an
incidental feature of their relative position at the time Mr. Kitts'
observations were made, would tend to show that the Nahals were the
older tribe and had been subjected by the Korkus, just as the Korkus
themselves and the Baigas have given way to the Gonds. Mr. Crosthwaite
also states that the Nahal is the drudge of the Korku and belongs to
a race which is supposed to have been glorious before the Korku star
arose, and which is now fast dying out. In any case there is no doubt
that the Nahals are a very mixed tribe, as they will even now admit
into the community Gonds, Korkus and nearly all the Hindu castes,
though in some localities they will not eat from the other tribes
and the lower Hindu castes and therefore refuse to admit them. There
are, moreover, two subdivisions of the caste called Korku and Marathi
Nahals respectively. The latter are more Hinduised than the former and
disclaim any connection with the Korkus. The Nahals have totemistic
exogamous septs. Those of the Kasa sept worship a tortoise and also
a bell-metal plate, which is their family god. They never eat off a
bell-metal plate except on one day in the month of Magh (January),
when they worship it. The members of the Nagbel sept worship the
betel-vine or 'snake-creeper,' and refrain from chewing betel-leaves,
and they also worship the Nag or cobra and do not kill it, thus having
a sort of double totem. The Bhawaria sept, named after the _bhaunr_
or black bee, do not eat honey, and if they see a person taking the
honey-comb from a nest they will run away. The Khadia sept worship
the spirits of their ancestors enshrined in a heap of stones (_khad_),
or according to another account they worship a snake which sits on a
heap of pebbles. The Surja sept worship Surya or the sun by offering
him a fowl in the month of Pus (December-January), and some members of
the sept keep a fast every Sunday. The Saoner sept worship the _san_
or flax plant.

2. Marriage

Marriage is prohibited between members of the same sept, but there are
no other restrictions and first cousins may marry. Both sexes usually
marry when adult, and sexual license before wedlock is tolerated. A
Brahman is employed only for fixing the date of the ceremony. The
principal part of the marriage is the knotting together of the bride's
and bridegroom's clothes on two successive days. They also gamble with
tamarind seeds, and it is considered a lucky union if the bridegroom
wins. A bri