Tashaiya, Chandauriya, Kath Bais, Bhâlê Sultân, Raghubansi, Gargbansi;
and to give girls to the Tilokchandi Bais, Mainpuri Chauhâns,
Sûrajbansis of Mahul, Gautams of Nagar, Bisens of Majhauli and
Bandhalgoti. Their gotra is said to be Vatsa. In Jaunpur they take
girls from the Raghubansi, Bais, Chaupat Khambh, Nikhumb, Dhanmast,
Gautam, Gaharwâr, Panwâr, Chandel, Saunak, Drigbansi; and give them to
the Kalhans, Sirnet, Gautam, Sûrajbansi, Rajwâr, Bisen, Kânhpuriya,
Gaharwâr, Baghel, and Bais. In Azamgarh they take girls from the
Chandel, Karmwâr, Kâkan, Birwâr, Râthaur, and Udmatiya, and give them
to the Bais, Kausik, and Gautam.
DISTRIBUTION OF THE BACHGOTI RÂJPUTS ACCORDING TO THE CENSUS OF 1891.
===========+========
District. | Number.
~~~~~~~~~~-+~~~~~~~~
Sahâranpur | 1
Meerut | 1
Agra | 1
Bareilly | 2
Budâun | 75
Morâdâbâd | 6
Pilibhît | 1
Cawnpur | 3
Bânda | 41
Allahâbâd | 1,893
Lalitpur | 1
Benares | 141
Mirzapur | 911
Jaunpur | 2,969
Ghâzipur | 968
Ballia | 7
Gorakhpur | 390
Basti | 695
Azamgarh | 1,048
Lucknow | 81
Unâo | 31
Râê Bareli | 797
Hardoi | 1
Faizâbâd | 1,949
Gonda | 129
Bahrâich | 20
Sultânpur | 15,186
Partâbgarh | 8,644
+~~~~~~~~
Total | 35,992
===========+========
Bâchhil; Bâchhal.—A sept of Râjputs who are by one account said to
derive their name from the Hindi bâchhna, “to distribute.” According to
General Cunningham [173] they claim descent from Râja Vena, whose son
was Virât, the reputed founder of Baribhâr or Virâtkhera, and whom he
believes to be the same as Vîra Varma of the inscriptions. By another
extraordinary feat of folk etymology they are said to have been a
branch of the Pâsis, and to have derived their name from taking refuge
in a garden (bâgh). According to a writer in the Oudh Gazetteer [174]
“they are a possible link from the hoariest traditions of Indian
antiquity to a middle-age period, which has been fairly chronicled,
and, lastly, to the complete annals of modern times. It is the more
desirable to follow out the annals of this clan, first, because it is
one of the very few in Oudh which does rightfully claim an antiquity
equal to that of English noble families which came in with the
Conqueror; and, second, because its surviving members, though
respectable, are too poor to purchase false genealogies, and so humble
in the social scale as to render a fictitious pedigree of no value.
Consequently they now relate only the real traditions of their
ancestors.” ... “In 992 A.D. a local chief, named Lâla, governed at
Garh Gajana, or Ilahabâs, near Dewal. This place is 16 miles south-east
of Pilibhît, on the banks of the Katni rivulet. In fact, all the
capitals of the Bâchhil clan—Barkhar, Nigohi, Garh Gajana, Kâmp, on the
Sârda—are within a few miles of each other: two in Shâhjahânpur, west
of the Gûmti, and two in Kheri, east of the old river. We know nothing
of Lâla or his race, except from the inscription which he caused to be
cut, and the coins which are still to be found. The Bâchhils were an
enterprising race in those days; they were Hindus in faith; they
worshipped Vishnu under the boar avatâra; they had a coinage, both in
silver and gold, many specimens of which have been found near their old
capitals on the Katni. It seems, too, that their dynasty was of
sufficient intelligence and energy to construct no less than two
canals, about a hundred miles in length: one of them is still
navigable, the other has somewhat silted up.”
2. General Cunningham says:—“It is admitted by every one that the
Katehriyas succeeded the Bâchhils; but the Katehriyas themselves state
that they did not settle in Katehar till A.D. 1174. Up to this date,
therefore, the Bâchhil Râjas may be supposed to have possessed the
dominant power in Eastern Rohilkhand, beyond the Râmganga; while
Western Rohilkhand was held by the Bhidar, Guâla, and other tribes,
from whom the Katehriyas profess to have wrested it. Gradually the
Bâchhils must have retired before the Katehriyas, until they had lost
all their territory west of the Deoha or Pilibhît river. Here they made
a successful stand, and though frequently afterwards harried by the
Muhammadans, they still managed to hold their small territory between
the Deoha river and the primeval forests of Pilibhît. When hard pressed
they escaped to the jungle, which still skirts their ancient
possessions of Garh Ganjana, and Garh Khera. But their resistance was
not always successful, as their descendants confess that some 300 or
400 years ago, when their capital, Nigohi, was taken by the King of
Delhi, the twelve sons of Râja Udarana, or Aorana, were all put to
death. The twelve cenotaphs of these princes are still shown at Nigohi.
Shortly after this catastrophe, Chhavi Râna, the grandson of one of the
murdered princes, fled to the Lakhi jungle, where he supported himself
by plundering. But when orders were given to exterminate his band, he
presented himself before the King of Delhi, and obtained the district
of Nigohi as jâgîr. The gotrâchârya of the Bâchhil Râjputs declares
them to be Chandravansis, and their high social position is attested by
their daughters being taken in marriage by Chauhâns, Râthaurs, and
Kachhwâhas. The race is even more widely spread than the Gangetic
Bâchhils are aware of, as Abul Fazl records that the port of Arâmrâj,
in the peninsula of Gujarât, is a very strong place, inhabited by the
tribe of Bâchhil. Of the origin of the name nothing is known, but it is
probably connected with bâchhna ‘to select or choose.’ The title of
Chhindu, which is given in the inscription, is also utterly unknown to
the people, and I can only guess that it may be the name of one of the
early ancestors of the race.”
3. At the same time the traditions of some members of the sept do not
bear out their claim to noble lineage. Thus, in Azamgarh, [175] they
assert that they are the descendants of a Râjbhar. In Shâhjahânpur
[176] they fix their emigration at the time of Jaychand, of Kanauj, and
they possibly settled prior to all other Thâkur clans, except the
Kâsib. In Bijnor they claim to be of Sombansi origin, and to have
replaced the Gûjars. In Mathura, the Sisodiyas of impure origin, who
are called Gaurua, are designated Bâchhal from the Bachhban at Sehi,
where their Guru always resides. They say that they emigrated from
Chithor 700 or 800 years ago, but more probably after Alâuddin’s famous
siege in 1303 A.D. [177]
4. In Sîtapur the Bâchhals give brides to the Gaur and Tomar septs, and
take girls from the Janwârs. In Kheri they marry their sons to girls of
the Gaur, Nikumbh, Janwâr, Ahban, Pramâr, and Kâsib septs: and their
daughters marry with the Râthaur, Bhadauriya, and Kachhwâha.
DISTRIBUTION OF THE BÂCHHAL RÂJPUTS ACCORDING TO THE CENSUS OF 1891.
==============+========+============+========
District. |Hindus. |Muhammadans.| Total.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~
Sahâranpur | ... | 10 | 10
Muzaffarnagar | 13 | ... | 13
Meerut | 125 | ... | 125
Bulandshahr | 1,680 | 102 | 1,782
Aligarh | 402 | ... | 402
Mathura | 1,701 | 215 | 1,916
Agra | 197 | 1 | 198
Farrukhâbâd | 643 | ... | 643
Mainpuri | 904 | ... | 904
Etâwah | 111 | ... | 111
Etah | 252 | ... | 252
Bareilly | 431 | ... | 431
Bijnor | 74 | ... | 74
Budâun | 2,341 | ... | 2,341
Morâdâbâd | 185 | ... | 185
Shâhjahânpur | 7,794 | 119 | 7,913
Pilibhît | 298 | ... | 298
Cawnpur | 28 | ... | 28
Fatehpur | 31 | ... | 31
Allahâbâd | 5 | 1 | 6
Jâlaun | 8 | ... | 8
Benares | 1 | ... | 1
Jaunpur | ... | 90 | 90
Tarâi | 6 | ... | 6
Gorakhpur | ... | 70 | 70
Lucknow | 205 | ... | 205
Unâo | 390 | ... | 390
Râê Bareli | 749 | 109 | 858
Sîtapur | 2,285 | 267 | 2,552
Hardoi | 1,287 | 30 | 1,317
Kheri | 1,496 | ... | 1,496
Faizâbâd | ... | 264 | 264
Gonda | 1 | ... | 1
Bahrâich | 382 | 22 | 404
Sultânpur | 129 | 1 | 130
Partâbgarh | 657 | 1 | 658
Bârabanki | 611 | 62 | 673
+~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~
Total | 25,422 | 1,364 | 26,786
==============+========+============+========
Badhak; Badhik.—(Sans. Vadhaka, a murderer.)—A vagrant criminal tribe
of whom the last census shows only a small number in Mathura and
Pilibhît. But there can be little doubt that these returns are
incorrect, or the present Badhiks have been classed in some other way.
They appear to be closely allied to the Bâwariyas and Baheliyas.
According to the earliest account of them by Mr. Shakespeare [178] they
were originally outcastes of Musalmân as well as Hindu tribes, the
majority, however, being Râjputs.
[The Gorakhpur Colony.] 2. Of the Gorakhpur colony Mr. D. T. Roberts
writes in a note prepared for the recent Police Commission:—“The
notorious dakaits known as Badhiks were suppressed like the Thags by
the capture and imprisonment of all their leaders. This done, a colony
of them was settled on waste land belonging to Government in the
Gorakhpur District in 1844. They evinced for a long time the greatest
repugnance to honest work, and even now a good portion of the lands
held by them are sublet at higher rates to other castes. The larger
proportion of their holdings are let at very low rates, but some land
is taken up by them at the current rates of the neighbourhood. The net
profits of the estate on which they are located are paid over to the
family of the original dakait leader. Surveillance, which at one time
may have been very strict, has been much relaxed of late years, but
there is a constable or two posted over them; a register is kept, and
they require permission from the Magistrate before they can leave the
District. Dakaiti has long been given up by them, or rather was never
resumed at the colony. In 1871 the Deputy Inspector-General of Police
visited them, and found the colony in a very backward state. In
consequence of his representations the District authorities began to
take more interest in them, and they have been fairly well looked after
since. The number then was 209, and the Deputy Inspector-General
remarked:—“There is little doubt the tribe carries on thieving, but no
cases for some time past have been brought home to them.” Twenty years
later, it may be said, that they are not even suspected of thieving.
Though not a very advanced or industrious community, they may now be
instanced as a case of successful repression and reformation. Their
number has not increased since 1871, and was, in 1890, 203 in all. One
of their chief offences in the Gorakhpur colony used to be illicit
manufacture of spirits.”
[Methods of crime.] 3. One of their specialities used to be disguising
themselves as Brâhmans and Bairâgis and associating with pilgrims
returning from the Ganges, for whom they used to perform mock religious
ceremonies, and then stupefy with datûra or thorn apple, and rob. [179]
Their special deity is Kâli, to whom they offer goats as the Bâwariyas
do. They eat game and vermin, such as foxes, jackals, and lizards. They
believe that the use of jackal meat fortifies them against the
inclemencies of winter. [180] They were in the habit of making
plundering expeditions, and before starting, shares in the expected
booty were allotted, a special share being given to the widow and
children of any person killed or dying during the expedition. A writer
in the Asiatic Journal [181] states that after the sacrifice they used
to pray, “If it be Thy will, O, God! and thine, O Kâli! to prosper our
undertaking for the sake of the blind and the lame, the widow and the
orphan, who depend on our exertions, vouchsafe, we pray thee, the cry
of the female jackal on our right.” One of the most famous exploits of
Badhik dakaits was the murder of Mr. Ravenscroft, the Collector of
Cawnpur, of which Colonel Sleeman gives an account. [182]
4. There can be very little doubt that the tribe is of mixed origin,
and is on the same grade as the Kanjars, Sânsiyas, and similar
vagrants. It constitutes, in fact, a sort of Cave of Adullam for the
reception of vagrants and bad characters of different tribes.
DISTRIBUTION OF BADHIKS ACCORDING TO THE CENSUS OF 1891.
===========+=========
District. | Number.
~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~
Mathura | 79
Pilibhît | 46
Gorakhpur | 1
+~~~~~~~~~
Total | 126
===========+=========
Bâghbân.—(Persian, a gardener.)—A class of cultivators in the Kheri
District who grow vegetables. They are practically the same caste as
the Kâchhi (q.v.) and the Murâo. They claim to have three endogamous
sub-castes—Kâchhi, Murâo, and Sâni, the last being derived from the
Hindi sânna, to mix up, used in connection with their careful
preparation of the soil. Their manners, customs, religion, etc.,
correspond in every way with those of the Kâchhis.
Baghel.—(Sans. Vyâghra, a tiger.)—A sept of Râjputs. Colonel Tod [183]
calls them “the most conspicuous branch of the original Solankhi
stock.” The traditional history of the sept has been written by
Mahârâja Raghu Râj Sinh, of Rîwa, the most famous modern representative
of them, in a book known as the Bhakt Mâla. From this it would appear
that their original Guru was the famous Kabîr Dâs. He once went to
Gujarât to make a pilgrimage to the Western Ocean. At that time
Solankha Deva was the Râja there. He was a member of the Solankhi clan.
