religious ceremonies) and the suasin

(youngunmarriedsisters or cousinsof the brideandgroom)

The ceremony takes place over several days and includes

feasting,the takingof omens, the anointing andbathingof

thebridal pair,anumber of ceremonial processions, the

con-structionof a booth (marua), the tying of the bridal pair's

clothesin aceremonialknot, and the giving ofgifts (bythe

bridegroom's fathertothe bride's paternalgrandmother,her

mother, herbrother, the dosi, andthe suasin) The couple

spend theirfirstnighttogether in the jungle and perform the

beni chodnaceremony, part of whichincludes the ceremonial

bathing of oneanother The ceremony described above may

be performed only once in life A less elaborate ceremony

(having nosocial stigma attached to it) called the haldi-pani

orchuri-pairana marriage maybeperformedmorethan once

The latter ceremony is roughly equivalentto marriage in a

registry office It mayprecede the more elaborate form

de-scribed above Its use depends on thepreference of the parties

involved Divorce is allowedand polygamy is practiced to a

somewhatlimited extent Postmarital residenceispatrilocal

Baiga norms also permitthe marriage of a grandparent to a

grandchild

Domestic Unit The size and composition of the typical

domesticunitvary.Thereisevidence of nuclear and extended

family structure (e.g., father, mother, elder son, elder son's

wife, younger son, and younger son's wife, forming a

residen-tialunit)

Inheritance The practice of shifting cultivation and the

nomadic tradition of the Baiga have contributedtoarather

ambiguous stance toward property andinheritance.The

cor-pus ofBaiga possessionsincludesaxes,cookingutensils,

vari-ousornaments, and cash.The home and all of its contents

belong to the male head of the family After marriage,

every-thing that awife earns belongs to her husband If she runs

away from or divorces her husband, she forfeitsclaimto

any-thing thather present husband has given her However,

what-everpossessions she has brought with her into the union from

her parents' homeremain with her A widow is able, in some

instances, to retain a portion of her deceased husband's

prop-erty Such property would remain in the widow's possession

should she choose to remarry The earnings of sons and

daughters also belong to their father Should a father approve

of hisson'schoice of a mate, then he may electtogiveatainamountof his personal property (e.g., cookingutensils,axes, andcloth)tohissonif thesonhas electedtoestablishaseparatehousehold Otherwise, theearnings ofthesonandthose of his wifebelongtothe son's father The male head ofhouseholdisempowered,during his lifetime, to apportion allproperty according to his discretion Whena man dies, hispropertyisinherited by his sonor sons Provision ismade forstepsonstoreceive asmaller portion A son who remains withhisfather and maintains him until the time of the father'sdeath willreceiveaslightly larger portion of the father's prop-erty Widowsaregenerally maintainedontheestatesof theirdeceasedhusbands until such timeastheyareremarried, andeach widowisentitled to a shareinher husband'sestateequal

cer-to a son's share Frequently daughters also receive a smallportionofadeceased father's property Ifa manissurvivedonlyby nephews andgrandsons, his property isequally di-vided among them Should he be survivedonlybyanadoptedson, then that adopted son receives all of the adoptive fa-ther's property

Socialization Child rearing is shared equally by bothents Achildis suckledby the mother for three years, thenweaned From that point on, children are allowed a great deal

par-offreedom, sexualand otherwise As there are no children'sdormitories, children are allowedtoexploreand experimentfreely within their households and within the larger society

Sociopolitical OrganizationSocialOrganization As hasalreadybeen noted above, theBaiga are divided into several endogamous jat, which arethemselves subdivided into exogamous garh and goti Socialrelationshipsbetween the different jat are governed by a series

of detailed and rathercomplicated regulations Few, if any,caste prejudices are held by the Baiga, though some havebeen knowntoavoid untouchables and those who consumebeef(outoffear ofoffending their Hindu neighbors).Political Organization. Baiga villages appear to be gov-erned autonomously, withleadership being exercised by thevillageheadman (mukkadam) Other village officials includethe landlord (malguzar) and watchman (katwar) Legal dis-putes and tribaloffenses are handled by the panch, a groupcomposed ofkey village members who convene with a quo-rumof five

Social Control Traditional Baiga jurisprudence governstriballifeto agreaterextentthan regulations established bynationalauthorities This jurisprudence is concerned chieflywiththe maintenance of tribal integrity and prestige Control

ismaintained by tribalexcommunication, fines, and onment These matters are decided by both informalproce-dures (i.e., bynonstructuredconsultation of various commu-nity members) and formal procedures (i.e., by the villagepanch) Tribal consensus, obtained by both formal and infor-malstructures, regulates social behavior

impris-Conflict Christian missionaries and Hindu culture havehadminimal direct influence on the Baiga Material culture,however, has been affected by Hindu influence The Baiga arealmostcompletelydependentonneighboring peoples for themanufacture of the goods that they consume, and their rela-tions withthese peoples (as well as with the British andIn-

Baiga 21

dian governments) have not been characterized by

long-standing conflict The only major issue ofcontention has

been that of Baigaagricultural practice

Religion and Expressive Culture

Religious Beliefs The Baigaworship a plethora of deities

Theirpantheonisfluid,thegoal of Baigatheological

educa-tionbeingto masterknowledgeofanever-increasing number

of deities.Supernaturalsaredividedinto twocategories:gods

(deo), who are considered to be benevolent, and spirits

(bhut), who are believedtobe hostile Some Hindu deities

have beenincorporatedintothe Baiga pantheon because ofa

sacerdotal role that the Baigaexerciseonbehalf of the

Hin-dus.Someof themoreimportantmembers of the Baiga

pan-theon include: Bhagavan (thecreator-godwhoisbenevolent

andharmless);BaraDeo/BudhaDeo(once chiefdeityof the

pantheon, who has beenreduced to the status of household

god because of limitationsplacedonthe practice ofbewar);

ThakurDeo (lordandheadman of the village); Dharti Mata

(mother earth); Bhimsen (rain giver); and Gansam Deo

(protector against wild animalattacks) The Baiga also honor

severalhousehold gods, themostimportantof whichare the

Aji-Dadi (ancestors) who live behind the family hearth

Magical-religiousmeans areusedto controlboth animals and

weatherconditions,to ensurefertility, to cure disease, andto

guaranteepersonal protection

Religious Practitioners Major religious practitioners

in-clude the dewar and the gunia, the former ofahigherstatus

than the latter The dewarisheldingreat esteemand is

re-sponsible for theperformance ofagricultural rites, closing

vil-lageboundaries, and stoppingearthquakes The gunia deals

largely with themagical-religious cure of diseases The panda,

apractitioner from the Baigapast,is nolonger of great

promi-nence Finally, the jan pande (clairvoyant), whose access to

thesupernatural comes bymeans ofvisions and dreams, is

also important

Ceremonies The Baiga calendarislargely agriculturalin

nature The Baigaalso observe festivalsatthe times ofHoli,

Diwali, and Dassara Dassara is the occasion during which

theBaigahold their Bida observance,a sortofsanitizing

cere-mony in which themendispose of any spirits that have been

troubling themduring the past year.Hindu rites do not,

how-ever, accompany these observances The Baiga simply hold

festivalsduring these times.The Chertaor Kichrahi festival

(achildren's feast) is observed in January, the Phag festival

(at which womenareallowedtobeatmen) is held in March,

theBidriceremony (for theblessing and protection of crops)

takesplace in June, the Hareli festival (to ensure good crops)

isscheduled for August,andthe Polafestival (roughly

equiv-alent to the Hareli) is held in October The Nawa feast

(thanksgiving for harvest) followsthe end of therainyseason

Dassara falls in October with Diwali coming shortly

thereafter

Arts The Baigaproduce fewimplements.Thus there is

lit-tle to describeinthe area of the visualarts Theirbasketry

may be soconsidered, as maytheirdecorative doorcarving

(though this is rare), tattooing (chiefly of thefemalebody),

andmasking Frequent tattoodesigns include triangles,

bas-kets, peacocks, turmeric root, flies, men, magic chains, fish

bones, and other items of importance in Baiga life Men

sometimeshave the moon tattooed on the back of a hand and

a scorpion tattooed on a forearm Baiga oral literature cludes numeroussongs,proverbs, myths, andfolktales Danc-ing is also animportant part of their personal and corporatelives; it is incorporated into all festal observances Importantdances include the Karma (the major dance from which allothersare derived), the Tapadi (for women only), Jharpat,Bilma, andDassara (for menonly)

in-Medicine For the Baiga, most illness is traceable to theactivity ofone or moremalevolent supernatural forcesortowitchcraft Little is known ofthe natural causes of disease,thoughtheBaigahavedeveloped a theory about venereal dis-eases (allof which they place within a single classification).The most frequent cure cited for the cure ofsexually trans-mitted diseases is sexualintercourse with avirgin Anymem-ber of theBaigapantheon may be held responsible for send-ing sickness, as may the mata, "mothers of disease," whoattack animals and humans.Thegunia ischargedwith the re-sponsibilityofdiagnosing disease and with the performance

of those magical-religious ceremonies required to alleviatesickness

Death andAfterlife Afterdeath, the humanbeingislieved to break down into three spiritual forces The first(jiv)returns to Bhagavan (who lives on earth to the east of theMaikal Hills) The second (chhaya, "shade") is brought tothe deceased individual's home to reside behind the familyhearth The third (bhut, "ghost") is believed to be the evilpart of anindividual Since it is hostile to humanity, it is left

be-inthe burial place The dead are believed to liveinthe samesocioeconomic statusintheafterlife that they enjoyed whilealiveonearth They occupy houses similar to thoseinhabited

by themduring their actual lifetimes, and they eat all of thefood thatthey gave away when they were alive Once this sup-plyisexhausted, they are reincarnated Witches and wickedpersons donotenjoysuch a happy fate However, no counter-parttothe eternalpunishment of the wicked foundinChris-tianityobtains among the Baiga

See also Agaria; Bhuiya

BibliographyChattopadhyaya, Kamaladevi (1978) Tribalism in India.NewDelhi: Vikas Publishing House

Das, Tarakchandra (1931) The Bhumijas of Seraikella cutta: University of Calcutta

Cal-Elwin, Verrier (1939) The Baiga London: John Murray.Elwin, Verrier (1968) The Kingdom of the Young London:Oxford University Press

Fuchs, Stephen (1960) The Gond and Bhumia of EasternMandla Bombay: Asia Publishing House

Misra, P K (1977) "Patterns of Inter-Tribal Relations." InTribalHeritageofIndia Vol 1,Ethnicity,Identity, andInterac-tion, edited by S C Dube, 85-117 New Delhi: Vikas Pub-lishing House

Roy, SaratChandra(1935) The Hill Bhuiyas of Orissa-with

22 Baiga

Comparative Notes on the Plains Bhuiyas Ranchi: Man in

India Office

Russell, R.V.,and Hira Lal(1916) 'Baiga." The Tribes and

Castesofthe Central Provinces ofIndia Vol. 2, 77-92

Lon-don: Oxford University Press Reprint 1969 Oosterhout:

Muslim, seminomadic pastoralists, whose homelands

strad-dle the Iran-Pakistan borderaswellasincludingasmall

por-tionof southernAfghanistan

Location. Baluchistan is the name of the westernmost

province ofPakistan,aswellasof the transnationalterritory

of the traditional Baluchi homeland Thislargerregion was

carvedupbytheimperialpowersconcernedmorewitheaseof

administration than withrecognitionofthe territorial limits

of the inhabitants ThetraditionalBaluchi territoryextends

fromthe southeastern portionof the IranianPlateau across

the Kirman Desert to thewestern borders of Sindand the

Punjab, and from the Gumal Riverinthe northeast tothe

ArabianSeainthe south Thisis alargely inhospitable land,

much ofitbarren desertorharsh mountainous terrain.

