Ojha
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From The Tribes And Castes Of The Central Provinces Of India
By R. V. Russell
Of The Indian Civil Service
Superintendent Of Ethnography, Central Provinces
Assisted By Rai Bahadur Hira Lal, Extra Assistant Commissioner
Macmillan And Co., Limited, London, 1916.
NOTE 1: The 'Central Provinces' have since been renamed Madhya Pradesh.
NOTE 2: While reading please keep in mind that all articles in this series have been scanned from the original book. Therefore, footnotes have got inserted into the main text of the article, interrupting the flow. Readers who spot these footnotes gone astray might like to shift them to their correct place.
Ojha
The community of soothsayers and minstrels of the Gonds. The Ojhas may now be considered a distinct subtribe, as they are looked down upon by the Gonds and marry among themselves. They derive their name from the word ojh, meaning ' entrail,' their original duty having been, like that of the Roman augurs, to examine the entrails of the victim immediately after it had been slain as an offering to the gods. In 191 1 the Ojhas numbered about 5000 persons distributed over all Districts of the Central Provinces.
At present the bulk of the community subsist by beggary. The word Ojha is of Sanskrit and not of Gond origin and is applied by the Hindus to the seers or magicians of several of the primitive tribes, while there is also a class of Ojha Brahmans who practise magic and divination.
The Gond Ojhas, who are the subject of this article, originally served the Gonds and begged from them alone, but in some parts of the western Satpuras they are also the minstrels of the Korkus. Those who beg from the Korkus play on a kind of drum called dhiiJtk, while the Gond Ojhas use the kingri or lyre. Some of them also catch birds and are therefore known as Moghia. Mr. Hislop ^ remarks of them: "The Ojhas follow the two occupations of bard and fowler.
They lead a wandering life and when passing through villages they sing from house to house the praises of their heroes, dancing with castanets in their hands, bells at their ankles and long feathers of jungle birds in their turbans. They sell live ' Papets relating to the Aboriginal Tribes of the C.P., p. 6.
quails and the skins of a species of Buceros named Dhanchiria
- these are used for makinc^ caps and for hanc^ing up
in houses in order to secure wealth {dha)/), while the thighbones of the same bird vv^hcn fastened round the waists of children are deemed an infallible preservative against the assaults of devils and other such calamities.
Their wives tattoo the arms of Mindu and Gond women. Among them there is a subdivision known as the Mana Ojhas, who rank higher than the others. Laying claim to unusual sanctity, they refuse to eat with any one, Gonds, Rajputs or even Brahmans, and devote themselves to the manufacture of rings and bells which are in request among their own race, and even of lingas (phallic emblems) and 7iandts (bull images), which they sell to all ranks of the Hindu community.
Their wives are distinguished by wearing the cloth of the upper part of the body over the right shoulder, whereas those of the common Ojhas and of all the other Gonds wear it over the left." Mr. Tawney wrote of the Ojhas as follows : ^ " The Ojha women do not dance. It is only men who do so, and when thus engaged they put on special attire and wear anklets with bells. The Ojhas like the Gonds are divided into six or seven god gots (classes or septs), and those with the same number of gods cannot intermarry. They worship at the same Deokhala (god's threshing-floor) as the Gonds, but being regarded as an inferior caste they are not allowed so near the sacred presence. Like the Gonds they incorporate the spirits of the dead wath the gods, but their manner of doing so is somewhat different, as they make an image of brass to represent the soul of the deceased and keep this with the household gods. As with the Gonds, if a household god makes himself too objectionable he is quietly buried to keep him out of mischief and a new god is introduced into the family.
The latter should properly bear the same name as his degraded predecessor, but very often does not. The Ojhas are too poor to indulge in the luxury of burning their deceased friends and therefore invariably bury them." The customs of the Ojhas resemble those of the Gonds. ^ Note by Mr. Tawney as Deputy in Central Provinces Census Report of Commissioner of Chhindwara, quoted 1S81 (Mr. Diysdale).
They take the bride to the bridegroom's house to be married, and a widow among them is expected, though not obliged, to wed her late husband's younger brother. They eat the flesh of fowls, pigs, and even oxen, but abstain from that of monkeys, crocodiles and jackals. They will not touch an ass, a cat or a dog, and consider it sinful to kill animals which bark or bray.
They will take food from the hands of all except the
most impure castes, and will admit into the community
any man who has taken an Ojha woman to live with him,
even though he be a sweeper, provided that he will submit
to the prescribed test of begging from the houses of five
Gonds and eating the leavings of food of the other Ojhas.
They will pardon the transgression of one of their women
with an outsider of any caste whatever, if she is able and
willing to provide the usual penalty feast. They have no
sutak or period of impurity after a death, but merely take
a mouthful of liquor and consider themselves clean. In
physical appearance the Ojhas resemble the Gonds but
are less robust. They rank below the Gonds and are considered
as impure by the Hindu castes. In 1865, an Ojha
held a village in Hoshangabad District which he had
obtained as follows :
^ " He was singing and dancing before
Raja Raghuji, when the Raja said he would give a rent-free
village to any one who would pick up and chew a quid of
betel-leaf which he (the Raja) had had in his mouth and had
spat out. The Ojha did this and got the village."