As he was childless, he prayed to Kabîr to grant him offspring. The
saint heard his prayer, and promised him two sons, one of whom would
have the appearance of a tiger. This was Vyâghra Deva. The priests
advised the Râja to throw his son into the ocean, as he was unlucky. He
followed their advice; but when Kabîr heard of this he ordered the Râja
to bring him back. He did so, and Kabîr announced that the sept would
be called after his name. Vyâghra Deva was also childless; but he, too,
was blessed with a son through the intercession of Kabîr. His name was
Jay Sinh, and he, with the permission of his grandfather, Solankha
Deva, collected an army and commenced a career of conquest. He marched
to the banks of the Narbada, and occupied what was known as Gorha Desa,
and married his son in the Bais family of Dundhiya Khera. His
successors, Karan Sinh and Kesari Sinh, carried on his conquests, and
the last overcame a Musalmân Nawâb, and occupied Gorakhpur. Then
followed Malâr Sinh, Sârang Deva, and Bhîmal Deva. His son, Brahm Deva,
came in contact with the Gaharwârs. His most powerful successor was Bîr
Sinh, who is said to have had a hundred thousand horsemen. When he
conquered Prayâg or Allahâbâd, the people called in the Musalmâns. The
Emperor marched to Chitrakût, where the Râja met him. The Emperor asked
him why he interfered with his people. He answered,—“The Kshatriya
needs a place to live in. He troubles those who trouble him.” The
Emperor was pleased with his bravery, and recognised his son, Bîr Bhân,
as Râja. He gave him the blessing:—“Subdue twelve Râjas and live in
Bandhugarh.” Bîr Sinh extended his conquests towards the south, and
reached the Tons. He gained Ratanpur as dowry for his son from the
Kachwâha Râja of that place. Bîr Sinh made over his kingdom to his son,
Bîr Bhân, and retired to Prayâg, where he died. Thus the kingdom of
Rîwa came into the hands of the present ruling family. General
Cunningham [184] fixes the emigration of the Baghels to the upper
valleys of the Son and Tons between 580 and 683 Sambat (523, 626 A.D.),
where they succeeded the Chandels, Kalachûris, Chauhâns, Sengars, and
Gonds. In Farrukhâbâd [185] they trace their origin to Mâdhogarh, and
fix their settlement in the time of Jaya Chandra, of Kanauj, which is
also the story as told by Abul Fazl. Their original head-quarters was
at Anogi, in Pargana Kanauj, under Harhar Deva, and his son, Harbans.
Their property was acquired during the conflict between the Nawâbs of
Farrukhâbâd and Oudh, and the Marhattas, and their estates fell into
two divisions, Tirwa and Thatiya. The latter Râj was confiscated early
in the century owing to the opposition of Chhatar Sâl to the British.
2. They give their name to Baghel-khand or Rîwa. The name of their
eponymous hero, Vyâghra Deva, is probably a comparatively recent
tradition, and the title is possibly totemistic, as, according to
Captain Forsyth, [186] they claim descent from a tiger, and protect it
whenever they can.
3. Mr. Ricketts [187] gives a bad account of the tribe in
Allahâbâd:—“The most notorious gang of dacoits, which for generations
has infested the south of Allahâbâd, is of this clan; and this claim of
consanguinity with the Mahârâja of Rîwa has ensured their constant
protection in his territories; and certainly the savage nature of the
prototype of their race has pervaded the acts of these noted robbers.
Each of their feats has shown the extremes of craft, treachery, and the
meanest cowardice. When armed and in numbers they have murdered the
single and unarmed; they have beaten women and killed children.”
4. The Baghels, south of the Jumna, usually give brides to the Parihâr
and Gaharwâr septs; and take wives from the Bais, Gautam, and Gaharwâr.
DISTRIBUTION OF THE BAGHEL RÂJPUTS ACCORDING TO THE CENSUS OF 1891.
============+=======
District. |Number.
~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~
Farrukhâbâd | 2,381
Mainpuri | 123
Etâwah | 187
Etah | 26
Cawnpur | 236
Fatehpur | 77
Bânda | 1,017
Hamîrpur | 24
Allahâbâd | 1,619
Jâlaun | 24
Lalitpur | 30
Benares | 40
Mirzapur | 503
Jaunpur | 10
Ghâzipur | 114
Ballia | 251
Gorakhpur | 1,350
Basti | 444
Azamgarh | 21
Partâbgarh | 291
+~~~~~~~
Total | 8,768
============+=======
Baheliya [188].—(Sans. Vyâdha, “one who pierces or wounds,” “a hunter.”
Root, Vyâdh, “to pierce”).—A class of hunters and fowlers. The Purânik
tradition is that the father of the tribe was a barber, and the mother
an Ahîr of bad character. In Bengal, according to Mr. Risley, [189]
“they insist on their title to be considered Dusâdhs, and in Bengal, at
any rate, the Baheliya and Dusâdh eat and smoke together, and though
they do not intermarry, behave generally as if they were branches of
the same stock.” This does not seem to be the case in these Provinces,
where they usually call themselves a sub-caste of Pâsis. Some Baheliyas
in the western districts have a tradition that they are of Bhîl
descent. They say that they came from Chitrakût, in Banda, under their
ancestor, the famous Vâlmîki, and were named Baheliyas by Krishna at
Mathura. The Aheriyas, as will be seen by their account of themselves
given in the article on that caste, profess to be identical with the
Baheliyas. They are probably a relic of some non-Aryan tribe, which
still adheres in a great measure to the primitive occupation of
hunting, bird trapping, and collecting jungle produce. The Mirzapur
legend of their origin tells that Râm Chandra in his wanderings once
came across a stag of golden colour which was really Marîcha, the
Râkshasa, the minister of Râvana. Râm Chandra pursued the animal, which
escaped. In his anger the hero rubbed his hands together, and out of
the dirt (mail) thus produced created a man, whom he appointed his
chief hunter. From him the tribe of Baheliyas are descended.
[Internal structure.] 2. The Census returns give as the main sub-castes
the Pâsi, in Mirzapur; the Chandel and Sribâstab, in Gorakhpur; the
Lagiya and Rukmaiya, of Gonda; the Chhatri and Sribâstab, of Bahrâich,
and the Bhongiya, of Partâbgarh. The Baheliyas of the eastern districts
name seven or really eight endogamous sub-castes—Baheliya; Chiryamâr or
“bird-killers” (chirya = “a bird,” mârna = “to kill”); Karaul, whose
speciality is said to be stalking animals under cover of a tame ox used
as a decoy. Mr. Sherring [190] treats them as a separate caste and
describes them as possessing five sub-castes:—Purabiya, or Eastern;
Hazâri or Hajâri, “commanders of a thousand men;” [191] Uttariya, or
“Northern;” Koireriya, who are connected with the Koeri tribe, and
Turkiya, or the Muhammadan branch. All these sub-castes are endogamous.
Next, among the Baheliya proper, come the Kotiha, who are said to
derive their name from being attendants at some king’s palace (kot):
the Bâjdhar or falconers (bâz = “a falcon,” dharna = “to hold”); the
Turkiya, or Muhammadan branch, and the Sûrajbans or “descendants of the
sun,” who say they take their name from their original settlement, a
village called Sûrajpur Bahlela. To these are sometimes added the
Maskâr or providers of meat (Mânskâra) or, as the word is sometimes
pronounced, Miskâr, a corruption of Mîr Shikâr, “a chief huntsman.” All
the Mirzapur Baheliyas speak of Oudh as their original habitat. The
Oudh Baheliyas give three sub-castes which are endogamous—Raghubansi,
Pasiya, and Karaul.
[Tribal council.] 3. Their tribal council (panchâyat) is presided over
by a hereditary chairman known as Sakhi, “the person who gives
testimony.” They, as usual, decide on cases of adultery, seduction, and
breaches of caste rules regarding food, etc. Offences, when proved, are
punished by a fine ranging from five rupees down to paying for the
tobacco consumed by the clansmen at the meeting. Now-a-days the
refreshment served round at the meetings of the council is what is
called mirchwân, a mixture of bhang, chillies, sugar, and water. This
has been recently substituted for liquor, either through some idea of
teetotalism, or, as others say, on account of the poverty of the caste.
[Marriages rules.] 4. The sub-castes already named are endogamous, and
they observe, in the eastern districts, the ordinary formula of
exogamy, which prohibits marriage in one’s own family, or that of the
maternal uncle or father’s sister, as long as relationship is
remembered. In Oudh they will not give a bride to a family in which,
within the memory of man, a son has been married. A man cannot have two
sisters to wife at the same time, but he may marry one sister on the
death of another. Sameness of occupation and the use of, or abstinence
from, wine are carefully regarded in forming marriage connections. A
man can take a second wife in the lifetime of the first wife provided
the council give permission; but this is not usually granted unless she
is barren or incapacitated by some disease from cohabitation. If an
unmarried girl is detected in an intrigue, her parents are fined five
rupees, and have to feast the clansmen. Girls are usually married at
the age of seven or eight. The negotiations are conducted by a Brâhman
and barber. Once concluded, no physical defect is a sufficient cause
for the annulment of a marriage. Wives can be put away by order of the
council for adultery; but if the paramour be a member of the tribe, the
offence is usually condoned by a money fine. Widows can marry by sagâi,
but such marriages are generally made with widowers. The only ceremony
is eating with the relations of the woman and making her put on new
clothes and jewelry provided by her future partner. On his return home
with his bride he is obliged to feast his clansmen.
[Birth ceremonies.] 5. During pregnancy an old woman of the family
waves a pice or a handful of grain round the head of the patient and
vows to present an offering to a deified ghost called Kâlu Bîr, and
Niman Parihâr, who is one of the quintette of the Pânchonpîr, and is
supposed to have some special connection with the use of spirituous
liquors. The woman is attended by the Chamâin midwife, who cuts the
cord and buries it outside the house. At the entrance of the delivery
room a fishing net, a branch of the thorny bel tree (Aegle marmelos)
and the family pestle are placed to keep off malignant spirits; and a
fire is kept lighting there during the period of impurity with the same
object. They have the usual dread of menstrual impurity common to all
these races. On the day her child is born the mother gets no food,
except a mixture of ginger and coarse sugar mixed up in water. From the
next day she receives her usual food. Those who have lost their
children get the baby’s ears bored before it leaves the delivery room.
On the sixth day is the Chhathi, when mother and child are bathed. From
this time the place of the midwife is taken by the barber’s wife, who
attends till the twelfth day, when the barahi ceremony is performed.
The house is plastered and the earthen vessels replaced. The nails of
the mother and all the family are cut, mother and child are bathed, and
the clansmen are feasted on wine and cakes (pûri). When the mother
first visits the well after her confinement she bows down to it and
offers fried gram (ghughuri) on the platform, which she also marks with
a little red lead, a practice which may be a survival of some form of
sacrifice, human or animal. If the child is a boy the midwife receives
four annas and two sers of grain: for a girl, two annas and the same
amount of grain. They so far practise the couvade that the husband does
not work on the day his child is born. The original motive has been
forgotten, and the explanation given is that he does so to express his
joy at his wife’s safe delivery. At the age of five or seven the
child’s ears are bored, and this is considered an initiation into
caste: after this the child must observe the caste regulations
regarding food.
[Marriage ceremonies.] 6. The marriage ceremonies are of the ordinary
low-caste type. A Brâhman is consulted as to whether the union is
likely to be propitious (garna ganna). The betrothal is concluded by
giving the bride’s father a rupee or less to clench the bargain.
Baheliyas appear invariably to marry their brides by the dola form, in
which the ceremonies are performed at the house of the bridegroom. Some
eight days before the wedding the bride is brought over to the
bridegroom’s house. Two or three days before the wedding day a pavilion
(mânro) is erected, in the centre of which a ploughshare (haris), the
stalk of a plantain tree and a bamboo are fixed. Under these are placed
the family pestle and mortar and grindstone for spices. Besides these
are placed a water jar (kalsa) covered with a saucer (parai) filled
with barley and decorated with lumps of cowdung and splashes of red
lead. The same evening the matmangar ceremony is performed in the usual
way. The day before the wedding is the bhatwân, when the clansmen are
feasted. On the wedding day the bridegroom is bathed, his nails are
pared, and he is dressed in a red coat with a yellow loin cloth. He
then parades on horseback through the village, and on his return sits
down with his clansmen. At night he is called into the house, and he
and the bride are seated in a square in a courtyard, when the bride’s
father washes their feet with water (pânw-pûja). The Brâhman then
recites the verses (mantra), and the pair worship Gauri and Ganesa. The
bride’s father, then taking some kusa grass and water, gives his
daughter to the bridegroom (kanyâdân). He next applies red lead to the
parting of her hair: their clothes are knotted together, and they move
five times round the centre pole of the pavilion, while parched maize
is thrown over them (lawa parachhan). The pair go into the retiring
room (kohabar), where his brother-in law’s wife (sarhaj) plays jokes on
the bridegroom by sitting on his back and refusing to release him until
she receives a present. A lighted lamp with two wicks is placed there,
and the bridegroom joins the two wicks together as an emblem of union
with the bride. Next follows a feast to the clansmen, who return next
day. After the marriage is concluded Kâlu Bîr and Parihâr are
worshipped. On the fourth day after the wedding, the bride and
bridegroom, accompanied by the barber’s wife, go to a neighbouring tank
or stream and then drown the sacred water jar (kalsa) and the marriage
festoons (bandanwâr). On their way home they worship the old fig trees
of the village, which are supposed to be the abode of evil spirits,
with an offering of water and washed rice (achchhat). Some offer also
sweetmeats and grain. The binding part of the marriage ceremony is the
washing of the bridegroom’s feet by the bride’s father, and the rubbing
of red lead by the bridegroom on the parting of the bride’s hair.
