Among
the Marias skin diseases such as scabies, ringworm, and
eczema are very common. Eye complaints are frequent, owning
largely to the habit of living and sleeping in dark unventilated
huts and dormitories thick with smoke. Old men and women
are frequently seen crippled with rheumatism. Venereal
diseases are extremely rare among the Abujhmarias. To
them illness is generally a manifestation of something
malignant, either the magic of a human enemy or the ill-will
either of a god or spirit or demons called ‘rāw’.
At funerals steps are taken to ascertain whether magic
was the cause of death. In illiness the wa e
or medicine man is approached for cure. He waving a bunch
of peacock feathers in his hands waits till he is possessed
by god to give his decision and advice. Abujhmarias believes
that god speake through him. While he is being possessed
by god he recites the names of all the clan-gods and pretends
to charm a patient’s illness by brushing the peacock feathers
down from the head or the affected part to the toes, where
he blows the illness awy. The whole process is known as
‘wae
kiyāna’.
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Among
the Abujhmarias burial takes place only after the arrival
of all near relatives of the dead. With the dead are burried
some of his personal belongings. These are said to be
for the use of the dead. A little rice, tobacoo, liquor
and a small quantity of water in a pot are kept near the
burial ground as the last offerings for the departed soul.
A big slab of stone measuring 3 to 5 feet in length is
erected over the place of the burial as a memorial post.
Dried gourds,post,mats, etc. and clothes of the deceased
are hung on a tree near the burial ground . After burial
there are no elaborate ceremonies. Usually a feast is
arranged for the people of the entire village but there
is no fixed time for this kind of feast.
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Abujhmarias
belive in sprits and transmigration of souls. Their life
is balanced with the horror of the spirts and ghosts on
one hand and the rights that are expected from and the
duties and obligations they owe towards the invisible
on the other. Wrongs are never committed because none
wants to invite the wrath of a spirit or a clan deity
. Telling lies is unknown to them since they belive that
the spirits and deities are capable of bringing the culprits
to heels.
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Political
organisation among the Abujhmarias is very strong and
the people have high regard towards their leaders. Every
villages has a panel of secular and religious officials.
There is a head man ‘pa ēl’
and a petty police official ‘kotwāl’ whose duty is
to report to police all births and deaths within his jurisdiction.
Every group of villages belong to certain ‘pargāna’
which is headed by pargāna Mānji. Every village
has its panchayat presided over by the village headman,
and each pargāna has a pargāna panchayat which
is the Court of Appeal. Pargāna Mānji is the
link between the people of his pargāna and the outside
government officials. This office is hereditory. The village
councils of all the villages in the pargāna select
a Sarpanch Mukhyāl who passes judgement in those
cases which are decided by the village council and by
the pargāna Mānji. There are other religious
elders. Būm Gāita is the village priest. He
supervises all sacrifices concerned with the village and
its festivals and to perform the worship of the village
mother. Sirāha is the clan priest who fulfils spritual
duties for its members. Wae
is another priest who is cosidered as servent and interpreter
of the gods. He has power of falling into ecstacy and
in this condition devine the will and proclaim the wishes
of unseen souls of the departed and spirits. These men
are real rulers of an Abujhmar village. Their words are
of greater effect than that of the most powerful and popular
officials.
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To conclude,
the Abujhmarias are one of most ‘primitive’
tribes of Central India simple in nature, honest in thier
dealings and too much conscious of theirself-respect living
in the inaccessible mountains of Bastar unaffected by
the fruits of modren civiliztion. They have their own
codes, customs and manners. They have self-sufficient
economy, the source of income being hunting, fishing,
food gathering from vast forests and shifting cultivation.
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