the elder sister is married before the younger. The custom of
exchanging girls in marriage does not prevail among them. The bride is
admitted into the family of her husband without any special ceremony;
but it is significant that every Barwâr, on marrying, is obliged to
give to the landlord four hundred betel leaves or the equivalent value
in money, which looks as if it were a commutation of the jus primæ
noctis, if it be not one of the ordinary dues levied by a landlord on
his tenants. They may take two wives at one time. The favourite wife
for the time being rules the household. Concubinage with women of the
tribe is allowed; polyandry is prohibited. Marriage is both adult and
infant. Divorce is permitted in case of infidelity on the part of the
woman. The husband merely assembles the clansmen, and announces to them
the fact of the divorce. Divorced wives cannot be re-married; but they
may be kept as concubines by other men in the caste. They have a
peculiar rule of inheritance by which the property is divided, half
going to the children of the regularly married wife or wives, and the
other half to the children of the concubines, provided they belong to
the Barwâr caste. The offspring of a woman of a strange tribe have no
rights of inheritance. When a pure Barwâr marries or keeps a woman of
another caste he is excommunicated and sinks to the rank of a Ghulâm.
Illicit intrigues within the caste are also punished by expulsion; but
the offending parties can be restored on giving a tribal feast. Widow
marriage is allowed. The only ceremony is that the man puts a set of
bangles (chûri) on the woman and feeds the community. The levirate is
permitted, not enforced, and the widow may, if she pleases, accept an
outsider. In such cases she loses the right of guardianship over the
children of the first marriage, and has no rights of succession to the
estate of her first husband.
[Birth ceremonies.] 4. The mother is attended by a woman of the Kori
caste, who acts as midwife. She attends for five days and then the
barber’s wife acts as nurse for eight days. On the twelfth day after a
birth the father purchases spirits and treats the brotherhood, and puts
silver and gold ornaments on the child. This is supposed to bring luck
in thieving. If a Barwâr fails to bring home plunder he is taunted by
his comrades that his father did not perform the twelfth-day ceremony.
If a child is thus initiated, he gets his share of the spoil; but if
born after the Dasahra of Jeth he does not share till the next Dasahra
of Kuâr. Similarly, during the rainy season, each man keeps his own
plunder and has to share only with those who are incapacitated from
thieving by blindness, old age, or some physical defect. But, as a
rule, they seldom thieve in the rains from the Dasahra of Jeth to the
Dasahra of Kuâr; and after the latter date the partnership of the whole
community is revived, and every soul becomes entitled to a share in the
spoil, whether he goes on a thieving excursion or remains at home.
Widows and women who live in retirement get no share; but if a Barwâr
is in prison his share goes to his wife.
[Betrothal.] 5. The girl’s father with some friends goes to the house
of the boy, and pays his father a couple of rupees. He entertains his
guests and sends to the bride, in return, some curds, fish, sweetmeats
and a bottle of liquor. This settles the betrothal. This generally
takes place when the girl is between three and seven.
[Marriage ceremonies.] 6. The marriage ceremonies begin with the lagan
or fixing of the wedding day, which is carried out in the ordinary way.
The actual ceremonies are of the usual type. The binding portions of
the ritual are the kanyâdân or giving away of the bride, the pairpûja
or worship of the feet of the bridegroom by his future father-in-law,
and the bhanwar or walking of the pair round the sacred fire.
[Funeral ceremonies.] 7. The young are buried; adults are cremated, or
the corpse is thrown into a river. After the cremation is over they
bathe and then plant a piece of kusâ grass in the ground to act as a
refuge for the spirit until the funeral rites are completed. The man
who fired the pyre pours water on this for nine days; on the tenth day
he is shaved, on the eleventh the Mahâbrâhmans are feasted; on the
twelfth day the friends and relatives are fed; on the thirteenth the
Brâhmans are fed. After this one Brâhman is fed for a year on the day
of each month when the death occurred. On the anniversary there is a
feast, and at this the family priest (purohit) receives five articles
of wearing apparel—a jacket (angarkha); a loin cloth (dhoti); a turban
(sâfa); a sheet (châdar); bedding (bistar); and five cooking utensils—a
pot (lota), a tray (thâli), a cooking pot (batloi), a tongs
(dastpanah), a spoon (karchhul). Besides these things he gets a cot
(chârpâi); wooden sandals (kharaun); a pair of shoes (jûta); and a
stool (pîrha). When the corpse cannot be found the ceremonies are
performed on an effigy made of barley and sânwan.
[Religion.] 8. Their special deity is Bhâgawati. The household
sacrifice is held on the third or fifth day of the first half of
Bhâdon, when the master sacrifices a fowl and bakes thin cakes called
lubra. These, with cooked gram, are given to a Muhammadan beggar as an
offering to the Pânch Pîr. They make an annual pilgrimage to the tomb
of Bâla Pîr, at Bahrâich, and offer a banner. They also worship
Devi-Bhawâni; but in their depredations spare only the tomb at Bahrâich
and the temple at Jagannâth. When a goat is sacrificed to Bhâgawati,
the head is given to a gardener (mâli), and the rest of the meat is
eaten by the worshippers. Sometimes a pumpkin (lauki) is substituted
for a goat.
