s, but are divided into a number of
exogamous groups, principally of a totemistic nature. Those of the
Surajha or sun sept throw away their earthen pots on the occasion of an
eclipse, and those of the Hataia or elephant sept will not ride on an
elephant and worship that animal at the Dasahra festival. Members of
other septs named after the cobra, the crow, the monkey and the tiger
will not kill their totem animal, and when they see the dead body of
one of its species they throw away their earthen cooking-pots as a
sign of mourning. The marriage of persons belonging to the same sept
and also that of first cousins is prohibited. If an unmarried girl is
seduced by a man of the caste she becomes his wife and is not expelled,
but the caste will not eat food cooked by her. But a girl going wrong
with an outsider is finally cast out. The marriage and other social
customs resemble those of the Kurmis. The caste employ Brahmans at
their ceremonies and have a great regard for them. Their _gurus_ or
spiritual preceptors are Bairagis and Gosains. They eat the flesh
of clean animals and a few drink liquor, but most of them abstain
from it. Their women are tattooed on the arms and hands with figures
intended to represent deer, flies and other animals and insects. The
caste say that they were formerly employed as soldiers under the
native chiefs, but they are now all cultivators. They grow all kinds
of grain and vegetables, except turmeric and onions. A few of them
are landowners, and the majority tenants. Very few are constrained
to labour for hire. In appearance the men are generally strong and
healthy, and of a dark complexion.

Murha

1. Origin of the caste

_Murha._--A Dravidian, caste of navvies and labourers found in
Jubbulpore and the adjoining Districts, to the number of about
1500 persons. The name Murha has been held to show that the caste
are connected with the Munda tribe. The Murhas, however, call
themselves also Khare Bind Kewat and Lunia or Nunia (salt-maker),
and in Jubbulpore they give these two names as subdivisions of the
caste. And these names indicate that the caste are an offshoot of
the large Bind tribe of Bengal and northern India, though in parts
of the Central Provinces they have probably been recruited from the
Kols or Mundas. Sir H. Risley [283] records a story related by the
Binds to the effect that they and the Nunias were formerly one, and
that the existing Nunias are descended from a Bi