Raval (रावळ)  or Raul (राऊळ)

Reference: Link to Maharashtra Gazetteers (Poona District Gazetteer Part-I (1885))

Rauls are returned as numbering 377 and as found in Haveli, Bhimthadi, Maval, Junnar, Khed, Indapur, Sirur Purandhar, and Poona city and cantonment. They do not know when and from where they came into the district, but believe they were driven about two hundred years ago by a famine from Mohol lin Sholapur and Sasvad. They are divided into Rauls, Gosavis, and Bastards or Akarmases, who do not eat together or intermarry. Their surnames are Chavan, Chhatrabhuj, Gadade, Lakhe, Povar, and Vaghulker; and persons of the same surname can eat together but not intermarry. The names in common use among men are Bahirunath, Gopalnath, and Vishvanath; and among women Bhagirthi, Ganga, and Parvati. Except that they all end in nath the names both of men and of women are the same as those of cultivating Marathas. They look and speak like Marathas. Their houses are like ordinary middle-class Hindu houses with walls of unburnt bricks and tiled roofs. Their rates and practice about food do not differ from the rules and practice of cultivating Marathas. They give dinners on the anniversaries or mind-days of their deceased ancestors, on Nag-panchmi in August, and on Dasara in October. They have of late taken to drinking especially those in the city of Poona. Except a few Gosavi Rauls the men all wear the top-knot as well as the moustache and whiskers, and a few wear beards. The women tie their hair in a knot behind the head and rub redpowder on their brows; they do not wear false hair or deck their hair with, flowers. As the followers or panthis of Gorakhnath they ought to wear ochre-coloured clothes, but both men and women dress almost like Marathas. Except that a few of the men wear brass or horn rings in their ears, the men's and women's ornaments are like those of Marathas. The men wear the earrings called bhikbalis, the armlet called hade, finger-rings or angthias, and a waistchain or kaddora ; and the women wear in the ears bugdyas and balias, in the nose the nath, on the neck the sari, thusi, vajratik, and putli or coin necklace, and on the feet toe-rings or jovdis. They are hardworking hospitable orderly and dirty. They are dealers in grain and sellers of gunny bags, small tin boxes, and betelnut-cutters. They weave strips of coarse cloth and cot and trouser tape. Those who have turned Gosavis play and beg, weaving as they beg from door to door. Rauls also work in Sali's houses as weavers, some are messengers in Government offices, and others are husbandmen and day labourers. Though not skilful weavers they make 6d. to 7�d. (4-5 as.) a day. As husbandmen also they are wanting in skill. Their women help in weeding and sowing. They hold themselves higher than any caste except Gujarat Vanis, Lingayats, and Brahmans. Still they eat from the hands of Marathas and dine in their company, and are considered equal to or lower than Marathas. They are religions and worship Mahadev, Mahadev's trident or trishul, the. ling, the dry gourd or patar, and silver taks or masks of Bahiroba, Devi, and Khandoba. They have house images of Bahiroba, Bhavani of Tuljapur and Chaturshingi, Gorakhnath, Khandoba, and Machhandranath, and of the Nath of Sonari in Sholapur. They had formerly priests of their own taste, but they now employ ordinary Deshasth Brahmans at their marriages, births, and deaths. They go on pilgrimage to Pandharpur, Tuljapur, and Parli-vaijanath in the Nizam's country. They fast on Maha-shivratra in February, Ram-navmi in April, Ashadhi ekadashis or July lunar elevenths, on Shravan or August Mondays, on Gokul-ashtami in August, and on Kartiki ekadashis or November elevenths. Their holidays are Holi in March, Gudi-padva in April, Nag-panchmi in August, Ganesh-chaturthi in September, Dasara in October, and Divali in November Their spiritual teachers or gurus are Bmuabaya of Parah in the Nizam's country and Bhivnathsagar of Wai in Satara, Who are succeeded by their sons or disciples. Except that they worship five dough lamps in honour of Paehvi on the fifth day the ceremonies during the first five days after a birth are the same an those of Maratha Kunbis. For seven days they consider the mother unclean. When after a bath she has become pure, turmeric figures are drawn on the wall of the lying-in room and worshipped by the mother and sweet cakes or puran-polis are offered. On the twelfth day, the mother, taking the child in her arms, goes out of the house near the road, lays seven pebbles in a line and worships them with red scented and turmeric powder, lays flowers on them, burans frankincense before them, and offers them sweet cakes or puranpolis. In