160 THE LATE REV. P. DEHON ON 



foreign wife. They are also purely totemistic and divided into a great number of groups 

 or septs, each bearing the name either of a plant or an animal. These divisions of the 

 caste are called gotras and are exogamous, and on no account will they allow two people 

 of the same gotras to marry. The gotra is always reckoned solely from the male side. 

 The marriage rules are very simple and may be formulated thus : No one is allowed to 

 marry out of the tribe or with anyone of his own gotra, the gotra of the mother being 

 altogether disregarded ; but relationship without any totemistic hindrance goes to the third 

 generation. Their standard formula is : We change our blood to the third generation. 



They do not know the origin of their totems, and do not seem to attach very great 

 importance to the observances connected with them. Here is a list of them with the 

 restriction put upon them. 



The observances are of three kinds : — i. Not to eat the totem of the gotra. 2. No 

 to eat the fruit of it. 3. Not to use the oil extracted from its fruit or touch it. 



1. Not to eat.— 



(a) Bokhla — Paddy Bird. 



(b) Chigalo — Jackal. 



(c) Diiiciina—K'mg crow. 



(d) Ekka or Khaclihap — Tortoise. 

 {e) Kayu — Wild dog. 



(/) Kcrluta — A kind of hedge sparrow. 



(g) Kinds — A kind of crop. 



(li) KhakJia — A crow. 



(/) Khalklw — Strad fish. 



(j) Gidhi — Vulture. 



(k) Kispota — -The bowels of a pig. 



(/) Lakra — Tiger. 



(;//) Minj — An eel. 



(n) Orgorao — Hawk. 



(0) Biga- Aluman — Baboon. 



2. Not to eat the fruit of — 



Barn — The fig tree {ficus mdicd). 



Madg i — Mali u a . 



Kirs Khochol {lit. pig's bone) a tree full of thorns. 



3. Not to use the oil of — 



Kujura — a kind of long creeper, the fruit of which yields a kind of oil which 



is not to be used by the people of that gotra. 

 Khers — Paddy : the people of this gotra can not use conji water. 

 Beh — Salt : to be used only as condiment, not to be eaten alone. 

 Panna — Iron : can not be touched with the mouth. 