Ba-luchiterritorylies outside themonsoonbelt,and annual

rain-fallis verylow,notexceeding16centimeters.Throughoutthe

region, winters areharsh andcold,andsummers are veryhot

In the mountains, the rains come in October and March,

while inthe lowlands they come inJulyand August

Demography Population figures for the Baluchi are

somewhat suspect, in part because of the unreliability of

census-taking procedures across the three major political

unitsthatnowcontrol Baluchi territory,and partly because

thecriteria forascribing Baluchi identityare nottightly

de-fined.Onthe strength of linguisticcriteria,thereare an

esti-mated5millionor soBaluchispeakers livingin eastern Iran,

southern Afghanistan, and in Pakistan However, Baluchi

havein some areasbecomelinguistically assimilatedto

neigh-boring peoples whileretaining aspecificallyBaluchi cultural

identity; this means that ifsociocultural rather than purely

linguisticcriteria wereused, the populationcountcould

eas-ily exceed9 million Many Baluchihave migrated to

Pakis-tan'sSindand Punjabprovinces, andtotheemiratesof the

PersianGulf

Uinguistic Affiliation TheBaluchi languageis amember

of the Indo-Iranic Language Family, having some affinity

with Kurdish There are three distinct divisions: Eastern,

Western, and Southern Baluchi Until the nineteenth

cen-turythelanguage hadno writtenform, because Persian wasthelanguageof official use.Illiteracyisextremely high amongthe Baluchi

History and Cultural RelationsLegend hasitthat theBaluchi peoplearedirectlydescendedfrom AmirHamza, one of Mohammed's uncles, andmigratedintothe transnational region of Baluchistan fromsomewhere

in the vicinity of Aleppo, in Syria The migrations thatbrought them to theircurrentterritorybeganaslong agoasthe fifth century andwere more orlesscomplete by the endofthe seventh Prior to thetwelfth century, theirswas asociety

of independent, more or less autonomous seminomadicgroups, organized along principles of clan affiliation ratherthan territorial association Asthepopulation of the regionincreased, access to land assumed greater and greater impor-tance, giving rise to a system oftribes, each withaterritorialbase The first successful attemptto uniteseveral Baluchitri-bal units wasaccomplished byMirJalalHan, whosetup theFirst Baluchi Confederacy in the twelfth century, but thisunity did notlong survive his rule Warfare betweenvariousBaluchi tribes and tribal confederacies was frequent duringthe fifteenth century, largely owing to economic causes Bythe sixteenth centurythe Baluchis were roughly divided upinto three separate political entities: the Makran State, theDodai Confederacy, and the khanate of Baluchistan (theKalatConfederacy).Intheeighteenthcentury, Mir AbdullahKhan of the KalatConfederacy succeeded in reuniting all ofBaluchistan, providing a centralized government based onRawaj, thecustomary law of the Baluchi people The arrival

of the British in theregionhad profound effects on the futuretrajectoryof Baluchi development Uninterested in the re-gion economically, the British were solely concerned with es-tablishing a buffer zonethat could forestall the encroachment

of the Russians upon the rich prize of India To further thisend, the Britishrelied on the manipulation of Baluchi triballeaders, cash handouts, and the establishment of garrisons,but they paid noattention to the economic development ofthe region itself

SettlementsThe Baluchi have two types of settlements, consistent withtheir seminomadicway of life Village settlements are clusters

of mud houses,loosely oriented around the house of the localchief These permanentsettlements are found in the moun-tains and valleys, and they are occupied chiefly in the sum-mer In winter the people migrate to the plains and thecoastal areas,seeking pasturage for the livestock that are cen-tral to the traditional Baluchi economy During this time, theBaluchi live in tents, moving freely across the landscape asconditions favor the care of their herds, and settlements aresmaller, consisting of closely related kin

EconomySubsistence andCommercial Activities The traditionalBaluchi economy is based on a combination of subsistencefarming and seminomadic pastoralism (cattle, sheep, andgoats) Because of the harshness of the environment, agricul-ture is somewhatlimited, but it nonetheless constitutes a sig-nificant part of the economy The principal crop is wheat

Baluchi 23

Wild fruits andvegetablesalso formapart of thehousehold

economy, and chickens maybe raisedaswell When the local

economycannotprovide adequateopportunities, youngmen

may migrate out insearch ofpaidlabor

IndustrialArts The Baluchiare aself-sufficientlot,as a

whole, and they rely on their own skills to construct their

houses and many of the tools necessaryintheirday-to-day

life Rugs are wovenfor household use andasitemsoftrade

also

Divisionof Labor The entire household participates in

the work oftending thefamily's herd,butinother aspects of

the economy thereis adivision of laborbysex: womenwork

in groups tothresh and winnow the grainharvest, while

plow-ingandplanting are men's work The gathering ofwild foods,

water, and firewood is done by groups ofwomen

Land Tenure By tradition, land is not privately owned

but ratherisvestedinthe subsection of the tribetowhichone

belongs It therefore is inalienable by the individual

How-ever, during the British period, tribal leaders often managed

tohave title to some propertyconveyedintheir own names

KinshipBaluchi kinship is patrilineal, tracingdescent through one of

severallineages,ultimatelybacktothe putativeapical

ances-tor, Amir Hamza.Clan membership is based on familial ties,

whiletribal membership has a more specifically territorial

re-ferent.Forboth males andfemales,one remains amember of

one's patrilineal group for life-even after marriage, for

ex-ample, a woman's"real" homeisthat of herfather, and her

position inher husband's housebringstoher only very

lim-ited rights

Marriage and FamilyBaluchi marriages arearranged between the bride's father and

the prospective groom upon the payment of a bride-price

con-sisting oflivestock and cash On marriage, a woman passes

fromthe control of her fathertothat of herhusband

Mar-riage is monogamous and is expected to be forlife Adultery

wastraditionally punishable by the death of both parties

in-volved Marriage to a non-Baluchi is rigidly proscribed

Post-maritalresidence is patrilocal

Inheritance All heritable property passes from father to

sons

Socialization Baluchmayar, or"the Baluchi Way," isthe

guidingprinciple of proper conduct for the Baluchi people It

is a sortof honor code, entailing the extension of hospitality,

mercy, refuge, and honesty to one's fellows, and it is

reaf-firmed in the oraltraditions of Baluchi song and poetry

Chil-drenlearnproper behaviorthrough observing their eldersand

through being subjectto tauntand gossipshouldtheybehave

badly

Sociopolitical Organization

Baluch society is organized both into kin-based clans and

territorially definedtribes Onecould claim a rough

corre-spondence between the clanand the socialhierarchyas

dis-tinctfrom thetribe and themorespecifically political sphere,

but thiscorrespondenceis notabsolute.TheBaluchipeople

are an amalgam of many largeunits, orchieftaincies, each

oneof whichisitselfcomposedofanestedsetof smallerganizationalunits.Fromlargesttosmallest,theseconstituentunits canbest be understoodasclans,clan sections, andsub-sections-with smaller segments of this last division beingthe levelthat mostclosely correspondsto actual settlementunits At each level of this hierarchy, leadership is in thehands ofamale elder.Attheleastcomprehensivelevel, suchleadership is as likely tobe achieved as inherited, but overtimeauthorityatthemoreinclusive levelshas devolvedtotheelders ofwhat have becomehereditary "chiefly clans" (Sar-darkel) By the fifteenth century, the Sardarkel formed the or-ganizationalfoci ofalooselyunderstood feudal system, whichhaddevelopedinto a setof semiautonomous sovereign prin-cipalitiesbytheeighteenthcentury Duringtheimperial pe-riod, the Sardarkel served as mediators between British andlocal interests, losing a great deal of their original autonomy

or-inthe process However, as aresult of their participationinsecuring the interests ofthe rulingpower, much land andwealth accrued to these groups, establishing a new and morepurelyeconomicbasis fortheir leadership role, as well as al-lowing them to develop something of a monopoly over access

tothelarger political systems within which the Baluchi ple now found themselves As a "stateless" people, theBaluchipolitical presence is today somewhat attenuated Inthe 1970s and 1980s,a number of groups sprang up in thenameof Baluchi nationalism, but their activities have beenlargely of a guerrilla nature and, as yet, they have been unable

peo-to secureinternational supportfor their cause

Social Control Although Muslim, the Baluchi do not voke Sharia (Islamic law) to deal with social transgressions.Rather, secular authority is vested in the traditional triballeaders (Sardars) and conducted according toRawaj,which isbased on the principles of Baluchmayar The ultimate tradi-tionalsanction wasprovided by the mechanism of the bloodfeud, invoked by the clan to avenge the wrongful death of one

in-of itsmembers Capital punishment was also traditionally plied in cases of adultery or the theft of clan property Refusal

ap-tocomply with the socially prescribed norms of hospitality ispunishable by fines imposed by the local elders Pardon formanysocial infractions can be obtained by the intercession offemale representatives of the offender's family In the case ofall offenses except that of adultery, the offender may seek ref.uge in the household of a nonrelatedclan, which obligatesthe householdproviding sanctuary to fight to the death to de-fend the refugee Petitions for such sanctuary must begranted, according to the code ofBaluchmayar Formal pub-lic taunting, in verse as well as in directspeech, provides a fur-thermechanism by which compliance with the Baluchi code

of behavior is enforced

Conflict The warrior tradition of the Baluchi extendsback throughout their history, reachingits fullest flowering inthe eleventh to fourteenth centuries, at a time coincidentwith their need to establish a settlement base from which toconduct their seminomadic way of life During the imperialperiod the British imposed a policy ofpacification upon theregion and enforced it by maintaining a substantial garrisonpresence The Baluchi reputation forproducingfiercewarri-ors is today recalled primarily in the activities of the "freefighters" of the Baluchi nationalist movement

