tract of
the Jubbulpore Haveli, covered like a chessboard with large embanked
wheat-fields. The name Haveli seems to have signified a palace or
headquarters of a ruler, and hence was applied to the tract surrounding
it, which was usually of special fertility, and provided for the
maintenance of the chief's establishment and household troops. Thus in
Jubbulpore, Mandia and Betul we find the forts of the old Gond rulers
dominating an expanse of rich plain-country. The Usrete Kurmis abstain
from meat and liquor, and may be considered as one of the highest
subcastes. Their name may be derived from _a-sreshtha,_ or not the
best, and its significance would be that formerly they were considered
to be of mixed origin, like most castes in Bundelkhand. The group of
Sreshtha or best-born Kurmis has now, however, died out if it ever
existed, and the Usretes have succeeded in establishing themselves in
its place. The Chandnahes of Jubbulpore or Chandnahus of Chhattisgarh
are another large subdivision. The name may be derived from the village
Chandnoha in Bundelkhand, but the Chandnahus of Chhattisgarh say that
three or four centuries ago a Rajput general of the Raja of Ratanpur
had been so successful in war that the king allowed him to appear
in Durbar in his uniform with his forehead marked with sandalwood,
as a special honour. When he died his son continued to do the same,
and on the king's attention being drawn to it he forbade him. But
the son did not obey, and hence the king ordered the sandalwood to be
rubbed from his forehead in open Durbar. But when this was done the
mark miraculously reappeared through the agency of the goddess Devi,
whose favourite he was. Three times the king had the mark rubbed
out and three times it came again. So he was allowed to wear it
thereafter, and was called Chandan Singh from _chandan_, sandalwood;
and his descendants are the Chandnahu Kurmis. Another derivation is
from Chandra, the moon. In Jubbulpore these Chandnahes sometimes kill
a pig under the palanquin of a newly married bride. In Bilaspur they
are prosperous and capable cultivators, but are generally reputed to
be stingy, and therefore are not very popular. Here they are divided
into the Ekbahinyas and Dobahinyas, or those who wear glass bangles
on one or both arms respectively. The Chandraha Kurmis of Raipur
are probably a branch of the Chandnahus. They sprinkle with water
the wood with which they are about to cook their food in order t