[Festivals.] 9. They observe all the ordinary Hindu festivals, and also
some which are not so common—the Bahura on the fourth light half of
Bhâdon, when the girls eat curdled milk and cucumbers; on the Barka
Itwâr or “great Sunday,” the last Sunday of Bhâdon, they fast and drink
milk at night; on the Sakat Chauth, or fourth light half of Mâgh, they
eat sweet potatoes, sesamum, and new raw sugar. No spirits or
intoxicating drugs of any kind are used at the Barka Itwâr, but at the
other festivals they are freely consumed.
[Omens.] 10. Omens are much regarded on their expeditions. Tuesday,
Friday, and Sunday, are lucky days, and sometimes Thursday. The ass is
a lucky animal, and so are a dead body met on the road, a washerman, a
woman, or a Pandit. Tuesday is, however, regarded by some as an unlucky
day, and a jackal, a Gusâîn, an oilman, are also unlucky. A jackal or a
fox crossing the road from right to left is lucky; the reverse is
unlucky. When they go out to thieve they prefer to wear good clothes
and a turban. When children are unhealthy they are given opprobrious
names as a protection.
[Taboos.] 11. When worship is being done to keep off evil spirits,
children are not allowed to be present. Any intercourse between the
husband’s father and the wife’s relations is tabooed. The husband does
not name his wife, and vice versâ. A father will not call his eldest
son by his name, nor a disciple his Guru.
[Social rules.] 12. They eat the flesh of sheep and goats; they reject
fowls, and will eat fish. Flesh of monkeys, beef, pork, crocodiles,
snakes, jackals, rats, or other vermin, are not eaten. Spirits are
freely drunk; they will eat the leavings of no one but a parent. Men
and women eat apart. Before they eat they say Jay Thâkurji, “Glory to
the Lord!” To Brâhmans they use the salutation Pâ lagan, to Banyas,
Kalwârs, etc., Râm! Râm!; to Sâdhs Pranâm and Namaskâr; to Gusâîns
Nâmonârâyan; to Aughars, Dandwat. Elders bless their juniors with Jiyo,
“Long may you live.” Juniors say to their seniors Pâ lagan. Those who
are equal in rank say Râm! Râm!
[Occupation.] 13. Of those who have been brought under the Criminal
Tribes Act some are cultivators and some field-labourers. Like the
Sanaurhiyas, they do not commit dacoity, theft with burglary, theft at
night, or cattle-lifting. The Sanaurhiya leaders are known as Nal, and
those of the Barwârs, Sahua. The leaders of the Barwârs enjoy no rights
or privileges from their zamîndârs, unlike the Sanaurhiyas. The Barwârs
consult astrologers and go on predatory expeditions after the Dasahra;
the Sanaurhiyas after the Diwâli. Among the Sanaurhiyas if any one
renounce the profession of thieving, he is debarred from marrying in
the caste; but a Barwâr under similar circumstances is debarred only
from a share in the booty. The Sanaurhiyas associate with the children
of any caste, even Chamârs, but the Barwârs jealously exclude
outsiders. The Sanaurhiya gangs consist of not less than forty or fifty
men; those of the Barwârs from twenty to fifty. The Sanaurhiyas teach
their children thieving, and punish them if they forget their sleight
of hand; but the Barwârs leave their children to learn themselves. The
Sanaurhiyas have an umpire called Nahri, who settles disputes and
divides the plunder. This is not the case with the Barwârs. The
Sanaurhiyas administer oaths to each other to prevent misappropriation
of stolen property; the Barwârs do not do this, but excommunicate the
offender. The Sanaurhiyas go in for zamîndâri and cultivation, of which
the Barwârs do little. In emergencies the leader is expected to feed
his gang; but he usually stays at home and looks after the families,
and whatever property is acquired is left to the Sahua or actual
commander to be divided. The Sahua is generally a Barwâr, but he may be
a Brâhman or Râjput, and is often the headman of the village. Another
official is the Dhebra or Naliha (a term also applied to a Barwâr who
gives up thieving and is excommunicated). He carries a spade, a knife,
or dagger, and some leaf-platters, on which he serves meals to the
gang. He receives three rupees per mensem in addition to his share of
the spoil. He does not join in thieving. Some go out in smaller gangs,
and these are usually more successful than those who go in large
bodies. If a single Barwâr brings in plunder he keeps it for himself,
and any articles of clothing he acquires are his own at whatever season
he gets them. During the rains they engage in drinking and amusement
and do not work, the house and farm work being done by the women. A
Barwâr who secretes property which should go to the gang is called
Kabkatta. If he readily surrenders his spoils he is known as Khiliya.