24 Baluchi

Religion and Expressive Culture

ReligiousBeliefs The Baluchi todayare Sunni Muslims

but, accordingtomany of the traditional ballads of the

Ba-luchi, theyhaveinthe past claimedtobe followers ofCaliph

Ali and thuswere onceShia Muslims.Priortothe coming of

Islam, theBaluchiwereprobablyfollowers ofZoroaster, and

tracesofearlier, non-Islamic beliefs arestill retainedin

cur-rentreligiousobservance Inanycase, and unlike the

situa-tionfoundinmuch of the Muslimworld,religiousbelief and

practice are considered to be a private affair-there is no

Baluchi concept ofa "religious state." Secular authority is

quitedistinct from thespiritual authorityvestedinreligious

leaders.Itappears thattheirreligiousorientation(Sunni

ver-susShia)hassomethingofapoliticalcomponentto it:when

Iran was alignedwith theSunni sect ofIslam, theBaluchi

professed forShia; whereas, when Iran embraced Shia, the

Baluchipromptlyrealignedthemselves asSunni

Religious Practitioners Religiousinstruction and

obser-vance are ledby the local mullah

Arts Althoughthe Baluchiarelargelyanilliteratepeople

and theirlanguage was until quite recently unwritten, they

havea longtradition of poetic composition, and poets and

professional minstrelshave beenheldinhigh esteem Their

oral literatureconsistsof epic poetry, ballads ofwarand

ro-mance,religiouscompositions, and folktales Much

composi-tion is given overtogenealogicalrecitals as well This poetic

creativitytraditionallyhadapractical as well asaesthetic

as-pect-professional minstrels long held the responsibility of

carryinginformation fromone toanotherof the scattered

Ba-luchi settlements, andduring the time of the First Baluchi

Confederacy these traveling singers provided an important

meansby which theindividualleaders of each tribe within the

confederacy could be linked to the centralleadership The

earliestsecurelydated Baluchi poem still knowntoday dates

to the late twelfth century, although the tradition of such

compositions is nodoubt of much greater antiquity

BibliographyBaloch, Inayatullah(1987) The Problem of Greater Baluchis-

tan: AStudyof BaluchNationalism Stuttgart: SteinerVerlag

Wiesbaden

Pastner,StephenL.(1978)."BaluchFishermeninPakistan."

Asian Affairs 9:161-167

Pehrson, Robert N (1966) The Social Organization of the

Marri Baluch VikingFundPublicationsinAnthropology,

ed-ited byFredrikBarth,no 43 New York: Wenner-Gren

Foun-dation forAnthropological Research

Salzman, Philip C.(1971)."MovementandResource

Extrac-tion among Pastoral Nomads: TheCaseofthe Shah Nawazi

Baluch." Anthropology Quarterly 44:185-197

Wirsing, Robert (1981) TheBaluchis and Pathans London:

Minority Rights Group

NANCY E GRATTON

Bania

ETHNONYMS: Agarwal, Agarwala, Agarwal Marwadi, wal,Agrawal, Bani, Baniik, Banikar,Baniya, Banjig, Bamik,Mahajan, Marwadi Bania, Marwari, Oswal, Sahukar, Sarna-banik, Seth, Sonarbania, Sowcar, Subarnabanik, Vani, Vania

Aggar-Orientation

"Bania" is afunctional termappliedtobankers,ers, and dealers in grain, ghee, groceries, and spices Thename vania(or bania) is derived from the Sanskrit word vanij,.a merchant." An interesting aspect of this groupisthat some

moneylend-of them are Hindusbyreligion whileasubstantial number areJains.

Baniaarefound alloverIndia,in townsandvillages,withlarge concentrations in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan,West Bengal, and Madhya Pradesh An extremely largegroup, Banias are distinguished by their well-defined tradi-tionaloccupationand a distinctive social status More Baniasadhere to theirtraditional occupation in modem India thanany othercaste orgroup.They are consideredtobeVaisyas,the third great division of the Aryantwice-bom groups Theywearthesacred thread and are strict observers of the tabooagainst eating meat They are divided into several endoga-mous subcastes The important ones, like the Oswals andAgarwals, are of Rajput or Kshatriya stock and come fromRajputana, Bundelkhand, orGujarat Others migratedcen-turies agotodifferent parts of the country, where they havebecome endogamous and have takenon anewlocal name.Because oftheir need tokeep accounts, Banias have longbeen aliterate group,and they are credited with special men-talandmoralcharacteristics by other castes Like allmercan-tileclasses,theydisplay energy, shrewdness, and intelligence.Consequently theyhave been employed by Rajput princes ascounselors and high officers of the state From early child-hood Baniaboys are trained to keep accounts and are taught

to viewprofit asthe only creditable outcome of any tion Tothis end, they receive training in mental arithmetic,includingfractionaltables, interest tables, and other complexcalculations For petty accounts Banias traditionally used therekhasystem, which is based on fourths, tied to the old cur-rency in which 12 paise= 1 anna and 16 annas= 1rupee.They are capitalists par excellence, and even atthe beginning

transac-of their trading careers they are able to turn over their tory at a veryhigh rateby dint of hard work Their career is re-flected in such proverbs as,"He comes with a Iota (water pot)and goes back with a lakh(100,000),"and'If a Bania gets arupee, he will have an income of 8 rupees amonth."

inven-EconomyThe Banias' relationship with members of other castes istinged with envy.Asmoneylenders they provide an essentialfunction, especially for cultivators; but they are seen as ruth-less usurers The cultivators, usually illiterate, rarely get fairtreatment from the Banias They do not understand figures orthe result of paying compound interest at 25 or 50 percent.They must have money at planting time and to live on whiletheir crops are growing The result is thatfrequently the land,

if salable, passes to the Bania, and the borrower declines from

Baul 25

landownerto tenant ortenant todaylaborer There are many

proverbs, in most Indian languages, warning against the

Baniasandtheircunning Nevertheless without them the

tra-ditionalfarming economy would beimpossible The Banias

arewillingtolend on security thatisunacceptable tobanks,

andfrequentlyon noneatall.Theyarewillingtowait

indefi-nitelyfor the repayment of principal, especially if the interest

ispaid.Thismeansthat debts can bepostponedinabadyear

andrepayment acceleratedin a goodone

Theintroductionof cash as the basis of all transactions

and the changes in thelaws governing the proprietary and

transferable rights inland have added tremendously to the

Banias' prosperity and totheirclients' perception of their

ra-pacity But in their defense it must be said thatalthoughthe

interest they charge isexorbitant by modem banking

stan-dards, it ismerely a carryover from earlier peasant agrarian

conditions when the entire transaction was made in grain A

25-50percent rate of return in grain does notyieldmorethan

a reasonableprofit to the lender But when in recent times

cash has beensubstituted forgrain, interest may far outstrip

any income that the investment has generatedfor the

bor-rower Furthermore, whereas in earlier times aloanofseed

wasessentiallyforplanting,mostof the loanstoday are

con-sumer loans taken for expenses like dowries and marriage

expenses

Like any commercial class, the Banias had to have ahigh

standard of probity It was not unusual for people toplace

their money in a rich Bania's hands forsafekeeping

Bank-ruptcy was considereddisgracefulandpunished.Thedutyof

payingancestraldebts is takenseriously,sinceBaniasbelieve

that their condition in the next lifedependsonthedischarge

ofall claims in this one The Banias are well known for

keep-ing caste funds to whichallofthemcontributetoenableany

impoverished member to startafresh.Today the Marwaris are

extremely generous in their subscriptions for the mainte

nance ofeducational institutions and temples

MarriageThe marriage rules varyamong the local groups; but on the

whole the subcastes are endogamous, and they inturn are

di-vided into exogamous units that are sometimes called gotras

Widow remarriageanddivorce are not allowed Although it is

notcustomary to paydowryorbride-price,amarriage requires

theyouth'sfathertomake ritualprestationstothegirl Bania

weddings involve great expense, and feasting may last eight

days

At Divali, in addition to Ganapati, the Banias worshipLakshmi, the goddess ofwealth She is considered to be the de-ifiedcow,and as such is the other main source of wealth both

asthe mother of thebull,whichisthe tiller of thesoil,and thegiverofmilk from whichgheeismade Divali is also thebegin-ning of the accounting year,and aceremony veneratingthenewaccount books andinvoking Lakshmi is conducted TheotherimportantfestivalisHoli,whenMarwanis make an imageoutof mud of Nathu Ram,whowas supposedtobe agreatMarwari The image ismocked and beaten with shoes; aftertwo or three days it isbroken up and thrown away Mock con-testsbetween men and women and the throwing of coloredpowderare universal features of Holi Banias both Jain andHinduusually begin the day with a visit to the local temple.The dead are as a rule cremated,and the ashes throwninto a sacred river or stream A period of mourning is ob-served for an odd number of days.Professional mourners may

be employed The mourning period is followed by a feastgiven to local members of the caste

See alsolain;Vaisya

BibliographyDarling, Malcolm Lyall (1925).The Punjab Peasant in Pros-perity and Debt London: Oxford University Press 4th ed

1978 Columbia, Mo.: South Asia Books; New Delhi:ManoharBook Service

Enthoven, Reginald E (1922) "Vanias." In The TribesandCastes of Bombay, edited byReginald E Enthoven Vol 3,412-442 Bombay: Government Central Press Reprint

1975 Delhi: CosmoPublications

Risley,Herbert Hope(1891) 'Subamabanik." In The Tribesand Castes of Bengal, edited by Herbert Hope Risley Vol 2,261-266 Calcutta: Bengal Secretariat Press Reprint 1981.Calcutta: Firma K L Mukhopadhyay

Russell, R V., and Hira Lal (1916) "Bania." In The Tribesand Castes of the Central Provinces ofIndia,by R V Russelland Hira Lal Vol 2, 111-161 London: Macmillan Reprint

