ka
larki kesar ka tika_,' or 'The Bharbhunja's slut with saffron on her
forehead,' meaning one dressed in borrowed plumes. Another saying is,
'_To tum kya abhi tak bhar bhunjte rahe_,' or 'Have you been stoking
the oven all this time?'--meaning to imply that the person addressed
has been wasting his time, because the profits from grain-parching
are so small. The oven of the Psalmist into which the grass was cast
no doubt closely resembled that of the Bharbhunjas.

Bharia

List of Paragraphs

1. _Origin and tribal legend._
2. _Tribal subdivisions._
3. _Marriage._
4. _Childbirth._
5. _Funeral ceremonies._
6. _Religion and magic._
7. _Social life and customs._
8. _Occupation._

1. Origin and tribal legend.

_Bharia, Bharia-Bhumia._ [277]--A Dravidian tribe numbering about
50,000 persons and residing principally in the Jubbulpore District,
which contains a half of the total number. The others are found in
Chhindwara and Bilaspur. The proper name of the tribe is Bharia,
but they are often called Bharia-Bhumia, because many of them hold
the office of Bhumia or priest of the village gods and of the lower
castes in Jubbulpore, and the Bharias prefer the designation of Bhumia
as being the more respectable. The term Bhumia or 'Lord of the soil'
is an alternative for Bhuiya, the name of another Dravidian tribe,
and no doubt came to be applied to the office of village priest
because it was held by members of this tribe; the term Baiga has a
similar signification in Mandla and Balaghat, and is applied to the
village priest though he may not belong to the Baiga tribe at all. The
Bharias have forgotten their original affinities, and several stories
of the origin of the tribe are based on far-fetched derivations of
the name. One of these is to the effect that Arjun, when matters were
going badly with the Pandavas in their battle against the Kauravas,
took up a handful of _bharru_ grass and, pressing it, produced a
host of men who fought in the battle and became the ancestors of the
Bharias. And there are others of the same historical value. But there
is no reason to doubt that Bharia is the contemptuous form of Bhar, as
Telia for Teli, Jugia for Jogi, Kuria for Kori, and that the Bharias
belong to the great Bhar tribe who were once dominant in the eastern
part of the United Provinces, but are now at the bottom of the social
scale, and relegated by their conquerors to the d