One who holds an influential position in the community is called Jûsar,
and one who, from poverty, is obliged to take service is called Rih. A
person in ordinary circumstances is Rotikhâha. If within a year a
Barwâr does not secure property of some value he does not return home
through shame and mortification. Each man has a bag of net-work secured
at both ends with a strong cotton string. It is kept tied to the waist
and holds jewelry and valuables. It is so carefully concealed that it
often escapes detection. The slang phrase for the mode of tying this
bag is langri bigâna. The women are usually employed in service with
the village zamîndârs, and receive very petty remuneration. If a Barwâr
is dissatisfied or suspects misappropriation on the part of his Sahua,
he can leave his gang or can discharge his Dhebra from his service,
provided in the month of Asârh he clears up accounts with both Sahua
and Dhebra.
[Morality.] 14. As might have been expected, when the women are left to
themselves for a large part of the year adultery is very prevalent. If
a woman be detected in a lonely or retired place or in a field or
jungle in sexual intercourse with a man, whether it be compulsory or by
consent, no Barwâr will take offence at it, nor will the woman be
excluded from the brotherhood, and a child born in adultery is not
considered illegitimate, but admitted to all rights and privileges as
if it were legitimate. But if detected otherwise in the act of
adultery, both the woman and her paramour are both excommunicated, and
are re-admitted only after giving a feast to the community.
[Modes of theft.] 15. When they get booty, they return in November or
December. When they go to a fair they always sojourn in the vicinity
and some dress as devotees, Brâhmans, Mahâjans, soldiers, tradesmen,
etc. Some mark their foreheads, wear the Brâhmanical thread, wear the
dress, beads, etc., of learned Brâhmans, and shave their beards and
moustaches. They generally keep a brass vessel with a string tied to
it, and a stone pot tied up in a cloth. They generally go about with
their backs naked, and carry some meal or dry gram in a bag and a stick
in their hands. Thus they stroll about in a simple, dejected way
intended to excite compassion. When interrogated they claim to be
Brâhmans or Râjputs, and when arrested call themselves Kurmis, Bâris,
or Tamolis, and say that they are going on a pilgrimage to some famous
shrine. They never divulge their real names. When they see valuable
goods in a shop they pretend to barter or buy. If they observe the
shop-keeper to be suspicious, they say Biroh hai budah rahê deo,—“He is
on his guard; let him alone.” When they conceal some article and say
Buthahr hai dhokar, pherai kar laê,—“The shop-keeper is suspicious;
take off the booty,” then those who are near snatch up the article and
run away, while those who are at the shop pretend to disagree about the
bargain and leave. If a Barwâr wishes to call his friends to his aid he
waves his handkerchief, or puts as many fingers to his cheek as he
wants Barwârs to help him. At this signal those in the neighbourhood
collect. When he wishes his confederate to carry off an article he puts
his hand on his neck. In fact they have a more complete language of
signs than any other thieving fraternity. When a Barwâr sees a man
bathing with his clothes on the bank he puts his own bundle of rags
close to it and changes his articles for it. Sometimes another Barwâr
assists, and in this case the signal is Teri âi dâl,—“Leave your own
bundle and take his.” For a single garment the signal is Roto,—“Leave
your own cloth and take his.” Whenever they see a crowd and property
scattered in different places two of them join the crowd, while a third
keeps watch. The signal is Anchri sahâike chânsi râg lâi,—“Throw the
covering of your sheet over the property and make off with it.” They
tell how a soldier once concealed some jewelry under his shield and sat
upon it. A Barwâr with studied inadvertence dropped two gold coins near
him, and as the soldier stretched out his hand to seize them a
confederate carried off the jewels. Another plan is to get up a mock
fight among themselves in a bâzâr, under cover of which thefts are
committed. The Barwâr women also frequent fairs like Ajudhya, Devi
Pâtan, etc., and in rich dresses attend shrines and rob the
worshippers. They also adopt the disguise of Brâhman women, and thus
gaining admission to the private apartments of native ladies, commit
depredations. Barwârs freely use the railway, and rob travellers.
[Disposal of the booty.] 16. Formerly they used always to take the
stolen property home; but this has been in a great measure
discontinued, since the police began to make searches and the tribe has
come under special supervision. Some is left with receivers in the
chief places frequented by them. With some they come home after sunset,
and keep it that night at their houses, and next day make it over to
the Sahua for distribution. First a deduction is made of 3¾ per
cent.—1¼ for Mahâbîr or Hanumân, 1¼ for Bâlapîr, 1¼ for Deviji. Out of
the remainder, 28 per cent. is made over to the Barwâr who stole the
property, and the balance is equally divided among the whole clan,
including the thief himself. Out of the 28 per cent. paid to the thief,
the Sahua appropriates half, and also receives his own share as a
member of the gang. Thus the gains of the thief and Sahua are equal. It
is also a rule that if a Barwâr returns with gold muhars the Sahua pays
him Rs.12 for each, and retains them himself. The rate is the same
whatever the value of the coin may be, and this Rs.12 is divided.
Again, for silver bullion the Sahua pays only 10 annas for each rupee.