the evening the married women of the caste meet at the mother's house, and present the child with a cap and the mother with plantains and betel packets. The child is laid in the cradle and given a name chosen by the Brahman priest. Sugar and betel packets are served and the guests withdraw. The javal or hair-cutting comes when the child is two years old. They marry their girls between six and twelve and their boys between twelve and twenty-four. Betrothal takes place a fortnight to a couple of years before marriage, when the girl is presented with a packet of sugar and a robe and bodice. Two to four days before the wedding, the boy is rubbed with turmeric at his house, and what remains is sent to the girl with a green robe and bodice and a chaplet of flowers or mundavlis. Her body is rubbed with turmeric, she is dressed in the robe and bodice, and the flower chaplet is bound on her brow. Next day a goat is killed and a feast held in honour of the family guardian or devak, which consists of mango, rui Calotropis gigantea, and saundad Prosopis spicegera leaves. On the marriage day the boy is dressed in new clothes, seated on horseback, and carried in procession to Maruti's temple and is there presented with a new turban and sash. From the temple he is taken to the girl's house and a marriage ornament is bound to his brow. At the girl's house before he dismounts a married woman waves a piece of bread round his face and throws it on one side. The boy is led into the house by the girl's father or some other near relation of the girl's and is made to stand on a low wooden stool in front of the girl, a cloth is held between them, and while Brahmans repeat the marriage verses or mangalashtaks, the musicians play, and, when priests have finished the wedding verses, grains of rice are thrown over the boy's and girl's heads, the cloth is pulled on one side, and the boy and girl are husband and wife. They are seated near each other on the altar, the sacrificial fire is lit, the hems, of their gaments are knotted together, and they bow before the house goda. A feast is held in the evening. Next day, after the exchange of clothes between the two houses and the handing over of the girl to the boy's parents with prayers to treat the girl with kindness, the boy walks in procession with the girl to his house, and a caste feast ends the marriage. When a girl comes of age she is kept by herself for three days. On the morning of the fourth day she is bathed and presented with a robe and bodice, and her lap is filled with wheat and a cocoanut. The boy is presented with a turban and a shoulder-cloth or shela, and the ceremony ends with a feast to near relations. When a Raul is on the point of death a few drops of Ganges water and cow's urine are poured into his mouth. When he dies he is seated in a bamboo frame or makhar and carried on the shoulders of four men, with a Raul blowing a conch-shell in front. At the burial ground an arched three-cornered hole is dug four feet in diameter and four feet deep and the body is seated in the hole with its face to the east. The chief mourner pours a little water from a conch-shell into its mouth. Salt is heaped over the body and the grave is filled with earth and a mound raised over it. An elder stands over the mound and repeats the following verses: ' Oh Mother Earth, we make this body over to thee in presence of the gods Brahma and Vishnu, who are our witnesses. Do thou protect it. Oh God Shiv, we worship thy feet with reverence.' [The Marathi runs: Dhartari mai pinlaku rakh, Brahma Vishnu saksk; Om namas'Shivayanamo charanpuja padukaku adesh.] While he is repeating these verses the rest of the mourners stand with handfuls of dust, and as soon as the last word is repeated throw the dust on the mound. They return home, rub ashes on their brows, and are pure. They observe no mourning. On the morning of the third day, they go to the burial ground and offer the dead cooked rice and cakes. On the eleventh night a flower garland is hung from a beam of the house and under the garland is placed a water-pot or tambya, a dough lamp with butter in it is set close by, and a goat is offered. The spirit of the deceased comes into one of his kinsmen, and tells what his wishes are, and how he came by his death. After the spirit of the deceased has left him the possessed person lies senseless on the ground, and the house-people say the dead has reached the gates of heaven. The ceremony ends with a feast. They allow child and widow marriage and polygamy, but not polyandry. They have a caste council and settle social disputes at mass meetings of the caste. They send their boys to school till they learn to read and write. They are a steady class.

