Note 88 — G

Goriya, Guriya.—A fishing and cultivating caste of the Eastern Districts, in all respects analogous to the Gonrhi or Gunrhi of Bihâr.88 They are usually treated as a sub-caste of Mallâh. They correspond closely to the other allied castes in manners and customs; but their women are said to bear an indifferent character—a state of things naturally resulting in a caste the male members of which are compelled by the nature of their occupation to absent themselves from home for long periods. Their tribal gods are the Pânchonpîr. “Some again worship a water god called Koila Bâba, described as an old grey-bearded person, who, as Ganga ji ka beldâr, ‘the navvy of our lady the Ganges’ saps and swallows up whatever opposes the sacred stream. Before casting a new net or starting on a commercial venture, offerings of molasses and seven kinds of grain, kneaded into balls, are offered to him, and at the end of the ceremony one of the balls is placed on the edge of the water, another on the bow of the boat. Another rite common to many, if not to all fisher castes, is the Barwariya or Barahi Pûja, when a subscription is made, and in the absence of a Brâhman a pig is sacrificed in a garden or on a patch of waste land outside a village. Jay Sinh, Amar Sinh, Chand Sinh, Dayâl Sinh, Kewal, Marang Bandi, Goraiya, and a river named Kamalaji, are regularly worshipped. Jay Sinh, who is also a favourite deity of the Tiyar caste, is said to have been a Gonrhi of Ujjain who had a large timber trade in the Sundariban. On one occasion the Râja of the Sundariban imprisoned 700 Gonrhis in consequence of a dispute about the price of wood. Jay Sinh slew the Râja and released the prisoners, and has ever since been honoured with daily worship. Goats, sweetmeats, wheaten cakes, pân supâri and flowers are offered to him at regular intervals, and no Gonrhi will light a pipe or embark on a fishing excursion without first invoking the name of Jay Sinh. Once a year, in the month of Srâvan, a flag is set up in honour of Hanumân on a bamboo pole in the courtyard, and offerings of sweetmeats and fruits are presented to the god. These offerings are received by the Brâhmans who officiate as priests, while the articles of food given to the minor gods are eaten by the members of the caste. The dead are buried, usually on the brink of a river, and the ashes thrown into the stream. In Supal the practice is to burn in a mango grove. Srâddha is performed on the thirteenth day after death.”89