Cloth and arms are the property of the thief. As to coral beads,
one-sixth is given to the thief and five-sixths to the Sahua, who pays
one anna for each bead; and this sum is divided among the clan,
including the thief and the Sahua. For pearls, the Sahua pays Re.1–4–0
for each lot of 24, and the sum is divided. Then, when the spoils are
divided, the Sahua produces his account and charges from Re.1–8–0 to
Re.1–12–0 for each rupee he has advanced to the thief’s family during
his absence. For any balance due the Sahua takes a bond for a year at
100 per cent. All Barwârs are always in debt to the Sahua. The
zamîndârs of villages in which Barwârs live realise from them a
poll-tax of Re.1–8–0 per head, known as subhâi, and 3 per cent. on the
value of property known as chaunâi. They also get R1 per house known as
mûnr-ginni. Besides this the zamîndâr gets presents after a successful
raid, and on occasion of births, marriages, etc., in his family. This
tribute is known as kavaila. In the same way the zamîndâr takes fees
for bailing a Barwâr.
This account has been mainly taken from a report prepared shortly after
the Mutiny on the methods of the Barwârs. Their criminality has much
diminished since they have been brought under the Criminal Tribes Act;
but the details are so interesting from an ethnographical point of view
that they deserve reproduction.
[Thieves’ patois of the Barwârs.] 17. The Barwârs have an elaborate
thieves’ Latin of their own. The following list has been prepared by M.
Karam Ahmad, Deputy Collector of Gonda, with the assistance of the
police officers at present in charge of the tribe. It would be easy to
show that many or most of the words are corrupted Hindi:—
Sahua—the leader of a gang.
Dhebra—the attendant of a gang.
Kabkatta—a man who conceals part of the property.
Khiliya, Nalhiya—a man who faithfully gives up all he steals.
Jûsara—a rich Barwâr.
Rih, Sajurha—one who works for wages.
Roti khâha—one in ordinary circumstances.
Langri bigâna—to tie a purse round the waist.
Nal budâna—to fix a lucky day for a journey.
Phânr chhûrna—to put on the Brâhmanical thread.
Lût âi ao khankhur âte hain—clear out; the police are coming.
Bhûnk âi âo—disperse.
Langri lagâo—conceal the goods in your belt.
Wahi tir mâl dabâva hai—let us go where there is much to gain.
Akauti na kurais—don’t betray your companions.
Murih ka asrâi deo—I am caught; give up hope for me.
Mâti lai—roll on the ground.
Chhâwa kuchâyo na nehti na kîno, nahîn tau uthai jâo gâi—do not
reveal anything or you will be put to death.
Anchari sahâike châns râg lâe—throw your sheet over the goods and
escape.
Pohina hai khâli lâi na—let us dig the property from the ground.
Subâi—tax paid by the Barwârs to the zamîndâr.
Chaunâi—tax paid on value of stolen property.
Mûnr ginni—house-tax paid by Barwârs.
Kavaila—presents given to zamîndârs at marriages.
Namut—man.
Bân—woman.
Bahub—Barwâr man.
Bahuban—Barwâr woman.
Kiryâr—son.
Chhâwa—grandson.
Tiryâr—boy of another tribe.
Dhûchar—old man.
Dhûchari—old woman.
Chhâi—Barwâr’s daughter.
Kûsar—Brâhman.
Tenwâr—Râjput.
Phairu—Musalmân.
Chorka—British officer.
Baijarâi—a Râja.
Sahâjan—a merchant.
Muskâr—a Kâyasth.
Sûgha—a goldsmith.
Savat—a Bhât.
Kitiha—a blacksmith.
Lûdukha—a confectioner.
Kârikha—a torch-bearer.
Maskâta—a barber.
Chipta—an oil-man.
Matiha—a potter.
Leduha—a Kurmi or Lodha.
Sisuha—a washerman.
Bamâr—a sweeper; tanner; shoe-maker.
Suldaha—a bearer.
Guvaha—a cowherd.
Benu—a tailor.
Pûtaha—a liquor seller.
Aluhya—a beggar.
Satûrya—a dancing girl.
Benâri—a prostitute.
Lumit—a Kurmi or Barwâr.
Bisni—valuable property.
Guga— }
Pachhâdha— } various kinds of Barwârs.
Auhiriya— }
Udh— }
Ruh—a poor Barwâr.
Siyâhi—a money-changer.
Kula dhânsu—officer in charge of a police station.
Nahkiar—a head police officer.
Churga—a constable.
Chuktahwa—a peon.
Bingar—a slave.
Pân—one acquainted with the Barwâr language.
Bantikhar—a handsome woman.
Karchhi—a cowry.
Beng—pice; a Barwâr’s fees.
Chikain—a gold muhar.
Bikâsu—four annas.
Telahi—eight annas.
Kinâra—ten or fifteen rupees.
Sût—twenty rupees.
Bhîta bhâri—one hundred rupees.
Audh durgani—fifty or five hundred rupees.
Bajâr—a thousand rupees.
Ganda—twenty-four rupees.
Kajari—night.
Kaira—a garden.
Dîp—day.
Nehâi—a fair; collection of people.
Dari—a highway.
Bepur—an unfrequented road.
Butahar—simple, careless.
Birah—wide awake.