Reference: Link to Maharashtra Gazetteers (British Period - Ahmadnagar 1884)

Ravals or Priests of Bhairavnath, are returned as numbering 261 and as found in small numbers all over the district except in Nevasa and Parner. They claim descent from Gorakshnath the favourite disciple of Machhendranath. The names in common use among men are Bandu, Bhau, Bhavani, Divba, Garibnath, Govinda, Ramnath, Raghuji, Sakharam, Satvaji, Savlaram, and Vithalnath; and among women Bhagirthi, Dhondi, Gangu, Kondi, Rakhma, Rahi, Saku, and Sarasvati. Their commonest surnames are Badke, Bhaleri, Bhalerai, Gajalkar, Lakhe, Lamde, Mohite, Nityanath, Parvat, Tant and Vanjhe; and their family gods are Bara Jotiling and Mahadev. They have no subdivisions and persons bearing the tame surname cannot intermarry. They look like Jangams or Lingayat priests, and are strong, dark and well made. 

They live in one-storeyed hired houses with mud walls and thatched roofs, and their house goods include bamboo baskets, grindstones, and metal and clay pots. They rarely own servants or domestic animals, and dogs and parrots are among their pets. They are great eaters and poor cooks, and their staple food is Indian millet bread and vegetables. They are fond of sour and pungent dishes, and their special dishes include rice, pulse, fried cakes or telchis, sweet wheat cakes and rice flour boiled in water and mixed with molasses and seasoned with spices. They say they do not use mutton, and liquor is forbidden on pain of loss of caste. They are given to smoking hempflower or ganja and tobacco, and drinking hempwater or bhang. Like Gosavis, the men dress in ochre-coloured clothes including a waistcloth, a shouldercloth, a coat, and a Maratha-shaped headscarf or turban, with a pair of sandals and a necklace of rudrahsh beads about their necks. The women tie their hair in a back-knot without using flowers or false hair and wear a Maratha robe and bodice, without passing the skirt back between their feet. Their ornaments are like those worn by local Kunbis.

They rank below Kunbis and above the impure classes. They worship their family deities, local and boundary gods, keep all Hindu fasts and feasts, and visit the shrines of Khandoba of Jejuri in Poona and of Vithoba of Pandharpur in Sholapur. Their priest is a local Brahman who conducts their marriage and death ceremonies. The popular fast days among them are the lunar elevenths or Ekadashis in A'shadh or July and Shravan or August. They belong to the Nath sect, and their religious teacher is a Raval Gosavi who preaches the Nath doctrines to his disciples in the form of a harikirtan or songs in praise of Hari or Vishnu. His office is elective and he has no share in settling caste disputes. They say they do not believe in witchcraft soothsaying or evil spirits. They perform only three ceremonies or sanshart at birth marriage and death. Satvai is never worshipped after the birth of a child nor is the mother held impure in consequence of a birth. The mother keeps her room for forty days after the child is born and the child is named and cradled on the thirteenth day by women neighbours who are asked to the house. Boiled gram or ghugris is handed among the guests and they leave. 

Boys are married between fifteen and twenty-five, and girls generally before they come of age. The offer of marriage as a rule comes from the boy's parents. If the girl's father agrees, the boy's father visits the girl and presents her with a new robe and bodice and ornaments. The girl is dressed in the new suit, her lap is filled with rice and a cocoanut, and her brow is marked with vermilion by the boy's father. The priest names a lucky day for the marriage and guests are asked. The bridegroom puts on the marriage coronet and visits the girl's house with music and a band of friends and kinspeople. The pair are made to stand on two low stools opposite each other with a curtain held between them. The priest chants marriage verses and the guests throw yellow Indian millet seeds over the pair. At the lucky moment the priest pulls the curtain to one side and the pair are husband and wife. The bride's father serves the guests with betel and treats the bridegroom's party to a dinner. The second and third days are spent in the jhal or handing the bride to her new parents and the jhenda or war dance which is performed as among local husbandmen. 

They bury the dead. The dead body is seated in a jholi or cloth caught up at the corners and carried by four men to the funeral ground. The chief mourners walk in front, and the dead is laid in the grave and covered with salt and earth. The chief mourner carries an earthen pot full of water on his shoulders and walks three times round the grave, and throws the pot over his shoulder. Kinsmen are not held impure in consequence of a death and castepeople are treated to a dinner within forty days of the death. Among Ravals, widow marriage early marriage and polygamy are allowed and practised and polyandry is unknown. They have a caste council, and settle caste disputes at meetings of adult castemen or panch under their hereditary headman or karbhari. Breaches of social rules are punished with fines which generally take the form of caste feasts, and the decisions of the caste council are obeyed on pain of expulsion. A few of them send their boys to school, but they take to no useful employments and are badly off.