Topno Killi
Munda
At a glance
- Called a
- Killi
- Community
- Munda
- Found in
- Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh
About
Topno is a killi (totemic clan) of the Munda of Chota Nagpur and also a clan of the Kharia. Roy (1912) names Topno second in his list of the twenty-one original Munda killis but records no totem or story for it. Roy and Roy (1937) count Topno among the eight original clans of the Dhelki Kharia. It is a different name from Toppo, an Oraon and Kharia clan. A killi is not a gotra and names no rishi.
What “Killi” means for the Munda
A killi is a Munda clan. Roy (1912) records that its members count themselves descendants of one forefather, that it passes from father to children, and that no Munda may marry within his own killi. Many killis are named after an animal, plant or thing, their totem, which members will not eat or harm. A killi is not a gotra and names no rishi.
Every killi of the Munda, with how the clan system works: the Munda page.
Name and Origin
The books on disk give no Munda account of the name. For the Kharia, Roy and Roy gloss Topno once as a bird (1937, p. 128) and, in their lists of clans found among the Dudh and Dhelki Kharia, as a tree (pp. 143-144); they do not explain the difference. A modern list on Wikipedia gives red ants for the Munda Topno; that is not in Roy's book.
Historical Journey
Roy lists Topno among the twenty-one killis that, by Munda tradition, came onto the Ranchi plateau with the patriarch Risa Munda (1912, p. 71 n.); beyond the name he says nothing about it. Among the Kharia the name has a longer record. The Dhelki Kharia of Gangpur and Jashpur named eight clans as their original ones, Topno among them, and Roy and Roy found no sub-divisions of the Topno clan (1937, pp. 127-130). The Dudh Kharia, who count nine original clans of their own, know Topno too but regard it as a clan acquired later (pp. 143-145).
How the Killi Is Kept
A Munda may not marry within his own killi (Roy 1912, p. 228), and the killi passes from father to children. Among the Kharia, members of a clan may not marry each other and avoid eating, using or harming their totem (Roy and Roy 1937, pp. 127, 142). Whether a Munda Topno and a Kharia Topno count as one clan for marriage is not addressed in the books checked. No family deity is tied to the Topno killi in the sources checked.
Presence Across Regions
Ranchi district, Jharkhand
Tribal - Munda
One of the twenty-one original Munda killis in Roy's list (1912, p. 71 n.).
Gangpur (Sundargarh), Odisha, and Jashpur, Chhattisgarh
Tribal - Kharia
One of the eight original clans of the Dhelki Kharia of the former Gangpur and Jashpur States (Roy and Roy 1937, pp. 127-130).