Mudhar—not on guard.
Thûk—a gang.
Tikhurki—valuable things.
Ghavar—an army.
Chhulu—be silent.
Bel—head.
Bûl—face.
Chandrukh—eyes.
Pâlu—hand.
Sunghni—nose.
Gavana—shoe, foot.
Lutakha—breast.
Thâru—grove, timber.
Chanduph—wood.
Sukhar—river.
Laupju—water, fish.
Keli—fire.
Bhâbhi—box, well, pit.
Sonra—chair, stool.
Tinra—bundle.
Basuth—book.
Benâcha—looking-glass.
Gudara—shrine, bathing place.
Sunrhi—boat, elephant.
Nât—temple.
Pheru swâmi—Mosque.
Belâcha—Hindu temple.
Songala—European bungalow.
Mâr—dwelling-house.
Chivâri—thatch, cot.
Sullu—gate.
Aijâpu—priest.
Kalhâri—wheeled carriage.
Dehânu—bribe.
Chikâri—cattle.
Putâi—lamp.
Kunkhar—village watchman.
Chânsu, Khalna, Milavi—theft.
Lûni—plunder.
Uthai dâlna—to murder.
Tipaha—murder by poison.
Khurkana—kidnapping of children.
Kailiyâna—arson.
Bumv—affray, riot.
Jhumni—flogging.
Chamgaya—imprisonment.
Dîp—term of imprisonment.
Benbi—cohabitation.
Urso—comfortable sleep.
Gudhana—to eat.
Gânth—to drink.
Dîb—to sit.
Nusi—to plunder.
Phona baikali—to dig property out of the ground.
Lutiâna—to come hastily.
Bhaunkana—to leave the road.
Debidina—to conceal stolen property.
Gainjai lâna—to call up the whole gang.
Kachhana—to be afraid of.
Patâkhu—a gun.
Dharâr—a sword or other weapon.
Khopuri—a shield.
Unâva—corn.
Churki—milk, butter.
Pitâri—pepper.
Phurvâni—garlic, onion.
Lang—meal.
Dutar—intoxicating liquor.
Bhagâvati—meat.
Chupra—butter, oil.
Pharoti—pickles, vegetables.
Rasosi—salt.
Gurni—rice, bread, and pulse.
Lingi—parched grain.
Digna—to smoke and chew tobacco.
Lurhi—a camel.
Phûnk—bullock, a buffalo.
Nikûlha, Dautâra—a horse.
Chukarahwa—a mule or ass.
Sûnha—a tiger, a wolf.
Nemi—a sheep, a goat.
Sithâi—sweetmeats.
Bakalsithâi—coarse sweetmeats.
Sethar—pearls, precious stones.
Chuksar—silver.
Rih—copper.
Sul, Bakhil—bell metal.
Dharârwâla—iron.
Phoridata—corn.
Kharâi dâlna—to sell stolen property.
Nikra—gold and silver ornaments.
Phûdiha—pearl or coral necklace.
Sunhi, Banthi—gold bead necklace.
Tungani—nose ring.
Betâl—gold necklace.
Tevaki—a bangle.
Gulchimni, Putpata—an ear ornament.
Gûna—a wrist ornament.
Bisendhi—metal plates, etc.
Chunti—a lota.
Bugna—a tub.
Dagana—a huqqa.
Ghaigha—a large metal vessel.
Biguli—a metal dish.
Kadenla—a vessel.
Munhlagani—grass.
Bhambhi—a bucket.
Kaili—a lamp stand.
Banauti—a metal box.
Chihu—a large metal pot.
Bijra—cloth.
Lamaicha—apparel.
Phutkan—a turban or waist-band.
Chappar—a sheet.
Dûna, Agasi—a cap.
Tilauthi—a waist cloth.
Sirki, Sulga—a small cloth worn over the head.
Padangarer—trousers.
Banri—a woman’s head dress.
Salaicha—a woollen carpet.
Datta—a handkerchief.
Murghumana—a petticoat.
Thâphu, baklas—a quilt.
Tikhuri—rich clothes.
Selva—a small bag.
Kulahi—a large bag for cash.
Basîth—a bundle of cloth.
Davaiwâla—a carpet.
Chîn—brocade.
Bambu—tents.
Sûnvi—a double shawl.
Betachha—an umbrella.
Rutika—gold and silver articles.
Lugra—money offered to the gods.
DISTRIBUTION OF THE BARWÂRS ACCORDING TO THE CENSUS OF 1891.