[Death ceremonies.] 7. When a man is dying he is taken into the open
air and gold, Ganges water, and leaves of the tulasi (ocymum sanctum)
put into his mouth. If these things are not procurable, curds and
coarse sugar are used. Four men carry the corpse to the cremation
ground, where the body is washed, shrouded in new cloth, and the hair
shaved. It is then laid on the pyre, with the legs turned towards the
south. The next-of-kin walks round five times and burns the mouth with
a torch of straw, and then fires the pyre. On their return home the
mourners chew the leaves of the bitter Nîm tree, and pass their feet
through the smoke of burning oil. Next day the Pandit gets the barber
to hang a water jar from the branch of a pîpal tree. That day the
clansmen are fed. The feast is known as “the boiled rice of milk” (dûdh
ka bhât). The period of mourning is ten days, during which the chief
mourner keeps apart, and always carries a water vessel (lota) and a
knife to protect him from evil spirits. He cooks for himself, and,
before eating, lays a little food outside the house for the use of the
dead. He bathes daily and renews the water in the pot (ghant) hung up
for the dead man. On the tenth day the clansmen assemble at a tank,
shave, bathe, and throw the rice balls (pinda) in the water. The
Mahâbrâhman receives the clothes and personal effects of the dead man,
which he is supposed to pass on for his use in the next world. A feast
to the clansmen concludes the period of mourning. They make the usual
offerings to the dead (srâddha) in the first fortnight of Kuâr.
[Religion.] 8. Baheliyas are seldom regularly initiated into any Hindu
sect. Their clan deities, in the Eastern Districts, are Kâlu Bîr and
Parihâr, who are worshipped at the Kajari festival, in the month of
Sâwan. To Kâlu Bîr a young pig is offered, and wine poured on the
ground. Parihâr receives a sacrifice of fowls and cakes. In Oudh they
worship Hardeo or Hardaur Lâla, the cholera godling. His offering
consists of cakes, fruit, etc. To Kâlê Deo a goat is sacrificed, and a
pig to Miyân. Men alone join in this worship. Parched grain and milk
are offered to the household snake at the Nâgpanchami festival. They
respect the Sun and Moon, bow to them, but do not give them any special
worship. The ordinary low village Brâhmans act as their priests at
domestic ceremonies. They consume the animals they sacrifice, except
pigs, from which most abstain. They have the usual Hindu festivals—the
Phagua, Kajari and Dasami.
[Social habits and customs.] 9. The women wear nose rings (nathiya),
ear ornaments (karanphûl), necklaces, wristlets (dharkaua), arm
ornaments (bâju), and anklets (pairi, kara). Like other Hindus they
give two names to their children. They swear by the Ganges, on their
own heads, and on those of their sons. They believe in magic and
witchcraft, but do not practise these arts themselves. They will not
kill a cow, monkey, or squirrel; they will not touch a Bhangi, Dom,
Dhobi, or the wife of their younger brother or nephew. They drink
liquor freely, and eat the flesh of fowls, goats, deer, and sheep, but
not pork or beef. Men eat first, and women after them. They salute by
the form pailagi or the ordinary salâm; Brâhmans and Râjputs drink
water from their hands; Banyas eat pakki cooked by them; Chamârs and
other menials eat kachchi.
[Occupation.] 10. Their occupation is hunting and trapping birds. Those
who live by bird-catching are often known as Miskâr, said to be a
corruption of mîr shikâr, “head huntsman,” or mâskâr, “eater of meat.”
They have a most ingenious mode of trapping birds with a series of thin
bamboos, like a fishing rod, on which bird-lime (lâsa) is smeared. This
they push with great adroitness through the branches and leaves where a
bird is sitting, and entangle his wings and feathers. They make
excellent shikâris, and are noted for their skill in tracking game.
Some work in the Mirzapur lac factories, and a few cultivate as
non-occupancy tenants. They are a fine, active, manly race, but
notoriously untrustworthy.
DISTRIBUTION OF BAHELIYAS ACCORDING TO THE CENSUS OF 1891.
===============+===========================================+============+======
| Hindus. |Muhammadans.|Total.
District. +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+ |
| Karaul. | Raghubansi.|Sûrajbansi.| Others.| |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~
Sahâranpur | ... | ... | ... | 2 | ... | 2
Muzaffarnagar | ... | ... | ... | ... | 229 | 229
Meerut | ... | ... | ... | 20 | 4 | 62
Bulandshahr | ... | ... | ... | 38 | 12 | 50
Mathura | ... | ... | ... | 199 | 12 | 211
Agra | 354 | 80 | ... | 131 | ... | 565
Farrukhâbâd | 1,279 | 1,149 | ... | 655 | 21 | 3,104
Mainpuri | 753 | 414 | ... | 403 | 10 | 1,580
Etâwah | 325 | 630 | ... | 332 | 1 | 1,288
Etah | ... | 247 | ... | 47 | ... | 294
Bareilly | ... | ... | ... | 41 | 232 | 273
Bijnor | ... | ... | ... | 31 | ... | 31
Morâdâbâd | ... | ... | ... | 53 | 7 | 60
Shâhjahânpur | 251 | 2,108 | ... | 712 | ... | 3,071
Pilibhît | ... | 870 | ... | 132 | 116 | 1,118
Cawnpur | 2,482 | 33 | 5 | 456 | ... | 2,976
Fatehpur | 1 | ... | 132 | 162 | ... | 295
Bânda | ... | ... | 24 | 86 | ... | 110
Allahâbâd | 25 | 1 | 355 | 912 | 33 | 1,326
Jhânsi | ... | ... | 4 | 40 | ... | 44
Jâlaun | ... | ... | ... | 36 | ... | 36
Lalitpur | ... | ... | ... | 17 | ... | 17
Benares | 16 | ... | ... | 541 | 20 | 577
Mirzâpur | ... | ... | ... | 1,152 | 4 | 1,156
Jaunpur | ... | ... | ... | 322 | ... | 322
Ghâzipur | 11 | ... | ... | 80 | ... | 91
Ballia | ... | ... | ... | 1 | ... | 1
Gorakhpur | 2 | ... | 223 | 1,222 | 2 | 1,449
Basti | ... | 56 | 422 | ... | 205 | 683
Azamgarh | ... | ... | 30 | 256 | ... | 286
Tarâi | ... | ... | ... | 11 | 100 | 111
Lucknow | 19 | ... | 226 | 501 | 176 | 922
Unâo | ... | ... | ... | 151 | 143 | 294
Râê Bareli | ... | ... | ... | 524 | ... | 524
Sîtapur | ... | ... | 31 | 866 | 18 | 915
Hardoi | ... | ... | 203 | 136 | ... | 339
Kheri | ... | ... | ... | 617 | ... | 617
Faizâbâd | ... | ... | 923 | 408 | ... | 1,331
Gonda | 4 | ... | 86 | 956 | 171 | 1,217
Bahrâich | 44 | ... | 615 | 1,310 | 106 | 2,075
Sultânpur | ... | ... | 571 | 582 | ... | 1,153
Partâbgarh | ... | ... | 1,186 | 1,264 | ... | 2,450
Bârabanki | ... | ... | 262 | 237 | ... | 499
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~
Total | 5,566 | 5,588 | 5,298 | 15,642 | 1,660 |33,754
===============+=========+============+===========+========+============+======
Baidguâr.—A small Muhammadan caste shown at the last Census only in
Morâdâbâd (173) and Pilibhît (247). The information obtained about them
is not very precise; but there can be little doubt that they are an
off-shoot of the Baid Banjâras. It is said that formerly the Baid
followed the occupation of carrying grain on pack animals: while the
Guâr used to make hemp matting (tât), and tend cattle. Since their
conversion to Islâm they are known collectively as Baidguâr, but the
two divisions do not intermarry. The Census returns give their sections
as Baghâri, Chauhân, Mahrora, Nahar, Sadîqi, Shaikh, and Tomar.
Bairâgi.—(Sans. Vairâgya, “freedom from passion.”)—A term applied to a
sect of Hindu ascetics, which is often used in rather a vague sense. On
this sect Mr. Maclagan writes [192]:—“The worship of Râma and Krishna
is said to be of comparatively recent date; and Professor Wilson points
out that in the Sankara Vijaya, published by a pupil of Sankara
Achârya, the religious leader who is supposed to have lived in the
ninth or tenth century, no mention whatever is made of Râma or Krishna,
or Lakshmana or Hanumân. The popularity of this particular form of
worship is supposed to date from the time of the spread of the Râjput
power, which followed the overthrow of the Buddhist dynasties. The
various orders who attach themselves to the worship of Râma and Krishna
are generally known as Bairâgis. The appearance of these orders dates
from the period at which the worship of Râma and Krishna appears to
have been in the ascendant, and though primarily they have their origin
in the Dakkhin, their strength is, and has been, mainly in the
North-West Provinces, where the worship of Râma and Krishna has always
been strongest.
“The history of the Bairâgis commences with Ramânuja, who taught in the
south of India, and who is supposed to have lived in the eleventh and
twelfth centuries. But it is not till the time of Râmanand, that is
until the end of the fourteenth century, that the sect was in any way
powerful or important in Northern India; and, indeed, it is only to the
followers of Râmanand or his contemporaries that the term Bairâgi is
properly applied. The split occasioned by the secession of Râmanand
was, like most of the movements in modern Hinduism, a revulsion of the
more liberal Northern thinkers against the stricter doctrines of
Southern Hindustân. The sect founded by Râmanand was, nominally at
least, open to all castes, whereas previous to his time Brâhmans and
Kshatriyas alone were admitted, and many of his followers, who founded
important schools of doctrine, were men of the humbler classes. The
movement started by Râmanand was essentially popular, and the books
published by his adherents were written in the tongue of the people, no
longer in Sanskrit, but in Hindi—a departure which has been very
far-reaching in its results, and which has led in the Panjâb to a new
scripture, and a new national religion of a very clear and vigorous
type.”
[Divisions of the Bairâgis.] 2. At the last Census in these Provinces
the Bairâgis were classed in three great sub-divisions—Mâdhavachârya,
Nimâwat, and Râmanandi. On this Mr. Maclagan writes:—“The Bairâgis
have, however, been so far outdone by the newer sects which have sprung
from the original stock, that they may be now looked upon as
representing orthodox Hinduism, in contrast to the more independent
schools of thought. As a rule they venerate both Krishna and Râma, but
there are sections of them which pay more reverence to the one, and
others that pay more reverence to the other. There are always supposed
to have been four sections of Bairâgis, but it appears a little
uncertain what the four sections are. There are at least four
enumerations:—
“(a) Râmanandi; Nîmanandi; Vishnuswâmi; Mâdhavachârya.
“(b) Ramânuja; Mâdhavachârya; Vishnuswâmi; Nimikharakswâmi.
“(c) Râmanandi; Nimânuja; Mâdhavachârya; Vallabhachârya.
“(d) Râmanandi; Biganandi; Mâdhavachârya; Vishnuswâmi.
“In the Panjâb there are practically two main sections only, namely,
the Râmanandi and Nîmanandi, of whom the former are more specially
addicted to the worship of Râma, and the latter to that of Krishna.
They both hold a great feast on the death of a fellow devotee, and also
on the Râmnaumi, the day of the incarnation of Râmchandra, and on the
eighth day of Bhâdon, the incarnation day of Krishna. But the
Râmanandis study the Râmâyana, and look on Ajudhya and Râmnâth as
places of pilgrimage, while the Nîmanandis study the books relating to
Krishna, and consider Mathura, Brindâban and Dwârikanâth to be sacred
places. The forehead marks of the Râmanandis are in the form of a
trident, of which the two outer prongs are white, and the central one
white or red; while those of the Nîmanandis are two-forked only, and
entirely in white. The shape of the latter emblem is said to be derived
from the figures of the Narasinha Avatâra, and the Nîmanandis are
stated to be special worshippers of this incarnation.”
3. In these Provinces, according to one authority, [193] the four
primary orders of the Bairâgis are Ramânuji or Sri Vaishnava, Nîmâvat,
or Nimbârak, Vishnuswâmi and Mâdhavachârya; each of these orders is
called a samprâdaya or sect, and all four mesh together. Of the Sri
Vaishnava Mr. Growse [194] writes:—“The most ancient and respectable of
the four reformed Vaishnava communities is based on the teaching of
Ramânuja, who flourished in the eleventh or twelfth century A.D. Their
sectarial mark is two white perpendicular streaks down the forehead,
joined by a cross line at the root of the nose, with a streak of red
between. Their chief dogma, called Vasisthadwaita, is the assertion
that Vishnu, the one Supreme God, though invisible as cause, is as
effect visible in a secondary form in material creation. They differ in
one marked respect from the mass of the people at Brindâban,—in that
they refuse to recognise Râdhâ as an object of religious adoration. In
this they are in complete accord with all the older authorities, which
either totally ignore her existence, or regard her simply as Krishna’s
mistress, and Rukminî as his wife. Their formula of initiation (mantra)
is said to be Om Râmâya namah, i.e., “Om! Reverence to Râma!” This sect
(sampradâya) is divided into two sects, the Tenkalai and the Vadakalai.
[195] They differ in two points of doctrine, which, however, are
considered of much less importance than what seems to outsiders a very
trivial matter, viz., a slight variation in the way of making the
sectarial mark on the forehead. The followers of the Tenkalai extend
its middle line a little down the nose itself, while the Vadakalai
terminate it exactly at the bridge. The doctrinal points of difference
are as follows:—The Tenkalai maintain that the female energy of the
godhead, though divine, is still a finite creature that serves only as
a mediator or minister (parushakâra) to introduce the soul into the
presence of the Deity; while the Vadakalai regard it as infinite and
uncreated, and in itself a means (upâya) by which salvation can be
assured. The second point of difference is parallel to the controversy
between the Calvinists and Armenians in the Christian Church. The
Vadakalai, with the latter, insist on the concomitance of the human
will in the work of salvation, and represent that the soul lays hold of
God as a young monkey which grasps its mother in order to be conveyed
to a place of safety. The Tenkalai, on the contrary, maintain the
irresistibility of divine grace and the utter helplessness of the soul
till it is seized and carried off by its mother like a kitten to be
conveyed to a place of safety. From these two curious but apt
illustrations the one doctrine is known as markata kishora nyâya, the
other, as marjala kishora nyâya, the “young monkey theory,” or the
“kitten theory.”
