Vol. I, No. 8.] Kantabudiyas of Cuttack. 415 
LN. 9.] 
27, Note on the Kantabudiyds of Cuttack.— By Jamin1 Mowan Dae. 
Communicated by the Anthropological Secretary. 
The Kantabudiya caste numbers less than one thousand per- 
sons, and is confined to the Cuttack District. The family titles 
are Khuntiya, Parira, Nayak, Lenka, Sahu, Baru, Behara, Raut, 
and Mahanti. Most of these are also titles of the Khandaits and 
Chasas, and the Kantabudiyas may have been degraded from one 
of these castes because they took to the occupation of dealing in 
tobacco. The members of the caste claim that it is an offshoot of 
the Khandait caste. They use the same Santak or signature mark 
as the Khandaits—the Katari or dagger, Like the Khandaits, they 
assume the sacred thread at marriage, but unlike them, they only 
wear it for eight days and not permanently. They account for 
their name by a legend that they are the descendants of a found- 
ling who was abandoned near a thorny bush (Kantabuda) but 
tradition does not give any further particulars as to his origin or 
history. The caste is divided into two totemistic gotras, Kacchap 
and Nagasa, the members of which revere the tortoise and the 
cobra respectively. These groups are neither endogamous nor ex- 
ogamous. There are no endogamous groups within the caste. 
The exogamous limit is formed by the family title. A Khuntiya 
for instance may marry a Parira but not another Khuntiya. 
Similarly, a person may not marry into a family which bears the 
same title as his maternal grandfather. 
Widow re-marriage is allowed. Divorce is permitted on the 
eround of unchastity. There is nothing to prevent the re-marriage 
of a woman who has been divorced, if any one will take her. 
Polygamy is not practised unless the first wife is barren or suffers 
from an incurable disease. 
The Kantabudiyas belong to the Vaisnava sect. Adhikari 
Brahmans act as their priests, and Brahman and Karan Vaisnavas 
as their gurus. In all essential respects they follow the marriage 
customs of the Khandaits and Chasas. 
Persons who die before marriage are buried. Others are 
buried or burned according to convenience. Mourning continues 
for ten days and the Sraddha is performed on the eleventh day. 
The traditional occupation of the caste is dealing in tobacco 
and turmeric, but about half of the members now combine agricul- 
ture with it. There is no organised caste council; meetings of 
the caste are presided over by the most learned or intelligent 
member present. 
In the matter of food and drink, the Kantabudiyas follow the 
customs of the Khandaits and Chasas, who will not, however, take 
any food from them. The higher castes will not take their water, 
but they are served by the barber and washerman. The Gauras, 
however, will neither carry their palkis nor eat in their houses, and 
this alone is sufficient to show that they rank lower than the 
Khandaits and Chasas. As a consequence of this custom, the 
Kantabudiya bridegrooms walk on foot in their marriage proces- 
$1008. 
— oe SS 