1969 Oosterhout: Anthropological Publications

W D MERCHANT

ReligionAll Banias are Jainsor Vaishnava Hindus, and both follow

thelife-cycleritualsprescribed byHinduism One of the gods

theyspecifically worship is Ganapati, the lord of wealth and

prosperity They also revere all life and are loath to kill any

animal Their diet reflects this strict taboo, and most of them

abstainfrom allkindsofmeat and alcoholic drink Many of

them,especially the Jains among them, will also eschew

on-ions, garlic, and other tubers, since this involvestakingthe

life of a plant Most of the animal asylums in India

(panjara-pol) are supported by donationsfromlainBanias.Gauri, the

motherofGanapati (or Ganesh), is worshipedbya bridal

couple InRajasthanGauri isworshipedasthecorngoddess

about the time of the vernalequinox, especiallybywomen

Baut

ETHNONYMS: noneBauls are a religious and cultural group of India, bestknown for their songs and poems to the god who dwellswithin Theterm"Baul"isusually understood to mean"mad-man" or religious ecstatic, and Bauls often describe them-selves ascrazy for God

Baulsare found primarily in the state of West Bengal in

26 Baul

India andinBangladesh.Therearethree majorcommunities

orlineages (sampradayas) The firstis associated with the

Birbhum District, whichistraditionallyconsideredtobe the

sourceof the Baul traditioninWestBengal.This community

is in the western partof the state, anditinhabits the districts

ofBirbhum, Burdwan, Bankura, and Midnapore It shows

manyinfluences, includingTantricBuddhism and Shaktism

(goddess worship) The second community isknownasthe

Navadvipa sampradaya, which shows strong Bengali

Vaish-navainfluence andisfoundprimarilyinthe Nadia and

Mur-shidabad districts The third group is the Muslim Bauls or

fakirsampradaya, foundprimarily inBangladesh

Bauls mayliveasreligious ascetics or aslaypeople.The

householder Bauls liveasmarriedcouplesandperform daily

rituals intheir homes TheasceticBauls take initiation, often

as renunciant vows (sannyasa diksha), and may wander

through the countryside or live in the ashram or akhara

(monastery) These ashramsarefrequently supportedbythe

localvillagers Bauls who wander fromvillagetovillagemay

also contribute from their earningsfrombegging(madhukari)

orsinging

There are greatgatherings of Baulsatfestivals called

me-las ormahotsavas, atwhich hundreds of Bauls meet tosing

and share stories Therearelargetentsand awnings, incense,

fires, and flowers.Someof thelargestof thegatheringsare in

Birbhum, inJayadeva-Kenduli, Gopalnagar, Dubrajpur, and

Bilvamangala Baul singers are usually men, and they play a

variety of instruments to accompany the songs The most

commonisthe gopijantraorektara,aone-stringedinstrument

madefrom gourd andsplit bamboo They may also play the

dotara, atwo-stringed lute withalong neck,aswellasvarious

drums, and sometimes smallcymbals or aharmonium

Baulsusually dress in orange or saffron, to show their

as-sociation withthereligious life.Men wearthealkhalla, a robe

of coarsecloth,small bellsattheankles, long hair (often in a

topknot), and beards, and sometimes rudraksha beads

(sa-cred to the godShiva) Women may wear simple white or

saf-fron saris and nojewelry

Bauls have a system ofreligious theology and practice

thatischaracterizedby the belief that God exists physically

withinthe world,especially within the human body This

dif-fers from more traditional Indian religious thought (both

Vedic anddharmic) that understands the body as more

dis-tant from thegods and emphasizes the importance of purity

andtranscendence of thephysical world For Bauls, the body

is pure because thegod is present The teacher or guru is

im-portant because hecanguidethe student toward the vision of

the god within (bhagavata darshan)

Baulreligious belief and practice are expressed in song,

there is no revealed text and nosingle founder Some songs

emphasize spontaneity (sahaja) and the states of religious

ec-stasy andcreativity that come of their own accord, without

ef-fort Thesestates are highly valued by Bauls Other songs

de-scribe the role ofdisciplined religious practice (sadhana),

which seeksto induce the state of ecstasy (bhava)

Baulpractice shows tantric influence, both in the

impor-tance ofhaving a female partner and in its acceptance of

sex-uality as apathtoreligious experience The god is associated

with creativity and is understood to dwell physically in the

sexual fluids of thebody These fluidsmeetduring sexual

rit-ual, whichtakes place when the male and female essences are

believed to be strongest At this time, the male and female pects of the divineareunderstoodtobefullypresent,and thegod (oftenunderstoodtobeadivinecouple,thegodandgod-dess) canbeperceived bytheperformersof the ritual Manypoeticmetaphorsareusedtodescribe this process: theunion

as-of water andmilk, catching thefishathigh tide, the piercing

ofthe moons.When thedeity is fully manifestinthebody,thebody is recognized as a microcosm of the universe As aBaul proverb states, 'What is not in the body is not in theuniverse."

Baul beliefs are derived from many sources Tantricdhism was strong inBengal from perhaps the fifth centuryA.D.until the Muslim conquest in the early thirteenth century.Sufism or Islamic mysticism then arose in the area and be-cameintermingled with the rising tide of devotional Vaish-navism (in Bengal, focusing on the relationship betweenKrishna and his mistress Radha) and its tantric offshoot,Sahajiya Vaishnavism Shakta religion, the worship of thegoddess (in forms such as Kali or Devi), grew from an esotericmeditative tradition to widespread devotional love, and it wasalso a stronginfluence on the Baul tradition Shaktism wasincorporated in the Baul songs both as worship of the physi-cal woman and as imagery from Kundalini yoga InBaul songand poetry, the deity may be called Bhagavan, Radha/Krishna, Shiva/Shakti, Allah, the man of the heart, the un-known bird, the great bliss (mahasukha), or infinite light.Today, Bauls are both religious practitioners and enter-tainers, and they may sing both religious and secular songs.With the popularity of Christianity among Westernized Indi-ans, some Baul songs now include Christian elements as well

Bud-as more traditional ones

BibliographyBhattacarya, Deben, trans (1989) Songs of the Bards of Ben-gal NewYork: Grove Press

Capwell, Charles (1974)."The Esoteric Belief of the Bauls ofBengal."Journal of Asian Studies 33:255-264

Dasgupta, Alokeranjan, and Mary Ann Dasgupta (1977).Roots in the Void: Baul Songs of Bengal Calcutta: K P.Bagchi

Karim, Anwarul (1980) The Bauls of Bangladesh Kushtia:Lalan Academy

McDaniel, June (1989) The Madness of the Saints: EcstaticReligion in Bengal Chicago: University of Chicago Press

JUNE McDANIEL

Bene Israel 27

ETHNONYMS: Beni Israel, Shanwar Teli

OrientationIdentification The Bene Israel Indian Jews lived in

Bombayandinvillagesonthe Konkan Coast, south of

Bom-bay,inMaharashtraState.Todayless than5,000 Bene Israel

liveinIndia, andmorethan30,000 liveinIsrael TheBene

Israel claim that they originated in Israel and were

ship-wrecked off the Indian coast in theyear 175 B.C.The name

"Bene Israel" means "Children ofIsrael"inHebrew,

bolster-ingtheirorigin claims

Location InIndia the Bene Israeloriginallylivedin more

than100villages alongthe KonkanCoast,suchasPen,

Ash-tame,andNavgaon In the nineteenthcenturytheymovedto

Bombay and set up small colonies in other cities in India

(e.g., Ahmedabad, Poona, and Delhi), leaving only a few

hundred familiesinthe Konkan

After 1948 the BeneIsrael community (all but 5,000)

gradually movedtoIsrael, where theyliveexclusivelyinurban

settlements Atfirst,theBene Israel haddifficulty adjusting

to a climate colderthan India's,but this problem passed

Demography TheBeneIsraelpopulation increased from

6,000inthe1830sto20,000in1948.Sincethen,dueto

nat-uralincrease and the decline of infantmortalityinIsrael, an

estimated32,000 BeneIsrael liveinIsrael; less than5,000

re-main inIndia

LinguisticAffiliation The Bene Israelspeak Marathi, an

Indo-Aryan language, although it is dying out among the

younger generation inIsrael Inaddition,themoreeducated

speak English In Israel, the Bene Israel speak modem

Hebrew

History and Cultural Relations

TheBene Israel claim that theyaremembers of "lost" tribes

that reachedIndiaaslongago as 175B.C.Accordingtotheir

tradition, their ancestors were shipwrecked off theKonkan

Coastand lost all their holy books; they only remembered the

Shema, the Jewishprayer expressingfaithinGod They lived

among the Hindus and adopted several of their customs.

When discovered byaJewish outsider, David Rahabi, possibly

inthe eighteenthcentury,they observed the Sabbath, dietary

laws,circumcision, andmanyof the Jewish festivals, but they

hadno synagogue.NavyachaSan,theNew Year,wasonly

cel-ebratedforoneday;the rationale for severalJewishfastdays

appearedtohave been forgotten; and Hannukah (the Feast

of Lights) was unknown, since it had developed after the

Bene Israel departure from the land ofIsrael

From 1750 onward, the Bene Israel embarked upon a

processof adjustingto mainstreamJudaism They gradually

movedfrom the KonkanvillagestoBombayand othercities

astheirinvolvement with the British Raj increased Theirfirst

synagogue, named "Gate of Mercy," was established in

Bombayin 1796.The Bene Israelwerealso assistedintheir

religiouslifeby CochinJewsfrom the Malabar Coast,who

actedas cantors, ritualslaughterers,and teachers In the

sec-ond half of the nineteenth century, the Bene Israel of

Bombaywerejoined bysomeJews fromBaghdad (includingthe Sassoonfamily), who served as a reference model of nor-mativeJudaism Paradoxically, the arrival of Christian mis-sionaries inthe Konkan from1810promoted theBeneIsraelrapprochement withworld Jewry by introducing them to theHebrew Bible and other religious texts in Marathi translation.After the British withdrew from India in 1947 and theStateof Israel's establishment in 1948, Bene Israel beganem-igrating to Israel By 1960, it became clear that certain rabbis

in Israel would notmarry Bene Israel to other Israelis on ish legal (halakhic) grounds, alleging that there were doubtsconcerning their Jewishness Between 1962 and 1964, theBeneIsraelorganized a series of strikes and demonstrationsinIsrael involving the whole community to demand status as

Jew-"full Jews." In 1964, the Chief Rabbinate withdrew itshalakhic objections and declared the Bene Israel "full Jews ineveryrespect.'