[The Nimbârak sect.] 4. Of the Nimbârak Mr. Growse [196] writes:—“The
word means ‘the sun in a nîm tree,’ a curious designation which is
explained as follows:—The founder of the sect, an ascetic, by name
Bhaskarachârya, had invited a Bairâgi to dine with him, but
unfortunately delayed to fetch his guest until after sunset. Now the
holy man was forbidden by the rules of his order to eat except in the
daytime, and was greatly afraid that he would be compelled to practise
an unwilling abstinence; but at the solicitation of his host the Sun
God, Sûraj Nârâyan, descended from the Nîm tree, under which the repast
was spread, and continued beaming upon them until the claims of hunger
were fully satisfied. Thenceforth the saint was known by the name of
Nîmbarka or Nimaditya. Their doctrines, so far as they are known, are
of a very enlightened character. Thus their doctrine of salvation by
faith is thought by many scholars to have been directly derived from
the Gospel; while another article in their creed, which is less known
but is equally striking in its divergence from ordinary Hindu
sentiment, is the continuance of conscious individual existence in a
future world, when the highest reward of the good will be not
extinction, but in the enjoyment of the visible presence of the
divinity whom they have served while on earth: a state, therefore,
absolutely identical with heaven, as our theologists define it. The one
infinite and invisible God, who is the only real existence, is, they
affirm, the only proper object of man’s devout contemplation. But as
the incomprehensible is utterly beyond the reach of human faculties, He
is partially manifested for our behoof in the book of Creation, in
which natural objects are the letters of the universal alphabet, and
express the sentiments of the Divine Author. A printed page, however,
conveys no meaning to any one but a scholar, and is liable to be
misunderstood even by him; so, too, with the book of the world. And
thus it matters little whether Râdhâ and Krishna were ever real
personages, the mysteries of divine love which they symbolise remain
though the symbols disappear.”
DISTRIBUTION OF THE BAIRÂGIS ACCORDING TO THE CENSUS OF 1891.
=============+========+========+==========+=======+======
District. |Mâdhava |Nimâwat.|Râmanandi.|Others.|Total.
|Achârya.| | | |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~+~~~~~~
Dehra Dûn | ... | ... | 530 | 139 | 669
Sahâranpur | ... | ... | ... | 43 | 43
Muzaffarnagar| ... | ... | 541 | 446 | 987
Meerut | ... | 156 | 1,586 | 2,396 | 4,138
Bulandshahr | ... | ... | 429 | 2,279 | 2,708
Aligarh | ... | ... | 974 | 3,183 | 4,157
Agra | 4 | ... | 496 | 1,259 | 1,769
Farrukhâbâd | ... | 12 | 60 | 233 | 305
Mainpuri | ... | 9 | ... | 89 | 98
Etâwah | ... | ... | 22 | 268 | 290
Etah | 1 | 1 | 35 | 160 | 197
Bareilly | ... | ... | 148 | 610 | 758
Bijnor | ... | ... | ... | 539 | 539
Budâun | ... | 2 | 120 | 397 | 519
Morâdâbâd | 3 | ... | 1 | 239 | 243
Shâhjahânpur | ... | ... | 241 | 600 | 841
Pilibhît | ... | 12 | 57 | 335 | 404
Cawnpur | ... | ... | 61 | 389 | 450
Fatehpur | ... | ... | 17 | 128 | 145
Bânda | 1 | ... | 52 | ... | 53
Hamîrpur | ... | ... | 45 | 163 | 208
Allahâbâd | 2 | 1 | 58 | 312 | 373
Jhânsi | ... | 3 | 58 | 109 | 170
Jâlaun | 2 | 28 | 22 | 183 | 234
Lalitpur | ... | 4 | 39 | 224 | 267
Benares | ... | ... | ... | 141 | 141
Mirzapur | ... | ... | 28 | 149 | 177
Jaunpur | ... | ... | ... | 204 | 204
Ghâzipur | ... | ... | 82 | 826 | 908
Ballia | ... | ... | ... | 257 | 257
Gorakhpur | ... | 33 | 295 | 1,122 | 1,450
Basti | ... | ... | 1 | 1,286 | 1,287
Azamgarh | ... | ... | ... | 9 | 9
Kumâun | ... | ... | ... | 25 | 25
Garhwâl | ... | ... | ... | 105 | 165
Tarâi | ... | ... | 24 | 24 | 48
Lucknow | ... | ... | 291 | 1,439 | 1,730
Unâo | ... | ... | 17 | ... | 17
Râê Bareli | ... | ... | 27 | 6 | 33
Sîtapur | ... | ... | 161 | 335 | 496
Hardoi | ... | ... | ... | 337 | 337
Kheri | ... | ... | 348 | 396 | 744
Faizâbâd | ... | ... | 1,474 | 543 | 2,017
Gonda | ... | ... | 877 | 64 | 941
Bahrâich | ... | ... | 19 | 201 | 220
Sultânpur | ... | ... | 47 | 69 | 116
~~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~+~~~~~~
Total | 13 | 261 | 9,283 |22,321 |31,878
=============+========+========+==========+=======+======
Bais.—(Sans. Vaishya, “one who occupies the soil”.)—A very important
and influential sept of Râjputs, widely distributed all over the
Province. Their legend is thus given by Sir C. Elliott [197]:—“The Bais
assert themselves to be descended from Sâlivâhana, the mythic son of a
snake who conquered the great Râja Vikramaditya, of Ujjain, and fixed
his own era in A.D. 55. About 1250 A.D. the Gautam Râja of Argal
refused to pay tribute to the Lodi King of Delhi, and defeated the
Governor of Oudh, who sent a force against him. Soon after this defeat,
the Râni, without his knowledge and without fitting escort, went
secretly to bathe, at Baghsar, in the Ganges, on the festival of the
new moon. Baghsar is close to Dundiya Khera. Sir H. M. Elliot places
the locale of this story at Allahâbâd; but the other is the tradition
current in Baiswâra, and seems more probable, because Baghsar is closer
to Argal, and is the nearest bathing place she could have gone to, and,
secondly, Allahâbâd being a much-frequented place of pilgrimage, she
would hardly have gone there in any case without an escort,
particularly as it was the head-quarters of the Muhammadan Governor.
The Governor of Oudh heard of her arrival and sent men to capture her.
Her escorts were dispersed, and she was on the point of being made
prisoner, when she lifted the covering of her litter and cried,—“Is
there no Chhatri who will rescue me from the barbarian, and save my
honour?” Abhay Chand and Nirbhay Chand, two Bais Râjputs, from
Mungipatan, heard her, and came to her rescue, beat off her assailants,
and guarded her litter till she arrived safely at her home in Argal, in
the Fatehpur District. Nirbhay Chand died of his wounds, but Abhay
Chand recovered, and the Râja, in gratitude for his gallant rescue,
gave him his daughter in marriage, and with her as dowry all the lands
on the north of the Ganges, over which the Gautam bore rule. He also
conferred on his son-in-law the title of Râo, which is still the
highest dignity among the Bais. Abhay Chand fixed his home in Dundiya
Khera, and the title and estates descended, in an unbroken line, to
Tilok Chand, the great eponymous hero of the clan, who are called after
him Tilok Chandi Bais, in contradistinction to other branches of the
same tribe. He lived about 1,400 A.D., and extended the Bais dominion
over all the surrounding country, and it is from his victories that the
limits of Baiswâra became definitively fixed. The tract is universally
said to include twenty-two Parganas, and though there is considerable
discrepancy in the various lists of these Parganas, which are furnished
from different quarters, the following list is probably correct:—
Râê Bareli and Unâo Districts:—Dundiya Khera, Unchhgâon, Kumhi, Bâr,
Kahanjar, Ghâtampur, Serhupur, Makraid, Dalmau, Bareli, Bihâr, Pathân,
Panhan, Sathanpur, Harha, Purwa, Morâwan, Sirwan, Asoha, Gorinda,
Parsandan.
Lucknow District:—Bijnaur.”
Tilok Chand was the premier Râja of Oudh, and his descendants are never
weary of telling stories of his almost divine and unequalled power. He
once turned the Kahârs, who carried his palanquin, into Râjputs; and
one account of the Bhâlê Sultân sept in Faizâbâd is that they were
Bâris, or link-boys, in his service.
[Origin.] 2. In Faizâbâd the Bais say that they came from Baiswâra
about five hundred years ago, and expelled the Bhars; but this story is
disbelieved by Mr. Carnegy [198] on the ground that there were few Bais
even in Baiswâra in those days. He believes the Faizâbâd colony to be
of local origin. They are divided into two great families, the Eastern
and the Western, who, though they eat together, recognise no
relationship, and retain the memory of bitter border warfare with each
other. The Pargana of Mangalsi is overrun by different independent Bais
colonies, the members of which say they came from the West (no one
knows from where) and expelled the Bhars two or three centuries or,
according to their pedigree tables, sixteen generations ago. There are
traditions of a Gautam (Sombansi) colony founded by Mangalsen, from
whom the Pargana takes its name, who is said to have been a cadet of
the great Fatehpur house of Argal. But the Gautams were long ago pushed
across the river Ghâgra. It is noteworthy that the Muhammadans, who
produce title deeds more than three hundred years old, declare that
Mangalsen was not a Gautam but a Bhar. Another curious fact is that
both the Muhammadans and the few Gautams who are left are shown by Mr.
Woodburn to pay the feudal tribute (bhent) to the Bais headmen. How
long they have done so is not very clear, but the conclusion from all
this is, according to Mr. Carnegy, that the local Bais are the
indigenous Bhars; that the Bhars became Bais about or after the
Muhammadan conquest; the Gautam footing was by marriage with the Bais,
and the Muhammadans succeeded to the Bais Bhars. These conclusions of
Mr. Carnegy must be received with some degree of caution. That the Bais
of the Faizâbâd District may have some admixture of indigenous blood is
more than probable; but at the same time that they have a large basis
of Râjput blood may be regarded as quite certain.
[Customs.] 3. Of the sept in Râê Bareli we read:—“The Bais clan differ
from all other Râjputs somewhat in their customs. Neither men nor
women, rich or poor, will put a hand to cultivation or labour of any
sort; the women wear one long cloth, which is fastened round their
waists about the middle, the lower folds covering the lower portions of
the person, and the upper parts being thrown over the shoulders. They
are supposed to be more addicted to the crime of infanticide than other
Râjputs, and they divide their inheritance according to a system of
primogeniture by which the three elder sons receive larger shares than
the younger ones.”
[Bais of Mainpuri.] 4. The Bais of Bewar, in the Mainpuri District, are
immigrants from Dundiya Khera, and as far back as 1391–92 A.D., in
concert with the Râthaurs, they created such a disturbance here that it
was found necessary to send out large bodies of Imperial troops to
quell them. Deoli, their chief seat in Barnahal, is mentioned in the
Târîkh-i-Mabârik Shâh as a very strong place, in the possession of
infidels, and as having been attacked and destroyed in 1420 A.D. by
Sultân Khizr Khân on his march from Koil to Etâwah. [199]
[Sâlivâhana.] 5. The tribal hero of the sept is Sâlivâhana. He appears
to have been an historical character, and has been identified by
General Cunningham [200] with Gotamiputra Satakarni of the Kanheri and
Nâsik inscriptions. The tradition is thus told by a writer in the Oudh
Gazetteer [201]:—“A son of the great world serpent was born under the
roof of a potter of Mûngi Pâtan, which, by one account, is on the
Narbada, and, by another, is on the Godâvari, in the Ahmadnagar
District, and early showed, by his wit and strength, that he was
destined to be a king. As a judge among his youthful companions, by
what would now be considered a simple process of cross-examination, he
excited the wonder of a people unaccustomed to law courts; and deserved
and received the same kind of honour that was accorded to Daniel by the
Jews of the Captivity after his successful investigation of the case of
Susanna and the Elders. His amusement was to make clay figures of
elephants, horses, and men-at-arms, and before he had well reached
manhood, he led his fictile army to do battle with the great King
Vikramaditya. When the hosts met, the clay of the young hero became
living brass, and the weapons of his enemies fell harmless on the hard
material. Vikramaditya fled and took refuge in a large temple of Siva,
whither he was pursued by Sâlivâhana. At the mere sound of the boy’s
voice the ponderous gates of the temple rolled back, and Vikramaditya
acknowledged his conqueror with appropriate homage. A reasonable
arrangement was made on the spot for the partition of the royal power,
and on the elder king’s death, Sâlivâhana became undisputed Râja of
India. Later in life he conquered the Panjâb and died and was buried at
Siâlkot.” This tradition of serpent origin is perpetuated in the tribal
tradition that “no snake has or ever can destroy one of the family.
They seem to take no precautions against the bite, except hanging a
vessel of water over the head of the sufferer, with a small tube in the
bottom, from which the water is poured on his head as long as he can
bear it.” [202] The cobra is in fact the tribal totem.
[Other Settlements of the Bais.] 6. The Farrukhâbâd story is that the
emigrants from Dundiya Khera were led by two brothers, Hansrâj and
Bachrâj, that they were first subject to the aboriginal Bhyârs, but
finally turned against them and established themselves in Sakatpur and
Saurikh, and also in a few villages across the Isan Nadi. [203] In
Budaun there are two sub-divisions, Chaudhari and Râê, so called from
the two sons of their traditional leader, Dalîp Sinh, of Baiswâra. They
dated their immigration in Basti only five or six generations before
Dr. Buchanan wrote. [204] In Gorakhpur some call themselves Nâgbansi,
and say that they are sprung from the nose of the mythical cow,
Kâmdhenu, which belonged to the Rishi Vasishtha. The Ghâzipur branch
claim descent from Baghel Râê, who came from Baiswâra fifteen
generations ago, and colonized the jungle. [205] Their emigration into
Rohilkhand is not placed earlier than the time of Akbar.
