nna_, to weave)
in Chhattisgarh. A small colony of hemp-growers in the Betul District
are known as Dangur, probably from the _dang_ or wooden steelyard which
they use for weighing hemp. Both the Kumrawats and Dangurs claim Rajput
origin, and may be classed together. The caste of Barais or betel-vine
growers have a subcaste called Kumrawat, and the Kumrawats may be an
offshoot of the Barais, who split off from the parent body on taking
to the cultivation of hemp. As most Hindu castes have until recently
refused to grow hemp, the Kumrawats are often found concentrated in
single villages. Thus a number of Patbinas reside in Darri, a village
in the Khujji zamindari of Raipur, while the Dangurs are almost
all found in the village of Masod in Betul; in Jubbulpore Khapa is
their principal centre, and in Seoni the village of Deori. The three
divisions of the caste known by the names given above marry, as a rule,
among themselves. For their exogamous groups the Dangurs have usually
the names of different Rajput septs, the Kumrawats have territorial
names, and those of the Patbinas are derived from inanimate objects,
though they have no totemistic practices.

The number of girls in the caste is usually insufficient, and hence
they are married at a very early age. The boy's father, accompanied
by a few friends, goes to the girl's father and addresses a proposal
for marriage to him in the following terms: "You have planted a
tamarind tree which has borne fruit. I don't know whether you will
catch the fruit before it falls to the ground if I strike it with my
stick." The girl's father, if he approves of the match, says in reply,
'Why should I not catch it?' and the proposal for the marriage is
then made. The ceremony follows the customary ritual in the northern
Districts. When the family gods are worshipped, the women sit round a
grinding-stone and invite the ancestors of the family by name to attend
the wedding, at the same time placing a little cowdung in one of the
interstices of the stone. When they have invited all the names they
can remember they plaster up the remaining holes, saying, 'We can't
recollect any more names.' This appears to be a precaution intended
to imprison any spirits which may have been forgotten, and to prevent
them from exercising an evil influence on the marriage in revenge for
not having been invited. Among the Dangurs the bride and bridegroom
go to worship at Hanuman's shrine after the ceremony, and all