Note 111 — B (continued 2)

Basor.111—A tribe found only in the Bundelkhand Division, and usually regarded as a sub-caste of Doms. Some of them are occasional visitors to Mirzapur and other towns, where the men work as musicians and basket-makers, and the women as midwives. The name of the tribe seems to mean “worker in the bamboo,” and to be the same as Bânsphor (q.v.). The Basors have a large number of exogamous sections, of which locally the most important are: in Hamîrpur, the Bâhmangot, Dhuneb, Gotela, Katahriya, Parauniya, Sakarwâr, Samangot, Sarmoriya, Sonach, and Sûpa or Supach Bhagat, the Dom hero; in Jhânsi the Barâr, Basgarh, Basobiya, and Dhânuk; in Jâlaun, the Baghela, Balâhar, Khangrela, and in Lalitpur, the Barâr, Morel, and Purabiya. In Mirzapur they name four exogamous sections,—Kulpariya, Katariya (named from the katâri or curved knife used in splitting the bamboo); Neoriya, which is also a section of Dharkârs (q.v.), and takes its name from newar, a young, soft bamboo; and Bamhila, who say that they are so called because they had once some connection with Brâhmans. In Jhânsi the Basors are also known as Barâr and Dhânuk. Barâr is apparently derived from the Sanskrit varataka kâra, “a maker of string.” Dhânuk is from the Sanskrit dhanushka, “a bow.” When a Basor abandons his regular occupation of working in bamboo and takes service with a land-owner as messenger or drum-beater, he becomes known in Jhânsi by the name of Barâr, and the Dhânuks seem to have been an offshoot from the original Basor stock, who took to the profession of bow-making. They now, however, work as much in bamboo as the regular Basors do; and all three—Basors, Dhânuks, and Barârs—intermarry and eat and drink together. In Jhânsi they have no traditions of their origin, but believe themselves indigenous to that part of the country. They name in Jhânsi, like so many of these menial castes, seven exogamous sections, Jhitiya, Loleri, Rasmel, Saina, Astiya, Bhardela, and Gursariya: of the origin, and explanation of these names they can give no explanation. A man must marry in Jhânsi in a section different from his own; he will not give his daughter in marriage into a section from which his own wife has come; but he can take wives for his sons, brothers, and brothers’ sons, etc., from that section. The prohibition against intermarriage lasts only for three generations. In Mirzapur the stray visitors who occasionally come are said to be governed by the same rule of exogamy as in the case of the Dharkârs (q.v.). As far as religion goes the only bar to intermarriage is conversion to another creed, such as Islâm or Christianity. A man may have as many wives as he can afford to keep, and some in Jhânsi have as many as three or four. The first wife, known as Biyâhta or Jethi, manages the house, and the others are subordinate to her. Further than this the Basors admit the introduction of a woman of another tribe; but it is asserted that she is not allowed, at any rate at first, complete caste privileges, and if she comes of a caste lower than the Basor, such as the Bhangi, she is never so admitted. If she be of any superior caste, she is admitted to full tribal privileges if her husband give a feast (roti) to the clansmen.