The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India, Vol. 2 of 4 (Classic Reprint)

AGARIA Agaria. I_A small Dravidian caste, who are an offshoot I. Origin of the Gond tribe. The Agarias have adopted the profession of iron-smelting and form a separate caste. They numbered 9500 persons in 191 I and live on the Maikal range in the Mandla, Raipur and Bilaspur Districts. The name probably signifies a worker with ag or fire. An Agaria subcaste of Lohars also exists, many of whom are quite probably Gonds, but they are not included in the regular caste. Similar Dravidian castes of Agarias are to be found in Mirzapur and Bengal. The Agarias are quite distinct from the Agharia cultivating caste of the Uriya country. The Raipur Agarias still intermarry with the Rawanbansi Gonds of the District. The Agarias think that their caste has existed from the beginning of the world, and that the first Agaria made the ploughshare with which the first bullocks furrowed the primeval soil. The caste has two endogamous divisions, the Patharia and the Khuntia Agaria

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