KinshipKin Groups and Descent The Bene Israel strictly ob-served "caste" endogamy, marrying only other Bene Israeland, later, other Jews However, there was no intermarriagebetween Gora (White) and Kala (Black) BeneIsrael, the for-mer claiming descent from the original families who wereshipwrecked off the Konkan Coast and the latter being thedescendants of mixed marriages with Hindus, possibly evenUntouchables

Kinship Terminology In India, Bene Israel kinship minology reflects local Marathi terminology, whereasinIsraelthe Bene Israel terms dod (uncle) and doda (aunt) refer toparent's siblings without specification ofmatemal/patemallinearity

ter-28 Bene Israel

Marriage and FamilyMarriage The Bene Israel traditionally prefer cross-

cousinmarriageinorderto ensurethat wealth and prestige

areretained within thefamily.Postmarital residenceisideally

patrilocal, although actually there are variations from the

ideal.Divorce iscompletely disapprovedof andwasextremely

rare inIndia, althoughinIsraelit is ontheincrease.Widow

remarriage was alsodiscouragedin India The incidence of

polygamyissharplydecliningamong theBeneIsrael; andin

Israel, wherepolygamousmarriagesareforbidden under

con-temporaryJewish religiouslaw,there areonlyafewBene

Is-raelpolygamousfamilies inthe whole country

DomesticUnit InIndia,the ideal pattern offamily living

among theBene Israelwas a structurebasedon a complex

network ofrightsand duties between members thatisusually

describedas"joint."In itsidealform,the jointfamilyhasits

basisin commonproperty; members live in asingle

house-hold and share common resources Most Bene Israel joint

families are lineal, whereby sets oftwo husband-wife pairs

(with children) belonging to different generations live

to-gether.Inaddition,thereis acollateral jointfamilycomposed

ofaman, hiswife,and their unmarried children andaman's

married brother(s) with wife (orwives) and children The

"augmented family" refersto alineal joint familywhere the

seniormale member has died."Familywith dependents"

re-fersto a unitcomposedofhusband, wife,and their unmarried

children and other kin suchasthe wife'sbrother,who could

notbesaidto constitute anaugmentedfamily."Nuclear

fami-lies," composed of a husband and wife withorwithout

un-marriedchildren,representahighpercentageoffamilies,

par-ticularlyinIsrael but also inIndia too,depending uponthe

stage inthe life cycle Inmany cases, the phenomenon of

"proximal housing," wherebypatrikinliveinseparate yet

ad-jacentorneighboringapartments, enables familiestooperate

in a jointfashionbyadheringtothe ideal of mutual

coopera-tionwithout making coresidence a requirement

Inheritance Aman's estate isdivided among his widow

and sons, although an amount is keptaside for unmarried

daughters' dowries

Socialization Socialization of the child is carried out

within the joint family, all femalemembers helping to raise

the young child and male members actingasdiscipliners The

mother's brother isparticularly loved A high value is placed

on education.Today in Israel all BeneIsraelattend regular

schools with other Israeli children Boys havea Bar Mitzvah

ceremony at the age of 13

Sociopolitical Organization

Social Organization Inamanner not surprisingto anyone

familiar with the literatureoncaste,theBeneIsrael were

in-corporated into the caste system Although they themselves

did not subscribe to the Hindu religion andmystic beliefs,

they referred to themselves andwereregarded byothers as a

caste Caste features notonly influenced external relations

with non-Jews but also pervaded Jewish life internally in

India Thus the Bene Israelweredividedinto twojatis or

sub-castes called"Whites" and"Blacks,"or Gora andKala The

WhiteBeneIsrael claimed direct descent from theseven

cou-ples wholanded on the Konkan Coast, while the Black Bene

Israel were said to be the descendants ofunions between

Bene Israel men and non-Bene Israel women Until thetwentieth century, Gora and Kala neitherintermarried norinterdined: theirrelationshipwascharacterizedby their belief

inthe concept ofpollution Aslateasthe 1970saweak tinctionbetween Goraand Kalawas reported tohave beenpreserved in very limited Bene Israel circles, but with thebreakdown of caste, particularly inurbansurroundings, jatidivisions have lost much of theirsignificance

dis-Political Organization Therenever wasasingle Bene raelleader, but different factions supported different socialand charitable causes The Stree Mandel, established as awomen's organization, isstill activetoday, even in Israel.TheHome for Destitutesand Orphans was established in 1934.Duringthe twentieth century, sportsclubs, Zionist organiza-tions,and credit associations were set up,and many were car-ried over to Israel The Bene Israel also published a largenumberof communalperiodicals

Is-Religion and Expressive CultureReligiousBeliefs TheBene Israel, as Jews, believe in oneall-powerful God Theirbeliefs, forexample with respect toafterlife, werealso influencedby Hinduism

ReligiousPractitioners Thetask of guiding thenity inreligious matters was traditionally entrusted to threeleadersfrom three particular families Their positions were in-herited over several generations Bythe nineteenth century,Cochin Jews from southIndiaserved among the Bene Israel

commu-asteachers, cantors, and ritualslaughterers The Bene Israelneverhad any rabbis or priests (cohanim) themselves.Ceremonies When first"discovered,"probably in the sev-enteenth century,the Bene Israel were found to be practicingcircumcision and thedietary laws as prescribed in the Bible;they observed many Jewish festivals and recited the Shema,theconfession of the Jewish faith, at every ceremonial occa-sion Fromthe nineteenth century, they began to come in linewith thereligious customs of other Jews Today they practiceJudaism like other Jews, although certain rites, such as theprewedding mehendi (henna) ceremony, are clearly influ-enced by Hindu custom

Arts Bene Israel sing and dance as other Maharashtrians.They also act out special kirtan (religious singing) of dis-tinctlyBiblical character, in which they sing about and act asOldTestament figures

Medicine Bene Israel believein the efficacy of scientific

medicine; some alsoreceive homeopathictreatment.

Death andAfterlife TheBene Israel believe in anlife, influencedboth by Hindu and Jewish belief The dead areburied according to Jewish custom in a special Jewishceme-tery If a personhas committed suicide, he or she is buriedjustoutside the walls of the cemetery

after-See also Cochin Jew

BibliographyIsrael,BenjaminJ (1984) TheBene Israel of India Bombay:Orient Longman

Kehimkar,Hayeem S (1937) The History of the Bene Israel ofIndia Tel Aviv: Dayag Press

Bengali 29

Roland,Joan (1989) JewsinBritish India.Waltham,Mass.:

Brandeis University Press

Strizower, Schifra (1971) "Verbal Interaction among the

BeneIsrael."International Journal oftheSociology ofLanguage

13:71-85

Weil, Shalva J (1988) "TheInfluence of CasteIdeologyin

Israel." In Cultural Transition, edited by M Gottesman,

150-161 Jerusalem: MagnesPress

(Bangla) languageand liveintheBengalregionofthe Indian

subcontinentlocatedinnortheastern SouthAsia, andmost

followeitherthe HinduortheMuslimfaith TheBengalre.

gion isdivided politically between thenationofBangladesh

and the Indian state of West Bengal Bengalis themselves

refertotheirregion asBangla desh,meaningsimply 'the

Ben-gali homeland," a term adopted by the people of eastern

Bengal when theywon sovereignindependenceforthenation

ofBangladeshin1971.Thenativeethnictermforthemselves

isBangli-of which "Bengali" is ananglicization However,

Bengalis whoare citizensofBangladeshwillalsomostreadily

callthemselves Bangladeshi

Location Lying at the north ofthe Bay of Bengal and

roughly between 22" and 26° N and 86° and 93° E, the

Bengalregion consistslargely ofa vastalluvial, deltaic plain,

builtupby the GangesRiverand wateredalso by the

Brahma-putra River system originating in the eastern Himalaya

Mountains Asinmuch ofSouthAsia,monsoonwindsbring

a rainy season that can last fromApril to mid-November

Bengal's total area is approximately 233,000 square

kilo-meters,ofwhich about 38percent (justunder89,000square

kilometers) is in India, the remaining62 percent (144,000

square kilometers) constitutingthenationofBangladesh

Demography Accordingtothe lastavailable(1981)

cen-suses,India'sWestBengalcontainedsome 47millionpeople

(35 percent) andBangladesh86millionpeople (65 percent)

claimingtobeprimary speakersof theBengali language, with

the total of around133millionconstitutingthe "cope" ethnic

Bengalipopulation.Tothistotalmustbe addedatleast

an-other7millionBengali speakers livinginadjacentornearby

statesofIndia-Assam, 3 million; Bihar, 2million;Tripura,

1.4million;Orissa, 378,000;Meghalaya, 120,000;and

Naga-land, 27,000-formingakindof "Bengali diaspora" that,

al-thoughconcentratedinnortheasternSouthAsia,isactually

worldwide, with large numbers of Bengalis living as grants in the United States,United Kingdom, and Canada

immi-Insum, Bengalis comprisedapopulationof about 140lion in 1981, onewhich can be expected to have grown by atleast 25 percent by the time data from 1991 censuses be-comesavailable.Bengali speakersmake up85percentof thepopulationofWest Bengal,which otherwise ishome toanadditional 9million non-Bengali people Most of thesearefrom other partsof India, livinginthe metropolisof Calcutta,the state capital, but there are significantnumbers ofnon-Bengali people locally classed as 'tribals" in rural WestBengal aswell Bangladeshisfarmorehomogeneous; allbut

mil-1 percent ofitspeople identify themselvesasBengali.Mostofthe remaining 900,000consistofnon-Bengaliethnic groupsalso locallydesignatedas "tribal," and themajorityofthesearespeakers ofTibeto-Burmanand otherminoritylanguages,often livinginborderareasof the country.Somespeakersofdialects ofHindi-Urdu remaininBangladeshaswell Overallpopulation densities in West Bengal were recorded at 615people per square kilometerin 1981, ranging from 466 insomerural areas to 56,462inurbanlocalities (especially Cal-cutta) InBangladeshoverall densities reached 624 personsper square kilometerby 1981, rising to 2,179 inthe urbanareas (especially Dhaka, the nation's capital), but alsoregis-tering aquitehigh693persons per squarekilometer in part ofthe countryside

Linguistic Affiliation Like most of the languages ofnorthern South Asia, Bengali belongs to the Indo-Iranian(sometimes also called Indo-Aryan) Branch of the Indo-EuropeanFamily Descended from ancient Sanskrit, Bengalicontains forty-seven sounds: elevenvowels, twenty-five con-sonants,foursemivowels,andseven"breath sounds" (includ-ing sibilants and aspirates) Its script, also Sanskrit-derived,contains fifty-sevenletter symbols The Bengali language isassociated with a long literary tradition, pride in which is amajorfactor in Bengali ethnic and national identity ABen-gali, Rabindranath Tagore, was the first Asian to receive theNobel Prize for literature (in 1913) The literary languagewith whicheducated speakers are familiar is, however, quitedistinct from the urban and rural speech of the less well edu-cated The eastern dialects of Bengali, notably those spoken

in theSylhet and Chittagong districts of Bangladesh, differquite noticeably from those heard in West Bengal

