e
among the Oraons. The custom in the Central Provinces, by which in
Gond villages the village priest is always known as Baiga, because
in some localities members of the Baiga tribe are commonly employed
in the office, suggests the hypothesis of a similar usage here. In
villages first settled by Oraons, the population, Father Dehon states,
is divided into three _khunts_ or branches, named after the Munda,
Pahan and Mahto, the founders of the three branches being held to
have been sons of the first settler. Members of each branch belong
therefore to the same sept or _got_. Each _khunt_ has a share of the
village lands.

3. Subdivisions

The Oraons have no proper subcastes in the Central Provinces, but the
Kudas and Kisans, having a distinctive name and occupation, sometimes
regard themselves as separate bodies and decline intermarriage with
other Oraons. In Bengal Sir H. Risley gives five divisions, Barga,
Dhanka, Kharia, Khendro and Munda; of these Kharia and Munda are the
names of other tribes, and Dhanka may be a variant for Dhangar. The
names show that as usual with the tribes of this part of the country
the law of endogamy is by no means strict. The tribe have also a
large number of exogamous septs of the totemistic type, named after
plants and animals. Members of any sept commonly abstain from killing
or eating their sept totem. A man must not marry a member of his own
sept nor a first cousin on the mother's side.

4. Pre-nuptial licence

Marriage is adult and pre-nuptial unchastity appears to be tacitly
recognised. Oraon villages have the institution of the Dhumkuria
or Bachelors' dormitory, which Dalton describes as follows: [359]
"In all the older Oraon villages when there is any conservation of
ancient customs, there is a house called the Dhumkuria in which all
the bachelors of the village must sleep under penalty of a fine. The
huts of the Oraons have insufficient accommodation for a family,
so that separate quarters for the young men are a necessity. The
same remark applies to the young unmarried women, and it is a fact
that they do not sleep in the house with their parents. They are
generally frank enough when questioned about their habits, but on
this subject there is always a certain amount of reticence, and I have
seen girls quietly withdraw when it was mooted. I am told that in some
villages a separate building is provided for them like the Dhumkuria,
in which they consort under the gua