The opening of II. ARTICLES ON CASTES AND TRIBES
KUMHAR--YEMKALA
VOL. IV
Kumhar
List of Paragraphs
1. Traditions of origin.
2. Caste subdivisions.
3. Social Customs.
4. The Kumhar as a village menial.
5. Occupation.
6. Breeding pigs for sacrifices.
7. The goddess Demeter.
8. Estimation of the pig in India.
9. The buffalo as a corn-god.
10. The Dasahra festival.
11. The goddess Devi.1. Traditions of origin
Kumhar, Kumbhar.--The caste of potters, the name being derived from the Sanskrit kumbh, a water-pot. The Kumhars numbered nearly 120,000 persons in the Central Provinces in 1911 and were most numerous in the northern and eastern or Hindustani-speaking Districts, where earthen vessels have a greater vogue than in the south. The caste is of course an ancient one, vessels of earthenware having probably been in use at a very early period, and the old Hindu scriptures consequently give various accounts of its origin from mixed marriages between the four classical castes. "Concerning the traditional parentage of the caste," Sir H. Risley writes, [1] "there seems to be a wide difference of opinion among the recognised authorities on the subject.