the termination of his
boyhood, while the latter is meant to protect him on his important
journey. The bridegroom in walking away treads on a saucer in which
a little rice is placed. Widow-marriage and divorce are permitted.

3. Social rank and customs.

A few members of the caste are tenants and the bulk of them
farmservants and field-labourers. They also act as village
watchmen. The Dhanuks eat flesh and fish, but not fowls, beef or pork,
and they abstain from liquor. They will take food cooked without water
from a Brahman and a Lodhi, but not from a Rajput; but in Nimar the
status of the caste is distinctly lower, and they eat pig's flesh
and the leavings of Brahmans and Rajputs. The mixed nature of the
caste is shown by the fact that they will receive into the community
illegitimate children born of a Dhanuk father and a woman of a higher
caste such as Lodhi or Kurmi. They rank as already indicated just
above the impure castes.

Dhanwar

List of Paragraphs

1. _Origin and traditions._
2. _Exogamous septs._
3. _Marriage._
4. _Festivities of the women of the bridegroom's party._
5. _Conclusion of the marriage._
6. _Widow-marriage and divorce._
7. _Childbirth._
8. _Disposal of the dead._
9. _Religion._
10. _Magic and witchcraft._
11. _Social rules._
12. _Dress and tattooing._
13. _Names of children._
14. _Occupation._

1. Origin and traditions.

_Dhanwar, Dhanuhar._ [530]--A primitive tribe living in the wild hilly
country of the Bilaspur zamindari estates, adjoining Chota Nagpur. They
numbered only 19,000 persons in 1911. The name Dhanuhar means a bowman,
and the bulk of the tribe have until recently been accustomed to
obtain their livelihood by hunting with bow and arrows. The name is
thus merely a functional term and is analogous to those of Dhangar,
or labourer, and Kisan, or cultivator, which are applied to the
Oraons, and perhaps Halba or farmservant, by which another tribe
is known. The Dhanwars are almost certainly not connected with the
Dhanuks of northern India, though the names have the same meaning. They
are probably an offshoot of either the Gond or the Kawar tribe or a
mixture of both. Their own legend of their origin is nearly the same
as that of the Gonds, while the bulk of their sept or family names are
identical with those of the Kawars. Like the Kawars, the Dhanwars have
no language of their own and