[Sub-divisions of the Bais.] 7. Numerous castes in the Faizâbâd and
Gonda Districts, such as the Gandhariyas, the Naipuriyas, the Barwârs,
and the Châhus, claim to have been originally Bais, while the equal
lengths of their pedigrees show that they were established in these
districts at about the beginning of the sixteenth century. There are,
besides, numerous families of small landowners in the east of Râê
Bareli, who call themselves Bharadih Bais, and whose want of any
tradition of emigration and peculiar religion distinguish them from the
pure Bais of the west. Another division is that of Bhîtariya and
Bâhariya or “the outer” and “the inner” Bais. [206] “The Brâhmans of
Sultânpur relate that Tilok Chand in his old age, like another king of
distinguished wisdom, supported the prodigious responsibility of an
establishment of three hundred wives, and became the father of a family
countless as the sands of the sea. The Princesses of Rîwa and Mainpuri,
to whom he had originally been married, disgusted by an association in
which the dignity of castes had not been respected, fled from his
castle and gave rise to a distinction between the Bais from within
(Bhîtariya) and the Bais from without (Bâhariya); those from without
being the offspring of pure Râjput blood, while those from within were
of contaminated lineage, and occupied a doubtful position in the castes
system.” But the most important distinction is between the Tilokchandi
Bais or the descendants of Tilok Chand, and Kath Bais, or “wooden”
Bais. Of these Colonel MacAndrew writes [207]:—“These call themselves
Tilokchandi Bais to distinguish them from the Kath Bais, who are
supposed to be the offspring of the real Bais by women of inferior
caste. The Tilokchandi Bais will neither eat nor intermarry with them.
An instance of this was exemplified the other day when the proposal was
made that the Bais should erect a bridge over the Sâi at Râê Bareli.
The Tilokchandis proposed that the Kath Bais should subscribe. The
latter at once expressed their willingness to do so, provided the
Tilokchandis would acknowledge them to be Bais by eating with them.
Nothing more was heard of the proposal that they should subscribe.” The
Tilokchandi Bais according to Sir H. M. Elliot, [208] are sub-divided
into four clans, Râo, Râwat, Naihatha, and Sainbansi, all of whom
profess to derive their rights from the Gautam Râja of Argal. He says
that beside the Tilokchandi, there are said to be no less than three
hundred and sixty sub-divisions of the Bais, the descendants of as many
wives of Sâlivâhana. Among these the most noted are the Tilsâri, Chak
Bais, Nânwag, Bhanwag, Bach, Parsariya, Patsariya, Bijhoniya,
Bhatkariya, Chanamiya, or Gargbans, but it may be doubted if these are
really Bais.
[Religion and social standing.] 8. There is nothing peculiar about the
religion of the Bais except their tribal worship of the snake, and
their reverence for a clan goddess, Mathotê, who is worshipped at the
Mathotepur fair, in the Sîtapur District. She became a Sati at the
death of her consort. The ordinary Bais give their daughters in
marriage, amongst others, to the Sengar, Bhadauriya, Chauhân,
Kachhwâha, Gautam, Parihâr, Dikhit and Gaharwâr Râjputs, and receive
daughters in marriage from the Banâphar, Janwâr, Khîchar, Raghubansi,
Raikwâr, Karchauli, and Gahlot. The Tilokchandi Bais ally themselves
only with septs of the bluest blood. The Bais in Faizâbâd take brides
from the Bachgoti, Bhâlê Sultân, Kalhans, and Kânhpuriya septs, and
they give their daughters to the Gaharwâr, Bisen, Sombansi, Bhadauriya,
Chauhân, and Kachhwâha septs. In Ballia they take wives from the
Ujjaini, Haihobans, Kinwâr, Nikumbh, Sengar, Kausik, Râghubansi,
Sûrajbansi, Bhrigubansi, Barhauliya, Gaharwâr, Gautam, Kâkan, Donwâr,
Jâdon, Kachhwâha, Chauhân, Bisen, Nâgbansi, Sakarwâr, Baghel, Sombansi,
Udmatiya, Solankhi, Chandel, Parihâr, and give brides to the Sirnet,
Râjkumâr, Drigbansi, Maunas, Kachhwâha, and, in rare cases, to the
Ujjaini. Their gotra is Bhâradwâja.
DISTRIBUTION OF THE BAIS RÂJPUTS ACCORDING TO THE CENSUS OF 1891.
=============+=========+============+=========
District. | Hindus. |Muhammadans.| Total.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~
Dehra Dûn | 1 | 48 | 49
Sahâranpur | 185 | 65 | 250
Muzaffarnagar| 109 | 250 | 359
Meerut | 578 | ... | 578
Bulandshahr | 178 | 197 | 375
Aligarh | 707 | 11 | 718
Mathura | 231 | 16 | 247
Agra | 1,022 | 4 | 1,026
Farrukhâbâd | 6,688 | 10 | 6,698
Mainpuri | 4,073 | 5 | 4,078
Etâwah | 1,828 | 9 | 1,837
Etah | 2,050 | 80 | 2,130
Bareilly | 1,673 | 15 | 1,688
Bijnor | 678 | ... | 678
Budâun | 8,301 | 212 | 8,513
Morâdâbâd | 819 | 1 | 820
Shâhjahânpur | 1,111 | 173 | 1,284
Pilibhît | 315 | ... | 315
Cawnpur | 6,323 | 15 | 6,338
Fatehpur | 7,495 | 672 | 8,167
Bânda | 15,857 | 224 | 16,081
Hamîrpur | 14,285 | 24 | 14,309
Allahâbâd | 11,882 | 60 | 11,942
Jhânsi | 703 | ... | 703
Jâlaun | 1,133 | 21 | 1,154
Lalitpur | 1,097 | ... | 1,097
Benares | 11,225 | 125 | 11,350
Mirzapur | 5,844 | ... | 5,844
Jaunpur | 13,863 | 258 | 14,121
Ghâzipur | 6,329 | 375 | 6,704
Ballia | 9,334 | 59 | 9,393
Gorakhpur | 12,246 | 1,708 | 13,954
Basti | 5,873 | 9,954 | 15,827
Azamgarh | 24,730 | 2,091 | 26,821
Tarâi | 47 | ... | 47
Lucknow | 3,898 | 23 | 3,921
Unâo | 10,319 | 376 | 10,695
Râê Bareli | 27,022 | 1,141 | 28,163
Sîtapur | 3,887 | 309 | 4,196
Hardoi | 4,408 | 90 | 4,498
Kheri | 1,073 | 503 | 1,576
Faizâbâd | 18,126 | 1,734 | 19,860
Gonda | 55 | 146 | 201
Bahrâich | 3,896 | 1,239 | 5,135
Sultânpur | 6,447 | 2,514 | 8,961
Partâbgarh | 8,339 | 560 | 8,899
Bârabanki | 12,171 | 1,254 | 13,425
~~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~
Total | 278,454 | 26,571 | 305,025
=============+=========+============+=========
Baiswâr.—A tribe found in the hill country of Mirzapur, whose origin is
doubtful. Their own account is that they are Râjputs of the famous Bais
stock of Dundiya Khera, [209] and that two brothers being condemned to
death by the Râja escaped into Rîwa, where the Râja gave them estates.
For the last eight or nine generations they have been migrating into
Mirzapur. They admit that they are now endogamous, and have no
connection with Baiswâra. Their tribal worship is conducted at a temple
of Bhawâni, in Bardi, the south eastern division of Rîwa abutting on
Mirzapur. It is very doubtful if they have really any Râjput blood. In
appearance they are dark, and have much of the characteristic look of
the Dravidian races by whom they are surrounded.
[Tribal organization.] 2. Besides this, their sub-divisions, some of
which are totemistic, point to a non-Aryan origin. The Khandit take
their name from the sword (Khanda), which they hold in great respect.
The Bansit respect the bamboo (bâns), from which they say the ancestor
of this sept was produced. These, they say, are the two original septs,
out of which the remaining five have been derived. The Chaudharis are
said to be the offspring of a connection between a Kurmi man and a
Baiswâr woman. The Bannait say they are so called because they were
residents in the forest. The remaining three septs—Rautiha,
Sohâgpuriha, and Piparaha—are said to take their names from three
villages in which they settled in Bundelkhand, Revati, Sohâgpur, and
Pipara. The Khandit is the most respectable sept, and the others by the
rule of hypergamy pay to get wives from them. The septs are exogamous
in theory, but apparently the rule is not certain. When one daughter
has been married into a family other daughters are, if possible,
married into the same family, but this is not the case with sons. The
tribal council (panchâyat) is presided over by a headman (mahto), who
is of the Khandit sept. The offence of adultery is dealt with much less
severely than that of eating with another caste. The tribal punishments
are to give seven recitations of parts of the Bhâgavata, to bathe in
the Ganges, or to undertake a pilgrimage to Benares, Prayâg, or
Mathura. Polygamy is allowed, but monogamy is the rule. The head wife
alone joins in family worship. Concubinage and polyandry are
prohibited. The marriage age for boys or girls is ten or twelve. There
is no purchasing of brides, but her relations have to give a dowry, and
it is considered discreditable not to provide this to a suitable
amount. Adultery in husband or wife, and eating or smoking with a
strange caste, are grounds for divorce. A divorced woman cannot
re-marry. Widow marriage in the sagâi form is allowed. The only
ceremony is that with a recitation of the Satya Nârâyana the clothes of
the pair are knotted together in the presence of the clansmen. Widow
marriage outside the family is allowed only if the levir does not claim
his sister-in-law under the usual restrictions. Adoption and succession
are recognized under the usual local rules of Hindu law.
[Domestic ceremonies, Birth and Marriage.] 3. The mother after birth is
attended for six days by the Chamâin midwife, and then for six days by
the barber’s wife. On the twelfth day the usual ceremony of
purification is performed. The husband is debarred from cohabitation
with his wife for six months after birth. When the child is able to
walk, the ear-boring ceremony is performed, and after that the child
must eat according to caste rules. Marriages are arranged by the family
priest (purohit) and barber. When the proposal is accepted the envoys
get a feast (bhâji) in the house of the bride. The betrothal is
confirmed by the ceremony of marking (tîka) the forehead of the
bridegroom by the father or one of the male relatives of the bride.
Next day her envoys (tilakahru) after being entertained return home.
Five days before the wedding is the matmangar, which is performed in
the usual way, [210] except that after worshipping the drum of the
Chamâr, which is carried in the women’s procession, by marking it with
red lead, the earth is dug by the oldest woman in the family, and
carried by her and placed in the marriage shed. In the centre of the
shed is fixed a branch of the sacred cotton tree (semal), and near it
the holy water vessel (kalsa) is placed on a mound formed of the sacred
earth. The usual anointing of bride and bridegroom, which is started by
the Pandit, follows. A day before the wedding is the mantri pûja. In a
special room some lumps of cowdung are fixed on the wall, and in them
some blades of the dûb grass, mango leaves, and a bit of yellow cloth
are fastened. On these the bridegroom pours a little butter, and then
the worship of the sword (kharag) is done. A relative of the bride
holds the sword in both his hands, and the bridegroom’s mother marks it
with a mixture of ground rice and turmeric. Then an earthen pot full of
sesamum grain is broken with the handle of the sword, and the grain
scattered: an emblem, it is said, of the manner in which the enemies of
the bridegroom who may dare to interfere with his marriage are to be
scattered abroad. The sword is then placed in the middle of the
marriage shed, an obvious survival of marriage by capture. After this a
goat is sacrificed to the sword. In the evening there is a general
feast known as bhatwân. This consists of rice and pulse, and must
include cakes made of the urad pulse (bara). Before the bridegroom
starts for the bride’s house he is bathed by the barber, and the water
thus used is collected in a vessel and taken to the bride’s house,
where it is mixed with that in which the bride is bathed. As the
bridegroom starts his mother does the usual wave ceremony (parachhan)
over him. At the bride’s village they are met by her friends, led by
the barber, who brings a yellow cloth, which he lays on the roof of the
bridegroom’s litter. At the bride’s door the bridegroom sits in a
square and worships Gauri and Ganesa, which concluded, his future
father-in-law marks his forehead with curds and rice. After this, food
(kalewa) is sent from the bride’s house for the bridegroom and the boys
with him, and in return his father sends five articles of jewellery for
the bride, and a sheet (sâri) for her and her mother. With this is sent
the water in which the bridegroom has been bathed. The bride is bathed
in this and dressed in the sheet and jewels. The bridegroom then comes
to the marriage shed, where his father-in-law washes his feet, and
seats him in the square (chauk) on his left hand, while the bride sits
on her father’s right hand. The pair then worship the household gods,
of whom images are made in dough, and both mark the water jar and the
branch of the cotton tree with red lead. Their clothes are knotted
together, and they do the usual five revolutions round the cotton tree,
while the bridegroom holds a winnowing fan (sûp) into which the bride’s
brother pours a little parched rice each time as they go round. The
bride sprinkles this grain on the ground out of the fan, and both
retire into the retiring room (kohabar), the walls of which are
decorated. There his mother-in-law takes off the bridegroom’s crown
(maur) and gives him a present. Next day follows the confarreatio
ceremony (khichari), which is done in the usual way. Next day the
bridegroom takes home his bride, but before he starts his father goes
and shakes down one of the poles of the marriage shed, for which he
gets a present (mânro hilâi). On the fourth day after they return the
ceremony ends by the barber’s wife taking the sacred jar (kalsa) and
the festoons (bandanwâr) of the marriage shed, and throwing them into a
neighbouring stream. On their return husband and wife offer a burnt
sacrifice (homa) to the local gods (dih).
