Karan,1 Karnam, Mahanti.—The indigenous writer caste of Orissa. In 1901 a total of 5000 Karans were enumerated in Sambalpur and the Uriya States, but the bulk of these have since passed under the jurisdiction of Bihar and Orissa, and only about 1000 remain in the Central Provinces. The total numbers of the caste in India exceed a quarter of a million. The poet Kalidas in his Raghuvansa describes Karans as the offspring of a Vaishya father and a Sudra mother. The caste fulfils the same functions in Orissa as the Kayasths elsewhere, and it is said that their original ancestors were brought from northern India by Yayati Kesari, king of Orissa (A.D. 447–526), to supply the demand for writers and clerks. The original of the word Karan is said to be the Hindi karani, kiran, which Wilson derives from Sanskrit karan, ‘a doer.’ The word karani was at one time applied by natives to the junior members of the Civil Service—‘Writers,’ as they were designated. And the ‘Writers’ Buildings’ of Calcutta were known as karani kibarik. From this term a corruption ‘Cranny’ came into use, and was applied in Bengal to a clerk writing English, and thence to the East Indians or half-castes from whom English copyists were subsequently recruited.2 The derivation of Mahanti is obscure, unless it be from maha, great, or from Mahant, the head of a monastery. The caste prefer the name of Karan, because that of Mahanti is often appropriated by affluent Chasas and others who wish to get a rise in rank. In fact a proverb says: Jar nahin Jati, taku bolanti Mahanti, or ‘He who has no caste calls himself a Mahanti.’ The Karans, like the Kayasths, claim Chitragupta as their first ancestor, but most of them repudiate any connection with the Kayasths, though they are of the same calling. The Karans of Sambalpur have two subcastes, the Jhadua or those of the jhadi or jungle and the Utkali or Uriyas. The former are said to be the earlier immigrants and are looked down on by the latter, who do not intermarry with them. Their exogamous divisions or gotras are of the type called eponymous, being named after well-known Rishis or saints like those of the Brahmans. Instances of such names are Bharadwaj, Parasar, Valmik and Vasishtha. Some of the names, however, are in a manner totemistic, as Nagas, the cobra; Kounchhas, the tortoise; Bachas, a calf, and so on. These animals are revered by the members of the gotra named after them, but as they are of semi-divine nature, the practice may be distinguished from true totemism. In some cases, however, members of the Bharadwaj gotra venerate the blue-jay, and of the Parasar gotra, a pigeon. Marriage is regulated according to the table of prohibited degrees in vogue among the higher castes. Girls are commonly married before they are ten years old, but no penalty attaches to the postponement of the ceremony to a later age. The binding portion of the marriage is Hastabandhan or the tying of the hands of the couple together with kusha grass,3 and when this has been done the marriage cannot be annulled. The bride goes to her husband’s house for a few days and then returns home until she attains maturity. Divorce and remarriage of widows are prohibited, and an unfaithful wife is finally expelled from the caste. The Karans worship the usual Hindu gods and call themselves Smarths. Some belong to the local Parmarth and Kumbhipatia sects, the former of which practises obscene rites. They burn their dead, excepting the bodies of infants, and perform the shraddh ceremony. The caste have a high social position in Sambalpur, and Brahmans will sometimes take food cooked without water from them. They wear the sacred thread. They eat fish and the flesh of clean animals but do not drink liquor. Bhandaris or barbers will take katcha food from a Karan. They are generally engaged in service as clerks, accountants, schoolmasters or patwaris. Their usual titles are Patnaik or Bohidar. The Karans are considered to be of extravagant habits, and one proverb about them is—

or, ‘The Mahanti if he can get a loan will at once buy an elephant.’ Their shrewdness in business transactions and tendency to overreach the less intelligent cultivating castes have made them unpopular like the Kayasths, and another proverb says—

or, ‘Trust not the palm-leaf writer (Karan), the weaver, the liquor-distiller nor the milk-seller.’