==============+=========
District. | Number.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~
Sahâranpur | 11
Mathura | 206
Agra | 73
Bareilly | 361
Morâdâbâd | 664
Shâhjahânpur | 190
Cawnpur | 284
Allahâbâd | 445
Jhânsi | 145
Hardoi | 6
Faizâbâd | 42
Gonda | 2,579
Bahrâich | 76
+~~~~~~~~~
Total | 5,082
==============+=========
Barwâr.—A sept of Râjputs of whom Mr. Carnegy writes [276]:—“They are
said to be an offshoot of the Bais, and to have come from Dundiyakhera,
about three hundred years ago, under two leaders, Baryâr Sinh, from
whom they take their name, and Châhu Sinh, whence the Châhu clan. These
two brothers were imprisoned by the Emperor Akbar at Delhi. The elder
of the two brothers, during his incarceration, had a dream by night, in
which he saw a deity who announced himself as Kariya Deota, and
promised them deliverance and future greatness, and at the same time
pointed out the spot where his effigy was buried in the earth. Soon
after, on their release, they sought for and found the effigy and
carried it off to the village of Chitâwan in Pargana Pachhimrâth, where
they set it up as the object of their domestic adoration, and where it
is still worshipped by both branches. Their sacred place is Râmghât at
Begamganj, which was selected by their chieftain, Dilâsi Sinh, in
consequence of their being excluded from Ajudhya by the enmity of the
Sûrajbansi Thâkurs. Another account makes them an offshoot of the Bais
who came from Mûngipâtan or Pathânpur, south-west of Jaypur, where
their Râja Sâlivâhana, had a fort. Thence they came to Chitâwan Kariya
and expelled the Bhars. There is a romantic legend describing how ten
heroes of the clan carried off Padmani, the lovely queen of Kanauj, and
made her over to the Emperor of Delhi, who in return gave them
rent-free lands fourteen kos in circumference. These Barwârs were
notorious for the practice of infanticide. Two daughters of the chief
of the family who were permitted to live have married, one the Janwâr
ex-Râja of Gonda, and the other the Raikwâr Râja of Râmnagar Dhimari,
in the Bârabanki District; the Barwârs generally selected wives from
the Palwâr, Kachhwâha, Kausik, and Bais septs, which is curious, as
they claim Bais origin. These Barwârs are probably of equivocal
aboriginal descent, and the heroic legend given above has probably been
appropriated from some other clan.” The Barwârs of Ballia are reported
to take brides from the Ujjaini, Haihobans, Narwâni, Kinwâr, Nikumbh,
Sengar, and Khâti, and to give girls to the Haihobans, Ujjaini,
Narwâni, Nikumbh, Kinwâr, Bais Bisen, and Raghubansi. Their gotra is
Kasyapa.
2. They are elsewhere known under the name of Birwâr and Berwâr. In
Ghâzipur they say they first came from Delhi, and take their name from
Bernagar, their leading village. They are said to have come under the
auspices of the Narauliyas, whom they helped to expel the Cheros. [277]
There is a sept of them in the Chhapra District. In Azamgarh [278] they
are said to be both Chhatris and Bhuînhârs, and not to rank high among
either. “Each set ignores the origin of, or any connection with, the
others. The Bhuînhârs can only say that they came from the westward.
The Chhatris say they are Tomars, and were led from Bernagar, near
Delhi, to Azamgarh, by a chief, Garak Deo, who lived between 1336 and
1455 A.D. The Chhatri and Bhuînhâr branches are of the same origin, as
at marriages and other feasts they refuse to take from their hosts or
offer to their guests broken cakes of pulse (bara). The origin of the
custom is said to have been that at a feast to which a number of the
Birwârs had been invited by another clan, their treacherous hosts, on
the password bara khanda chalâo (khanda means “a sword” as well as
“broken”), slaughtered the Birwârs. Their name is probably connected
with this custom. The Brâhman ancestor of the sept is said to have come
from Kanauj; but its different branches are not unanimous as to his
name or pedigree, or how they came to Azamgarh.”
DISTRIBUTION OF BARWÂR RÂJPUTS ACCORDING TO THE CENSUS OF 1891.
============+========
District. | Number.
