Deogam Killi
Ho
At a glance
- Called a
- Killi
- Community
- Ho
- Found in
- Jharkhand
About
Deogam is a killi (clan) of the Ho of Kolhan, in the Singhbhum country of Jharkhand. It is named after a bird whose call, the Ho say, sounds like 'Had Deogam'. D. N. Majumdar (1937) recorded the story of how the killi took the name and the respect its members showed the bird. A killi is not a gotra and names no rishi.
What “Killi” means for the Ho
Among the Ho of Kolhan a killi is a clan passed from father to children; a wife joins her husband's killi. Majumdar (1937) found that many killis bear the name of an animal, plant or thing, but that the one rule the Ho kept about them was that members of one killi do not marry. A killi is not a gotra and names no rishi.
Every killi of the Ho, with how the clan system works: the Ho page.
Name and Origin
The killi takes its name from a bird, the deogam, whose call sounds like 'Had Deogam'. Majumdar (1937, Appendix II, pp. 205-206) gives the story: in very early times, when the Ho were coming from the north-west, one of the women gave birth to a child on the way. At that moment the bird cried out, 'Had Deogam, Had Deogam', and everyone took it as a good omen, so the descendants of the child took Deogam as their killi name. It is a tradition, not dated history.
Historical Journey
Majumdar printed the Deogam story in his study of the Ho, A Tribe in Transition (1937), from his earlier article 'Totemism and Origin of Clans' in the Journal of the American Oriental Society (vol. 50, no. 3). He records that the bird was always welcome to the killi, and that in earlier times its members offered food to it whenever they heard its call (pp. 205-206). He read stories of this kind as explaining a chance bond between the people and an animal or plant at a moment of need, not as claims of descent; in his day the one rule the Ho kept about their killis was that members of one killi did not marry (pp. 54-55). Men bearing the Deogam name appear in his book: he thanks Kanuram Deogam, a teacher at Chaibassa, for help with his material, and prints a memorial of the 1930s naming Chandra Mohan Deogam as the first Ho graduate (preface; pp. 200-203).
How the Killi Is Kept
A Ho may not marry within his own killi; Majumdar found this the one rule about killis still firmly kept, and in his day a man and woman of one killi living in the same locality could not marry (1937, pp. 53-55). The killi passes from father to children, and a wife joins her husband's killi at marriage (p. 57). Among the Deogam the bird of the killi's name was welcomed, and food was once offered to it when its call was heard (p. 206). No family deity is tied to the Deogam killi in the sources checked.
Presence Across Regions
Kolhan, West Singhbhum, Jharkhand
Tribal - Ho
Majumdar recorded the Deogam story among the Ho of Kolhan; Kanuram Deogam, who helped him, taught at Chaibassa.
Stories and Legends
The bird's call at a birth
As Majumdar recorded it, when the Ho were still on their way from the north-west, a woman gave birth on the road. Just then a bird called out, 'Had Deogam, Had Deogam'. Everyone took it as a good omen, and the child's descendants took Deogam as their killi name. The bird was always welcome to the killi, and its members once offered it food whenever they heard it.