[Death.] 4. The dead are cremated in the standard Hindu form. After the
cremation all the mourners touch fire with the eight parts of their
bodies, and sit for an hour in silence with the chief mourner. Next
morning the chief mourner goes to the pyre, collects the ashes, and
throws them into an adjoining stream. They set up an earthen vessel on
a pîpal tree through which water drops for the refreshment of the
thirsty spirit. While in the state of impurity, the chief mourner is
armed with a stick, pointed with iron, to enable him to keep off
ghosts. Every day he lays out food for the ghost along the road to the
cremation ground. On the tenth day he offers lumps of rice and milk,
which he throws into a tank, and all the mourners shave. On the
eleventh day the Mahâpâtra receives all the personal effects of the
dead man, which he is supposed to pass on to the deceased in the land
of the dead. On the twelfth day the chief mourner offers sixteen balls
(pinda) to ancestors, and returning, feasts the Mahâpâtra and gives him
a cow and a loin cloth. On the thirteenth day Brâhmans are fed. During
the fortnight (pitri-paksha), sacred to the manes, in the month of
Kuâr, the ground under the eaves of the house is plastered, and some
water and a tooth brush stick is left out; and flowers and rice are
scattered about for the use of the dead visitors. On the fifteenth day
of Kuâr Brâhmans are feasted.
[Religion.] 5. They principally worship Devi through Brâhmans. The
local gods (dih) they worship through the Baiga with sacrifices of pigs
and goats.
[Superstitions.] 6. Their superstitions are similar to those of the
surrounding castes. They swear by touching their sons’ heads, the feet
of a Brâhman, the tail of a cow, or by standing in running water. They
believe in the Evil-eye, which is obviated by an Ojha blowing on some
dust, and sprinkling it over the person attacked, and repeating
appropriate spells (mantra).
[Taboos.] 7. Very few drink liquor: none eat beef or pork. They will
not touch the wife of a younger brother or the wife of an elder
brother-in-law. They will not eat the flesh of the lizard, alligator,
snake, jackal, or rat. The women eat separate from the men.
[Status.] 8. They rank as respectable high caste Hindus. They are
either landholders or tenants with occupancy rights. They dress and
wear ornaments like ordinary Râjputs, and among the low tribes around
them their claim to that rank is generally accepted.
Bâjgi. [211]—A tribe of musicians found in the lower ranges of the
Hills. They are possibly akin to the Nats. The name of the tribe is
derived from Hindi bajâna, “to play a musical instrument.” In Dehra Dûn
they consider themselves indigenous to the district.
[Marriage rules.] 2. They have several exogamous gotras, and are not
allowed to marry in their own gotra, or in the family of the maternal
uncle, until at least two generations have passed since the last
connection by marriage. A man may have as many wives as he can support.
Widows of the tribe may be married in the karâo form. Marriages take
place when the parties attain the age of puberty. The parents and
guardians of the boy have to pay a bride price which varies from forty
to fifty rupees, and the price rises according to the youth and beauty
of the bride. If a marriage is annulled after consummation, and she
marries another man she has to repay the bride price, or as much of it
as the tribal council award as compensation to the first husband.
Children by a karâo marriage rank equally for inheritance with the
offspring of a regular marriage. It has been asserted that the rule of
the levirate is so far relaxed that the widow can be claimed by the
elder as well as by the younger brother of her late husband; but this
assertion is in such direct opposition to the practice current among
allied tribes that it is probably incorrect.
[Birth.] 3. There are no ceremonies during pregnancy. The women act as
midwives to their own people as well as to other castes; and they have
no custom of adoption, initiation, or betrothal.
[Marriage.] 4. The marriage ceremonies are of the most simple type. The
boy’s father pays the bride price, and forthwith takes the girl home;
and the marriage is recognised when a few of the clansmen have been
fed.
[Death.] 5. Persons who die of cholera, small-pox, or snake-bite, are
buried, because they are supposed to be under the direct influence of
the deities who rule these diseases, and no purification by fire is
necessary. Persons who die a natural death in other ways are cremated.
They do not use a regular pyre, but make a thatch of bamboos, and under
it light some wood; when the fire is well alight they put on it the
body, covered with a white cloth, and let it burn. They have no special
cremation places, but consume the corpse wherever it is most
convenient, and pay no regard to the ashes, which are left on the site
of the cremation.
[Impurity.] 6. Women remain impure after childbirth for seven days, and
the person who sets fire to the pyre for three days. As long as a woman
has not given birth to a child she is considered impure during her
menses; but once she is a mother her menstruation is disregarded, and
she is not kept apart or prevented from doing her ordinary house work.
[Religion.] 7. Bâjgis consider themselves to be Hindus. They chiefly
reverence Devi, and her worship is carried on by a tribal subscription
with which goats, rams, and spirits are bought and used in sacrifice. A
little of the blood and spirits is poured upon the ground, and the rest
is consumed by the worshippers. They have no priests or temples, but
each household has a shelf, on which is placed a trident (trisûl) with
an iron lamp and an earthenware vessel containing some beads, which
represent the goddess. These articles serve as a representation of Nâga
Râja, the serpent godling, who is regarded as their tribal deity. Nâga
Râja is a most powerful godling, and, unless he is propitiated, brings
misfortune, disease, and death. The special offering to Nâga Râja and
Devi is a goat, while Nar Sinh Deo is worshipped with the sacrifice of
fowl. Any adult member of the tribe may make these offerings.
[Festivals.] 8. They have only two festivals, the Naurâtra and the
Basant Panchami. Some of them regard Makar-ki-Sankrânt, or the passage
of the sun into the sign of Capricornus, a holiday. On these days they
eat meat and drink spirits. Of ancestor worship they know little; but
they are, like similar races, in great dread of the spirits of the
departed, and do not care to say much about them. Like the Doms of
Dehra Dûn, they keep in their houses, as a sort of household guardian,
some rude wooden images representing the five Pândavas—Yudhishthira,
Bhîma, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva. They know little of omens.
[Oaths.] 9. Their chief oath is on the cow; in less serious cases they
swear on the bamboo. The violation of an oath is believed to cause the
death of the eldest son of the perjurer.
[Demonology.] 10. They have the usual beliefs characteristic of races
in the same phase of culture regarding dreams, the Evil-eye, and
demoniacal possession, leading to disease and death.
[Social rules.] 11. They will not eat beef; but as to any other kind of
food they have no scruples. Men and women eat apart. They will eat
pakki and kachchi from any one but a Dom or a Chamâr. No other caste
will eat or drink from their hands.
[Occupation.] 12. Their occupation is singing and dancing, and their
women, as has been said already, act as midwives.
Bâlâhar, Bulâhar.— [212] A tribe found in parts of the Duâb and
Bundelkhand. The name seems to mean “crier” or “summoner” (Hindi,
bulâna, “to call”). In Cawnpur they are also known as Domar or Basor,
which connect them with Doms and Bânsphors and Toraiha, because part of
their business is to blow the long trumpet or “cholera horn” (turi,
turai, turhi) at weddings. In Cawnpur they have four exogamous
septs—Suyador, Laungbasa, Kudkaha, and Banha—of the meaning of which
they can give no explanation.
The Census returns record 85 sections. Many of these are taken from
well-known tribes, such as Baghel, Bais, Bâhman Gaur, Chamar Gaur,
Khatîk; others are of local origin, like Abâdpura, Baksariya,
Indauriya, Purabiya. Curiously enough they do not seem to have retained
the distinctively totemistic sections of the Doms, Bânsphors, and
Basors.
[Marriage rules.] 2. Besides the rule that a man cannot marry within
his sept he cannot marry in a family which is known to be descended
from the same parents as his own, or which can be traced to a common
ancestor. He cannot marry in the family of his maternal uncle or of his
father’s sister. He cannot marry two sisters at the same time, but he
can marry the younger sister of his deceased wife.
[Traditions.] 3. Their traditions show clearly that they are a branch
of the great Dom tribe, and they refer their origin to Sûpa Bhagat,
who, in Bengal, is regarded more as the Guru than the progenitor of the
Doms.
[Marriage.] 4. Marriage is both infant and adult. Sexual license before
marriage is neither recognised nor tolerated. Polyandry is repudiated;
polygamy without any condition or limit is allowed. They marry by the
ordinary low caste form. Widows are married by the form known as Dola
or Dharauna. The levirate, on the usual conditions, is recognised; but
it is not compulsory on the widow to marry the younger brother of her
late husband. At the Dola marriage the binding part of the ceremony is
the feast to the brethren. A woman can be turned out of the house for
infidelity, and this is the only form of divorce. A divorced woman can
marry again like a widow.
[Religion.] 5. They are not initiated into any sect, but are commonly
classed as Sâktas. Their tribal godling is Jakhaiya, to whom pigs are
offered on a Monday. On Monday and Friday goats are sacrificed to Devi.
There appears to be no worship special to women and children.
[Death ceremonies.] 6. Some of them bury and some burn the dead. The
corpse is buried with the feet to the south. When cremation is
performed the ashes are thrown into some river. They have no particular
ceremony to appease the spirits of the dead. Some of them do the
ordinary srâddha.
[Occupation.] 7. Their occupation is to act as village messengers
(gorait). They blow the long trumpet at marriages and festivals. Some
make bamboo baskets; some are pure village menials, and work in
consideration of receiving a small patch of rent-free land.
[Social rules.] 8. They eat meat and drink spirits. They practically
eat anything, even the leavings of other people. They will eat kachchi
only with their own castes; they take pakki from sweepers. No other
caste will touch anything from their hands.
DISTRIBUTION OF BALÂHARS ACCORDING TO THE CENSUS OF 1891.
Mathura 509
Cawnpur 1,428
Hamîrpur 105
Jâlaun 317
~~~~~
Total 2,359
Balâi, Balâhi [213].—A tribe of weavers and labourers in the Central
Duâb. They have no exogamous or endogamous divisions. They marry only
in their own caste, but not in the gotra of their mother or
grandmother. They can marry two sisters. There is no prohibition of
marriage based on social position, occupation, or sectarial belief.
They say themselves that they are the descendants of Panwâr Râjputs,
and that their original home is Kota Bûndi and Bikâner. They are
settled and not nomadic. They do not admit outsiders into the caste.
Marriage is both infant and adult, and sexual license both before and
after marriage is not tolerated. Polyandry is prohibited, and polygamy
to the extent of two wives is allowed.
[Marriage.] 2. The marriage is celebrated in the usual way, and the
binding part of it is the seven perambulations (bhanwar) round the
sacred fire. A Brâhman priest officiates. Marriage under the form known
as Dharaicha is also permitted. This is the form used in widow
marriage. The widow can, if she please, live with the younger brother
of her late husband; but she can, if she chooses, marry an outsider to
the family, and her right of choice is fully recognized. A woman can be
expelled for infidelity, and she has the right of appeal to the tribal
council. Such a divorced woman can marry again by the Dharaicha form.
[Religion.] 3. They are Hindus of the Vaishnava sect, and their chief
god is Bhagwân. They worship Hanumân every Tuesday and Saturday, and
Devi in the months of Chait and Kuâr. Zâhir Pîr is venerated on the
ninth of the first half of Bhâdon. The offerings consist of flowers,
sweetmeats, fruits, etc., and after presentation they are consumed by
the worshippers. They employ Brâhmans as priests who do not incur any
social discredit by serving them.
[Disposal of the dead.] 4. The dead are cremated. Poor people leave the
ashes at the pyre; wealthier people send them to the Ganges. They
perform the usual annual srâddha in the month of Kuâr.
[Occupation.] 5. Weaving is their main occupation, but some of them
work as masons and day-labourers.
[Social rules.] 6. They eat pork and flesh of cloven-footed animals,
except the cow. They drink spirits. They will not eat the flesh of
monkeys, fish, fowls, crocodiles, lizards, snakes, rats or other
vermin, or the leavings of other people. The lowest well known caste
with which the caste will eat pakki is the Nâi. They eat kachchi cooked
by Kâyasths, Gûjars or Ahîrs.
Bâm-Mârgi.—(Sans. Vâma-mârgi, “the left hand path”).—The notorious left
hand or Sâkti sect, which presents one of the most degraded forms of
modern Hinduism. On these Sir Monier Williams [214] writes:—“It can
scarcely be doubted that Sâktism is Hinduism arrived at its worst and
most corrupt stage of development. To follow out the whole process of
evolution would not be easy. Suffice it to say that just as Hinduism
resolved itself into two great systems, Saivism and Vaishnavism, so the
adherents of these two systems respectively separated into two great
classes. The first are now called “followers of the right hand path”
(Dakshina-mârgis). These make the Purânas their real Veda (Nigama), and
are devoted to either Siva or Vishnu in their double nature as male and
female. But they do not display undue preference for the female or
left-hand side of the deity; nor are they addicted to mystic or secret
rites. The second class are called “followers of the left-hand path”
(Vâma-mârgis). These make the Tantras their peculiar Veda (Agama),
tracing back their doctrines to the Kaula Upanishad, which is held to
be the original authority for their opinions, whence their system is
called Kaula as well as Sâkta, and they call themselves Kaulikas.
2. “And it is these left-hand worshippers who, I repeat, devote
themselves to the exclusive worship of the female side of Siva and
Vishnu; that is the goddess Durga or Kâli (Amba Devi) rather than to
Siva; to Râdha rather than to Krishna; to Sîta rather than to Râma; but
above all to Amba or Devi, the mother goddess, sometimes confounded
with Siva’s consort, but rather, in her more comprehensive character,
the great power (Sakti) of Nature, the one mother of the Universe
(Jaganmâta, Jagadamba), the mighty mysterious force, whose function is
to direct and control two quite distinct operations; namely, first, the
working of the natural appetites and passions, whether for the support
of the body by eating and drinking, or for the propagation of living
organisms through sexual cohabitation; secondly, the acquisition of
supernatural faculties (Siddhi), whether for man’s own individual
exaltation or for the annihilation of his opponents.”
The sect devotes itself to what are technically known as the five Ms.
which are named in the verse,—
Madyam mânsam cha minam cha mudrâ maithun mewa cha;
Êtê pânch makârasyur mokshadâ hi yuge yuge.
