KHARWAR TRIBES OF BIHAR
They are different from the revivalistic religious group bearing the same name among the santhals.According to prasad 1961 the kharwar once resided in the sone valley.Their legend states that they came tom palamau from khari jhar,andhence came to be known as kharwar[sunder,1898].In bihar [before year2000] they are distributed in the hilly and forest regions as well as in the plains of ranchi, gumla, lohardaga,palamau and hazaribag districts.According to sarkar(1942),”ABO” blood group data from palamau,indicates a very high incidence of gene “B”even exceeding that og gene “O” among them.
The kharwar have six endogamous( The custom of marrying only within the limits of a clan or tribe) groups, which are Surajbanshi,Daulatbandi,Parbandi,Kheri(cherokharwar),Bhogati or Ganju and Manjhia.these groups are again divided into a number of Exogamous(the custom of marrying only outside the limits of a clan or tribe) totemic clans(kili)like Nag,Aiyen,Karketta,etc.they use singh and karketta as surnames.Crook(1896) reports Surajbanshi,Dualbandhi,Patbamdhi,Benbansi and Khairaha subdivision among the Kharwar of mirzapur and allahabad.
The kharwar have six endogamous( The custom of marrying only within the limits of a clan or tribe) groups, which are Surajbanshi,Daulatbandi,Parbandi,Kheri(cherokharwar),Bhogati or Ganju and Manjhia.these groups are again divided into a number of Exogamous(the custom of marrying only outside the limits of a clan or tribe) totemic clans(kili)like Nag,Aiyen,Karketta,etc.they use singh and karketta as surnames.Crook(1896) reports Surajbanshi,Dualbandhi,Patbamdhi,Benbansi and Khairaha subdivision among the Kharwar of mirzapur and allahabad.
-sanjeev kumar researcher
