. The tribes and castes of the Central Provinces of India . incipal minister of a Rajput State, whooften fulfils the functions of a Mayor of the Palace. Thatit was applied to the tribe in this sense is shown by the factthat they are also known as Diwan, which has the samemeaning. There is a tradition that the Gond kings em-ployed Pardhans as their ministers, and as the Pardhansacted as genealogists they may have been more intelligentthan the Gonds, though they are in no degree less themselves and their Gond relations the Pardhans arefrequently not known by that name, which has be
. The tribes and castes of the Central Provinces of India . incipal minister of a Rajput State, whooften fulfils the functions of a Mayor of the Palace. Thatit was applied to the tribe in this sense is shown by the factthat they are also known as Diwan, which has the samemeaning. There is a tradition that the Gond kings em-ployed Pardhans as their ministers, and as the Pardhansacted as genealogists they may have been more intelligentthan the Gonds, though they are in no degree less themselves and their Gond relations the Pardhans arefrequently not known by that name, which has been givento them by the Hindus, but as Panal. Other names for thetribe are Parganiha, Desai and Pathari. Parganiha is a titlesignifying the head of a pargana, and is now applied bycourtesy to some families in Chhattisgarh. Desai has thesame signification, being a variant of Deshmukh or theMaratha revenue officer in charge of a circle of means a bard or genealogist, or according toanother derivation a hillman. On the Satpura plateau and 352. 4lir%^ GROUP OF PARDHANS. Semrost, Dtrh\. PART II GENERAL NOTICE 353 in Chhattlsgarh the tribe is known as Pardhan Ralaghat they are also called Mokasi. The Gondsthemselves look down on the Pardhfins and say that theword Patharia means inferior, and they relate that Bura Deo,their god, had seven sons. These were talking together oneday as they dined and they said that every caste had aninferior branch to do it homage, but they had none ; andthey therefore agreed that the youngest brother and hisdescendants should be inferior to the others and makeobeisance to them, while the others promised to treat himalmost as their equal and give him a share in all the offeringsto the dead. The Pardhans or Patharias are the descendantsof the youngest brother and they accost the Gonds with thegreeting Babu Johar, or Good luck, sir. The Gondsreturn the greeting by saying Pathari Johar, or How doyou do, Pathari. Curiously
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