“Wine, fish, flesh, enjoyment and cohabitation—these are the givers of
salvation in every age.” For each of these there is a slang or
technical term. Thus wine is tîrtha or “pilgrimage;” flesh, sudhi or
“pure;” fish, pushpa or “flowers;” mudra is chaturthi or “fourth;” and
cohabitation, panchami or “fifth.” Their principal form of worship is
known as Bhairavi chakra or “the wheel of Bhairava;” and they assert
that whoever takes part in it becomes for the time a Brâhman. A jug of
spirits is placed within the figure of a triangle or quadrangle, and
worshipped with the mantra, Brahm shapam bimocha tha—“O wine! thou art
free from the curse of Brahma.” Again the secret form of the ritual
consists in the worship of a naked woman, and similarly, a naked man is
worshipped by the women. A vessel is filled with water and a large dish
with meat, and the leader, the wine cup in his hand, says, Bhairavoham
Sivoham, “I am Bhairava and Siva.” He drinks first, and all the
congregation does the same. A man and woman stand naked with swords in
their hands, and are worshipped. The pair are supposed to represent
Devi and Mahâdeva. Then follows indiscriminate license, and the
subsequent ritual takes even more disgusting forms. To free themselves
from the risk of subsequent transmigration, they perform a particular
charm (prayoga), which consists in placing bottles of liquor at
separate places in the house and drinking till intoxication results.
The mantra of initiation is said to be Dam Durge namah, or Bham
Bhairavâya namah, “I salute Durga. I salute Bhairava.” In Bengal they
also use the mystic formula Hrin, Srin, Klin. Another of their mystic
formulas is Hram, hrim, hrum, bagala muhhai phat swâha, or Hum phat
swâha. The charm to kill an enemy is to make an image of flour or earth
and stick razors into the breast, navel and throat, with pegs in the
eyes, hands and feet. Then they make an image of Bhairava or Durga,
holding a three-pronged fork (trisûl) in the hand, and place it so
close to the image of the person to whom evil is intended that the fork
pierces its breast. A fire sacrifice is made with meat and a charm
recited, which runs—“Kill, kill; estrange, and make him hated of all;
make him subservient to my will; devour him, consume him, break him,
destroy him; make my enemies obey me.” At one time they were supposed
to make human sacrifices to Kâli, and the records of our Criminal
Courts show that such practices have not entirely ceased. In this they
are closely connected with the Aghoris, who eat human flesh. One
division of them the Choli-mârgi, make the women place their boddices
(choli) in a jar, and thus allot them by chance to the male
worshippers. Of another, the Bîjmârgi, the bestiality of the ritual
defies description.
3. There seems, unhappily, reason to believe that this brutal form of
so-called worship is spreading in Upper India under the example of
Bengâli immigrants, who have introduced it from its head-quarters in
Bengal. At the last census, 1,576 persons avowed themselves worshippers
of the left-hand path.
Banâphar.—A famous sept of Yadubansi Râjputs confined almost entirely
to the Bundelkhand country now included in the Allahâbâd and Benares
Divisions. According to their own account they derive their name from
their ancestor, a certain Rishi who used to live on the wild fruits of
the jungle (vanaphala). Their original settlement is said to have been
Orai and Chausa, in the Jâlaun District. The story of their emigration
to Mahoba is thus told:—Two men of the tribe once went into the forest
to hunt; their names were Jasar and Sorhar. They came upon two buffalos
fighting, and as they watched the combat two Ahîr girls came up, and by
main force separated the furious animals. The Thâkurs were so pleased
with the bravery and strength of the girls that they took them to wife.
Their sons were the famous Alha and Udal, whose adventures form the
subject of the great Bundelkhand epic. They are the heroes of the
famous war between the Chandels and Chauhâns. In the course of this
campaign the Chauhân chieftain, Prithivi Râja, conquered the King of
Mahoba, Paramarddi Deva, or Parmal, as he is familiarly called by the
bard Chand, and the later annalists at a battle at Sirswagarh, on the
Pahoj, or at Bairagarh near Orai. [215] The names of the Ahîr girls,
their mothers, are said to have been Devala and Brahma. When the Râja
found that his men had contracted a low marriage with Ahîrins they were
turned out of caste, and took service with Parmal of Mahoba. [216] At
that time Mahoba was besieged by the hosts of the Râja of Jambudwîpa,
one of the seven islands or continents of which the world is made up,
having Mount Meru for its centre and including Bharata-varsha or India.
The Banâphar heroes drove back the enemy, and were rewarded by the gift
of an estate known as the Daspurwa, or ten hamlets. Subsequently two
other Banâphar soldiers of fortune, Râma Sinh and Dhana Sinh, came to
Benares from Chausa and took service with Bandâl, the Râja of Benares.
They rose in his favour, and by and by proposed to him to attack and
expel the Bhar Râja of Kantit, in the Mirzapur District. For this
purpose they invited some of their relations and made them take service
with the Bhar Râja. According to the stock legend which explains the
conquest of the Aborigines by the Aryan invaders, they drugged the
liquor of the Bhars and overcame them while sunk in drunken sleep. Thus
Râja Bandâl acquired the territories of the Bhars. Bandâl conferred on
the Banâphar warriors the villages of Râjpur and Hariharpur. Dânu Sinh
succeeded Bandâl, and held Dhana Sinh in high favour. One day the Râja
was at his devotions and a kite dropped a morsel of flesh on him,
whereupon Dhana Sinh killed it with his arrow. This so pleased the Râja
that he conferred more estates upon him. These have been gradually lost
until the sept now hold a very inconsiderable landed property in the
Benares Division.
2. The Banâphars hold only a moderately respectable rank among Râjputs.
In Jâlaun they will, it is said, take brides by the dola form from all
the poor Râjputs of the District, and receive the bride price. They
marry their sons to the girls of the Bais, Gautam, Dikhit, and Bisen
septs. In Hamîrpur they profess to belong to the Kasyapa gotra, and
give brides to the Gautam, Dikhit Bais, and Chandel, while they take
wives from the Nandwâni, Bâhman Gaur, and Bais. In Bânda they give
brides to the Dikhit, Gautam, Gaur, and Kachhwâha; and take girls of
the Panwâr Bais, Dikhit, and Sombansi septs.
DISTRIBUTION OF THE BANÂPHAR RÂJPUTS ACCORDING TO THE CENSUS OF 1891.
=============+=======
District. |Number.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~
Mathura | 8
Farrukhâbâd | 3
Mainpuri | 15
Etah | 1
Shâhjahânpur | 36
Pilibhît | 8
Cawnpur | 123
Bânda | 510
Hamîrpur | 828
Allahâbâd | 340
Jhânsi | 34
Jâlaun | 722
Lalitpur | 59
Benares | 1,447
Mirzapur | 191
Ghâzipur | 629
Ballia | 473
Azamgarh | 35
Lucknow | 1
Râê Bareli | 2
~~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~
Total | 5,465
=============+=======
Banarwâr, Bandarwâr.—A sub-caste of Banyas found principally in the
Benares Division. They have thirty-six sections, which are thus given
in Mirzapur—Mâlhan, Sothiyân, Sanbhariya, Abakahon, Rupiya, Katariya,
Patsariya, Thagwariya, Manihariya, Narihiya, Nakthariya, Khatwatiya,
Khelaniya, Burbak, Manipariya, Jhatwatiya, Purwar, Deriya, Puriya,
Kalyâniya, Dhângar, Sonmukhiya, Chaudhariya, Sethiyân, Bairah,
Naiphiriya, Katholiya, Beriya, Kakariya, Badana, Kasauliya, Lohkhariya,
Panchlatiya, Dhenk, Bajâj, Motariya, and lastly those who have no
knowledge of their gotra call themselves Akâsh Bhânwari. These sections
marry indiscriminately. They are often initiated into the Râmanandi
sect of Vaishnavas. To the East they worship, as a sort of fetish
(apparently from some fancied connection of name), the bandi or chain
worn by women on the forehead. To this on the day of the Nâgpanchami
they offer prayers, cakes (pûri), usually one hundred and eight in
number, and garlands of flowers. They worship Mahâbîr and the
Pânchonpîr in the usual way. Their priests are Tiwâri Brâhmans who are
said to serve the royal family of Rîwa. They make their living as
brokers, and by selling brass vessels, cloth, money-changing and
similar mercantile business. Those who live towards the North eat meat,
but the others do not. Drinking is prohibited. They eat pakki cooked by
Brâhmans, Kshatriyas and Vaisyas. They will eat kachchi cooked only by
members of their own sub-caste. Some Brâhmans, and Kshatriyas will eat
pakki cooked by them. Kahârs and Nâis will eat kachchi cooked by them.
Bandhalgoti; Bandhugoti; Bandhilgoti; Banjhilgoti.—A sept of Râjputs
found principally in Sultânpur, of whose origin there are at least
three different accounts. First.—Their own tribal legend, according to
which they are “Sûrajbansi by origin and belong to the particular
branch of the clan now represented by the Râja of Jaypur. About nine
hundred years ago Sûda Râê, a scion of that illustrious house, leaving
his home in Narwargarh, set out on a pilgrimage to the holy city of
Ajudhya. His route lay across the Amethi Pargana, in the Sultânpur
District, where, near the present village of Râêpur, half overgrown
with tangled weeds and briars, a shrine of Devi suddenly presented
itself to his view. The Bhars then held sway and few vestiges remained
anywhere of Hindu places of worship; so the pious pilgrim resolved to
tarry a while near the one accident had brought him to. Having
performed his devotions, he lay down to rest, and in his slumbers saw a
vision of the goddess of the fane, who disclosed to him the lofty
destiny ordained for him and his descendants; they were to become
hereditary lords of the territory in which he was then a temporary
sojourner. Prepared to further to his utmost the fulfilment of so
interesting a prophecy, he determined henceforth to abide in his future
domains, and relinquishing his uncompleted pilgrimage, entered into the
service of the Bhar chieftain. His innate worth soon manifested itself
in many ways, and secured his elevation to the post of minister. His
Bhar master now designed, as a crowning mark of favour, to bestow upon
him his daughter in marriage; but a Sûrajbans, though he might
condescend to serve a barbarian, might not sully his lineage by a
mésalliance, and Sûda Râê contemptuously refused the proferred honour.
The Bhar chief, in offended pride, at once deprived him of his office
and he returned to Narwargarh. But his mind was ever occupied with
thoughts of the promised land; he collected a picked body of followers
and marched against Amethi. The Bhars were defeated with great
slaughter, and the Sûrajbans occupied their territory. Sûda Râê
established a fort on the spot where he had seen the prophetic vision,
and included therein the ruined shrine in grateful commemoration of the
divine interposition of his fortunes which occurred there. After the
lapse of a few generations, the line of Sûda Râê threatened to become
extinct, for the sixth in descent remained childless in his old age. In
the village of Kurmu, however, resided Kanak Muni, one of those saints
of irresistible piety. To him Mândhâta Sinh poured out his tale of woe;
and not in vain; for, by the prayers of the saint, a son was born to
him, and was at first called Sutsâh; but when he was taken to be
presented to the saint he was called Bandhu, or “who is bound,” and his
descendants called themselves Bandhugoti, or popularly Bandhalgoti.”
[217]
2. According to Mr. Carnegy, [218] however, they spring from a Brâhman,
Chuchu Pânrê, and a Dharkârin or Dom woman, and their name is connected
with that of the Bânsphor Doms. They worship as their tribal fetish the
knife (bânka) with which Doms split the bamboo, and this they now call
a poniard, the symbol of Narwar.
3. Thirdly, Sir H. M. Elliot [219] describes them as a branch of the
Chauhâns.
4. On the general question of their origin Mr. Millet writes
[220]:—“With regard to the theory which makes their Kshatriya status of
local development, the Bandhalgotis freely admit that one of their
number was enlisted on the side of the Râja of Hasanpur in his dispute
with the Baghels, and that in return for services then rendered a tract
of land was made over to him by the Râja. Again, while they describe
their former home to have been at Narwargarh, the town of Hasanpur was,
until the time of Hasan Khân, that is just till the synchronism in the
annals of the Bandhalgoti and the Bachgoti, known as Narwal. And
further, whereas the Bandhalgoti derive their name from Bandhu, there
is contiguous to Hasanpur a village named Bandhu, and a slight eminence
on the border of a tank between the two is still pointed out as the
residence of the Bandhalgoti servant of the Râja. The story of the
Dharkârin alliance may seem to find some support in one form of the
clan appellation; for Banjhilgoti is a very possible corruption of
Bânschhilgoti (bâns, “a bamboo,” chhîlna, “to pare”), and although the
exact word banschhil does not exist, a very similar one, Bânsphor,
shows that the bamboo-splitting industry furnishes the basis of a caste
distinction. The reverse of the picture is not, however, quite blank.
Whatever the source of the Bandhalgoti traditions, it is curious that
in claiming kinship with the Jaypur family they should hit on, as the
home of their ancestors, the very place it occupied before its removal
to Jaypur; and the strangeness of the coincidence is enhanced by the
fact that Sûda Râê’s pilgrimage agrees in date with the Kachhwâha
migration.” The question of their origin must then remain to some
extent doubtful.
5. In Sultânpur they are reported to take brides from the Bilkhariya,
Tashaiya, Chandauriya, Kath Bais, Bhâlê Sultân, Raghubansi, Gargbansi,
Râjkumâr, and Bachgoti; and to give girls to the Tilokchandi Bais,
Mainpuri Chauhâns, Mahûl Sûrajbansis, Nagar Gautams, and Bisens of
Majhauli; and that their gotra is Bandhal. In Gonda, it is said that
their gotra is Vatsya, and that they give girls to the Panwâr, Bisen,
Sirnet, Raikwâr, Bhadauriya, Bais, Kalhans and Chauhân; and take brides
from the Sûrajbans, Bachgoti, Barwâr, Gaharwâr, and other high caste
Râjputs.