History and Cultural RelationsBengal is mentioned as a distinct region of South Asia insomeof the earliest Hindu texts, and throughout the first mil-lenniumAD.it was governed by asuccession of Buddhist andHindu rulers Islamic armies arrived in the region in the latetwelfth andearly thirteenth centuries, and gradual Muslimconquest-culminating inMughal rule after 1576-set thestage for widespread conversion of the local population toIslam,especially in eastern Bengal Not long thereafter, Euro-peancontactwith, and competition for power on, the Indiansubcontinent began, and the British period of India's history

isusually dated from England's takeover of the tion ofBengalin1757.Lasting until 1947, British rule hadaprofound impact on Bengali culture and society, especiallywith theintroduction of English as the medium of higher ed-ucation after 1835.Hindus responded more rapidly than didMuslims toopportunitiesprovided by English education, and

administra-30 Bengali

thenineteenthandearlytwentiethcenturies sawtheriseofa

highly Westernized elite, mostly,but notexclusively, Hindu

incomposition,whoseintellectualattainments werecoupled

with efforts at sociocultural and political reform Bengali

elites provided major leadership to the Indian nationalist

movement as awhole, whichbegantodevelopinforce after

themid-1800s Bengali Hindus tendedtosupporta

national-istpartycalledtheIndian NationalCongressin its visionofa

free, secular India to follow British rule But most Bengali

Muslimsbelieved,asdidmanyMuslimsthroughout Indiaat

that time, that they had benefited less than Hindus under

British rule and feared thattheywould suffer discrimination

in a free India dominated by the country's Hindu majority

The MuslimsofBengalwerethusmore attractedtoanother

nationalist organization, the MuslimLeague, whichin1940

advocatedaseparatepostindependencestateforMuslims,to

be known asPakistan The British acceded to India's

inde-pendencein1947, atwhichtimethe subcontinentwas

parti-tioned into two separate nation-states: India, withaHindu

majority,andPakistan, withaMuslimmajority The

predom-inantly Hinduwesterndistricts ofBengal then comprised the

IndianstateofWestBengal, whereas the mainly Muslim

dis-trictsofeasternBengal formed theeasternprovince of

Paki-stan (called East Pakistan) Pakistan's national unity was

based on commonreligiousidentityof its citizens asMuslims,

but it wasunderminedby thenation'slinguisticdiversity and

growing conflict betweenthe country's ethnicgroups Over

timetheBengali Muslims ofEastPakistancame into

increas-ing confrontation with the non-Bengali Muslim groups of

West Pakistan, where a preponderance of the economic

wealth andpoliticalpowerof thecountry wasconcentrated

In 1971theschism betweenEastandWestPakistanerupted

into acivilwar-anational liberationstruggle from the

Ben-galipoint ofview-resultinginthebreakup of Pakistan and

theemergence ofBangladesh as a new nation.Thishistory

helps toexplainwhy theBengalipopulationis divided into its

twomajorpoliticalentities: theHindu-majorityIndianstate

ofWestBengal, withitscapitalatCalcutta;andthe

Muslim-majority independent nation-state of Bangladesh, with its

capital atDhaka

SettlementsThroughout the Bengal regionthe officially recognized unit

of rural settlementisknownas amauzaor"revenue village,"

which hassurveyed boundaries determined duringthe British

imperialperiod for purposesoftaxationand general

adminis-tration There are more than 40,000 such villages inWest

Bengal, and some 68,000 inBangladesh,but it is important

to recognize that these officially designated villages do not

necessarily always correspondtoactualrural communities as

locally andsocially defined.Peasantcommunities range from

100 to 1,000 people, and a typical village in the low-lying

Bengal delta consistsof one or more hamlets (para) of

peas-anthomesteads (bari) built on landdeliberatelyraised so as

to avoid monsoon flooding Along canals and other

water-ways the pattern ofsettlementis morelinear, and in areas of

thecountrywhere monsooninundations areespeciallygreat

the patterntendstobe moredispersed Peasant homesteads

areusually composedofextendedfamilies,brokendowninto

households most often consisting of a man and his

depen-dents, who formanindependentlandholdingand/or

cultivat-ingand consuming unit.Interspersedthroughoutonefinds anetwork of periodic ruralmarkets, and in the multivillage areaserved by each local market-what some anthropologistshavecalled the "standardmarketing area"-the marketfunc-tions notonlyasthe focus of commercialactivitybut alsoasthe social andpoliticalcenterthatunitesthevillagecommu-nitiesservedby the market into a certaindegreeof wider re-gional identity Dwellings are most commonly constructedfrom the dense mud of the Bengal Delta and local, indige-nous construction engineering is sometimes sophisticatedenough to allow the raising ofhomesof two and three stories

inheight Animal shelters and fruit-bearing trees are monfixtures in ahomesteadarea,and theexcavationof mudfor construction often results in ahuman-made pond thatserves the residents as a source of fish as well as water forbathing andlaundering.Thatchgrasstypically providesroof-ing,butwealthierfamiliescanaffordroofs ofcorrugated iron;the poorest families often have homesprimarilymade ofbam-boo only

com-EconomySubsistence andCommercial Activities Statistical datafor 1981 indicatethatsome 83percentofthepeoplein theBengal region as a whole resided in the rural areas (89 percent

inBangladesh, 74 percent in West Bengal), and it is unlikelythat therural-urban distributionofthepopulation ortheoc-cupationalbreakdown ofthelaborforcehas changed mark-edly over the past decade Two-thirds (67 percent) of thelaborwasengaged inagriculture,more so inBangladesh (74percent) than in West Bengal (55 percent) The region islargely homogeneousinthe kinds ofcrop itspeople grow, wetrice agriculture being the hallmark of the Bengali economy.There are three cropping seasons: (1) a spring season marked

bythe onset of monsoon rains inApril,during which varieties

of rice classed as aus aretypically grownalongwithjute,theregion's major commercial crop, until mid-July; (2) the amanseason, which accounts for thebulk ofannual riceproduc-tion,lastingtoNovember; and (3) the dry winter season, lin-gering through March, in which types of rice called boro,which can growunderirrigated conditions, are sown, alongwithpulses andoilseeds.Wheatand potatoes represent rela-tivelyrecentfoodcrop innovations in Bengal The raising offarm animals for food and labor is not usually an occupa-tional specialization,althoughwhether or not a farm familywillpossess any of the animals commonly found throughoutBengal-cows, oxen, bullocks, water buffalo, and goats-willdepend on itswealth Some small-scale fishingmay been-gaged inby farm families with homestead ponds, but exten-sive fishingis anoccupational specialty of particular Hinducastes orcastelike groups among Muslims

Industrial Arts Preindustrial manufacture and the sion ofnonagricultural goods throughout Bengal has alwaysbeen carried out by specialized, mostly Hindu, artisan castegroups-weavers, potters, blacksmiths, carpenters, and soforth.BecauseBengali villages usually are small, it is rare for afullcomplement of artisan castes to be present in them, butthese artisans are usually sufficiently dispersed throughoutstandard marketing areas to make their wares generally avail-able Itshould alsobe emphasized that industrialmanufac-turing iswidespread inBengal, concentrated primarily in itsmajor cities

provi-Bengali 31

Trade As noted above, periodic local markets dot the

Bengal countryside, and these in turn are linkedto

perma-nent, dailymarketsinlarger provincialtownsandultimately

tomajorurban commercialcenters.Many peasants engagein

pettymarketingtosupplementtheir primary occupation, but

large-scale accumulation and transportation of major crops,

especiallyriceand jute, andartisanproductsaretypically

car-riedoutbywholesalers whomovefrom markettomarket.As

elsewhere inSouth Asia, someHinducastegroupsspecialize

in certain kinds of trade and commercial transactions (e.g.,

those related togoldand otherjewelryorspecific

consump-tion itemsotherthanrice).BecauseBengalpossessesa

laby-rinthine network of rivers, providing boat transportation to

and between riverside centers is a major activity for many

Commerce is overwhelmingly male-dominated, since adult

women are usually requiredto limit their activities totheir

homesteads and immediate surroundings and thus are not

permitted toengage insignificant tradingactivity

Division ofLabor The division of laborbybothgender

andoccupationalspecializationishighlymarkedthroughout

South Asia, including Bengal, particularly so in the rural

areas Regardless ofa rural family's occupational specialty,

men engage in activities that take place outside the home,

while women are limited to those that can be performed

withinitsconfines.Thus, for example, inrice-farming

fami-liesmen perform all the workinthefields-plowing,

plant-ing,weeding, and harvesting-andoncethe cropisbrought

into the homesteadwomen take up the tasks ofthreshing,

drying,andhuskingthe crop.Asimilarkind ofintra- (versus

extra-)homestead division of labor by gender occurs in

fami-lies with nonagricultural occupational specializations Not

surprisingly, domestic and child-rearing tasks fall within the

women's domainaswell Thedegreetowhich women are

per-mitted towork outside the home is, however, related to the

economicand socialstatusof thefamily.Apoor orlandless

farmer's wife may spend part of her day processing

agricul-turalgoodsin awealthierhousehold,forexample,to

supple-ment her family's meager income, and among the

lower-ranked service castes (see below) the taboo on women

working outside the home is considerably less strict In the

urban middle class and upperclasses, it isby no means

un-common for women to have a profession, especially in the

teaching and medical fields (nearly all gynecologists are

women),andtowork outside the home The other major

fea-tureof theBengali division of laborisoccupational

speciali-zationby caste, already mentioned and discussed more fully

below In traditionalBengali Hindu society, nearly every

oc-cupation is carried on by a ranked hierarchy ofspecialized

castegroups-not only the artisan and trading occupations

already discussed but also personal and domestic service

functions (e.g., barbering, laundering, latrine cleaning) as

well as nonmenial tasks such as thoserelated to public

ad-ministration and, of course, the priesthood There is some

caste-based specialization among Muslims as well In the

modernsectorsofBengal's economy, the division of labor is

notformally organized by caste But the caste hierarchy tends

tobevisibleinthe distribution of thework forcenonetheless;

theprofessions and management jobs are likelytobetaken

upby persons ofhighercastebackground, whereas laborers

and lower-level serviceworkersare mostoften members ofthe

traditionally lower-ranked castes

Land Tenure Land has alwaysbeen individuallyownedand small family farms, typically little more than a singlehectareinsize, arefoundthroughout Bengal Farm holdingsareoftenhighly fragmented,consistingonaverageofbetweensevenand nine separateplots per holding Recent land tenuresurveys fromBangladeshindicate that around80percentofthe cultivatedarea isownedby only 35 percent of the land-owninghouseholds;30percentof rural householdsareland-less and 10percentmore ownfarms of less than halfahect-are No significant land reform has been attempted inBangladeshinthe pastforty years Two decades ago, only 20percent ofthe landholdings in West Bengal accounted forsome 60percent of the total cultivated area,and alargenum-ber ofcultivating familieswerelandlesslaborers, tenants, andsharecroppers as well; since then West Bengal has made a sig-nificanteffort atland reformwith some beneficial results

