f
oil use dust (_dhur_) taken from the sole of the bridegroom's foot,
and the Sendurias like most Hindu castes employ vermilion (_sendur_)
for this purpose. The Telhas and Dhurias marry with each other, but
not with the Sendurias, who consider themselves to be superior to
the others and use the term Nagbansia or 'Descendants of the Snake'
as their tribal name. The Telha and Dhuria women do not wear glass
bangles on their arms but only bracelets of brass, while the Sendurias
wear glass bangles and also armlets above the elbow. Telha women do
not wear nose-rings or tattoo their bodies, while the Sendurias do
both. The Telhas say that the tattooing needle and vermilion, which
they formerly employed in their marriages, were stolen from them by
Wagdeo or the tiger god. So they hit upon sesamum oil as a substitute,
which must be pressed for ceremonial purposes in a bamboo basket by
unmarried boys using a plough-yoke. This is probably, Mr. Hira Lal
remarks, merely the primitive method of extracting oil, prior to the
invention of the Teli's _ghani_ or oil-press; and the practice is
an instance of the common rule that articles employed in ceremonial
and religious rites should be prepared by the ancient and primitive
methods which for ordinary purposes have been superseded by more
recent labour-saving inventions.

Nahal

1. The tribe and its subdivisions

_Nahal, Nihal._ [288]--A forest tribe who are probably a mixture
of Bhils and Korkus. In 1911 they numbered 12,000 persons, of whom
8000 belonged to the Hoshangabad, Nimar and Betul Districts, and
nearly 4000 to Berar. They were classed at the census as a subtribe
of Korkus. According to one story they are descended from a Bhil
father and a Korku mother, and the writer of the _Khandesh Gazetteer_
calls them the most savage of the Bhils. But in the Central Provinces
their family or sept names are the same as those of the Korkus,
and they speak the Korku language. Mr. Kitts [289] says that the
Korkus who first went to Berar found the Nahals in possession of
the Melghat hills. Gradually the latter caste lost their power and
became the village drudges of the former. He adds that the Nahals
were fast losing their language, and the younger generation spoke only
Korku. The two tribes were very friendly, and the Nahals acknowledged
the superior position of the Korkus. This, if it accurately represents
the state of things prevailing for a long period, and was not merely