DISTRIBUTION OF THE BANDHALGOTI RÂJPUTS ACCORDING TO THE CENSUS OF
1891.
============+========
District. | Number.
~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~
Agra | 9
Fatehpur | 115
Lalitpur | 6
Benares | 27
Gorakhpur | 48
Basti | 257
Azamgarh | 4
Lucknow | 17
Râê Bareli | 129
Sîtapur | 35
Kheri | 11
Faizâbâd | 495
Gonda | 407
Sultânpur | 9,831
Partâbgarh | 3
Bârabanki | 42
~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~
Total | 11,436
============+========
Bândi.—A small tribe living as drummers and bird-catchers in the
Himalayan Tarâi. Their chief business is catching birds for sale. They
also make a living by catching birds and bringing them into cities
where pious people, such as Jain Banyas, pay them to release a bird as
an act of piety or as a charm to take away disease from a sick person.
In their habits and occupation they resemble the Baheliya.
The Census returns record four sections,—Gaur, Mathuriya, Odrain and
Serain.
DISTRIBUTION OF THE BÂNDI ACCORDING TO THE CENSUS OF 1891.
============+=======
District. |Number.
~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~
Bareilly | 105
Morâdâbâd | 5
+~~~~~~~
Total | 110
============+=======
Bangâli, Bengâli.—A resident of Bengal, Vanga or Bang Desa. It is not
quite clear whether some of these recorded in the census lists are not
the familiar Bengâli Bâbu who has not been entered in his regular
caste, Brâhman, Kâyasth, etc. At any rate there is a recognised tribe
of vagrants known as Bengâli, Naumuslim Bengâli or Singiwâla, the last
because they use a kind of horn in cupping.
2. From reports from the District Superintendents of Police at
Sahâranpur, Meerut, and Aligarh, it appears that these people wander
all over the Upper Duâb and the Panjab and Native States. They disclaim
any direct connection with Nats, Kanjars, and similar vagrants; but
they are obviously closely related. Among the Hindu branch there appear
to be at least three exogamous sections, Negiwâla, Teli, and Jogeli.
The Census returns show 54 sections of the Hindu and four of the
Muhammadan branch, but it is impossible to say how many of these belong
to the vagrant Bengâlis. The Hindu branch call themselves the
descendants of one Siwâi Râm, Râjput, who was a Bengâli and elephant
driver, and in the time of Aurangzeb learnt the art of bleeding and
cupping from a native physician or Hakîm, and taught it to his
descendants. The Muhammadan branch usually call themselves Lodi Pathâns
from Bengal. They do not admit outsiders to their caste; marry in the
usual form, if Muhammadans, through the Qâzi, but as might have been
expected their religious practices are vague. The Muhammadans are said
never to be circumcised, and they as well as the Hindus worship Devi
and Zâhir Pîr.
3. From Meerut it is reported the Hindu branch will eat meat of all
kinds, the flesh of cloven or uncloven footed animals, fowls, all kinds
of fish and crocodiles, and the leavings of other people. Though this
is not quite certain, it would appear that the Muhammadan branch
generally abstain from pork.
4. The Bengâli is a loafer and vagabond, prone to commit petty theft, a
beggar, and a rustic surgeon as far as bleeding and cupping go. In
their manner of life they much resemble the Mâl and Bediya of Bengal,
and, if there is anything in the name, they are possibly akin to their
tribes.
DISTRIBUTION OF BENGÂLIS ACCORDING TO THE CENSUS OF 1891.
=============+=========+==========+=========
District. | Hindus. |Musalmâns.| Total.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~
Dehra Dûn | ... | 16 | 16
Sahâranpur | 65 | 160 | 225
Bulandshahr | 235 | 1 | 236
Aligarh | 1 | ... | 1
Mathura | 64 | ... | 64
Agra | 40 | ... | 40
Farrukhâbâd | 5 | ... | 5
Mainpuri | 2 | ... | 2
Bareilly | 25 | ... | 25
Budâun | ... | 25 | 25
Cawnpur | 31 | 4 | 35
Fatehpur | 16 | ... | 16
Bânda | 4 | ... | 4
Allahâbâd | 65 | 4 | 69
Jhânsi | 8 | ... | 8
Benares | 219 | ... | 219
Mirzapur | 12 | ... | 12
Ghâzipur | 28 | ... | 28
Gorakhpur | 41 | ... | 41
Kumâun | 15 | ... | 15
Lucknow | 61 | 30 | 91
Râê Bareli | 75 | 17 | 92
Faizâbâd | 5 | ... | 5
Gonda | ... | 16 | 16
Sultânpur | 2 | ... | 2
Partâbgarh | 51 | 7 | 58
~~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~
Total | 1,070 | 280 | 1,350
=============+=========+==========+=========
Bangâli, Bengâli.—One of the great divisions of Brâhmans recorded as
such at the last census. According to Mr. Risley, who has given an
elaborate account of them, [221] the Bengal Brâhmans belong to one or
other of the Gaur groups, and are divided into five main
sub-castes,—Rârhi, Barendra, Vaidik, Saptasati and Madhyasrani. As
already stated, it is impossible to say how many of the 58 sections
recorded in the census refer to the Brâhman branch, and how many to the
tribe of vagrants of the same name.
[The Rârhi Brâhmans.] 2. “The Rârhi Brâhmans derive their name from the
Rârh, or the high-lying alluvial tract on the west bank of the river
Bhagîrathi. Their claim to be of comparatively pure Aryan descent is to
some extent borne out by the results of anthropometric enquiries. The
current tradition is that early in the eleventh century A.D. Adisura or
Adisvara, King of Bengal, finding the Brâhmans, then settled in Bengal,
too ignorant to perform for him certain Vedic ceremonies, applied to
the Râja of Kanauj for priests thoroughly conversant with the sacred
ritual of the Aryans. In answer to this request five Brâhmans of Kanauj
were sent to him, Bhatta Nârâyana, of the Sândilya section, or gotra;
Daksha, of the Kasyapa gotra; Vedagarbha or Vidagarbha, of the Vatsa
gotra, or, as others say, from the family of Bhrigu; Chandra or
Chhandara, of the Savarna gotra; and Sri Harsa of the Bhâradvâja gotra.
They brought with them their wives, their sacred fire and their
sacrificial implements. It is said that Adisura was at first disposed
to treat them with scanty respect, but he was soon compelled to
acknowledge his mistake, and to beg the Brâhmans to forgive him. He
then made over to them five populous villages, where they lived for a
year. Meanwhile the king was so impressed with the superhuman virtue of
Bhatta Nârâyana, who was a son of Kshitisa, King of Kanauj, that he
offered him several more villages. The Brâhman, however, declined to
take these as a gift, but bought them, as the story goes, at a low
price.
3. “Although the immigrant Brâhmans brought their wives with them,
tradition says that they contracted second marriages with the women of
Bengal, and that their children by the latter were the ancestors of the
Barendra Brâhmans. The Barendra, on the other hand, claim to represent
the offspring from the original Hindustâni wives, and allege that the
Rârhi Brâhmans are themselves sprung from the mésalliance contracted in
Bengal.
4. “By the middle of the eleventh century, when Ballâl Sen, the second
of the Sen Kings of Bengal, instituted his famous enquiry into the
personal endowments of the Rârhi Brâhmans, their numbers seem to have
increased greatly. They are represented as divided into fifty-six
headships of villages (gâin), which were reserved for them, and might
not be encroached on by Brâhmans of other orders.
5. “It is interesting to trace in Ballâl Sen’s enquiry the survival or
reassertion of the principle that the Brâhmanhood of the Brâhmans
depends not merely on birth but upon personal endowments. It is a
question of virtue, not a question of descent. Ballâl Sen, of course,
could not go as far as this. The time had long passed when a Kshatriya
could transform himself into a Brâhman by penance and self-denial. But
the Sen Monarch sought to reaffirm the ancient principle, so far as was
then possible, by testing the qualifications of each Rârhi family for
the priestly office, and classifying them, in the order of their
virtue, according to the results of this examination. Thus two grades
of sacerdotal virtue were formed, the Kulin being those who had
observed the entire nine counsels of perfection, and the Srotiya, who,
though regular students of the Vedas, had lost status by intermarrying
with families of inferior birth. The Srotiya were again divided into
Siddha or ‘perfect,’ Sâdhya or ‘capable of attaining purity,’ and
Kashta or ‘difficult.’ The last-named group was also called Ari or
‘enemy,’ because a Kulin marrying a daughter of that group was
disgraced.”
[The Barendra Brâhmans.] 6. As above stated, there is a difference of
opinion as to their origin. “The sub-caste takes its name from the
tract or country known as Barendra, lying north of the river Padma and
corresponding roughly to the Districts of Pabna, Râjshâhi, and Bogra.
Of these there are three hypergamous classes—Kulin, Suddha or ‘pure,’
Srotiya and Kashta, or bad Srotiya.” Of their rules of intermarriage
Mr. Risley gives full details.
[The Vaidik Brâhmans.] 7. “Concerning the origin of the Vaidik Brâhmans
some differences of opinion exist. All agree in honouring them for
their adherence to Vedic rites, their zeal for Vedic study, their
social independence, and their rejection of polygamy. From the fact
that some of the most important settlements of the sub-caste are formed
in the outlying districts of Orissa and Sylhet, some authorities are
led to describe them as descendants of the original Brâhmans of Bengal,
who refused to accept the reforms of Ballâl Sen, and took refuge in
regions beyond his jurisdiction. The theory that they came from Kanauj
derives support from Mr. Sherring’s statement that the Kanaujiya
Brâhmans of Benares recognise the Vaidik as a branch of their own
tribe, who settled in Bengal. There are two main divisions of Vaidik
Brâhmans,—Paschâtya or ‘Western,’ claiming to have come from Kanauj,
and Dakshinatya or ‘Southern,’ tracing their origin to the original
Bengal stock.”
[The Saptasati Brâhmans.] 8. “According to popular tradition, the
Saptasati Brâhmans are descended from the seven hundred ignorant
Brâhmans sent by Adisur to the Court of Kanauj for the purpose of
learning their priestly duties. Others trace their origin to certain
Brâhmans who were exiled beyond the Brahmaputra river for resisting the
innovations of Ballâl Sen. It seems to be certain that they are
peculiar to Bengal, and that they cannot claim connection with any of
the ten standard Brâhmanical tribes. They virtually admit their
inferiority to the other orders of Brâhmans. Men of education and
respectability are reluctant to admit that they belong to this
sub-caste, all distinctive practices are being abandoned, and the
entire group seems likely to be absorbed in the Srotiya grade of Rârhi
Brâhmans.”
[The Madhyasreni Brâhmans.] 9. The Madhyasreni Brâhmans profess to
derive their name from the fact of their original settlement being in
the District of Midnapur, lying midway (Madhyadesa) between Bengal and
Orissa. It is conjectured that they may be a composite group made up of
members of the Rârhi, Utkal, and Saptasati sub-castes, who for some
reason broke off from their own classes, settled in an outlying
district, and in course of time formed a new sub-caste.
10. Further elaborate details of the Bengal Brâhmans will be found in
Mr. Risley’s excellent account of them.
DISTRIBUTION OF BENGÂLI BRÂHMANS ACCORDING TO THE CENSUS OF 1891.
==============+========
District. | Number.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~
Sahâranpur | 13
Muzaffarnagar | 3
Bulandshahr | 30
Aligarh | 8
Mathura | 505
Agra | 106
Farrukhâbâd | 11
Etâwah | 27
Etah | 3
Morâdâbâd | 26
Cawnpur | 189
Allahâbâd | 1,167
Jhânsi | 30
Lalitpur | 22
Benares | 2,362
Mirzapur | 3
Ghâzipur | 119
Ballia | 84
Gorakhpur | 108
Lucknow | 289
Râê Bareli | 16
Sîtapur | 12
Kheri | 50
Faizâbâd | 26
Gonda | 9
Bahrâich | 11
Sultânpur | 22
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~
Total | 5,251
|
Males | 2,372
Females | 2,879
==============+========
Banjâra. [222]—A tribe whose primary occupation is, or rather used to
be, to act as grain carriers and suppliers to armies in the field.
Their name is derived from the Sanskrit vanijya or banijya-kâra, “a
merchant.” Sir H. M. Elliot, whose account of the tribe is perhaps the
most valuable part of his admirable “Supplement to the Glossary of
Indian terms,” the first attempt at a scientific account of the tribes
of these Provinces, shows that the popular derivation from the Persian
biranjâr or “rice-carriers” is untenable. He argues that the word must
be of higher antiquity than (omitting fabulous legends) the Indian
connection with Persia. “Thus we find mention of a cock-fight in the
Banjâra camp in the story of Pramati in the Dasa Kumâra Charitra
written by Dandi, a predecessor of Kâlidâsa, according to Colebrooke.
It is to be confessed, however, that Wilson does not assign an earlier
origin to this composition than the ninth century. Nevertheless,
independent of this testimony, Banjâras seem to be clearly indicated,
even by Arrian (Indica, XI). We may, therefore, rest assured that we
are not to look to Persia for the origin of the name.” On this question
Professor Cowell [223] has remarked:—“Sir H. M. Elliot was misled when
he supposed that the word Banjâra was necessarily of higher antiquity
than the Indian connection with Persia, because it occurs in the Dasa
Kumâra Charitra, written by Dandin in the eleventh or twelfth century.
It is true that Professor Wilson in his analysis of the story of
Pramati speaks of the Banjâra camp, but in the printed text of the
original (p. 125) no such word occurs, but we have only Mahati nigame
naigamânam. Dandin no doubt had Banjâras in his mind; but he cannot be
quoted as an authority for the word.” The theory that the title of the
caste may be connected with the Hindi ban-jârna in some such sense as
“burners or cleaners of the jungle” or “forest wanderers” is untenable.