KinshipKinGroups and Descent The commonestkin group inrural Bengal is the homestead-based patrilineal extendedfamily, whose members jointly own homestead land andmay-butusually do not-alsoownagricultural land in com-mon.The homesteadistypically composed of a senior malehead, his marriedsonswith theirfamilies, unmarried childrenand grandchildren, and other dependents

Kinship Terminology In conventional classifications,the Bengali kinship terminology is of the bifurcate collateraltypeinterms offirstascending generation terminology, and it

isof theSudanese type from the point ofview of cousin nology Thus, each of Ego's parental siblings is denoted by aseparate term, andsothereforeiseach parental sibling's child(i.e.,"cousin" in English terms) In this respect, Bengaliter-minology does not differ from that found across north Indiaand the MiddleEast.Although both Bengali Hindu and Ben-gali Muslim terminologies share the same pattern, Muslimsemploy seven kinship terms that are found in Urdu and inseveralcases areactuallyderived from Arabic and Persian, all

termi-of which languages are distinctively identified with Islamicrather than Hindu civilization (Recent discussions of Ben-gali kinship, however, suggest that the conventional anthro-pological classification system has limited utility for under-standing the basic cultural categoriesof kinship in Bengaliculture.)

Marriage and FamilyMarriage Bengali marriages are arranged, but Hindu andMuslim marital practices differ in certain key respects.Among Hindus, considerations of caste rank are important;that is, marriageusuallyoccursbetween persons of the samecaste Hypergamous unions-between members of closelyrankedcastes,with womenmarrying upward-are not forbid-den.Buthypogamous marriages-inwhicha woman marries

a man of a lower caste-arestrongly discouraged and rarelyoccur Because of the egalitarian ideology of Islam, casteWrelated restrictions are not formally required for Muslims.But sinceBengali Muslimsociety as a matter of fact reflectssome castelikefeatures,social rank isalso a strong considera-tioninthe selection of mates, and there are some low-rankedMuslim occupational groups that are perforce highlyendogamous Among Hindus also lineage exogamy is the

32 Bengali

basicrule and matrilateralcousin marriage isalsoforbidden

By contrast, asIslamraises nobarrierto cousin marriage, its

occurrence among Bengali Muslims is common, although

empirical studies show thatit is neitherpervasive nor

neces-sarilypreferred Similarly polygyny,rare andstrongly

discour-agedamongBengaliHindus,isofcoursepermittedtoBengali

Muslims, althoughits actual rate ofoccurrence is not high

Divorce among high-caste Hindus is strongly discouraged

and, atleastuntilrecently, has always broughtgreat stigma.

Islam discourages but nonethelesspermits divorce, and thus

its rate amongBengali Muslims is much higher thanamong

BengaliHindus.Finally,amonghigh-caste Hindus,widow

re-marriage-despite a century of legislation outlawing the

an-cient custom ofproscribing it-isstill greatlyfrownedupon.

Islamplacesnobarrieron remarriagefor eithersexafter

spou-saldeathordivorce,although the incidence ofremarriage of

elderly Muslim widows is not high For both Hindus and

Muslims patrilocal/virilocal postmarital residence patterns

aremuch preferred and almost universally practiced, atleast

in the rural areas. Neolocal nuclear-family households are

much more common among urban professional families in

both West Bengal and Bangladesh

DomesticUnit. ThroughoutruralBengal thepatrilineally

extended familyhomesteadissubdivided into itsnatural

seg-ments, called paribar, consisting of men, their wives, their

children, and other dependents, who form the basic

subsis-tence-producingandconsumingkinshipunits.Theeconomic

and social "jointness"of the paribarisunderlined by the

shar-ingofa commonkitchenorhearth, as well as the ownership

orcontrol ofland and/or other productive assets, ifany.

Inheritance Among Bengali Hindus, inheritance is

gov-erned by the dayabhagasystem of customary law in which a

man has sole rights in all ancestral property until his death

andcan inprinciplepass it on to his survivors in any manner

that he wishes Unless he makes a will to the contrary, upon

his deathaman'ssons are to inherit equally all property as a

matter of survivorship, not a matter of right; his wife and

daughters haveno claim by right to any of his property, but

they do have the rightto maintenance so long as they are

de-pendent on their sons orbrothers Among Muslims

inheri-tance is ofcourse governed byIslamic law, which permits a

man's female dependentsto inherit a portion of his property;

since sons areexpectedtobe thesole providers for their

fami-lies, the lawpermits them to receive more of a father's

prop-erty than do daughters In actual Bengali Muslim (at least

rural,peasant) practice,however, daughters commonly forgo

or aredeprivedof their inheritance of immovable property in

favor oftheir brothers,assuming that if they need to return to

their natal homes after widowhood or divorce their brothers

will take care ofthem Although joint retention and use of

the father's property by his sons is the cultural ideal for both

Hindus and Muslims, in practice the subdivision of a man's

propertybeginsnot long after his death, and the formation or

further proliferation of the domestic units discussed above

begins

Socialization Children learn proper behavior from

par-entsand older siblings,gradually becoming differentiated

ac-cording togenderas they mature The pattern of older

chil-dren caring for their younger siblings is widespread While

small childrenof both sexes are warmly indulged, as girls

ap-proach physicalmaturity their movements outside the

house-hold are gradually curtailed in anticipation of the relative strictions that both high-caste Hindu and Muslim adultwomen will experience for most of their child-bearing years.Schools abound throughout Bengal, but whether and howlong a child will attend depend much upon gender as well asthe social standing and financial condition of the family.Schools for religious education-Hindu pathsalas for boysand Islamic madrassas open to both sexes-are found every-where and commonly attended, at least during childhoodyears

re-Sociopolitical OrganizationWest Bengal is a federal state within the Republic of India,with its own elected governor and legislature; it also sendsrepresentatives to a bicameral national parliament Bangla-desh is an independent sovereign republic with an electedpresident and a unicameral, elected national assembly (theJatiya Sangsad)

Social Organization Bengali Hindu society is organizedalong the lines of the Hindu caste system, in which every indi-vidual is a member by birth of a corporate, ranked, endoga-mous occupational group, calleda caste(jati). One's place insociety is determined by the rank of one's caste, and the latter

is determined by the relative prestige-measured by the gree of ritual purity or impurity-associated with the caste'straditional occupation The castes traditionally associatedwith religious leadership are considered to be the most pureritually and so have the highest rank At the bottom of the hi-erarchy are found those castes whose occupations, becausethey involve direct or indirect contact with suchdefilingsub-stances as blood and human excreta or may be associatedwith death in some way, are considered to be the most rituallyimpure The customs governing much of the individual's exis-tence are those of his or her caste community; the wealth ofone's family is also correlated with one's caste ranking; theprobability that a person will receive a high degree of educa-tion is also related to caste status, and of course most peoplemarry a member of their caste as well Individual upward so-cial mobility is highly restricted in this kindof social system,but it is possible for a whole caste to elevate its actual rank inits local hierarchy if its members become wealthy and attempt

de-to emulate norms and cusde-toms of the higher castes Certaincastes found elsewhere in India, notably those associated inthe past with royalty (i.e., the Kshatriya varna) and the per-formance of traditional ruling functions, have not been his-torically present in Bengal Anywhere from six to a dozencaste groups might be found in a typical Bengali Hindu vil-lage,but villages in Bengal tend to be less highly stratified, inthe sense that they tend to have a smaller number of castesthan Hindu communities in other parts of India In the mostpopulous southern areas of the Bengal Delta, Hindu villagecommunities are often dominated numerically and politically

by one of several low-ranked cultivating castes: the ras, the Mahisyas, and/or the Pods In part because Islam is

Namasud-an egalitariNamasud-an religion Namasud-and in principle forbids hereditary tinctions of social rank, one does notfind among BengaliMuslims whole communities organized along the lines ofcaste, and the social system is more open and fluid from thepoint of view of social mobility The vestiges are still found of

dis-a trdis-aditiondis-al South Asidis-an Muslim system of socidis-al rdis-ank thdis-atdistinguished between"noble" (ashraf) and low-ranked(ajlaf

Bengali 33

oratra)status groups, andsomeof the latter stillexistand

tend to be occupationally endogamous Today, however,

Muslimvillagecommunities,atleastinBangladesh,are most

oftenpopulated by ordinary cultivators, among whom

well-markedcastelike distinctionsare notfound and who

empha-size distinctions in wealth as the basis for social rank

Political Organization. West Bengal is divided into

six-teen districts, and below the district level (as everywhere in

India) thereis athree-tiered council system knownaspancha.

yatiraj, whose purpose is toadministervillage and

multivil-lage affairs andtocarryoutdevelopmentprojects consistent

withstatewideplansandgoals.Eachvillageelectsavillage

as-sembly (gram sabha), whose executive body is the village

council (gram panchayat) Usually thesevillagecouncils are

controlledbythenumericallyand/oreconomicallydominant

castegroupinthevillages electingthem.Severalvillagecoun.

cils in turn elect an area council (anchal panchayat),which

hasjurisdiction over thevillage councils The heads of the

various areacouncils, alongwithnominated members of the

state legislative assembly, form the district council (zilla

parishad),which,linkedtothestategovernment,has control

overthe entirelocalgovernment system.Paralleltothe local

councilsateach levelis athree-tieredjudicialsystemaswell

In Bangladesh, which undertook administrative reforms in

1982,the68,000officially designated "villages"or mauzas are

amalgamatedintoaround4,300unionswith governing

coun-cils knownas unionparishadsconstitutingthe lowest levels of

the national government and administration, to which the

villagers elect members Unions are further grouped into

nearly 500 upazillas or subdistrictss," governed by upazilla

parishads, whosemembershipsarecomposed bythe chairmen

of the union parishads (except that the chairman of an

upazilla parishad is directly elected) Upazillas in turn are

unitedinto somesixty-four districts,and these againintofour

divisions The keytothis administrative schemeis supposed

to be the upazilla parishad, which has many local

decision-makingpowers,especiallythose relevanttocommunity

devel-opment.Socialscientistswho have studied the local govern

ment system in Bangladesh have found that it is.usually

dominatedbythemorewealthysectionsof the peasantry and

locally powerful village elites

Social Control InbothWestBengalandBangladesh,

for-mal social control mechanisms areprovided bythe units of

local government describedabove,inconjunction withpolice

and civil court administration However, informal

mecha-nismshavetraditionallybeen importantaswell Among

Hin-dus, intervillage caste panchayats (councils), headedby the

elders, regulate marriages and otherwise govern the affairs

andmediatedisputesof the members of thesame caste in

sev-eral adjacent villages Among Muslims, similar traditional

councils,calledsamaj,ofvillageeldersperformsimilar

func-tions, and sometimes these groups may encompass several

contiguous villages These traditional sociopolitical

group-ings mayoverlapwith the officialunitsof local government

described above, in that the leaders of these indigenous

groups are sometimeselectedto membershipin thegovern.

mental bodiestoo

Conflict Anthropologistshaveconducted manystudiesof

conflictin SouthAsianvillages, including those ofBengal.

