Beck Gotra
Oraon
At a glance
- Called a
- Gotra
- Community
- Oraon
- Found in
- Jharkhand
About
Beck, written Bekh by Roy, is a clan of the Oraon (Kurukh) of Chota Nagpur. Its totem is salt: Roy (1915) lists Bekh (salt) as one of the two mineral totems of the Oraon, with Panna (iron). Because salt cannot be done without, the clan's rule was eased: members avoid only raw salt. The Oraon call the clan a gotra, but it is a totemic clan that marries out, not a Vedic gotra.
What “Gotra” means for the Oraon
Oraon families call their clan a gotra (Roy 1915, pp. 325, 335): a totemic clan passed from father to children, within which no one may marry, though a man may marry into his mother's clan. It is not a Vedic gotra and names no rishi.
Every gotra of the Oraon, with how the clan system works: the Oraon page.
Name and Origin
The clan is named after salt; bekh is the Oraon word Roy gives (1915, p. 327). He records no story of how the clan took salt as its totem. A modern list on Wikipedia gives the clan as Beck (salt), matching Roy. Among the Kharia the salt clan has a different name, Bilung.
Historical Journey
No written history of the Beck clan is known; what is recorded is its rule. Roy uses the Salt clan to show how Oraon clans adjusted a totem rule when the totem was something people could not do without: instead of giving up salt, men of the Salt clan abstain only from taking raw salt on its own, and may eat food or drink to which salt has been added in cooking, or even into which raw salt has been mixed beforehand (1915, pp. 330-331). He sets it beside the Iron clan, whose men only avoid touching iron with their lips or tongue, and the Paddy clan, which avoids only the scum on cooling rice-soup. The Kharia salt clan, Bilung, keeps a similar rule (Roy and Roy 1937, p. 142).
How the Gotra Is Kept
Members of the Beck clan do not marry each other, though an Oraon may marry into his mother's clan (Roy 1915, p. 330). The clan passes from father to children, and Oraon clan names are now used as surnames. The recorded rule is to avoid raw salt taken on its own, while salted food is allowed (p. 331). No family deity is tied to the Beck clan in the sources checked.
Presence Across Regions
Chota Nagpur
Tribal - Oraon
Roy (1915) lists Bekh (salt) among Oraon mineral totems; he names no village or place for the clan.