from the Vindhya hills, and the tribe still worship
the goddess Vindhyabasini of these hills as their tutelary deity. They
say that their ancestors migrated from Binjhakop to Lampa, which may be
either Lamta in Balaghat or Laphagarh in Bilaspur. The hills of Mandla,
the home of perhaps the most primitive Baigas, are quite close to the
Vindhya range. The tribe say that their original ancestors were _Barah
bhai betkar_, or the twelve Brother Archers. They were the sons of
the goddess Vindhyabasini. One day they were out shooting and let off
their arrows, which flew to the door of the great temple at Puri and
stuck in it. Nobody in the place was able to pull them out, not even
when the king's elephants were brought and harnessed to them; till
at length the brothers arrived and drew them forth quite easily with
their hands, and the king was so pleased with their feat that he gave
them the several estates which their descendants now hold. The story
recalls that of Arthur and the magic sword. According to another legend
the mother of the first Raja of Patna, a Chauhan Rajput, had fled from
northern India to Sambalpur after her husband and relations had been
killed in battle. She took refuge in a Binjhwar's hut and bore a son
who became Raja of Patna; and in reward for the protection afforded to
his mother he gave the Binjhwar the Bodasamar estate, requiring only
of him and his descendants the tribute of a silk cloth on accession to
the zamindari; and this has been rendered ever since by the zamindars
of Bodasamar to the Rajas of Patna as a mark of fealty. It is further
stated that the twelve archers when they fired the memorable arrows in
the forest were in pursuit of a wild boar; and the landholding class of
Binjhwars are called Bariha from _barah_, a boar. As is only fitting,
the Binjhwars have taken the arrow as their tribal symbol or mark;
their cattle are branded with it, and illiterate Binjhwars sign it
in place of their name. If a husband cannot be found for a girl she
is sometimes married to an arrow. At a Binjhwar wedding an arrow
is laid on the trunk of mahua [382] which forms the marriage-post,
and honours are paid to it as representing the bridegroom.

2. Tribal subdivisions.

The tribe have four subdivisions, the Binjhwars proper, the Sonjharas,
the Birjhias and the Binjhias. The Sonjharas consist of those who
took to washing for gold in the sands of the Mahanadi, and it may
be noted that a separate caste