Theyhavefound that conflict oftenoccurs notonlybetween

thevarious castesbut also betweenfactions,eachcomposed

of membersofvarious castegroups Competitionforscarce

landis a majorsourceofconflict, aswell asrivalrybetweenlandowners for power and influence inlocal, regional, andeven stateand national affairs.Wealthy landowningfamilieswill oftenexercisecontrolovertheirtenantsand the landlesspeoplewho workontheirland, relyingonthe supportof thelatterin conflict situations. The outcomes of elections forboth local and upper-level councils are influencedby fac-tionalconflict, as arethepollsineach constituency forstate

and national legislativebodies

Religion and Expressive Culture

Hinduism and Islam are the two major religions ofBengal,

andreligiousidentificationwasthe basis for thepoliticalsionexperienced bytheBengaliswith thedepartureof Britishrulein 1947.In WestBengal,Hindusconstituted 77 percent

divi-ofthepopulationin 1981,and Muslims22percent Some 85percentofBangladeshisareMuslim,about 14 percent Hindu.Less than 1 percent ofBengalisareChristians;one canalsofind a few isolated Bengali Buddhist villages in southernBangladesh.

Religious Beliefs Bengali Hinduism by and large

con-formstothe orthodox Vedantic variety of thatfaith, although

in responseto the cultural impact of the Britishin the lastcenturythereemergedcertainmodernisticvariants (e.g.,theBrahmoSamaj, towhich someWesternizedhigh-casteeliteswere drawn).The Shaivite cult, focusing onworship of thegod Shivaand his female counterparts,iswidespreadamongthe upper castes, while Vaishnavism, involving devotion tothe LordKrishna,ispopularamongthe lowercastes.Bengali

Muslims belong overwhelmingly to the Sunni division ofIslam andgenerallyconformtothe Hanafi schoolof Islamiclaw Popular religion in Bengaloftendisplays syncretism, amixing of both Hindu and Muslim folkbeliefs, deities, andpractices Bengalisfamous foritswandering religiousmendi.cant folk musicians (e.g.,the Bauls, who disdaincaste andconventional Hindu/Muslim religious distinctions in theirworship and way oflife). In addition to formal worship atHindu temples and Muslim mosques, popular worship in-volving religiousfolkmusic iswidespread,especiallyatVaish-navite gatherings (kirtan) and among Muslim followers ofseveralSufi orders (tarika) presentinBengal BengaliMus-lims arealsoknownfor their practice of"pirism," the culticfollowingof Muslim saints orholy men (called pirs).Religious Practitioners TheHindu clergyisdrawn fromthehighest (Brahman) castesandis thus a matterof birth-right, althoughnotall Brahmansactuallypracticeaspriests(pandit,purahit). Practitionerswithin the Hindu systemalsoinclude persons who withdraw from conventional societyto

becomereligiousmendicantsinsearchofpersonalsalvation

(sadhus). By contrast, in Bengali Islam, recruitment to theclergyisvoluntary;anymanwho has the desireand opportu-nitytostudytheQuran (forwhich hemustlearntoread theclassicalArabiclanguage) caneventuallybecometheworshipleader(mullahorimam) ofalocal mosque ifsochosenbythecongregation Furtherstudyof theQuranand of Muslimlaw

(the sharia) mayqualifya man tobeareligiousleader witha

wider following, greater stature, and sometimes significant

political influence

34 Bengali

Ceremonies The Bengali Hindu religious calendar is

re-plete withworshipceremonies (puja) devotedtothe deities of

both the Great and LittleTraditions Especiallyimportant is

theannual festival (orgajan) ofthe Lord Shiva, as are those

of hiscounterpartgoddesses, Kali and Durga.Thegoddesses

Lakshmi (of wealth and good fortune) and Saraswati (of

learning and culture) also have annual ceremonies.

Impor-tantfolk deities propitiatedby Hindus and Muslims alike

in-clude the "goddesses ofthe calamities"-Sitala, goddess of

smallpox; Olabibi, goddess ofcholera; and Manasa, goddess

ofsnakes-all of whom have their annual festivals Bengali

Muslims celebrate the majorfestivals of Islam: the Id al-Fitr,

which marksthe end of the Muslim month of fasting

(Rama-dan); the Idal-Adha, or"feast of the sacrifice,"coterminous

with the annualpilgrimage (haj) to Mecca and

commemorat-ingthestory of the prophet Ibrahim's willingness tosacrifice

his son at God's command Even though Bengali Muslims

are Sunnis, theyalso observe the festival of Muharram,

usu-ally associated more prominently with the Shia division of

Islam, in which the death of Hussain, grandson of the

Prophet Mohammed and martyr of the faith, is mourned

Bengalis also celebrate the well-known Hindu rite of spring

called Holi; for members of all religious faiths, the annual

new year ceremony on the first day of the Hindu (and

Ben-gali) monthof Baisakh, coming between April and May and

marking the onset of spring, is a joyous occasion.

Arts. Urban Bengali elite culture has produced one of

South Asia'sfinest literary traditions, includingnot only the

novel, short story, and poetry but drama and film as well.

Some of India's best classical musicians and greatest

expo-nents of the dance have been Bengalis Bengalis have also

mademajor contributions to Indianandworld cinema Rural

Bengal hasan old and well-developed folk literature,

includ-ing narrative poetry (puthi), drawn from history, myth, and

legend, as well as a very popular itinerant theater (called

jatra) Thereis also a strongtradition ofreligious folk music,

particularlyassociated with the more devotional and mystical

practices ofpopular Hinduism (e.g., worship of the goddess

Kaliand the Lord Krishna) and of popular Islam (e.g., the

de-votional gatherings of the various Sufi orders) Terra-cotta

temple andmosque architecture throughout Bengal is much

admired, and there is a folk tradition of painting, seen in

Hindu religiousscrolls and in the flowery, and often obscure,

religious symbols (alipana) commonly daubed in white rice

paste on the walls and floors of homesteads by Hindu village

women. Finally, despite industrialization and the spread of

commercially manufactured products throughout the region,

theBengalirural economy still depends on the services of

tra-ditional craftspeople-weavers, potters, carpenters,

black-smiths,metalworkers, and the like-whose wares often

repre-sent ahigh quality of both technique and aesthetic design.

Medicine Although modem scientific medicine has long

been known and accepted in Bengal, the homeopathic,

allo-pathic, andthe Hindu Ayurvedic and Muslim Unani medical

traditions continue to exist as alternatives There also

re-mains a host of folk beliefs and curing practices among both

theurban immigrant poor and the peasantry as a whole Folk

healers (ojha or fakir) are commonly called upon to treat

everything from temporary illnesses and chronic diseases to

bone fracturesand snakebite, as well as to counteract

ethno-psychiatric afflictions resulting from and ghost

session Folk curing practices stressthe use of magical verses(mantras), often combined with indigenous medicinal con-coctions.Traditional healers also provide amulets for protec-tion against devilry and sorcery, the wearing of which is ubiq-uitous not only among the peasantry and the urban poorbutalso among the Bengali middle classes as well

Death and Afterlife Bengali Hindus, of course, acceptthe doctrine of samsara, or the transmigration of souls fromoneearthlylifetoanother Funerary cremations, practicedbynearlyall Hinducastes, are thought toreleasetheindividual'sspiritual essence or soul from its transitory physical body.Bearing the influence (karma) of all the actions of its just ter-minated earthly embodiment, the soul then is reincarnatedinto a new worldly form and way oflife shaped by those pastactions Normally a man's eldest son carries out the funeraryrites, lighting the funeral pyre after first placing a burningstick in the mouth of the deceased Muslim beliefs requirethat at death the person be ritually bathed, shrouded, andburied in acoffinwith the head facing the holy city of Mecca,after which there follows afunerary prayer ceremony ideallyled by either a relative or a recognized leader of the local Mus-lim community The dead are thought to enter an indefinitetransitional state-during which the wicked begin to experi-ence punishment and the virtuous to receive their reward-between time of death and an eventual Day of Destruction,upon which the worldwill come to an end There will then be

a Day ofJudgment, whereupon all beings will be restored tolife, and humans will be brought before God (Allah) to havetheir lifetime deeds-which have been recorded by Allah'sangels in a Great Book-reviewed and counted Should one'sgood deeds outbalance the evil one has done, ResurrectionDay will lead to everlasting life in Heaven; if vice versa, theoutcome is a purifying, remedial period in Hell, whereupon,purged of its past iniquities, the soul may qualify for entryinto Paradise

See also Baul; Bengali Shakta; Bengali Vaishnava

Bibliography

Aziz, K M Ashraful (1979) Kinship in Bangladesh graph Series, no 1 Dhaka: International Centre for Diar-rhoeal Disease Research

Mono-Bertocci, Peter J (1980) "Models of Solidarity, Structures ofPower: The Politics of Community in Rural Bangladesh." InIdeology and Interest: The Dialectics of Politics, Political An-thropology Yearbook no 1, edited by Myron J Aronoff, 97-

125 New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Books

Chaudhuri, Nirad (1951).The Autobiography of an UnkownIndian London: Macmillan

Davis, Marvin (1983) Rank and Rivalry: The Politics of equality in Rural West Bengal Cambridge: Cambridge Uni-versity Press

In-Inden, Ronald B., and Ralph W Nicholas (1977) Kinship inBengali Culture Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Islam, A K M Aminul (1974) A Bangladesh Village: Politi-cal Conflict and Cohesion Cambridge, Mass.: Schenkman.Reprint 1990 Prospect Heights, Ill.: Waveland Press