one brass vessel, which will be reserved for
production on the visit of a guest. But no strangers can be admitted
to the house, and a separate hut is kept in the village for their
use. Here they are given uncooked grain and pulse, which they prepare
for themselves. When the women go out to work they do not leave their
babies in the house, but carry them tied up in a small rag under the
arm. They have no knowledge of medicine and are too timid to enter a
Government dispensary. Their panacea for most diseases is branding the
skin with a hot iron, which is employed indifferently for headache,
pains in the stomach and rheumatism. Mr. Pyare Lal notes that one
of his informants had recently been branded for rheumatism on both
knees and said that he felt much relief.

Binjhwar

List of Paragraphs

1. _Origin and tradition._
2. _Tribal subdivisions._
3. _Marriage._
4. _The marriage ceremony._
5. _Sexual morality._
6. _Disposal of the dead._
7. _Religion._
8. _Festivals._
9. _Social customs._

1. Origin and tradition.

_Binjhwar, Binjhal._ [381]--A comparatively civilised Dravidian
tribe, or caste formed from a tribe, found in the Raipur and Bilaspur
Districts and the adjoining Uriya country. In 1911 the Binjhwars
numbered 60,000 persons in the Central Provinces. There is little
or no doubt that the Binjhwars are an offshoot of the primitive
Baiga tribe of Mandla and Balaghat, who occupy the Satpura or Maikal
hills to the north of the Chhattisgarh plain. In these Districts a
Binjhwar subdivision of the Baigas exists; it is the most civilised
and occupies the highest rank in the tribe. In Bhandara is found the
Injhwar caste who are boatmen and cultivators. This caste is derived
from the Binjhwar subdivision of the Baigas, and the name Injhwar
is simply a corruption of Binjhwar. Neither the Binjhwars nor the
Baigas are found except in the territories above mentioned, and it
seems clear that the Binjhwars are a comparatively civilised section
of the Baigas, who have become a distinct caste. They are in fact the
landholding section of the Baigas, like the Raj-Gonds among the Gonds
and the Bhilalas among Bhils. The zamindars of Bodasamar, Rampur,
Bhatgaon and other estates to the south and east of the Chhattlsgarh
plain belong to this tribe. But owing to the change of name their
connection with the parent Baigas has now been forgotten. The name
Binjhwar is derived