~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~
Aligarh | 5
Allahâbâd | 80
Jâlaun | 34
Benares | 50
Jaunpur | 46
Ballia | 7,603
Gorakhpur | 300
Basti | 1,716
Azamgarh | 5,249
Faizâbâd | 3,402
Gonda | 54
Sultânpur | 23
~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~
Total | 18,562
============+========
Basor. [279]—A tribe found only in the Bundelkhand Division, and
usually regarded as a sub-caste of Doms. Some of them are occasional
visitors to Mirzapur and other towns, where the men work as musicians
and basket-makers, and the women as midwives. The name of the tribe
seems to mean “worker in the bamboo,” and to be the same as Bânsphor
(q.v.). The Basors have a large number of exogamous sections, of which
locally the most important are: in Hamîrpur, the Bâhmangot, Dhuneb,
Gotela, Katahriya, Parauniya, Sakarwâr, Samangot, Sarmoriya, Sonach,
and Sûpa or Supach Bhagat, the Dom hero; in Jhânsi the Barâr, Basgarh,
Basobiya, and Dhânuk; in Jâlaun, the Baghela, Balâhar, Khangrela, and
in Lalitpur, the Barâr, Morel, and Purabiya. In Mirzapur they name four
exogamous sections,—Kulpariya, Katariya (named from the katâri or
curved knife used in splitting the bamboo); Neoriya, which is also a
section of Dharkârs (q.v.), and takes its name from newar, a young,
soft bamboo; and Bamhila, who say that they are so called because they
had once some connection with Brâhmans. In Jhânsi the Basors are also
known as Barâr and Dhânuk. Barâr is apparently derived from the
Sanskrit varataka kâra, “a maker of string.” Dhânuk is from the
Sanskrit dhanushka, “a bow.” When a Basor abandons his regular
occupation of working in bamboo and takes service with a land-owner as
messenger or drum-beater, he becomes known in Jhânsi by the name of
Barâr, and the Dhânuks seem to have been an offshoot from the original
Basor stock, who took to the profession of bow-making. They now,
however, work as much in bamboo as the regular Basors do; and all
three—Basors, Dhânuks, and Barârs—intermarry and eat and drink
together. In Jhânsi they have no traditions of their origin, but
believe themselves indigenous to that part of the country. They name in
Jhânsi, like so many of these menial castes, seven exogamous sections,
Jhitiya, Loleri, Rasmel, Saina, Astiya, Bhardela, and Gursariya: of the
origin, and explanation of these names they can give no explanation. A
man must marry in Jhânsi in a section different from his own; he will
not give his daughter in marriage into a section from which his own
wife has come; but he can take wives for his sons, brothers, and
brothers’ sons, etc., from that section. The prohibition against
intermarriage lasts only for three generations. In Mirzapur the stray
visitors who occasionally come are said to be governed by the same rule
of exogamy as in the case of the Dharkârs (q.v.). As far as religion
goes the only bar to intermarriage is conversion to another creed, such
as Islâm or Christianity. A man may have as many wives as he can afford
to keep, and some in Jhânsi have as many as three or four. The first
wife, known as Biyâhta or Jethi, manages the house, and the others are
subordinate to her. Further than this the Basors admit the introduction
of a woman of another tribe; but it is asserted that she is not
allowed, at any rate at first, complete caste privileges, and if she
comes of a caste lower than the Basor, such as the Bhangi, she is never
so admitted. If she be of any superior caste, she is admitted to full
tribal privileges if her husband give a feast (roti) to the clansmen.
[Marriage rules.] 2. Women are allowed full freedom before marriage,
and fornication, if it do not become a public scandal, and particularly
if the woman’s paramour be a fellow caste-man, is lightly regarded.
They usually marry their girls at puberty at the age of ten or twelve;
if they are orphans, they settle the marriage themselves, and in any
case a considerable freedom of choice seems to be allowed. This choice,
curiously enough, is always notified through a female relation, sister,
mother, or aunt of the boy or girl, and she notifies it to the tribal
council, who, if they agree, permit the marriage to proceed. Widows and
widowers living by themselves have full freedom of choice. Some small
sum of money, or some vessels, clothes, etc., are usually given by the
parents of the bride as dowry, and these become the property of the
husband. There is no regular divorce, but if a pair do not agree, or if
the husband is dissatisfied with the conduct of his wife, they can
separate at any time, and re-marry or take a partner by the sagâi form,
within the caste. If the parties agree to separate, the case need not
necessarily come before the tribal council unless there is some dispute
about the property, or the woman protests against the charge brought
against her and challenges her husband to prove it in the presence of
the assembled brethren. In such case it appears to be the rule that no
circumstantial evidence of adultery is accepted; if there are no actual
eye-witnesses, the charge will be dismissed. Any child born by any
woman or by any form of connection recognised by tribal usage is
admitted as legitimate, and ranks as an heir to any property, which is
seldom much, that may be left by his father. If a Basor woman have a
child by a man of a higher caste, such children will not be allowed to
intermarry with a Basor of pure blood, but must find a husband or wife
from among families which suffer from the same bar sinister. On the
contrary, if a Basor keep a woman of a higher caste than his own, he
has seldom any difficulty, particularly if he be a man of standing and
substance in the tribe, in marrying his children in a family of pure
blood.
[Widow marriage.] 3. As a rule all widows of marriageable age find a
new partner. Such connection is fully recognised, and is known in
Mirzapur as sagâi, and in Bundelkhand as dharauna or baithâna, “making
her sit in the house.” There is no particular ceremony in widow
marriage, except the announcement of the connection and the giving of a
feast to the brethren. The levirate is recognised, but is not
compulsory on the widow. In a recent case at Jhânsi the tribe
excommunicated a man who formed a connection with the widow of his
younger brother, and expressed extreme horror at such an act. If the
children of a widow are very young she generally takes them with her to
the house of her new husband, who adopts them as his own, and is held
responsible for getting them married and starting them in the world. In
this case they lose all rights to the property of their own father. But
if the children are grown up they usually stay with the family of their
late father, and are heirs to his estate. If the widow is old and does
not form a new connection, she is entitled to a life maintenance in the
house of her late husband. If a widow forms a connection with the
younger brother of her late husband, he takes all the property and
adopts his nephew or nieces as his own. In Mirzapur there is a regular
bride-price fixed by tribal custom: this is nine and a half rupees in
cash, liquor to the value of three rupees, two sheets, three sers of
coarse sugar, and two sers of sweetmeats. More or less than this cannot
be given without leave of the council. An outsider marrying a virgin
widow has to pay twenty-two rupees, and it is a peculiarity among them
that the man, as in other castes, does not go to fetch his wife, but
her relatives bring her, realise the marriage fee, and then make her
over to her new partner.
