out and found out what had happened. The
Bhois then wept and asked for another reward, but the goddess refused
and said that as they had been so stupid their caste would always be
poor, but at the same time they would be cheerful and happy.

Dhoba

List of Paragraphs

1. _General notice._
2. _Exogamous divisions._
3. _Marriage customs._
4. _Funeral rites._
5. _Caste panchayat and social penalties._
6. _Occupation and social customs._

1. General notice.

_Dhoba._ [549]--A small caste belonging to the Mandla District and
apparently an offshoot from one of the primitive tribes. They have
never been separately classified at the census but always amalgamated
with the Dhobi or washerman caste. But the Mandla Dhobas acknowledge
no connection with Dhobis, nor has any been detected. One Dhoba has
indeed furnished a story to the Rev. E. Price that the first ancestor
of the caste was a foundling boy, by appearance of good lineage,
who was brought up by some Dhobis, and, marrying a Dhobi girl, made
a new caste. But this is not sufficient to demonstrate the common
origin of the Dhobas and Dhobis. The Dhobas reside principally in a
few villages in the upper valley of the Burhner River, and members
of the caste own two or three villages. They are dark in complexion
and have, though in a less degree, the flat features, coarse nose
and receding forehead of the Gond; but they are taller in stature
and not so strongly built, and are much less capable of exertion.

2. Exogamous divisions.

The caste has twelve exogamous septs, though the list is probably
not complete. These appear to be derived from the names of
villages. Marriage is forbidden between the Baghmar and Baghcharia
septs, the Maratha and Khatnagar and Maralwati septs and the Sonwani
and Sonsonwani septs. These septs are said to have been subdivided and
to be still related. The names Baghmar and Baghcharia are both derived
from the tiger; Sonnwani is from Sona-pani or gold-water, and the
Sonsonwani sept seems therefore to be the aristocratic branch or _creme
de la creme_ of the Sonwanis. The children of brothers and sisters
may marry but not those of two sisters, because a man's maternal aunt
or _mausi_ is considered as equivalent to his mother. A man may also
marry his step-sister on the mother's side, that is the daughter of
his own mother by another husband either prior to or subsequent to
his father, the step