The Maithil or Tirhut Brahmans who are especially
learned in Tantric magic are also sometimes known as Ojha,
and a family bearing this title were formerly in the service of
the Gond kings of Mandla.
They do not now admit that they acted as augurs or soothsayers, but state that their business was to pray continuously for the king's success when he was engaged in any battle, and to sit outside the rooms of sick persons repeating the sacred Gayatri verse for their recovery. This is often repeated ten times, counting by a special method on the joints of the fingers and is then known as Jap. When it is repeated a larger number of times, as 54 or 108, a rosary is used. ' ,Sir C. A. Elliott's Hoshangabad Settlentait
Notes
As the Roman haruspex was named from his examining the entrails of the victim, so the Indian diviner is called from his inspecting the "Ojh" or entrails of his sacrifice. At the present day, however, they have discontinued this art, and each man adopts that system which is most likely to gull the populace.
If a Muhammadan, he is known as Du ati; if a Hindu, as Ojha, Rojha, or Gunin.
No two wizards follow the same tactics. One possesses a root by which he can fascinate snakes, or protect from snake bites; another has a secret spell or charm to cure ophthalmia or headache; a third has a philter; while a fourth has an amulet of universal virtue.
The most celebrated wizard in Dacca at the present day is a Dom, who has become a Muhammadan, called Babu Kham. An Ojha may belong to any caste, and he will not be less valued if he is a Dom, or a sweeper.
This Babu Khan derived his knowledge from a Faqir. He has met with so much success, and has acquired so great a name, that he has educated several pupils in his art. Being able to read and write a little Arabic, he has the reputation of being a profound scholar in all that concerns the black art.
He is chiefly employed in exorcising devils who have taken possession of any person. He invariably carries with him a copy of the Quran, and when he enters the room where the possessed person is confined, he begins by reciting a few appropriate texts. At the sound of these words the devil usually steals away; but if he is a powerful one, and disregards the words of the sacred volume, the book itself is exhibited, and he is warned to leave. If this too fails, a few sentences are scribbled on a piece of paper, and this is burned beneath the patient's nose. This, the Ojha asserts, is an infallible cure.
A demoniac is known by the following signs: The eyeballs are bloodshot, the tongue protrudes, pain is not felt; if the person is weak unusual strength is displayed, and several men are required to hold him. He amuses himself in wandering about, muttering, and breaking all articles within his reach.
The belief in persons possessed by evil spirits is universal, and even educated Muhammadans do not dispute the possibility of such an occurrence. The delirium which often accompanies the hot stage of ague, especially in the case of girls, is always referred by the women of the Zananah to the presence of a demon, and it is often difficult for a doctor to prevent their summoning a wizard to exorcise the sufferer. Hysteria, with its sudden seizure and strange involuntary convulsions, is a disorder in treating which the Ojha acquires undeserved credit; but as long as the belief in demoniac possession lasts, the race of wizards will flourish.
When demons of ordinary power are in possession of a person, a favourite remedy is burning turmeric, mustard seeds, and chillies, and making the fumes be inhaled.
Whatever method be adopted to expel the devil, his return is easily prevented if a particular sentence of the Quran be worn as a talisman around the neck.
Other wizards draw magic circles around the demoniac, while incantations are read.
Most of these men pretend to have "Mantras," or spells to ward off or cure diseases. During difficult labour, a sentence of the Quran bound on the woman, or a draught of water into which an incantation has been blown, are certain to hasten the birth of the child. Another belief prevalent among all classes in Bengal, is the disastrous effect of the evil eye. Every mother spits on her child, or smears a little lamp-black on the child's face before allowing her darling to go out of doors. The wizards however, claim, by means of charms, to permanently protect children.
An Ojha never marries, and he cannot allow anyone to cook his food. A person so familiar with the power of darkness must alwyas be on his guard, lest some mischievous imp take possession of him.
Allied to the Ojha is the Jhara-walah, or Jharna-phunkna-walah. Hindustanis are greater proficients in this imposture than the inhabitants of Bengal. like the mesmerist, the Jhara-walah chiefly practices passes, or gentle shampooing, and while doing so he must not breathe. A deep inspiration is taken, and, while the rubbing lasts, he repeats an incantation to Kali, the patroness of these wizards, and then blows on the limb that is under manipulation. A twig of the sacred Nim tree is often used in making passes. This order of wizards are chiefly employed in curing rheumatic or neuralgic pains; but, in 1872, they were in great demand to cure the obstinate muscular pains following an attack of Dengue fever.
At the end of the seventeeth century the miraculous cures performed by Mr. Greatrix,1 the stroker, created much sensation in England. By stroking the seat of pain he could remove it at once, and efffct a permanent cure. His practice was identical with that of the strokers of India of the present day.
