d with the Kawar tribe. Mr. Hira
Lal states that in Raigarh they will take food with Kewats, Gonds,
Kawars and Rawats or Ahirs, but they will not eat rice and pulse,
the most important and sacred food, with any outsiders except Kawars;
and this they explain by the statement that their ancestors and those
of the Kawars were connected. In Mirzapur the Kaurai Ahirs will take
food and water from the Majhwars, and these Ahirs are not improbably
derived from the Kawars. [147] Here the Majhwars also hold an oath
taken when touching a broadsword as most binding, and the Kawars
of the Central Provinces worship a sword as one of their principal
deities. [148] Not improbably the Manjhis may include some Kewats,
as this caste also use Manjhi for a title; and Manjhi is both a
subcaste and title of the Khairwars. The general conclusion from the
above evidence appears to be that the caste is a very heterogeneous
group whose most important constituents come from the Gond, Munda,
Santal and Kawar tribes. Whether the original bond of connection
among the various people who call themselves Manjhi was the common
occupation of boating and fishing is a doubtful point.

4. Exogamy and totemism

The Manjhis of Sarguja, like those of Raigarh, appear to be of Munda
and Santal rather than of Gond origin. They have no subdivisions,
but a number of totemistic septs. Those of the Bhainsa or buffalo sept
are split into the Lotan and Singhan subsepts, _lotan_ meaning a place
where buffaloes wallow and _singh_ a horn. The Lotan Bhainsa sept say
that their ancestor was born in a place where a buffalo had wallowed,
and the Singhan Bhainsa that their ancestor was born while his mother
was holding the horn of a buffalo. These septs consider the buffalo
sacred and will not yoke it to a plough or cart, though they will drink
its milk. They think that if one of them killed a buffalo their clan
would become extinct. The Baghani Majhwars, named after the _bagh_
or tiger, think that a tiger will not attack any member of their sept
unless he has committed an offence entailing temporary excommunication
from caste. Until this offence has been expiated his relationship with
the tiger as head of his sept is in abeyance and the tiger will eat
him as he would any other stranger. If a tiger meets a member of the
sept who is free from sin, he will run away. When the Baghani sept
hear that any Majhwar has killed a tiger they purify their houses by
washing them wit