[Birth customs.] 4. A woman during delivery is attended by a woman of
the tribe. With the umbilical cord a few pice are buried, and at the
door of the delivery room a broken shoe or the horn of some animal is
burnt to ward off evil from mother and child; the foul smelling smoke
thus produced is supposed to be particularly offensive to evil spirits.
They have the usual sixth (chhathi) and twelfth day (barahi) ceremony,
and on the latter a young pig is sacrificed in the name of some
godling, about whom they are most reluctant to give any information or
even to mention him by name. After her purification the mother worships
the family well by rubbing red lead on the platform and pouring some
water and a few grains of rice near it. Children have their ears bored
and are ceremonially shaved at the age of five or six.
[Marriage ceremonies.] 5. In Mirzapur the betrothal is arranged by the
husband of the father’s sister of the boy, possibly a survival of the
matriarchate. The betrothal (mangni) is concluded by sending a skirt
(ghaghri) and a sheet (orhni) with some liquor and treacle for the
bride, after which the clansmen are feasted on pork and liquor. Some
time after is a second ceremony in which the two fathers exchange
leaf-platters filled with water or spirits, into one of which the boy’s
father drops a rupee or two. In Jhânsi the marriage is first arranged
by the women, and then a day is fixed on which the friends of the bride
send a turban and a rupee for the bridegroom. This is received in the
presence of the brethren, who are entertained with tobacco and spirits,
which last in the case of poor people is replaced by sharbat. When the
present has once been accepted, the engagement is held final, and
either party repudiating it is suitably dealt with by the tribal
council. Then follows the matmangara ceremony common to all low castes
in the Eastern Districts. Among the Basors the earth, on this occasion,
is dug by the brother-in-law of the boy’s father and the father of the
bride, in which, again, we seem to find a survival of the matriarchate.
In the centre of the marriage shed is a bamboo, and some wooden images
of parrots are fixed up, with a jar full of water covered with a saucer
filled with rice. Then one of the senior men of the tribe makes a fire
offering (hom) in honour of the deceased ancestors, and the clothes of
the pair are knotted together, and they are made to walk seven times
round the sacred fire. In Jhânsi an old man says this prayer: “Ye
godlings (deota), stand witness that this pair are joined by the knot.
Keep them as closely joined in love as the knot which ties their
raiment.” On the fourth day is the chauthi chhorna, when the marriage
pitchers (kalsa) are thrown into water by the mother of the bridegroom.
The binding part of the ceremony is the giving away of the bride
(kanyâdân) by the bridegroom.
[Death ceremonies.] 6. When they can afford it, they burn the dead in
the usual way; poor people simply fling the corpse into running water;
if no river be convenient, it is buried. Some sacrifice a hog in the
name of the dead man; some do not. After six months the brethren are
feasted. Some kill a pig, cut off its legs, and bury the trunk (thûnth,
thûthan) in the court-yard, in the belief that this prevents the ghost
of the dead from giving annoyance to the survivors. In Mirzapur it
appears that, as among the Doms, the sister’s son of the dead man acts
as priest at his obsequies; but this is denied at Jhânsi. At any rate
it is quite certain that no Brâhman officiates, and that all the
ceremonies are performed by some old man of the tribe. The death
impurity lasts only three days, and is then removed by bathing.
[Religion.] 7. The tribal deities are Kâli-Bhawâni and Ganga Mâi, or
Mother Ganges. To the east of the Province they offer sacrifices of
pigs to Vindhyabâsini Devi, at Bindhâchal. In Jhânsi they offer to Kâli
or Jagadamba Devi, during the Naurâtra of Chait and Kuâr, or in other
months, on a Monday or Friday, cocoanuts, sweets, spirits, betel
leaves, and sometimes a goat. In Jhânsi they also worship various
deified persons who are called Bâba. Thus there is Gusâîn Bâba, who has
a platform under a pîpal tree near Moth Tahsîl, in the Jhânsi District.
He is said to roam about in his ascetic costume in the neighbourhood,
and sometimes speaks to people. Nat Bâba has no special shrine; but his
platform is to be seen in many villages with a little niche for holding
a light, which is occasionally lighted in his honour. Many curious
tales of this worthy are told, one being that after his death he
attended the marriage of his grand-daughter, and made all the
arrangements for the reception of the guests. Mahton Bâba is the ghost
of some celebrated village headman of the olden time, of whom little is
known except that he is now a guardian of villages, and wards off
famine and pestilence from men and cattle if he be duly propitiated
with some sweets and cocoanuts. The Sayyid, or Shahîd Mard, is some
Muhammadan martyr, whom they greatly reverence, and another worthy of
the same class, Jîwan Shâh Bâba, is also much respected. In no part of
this worship are the services of Brâhmans required; but the Joshi or
village astrologer is occasionally consulted to select lucky days for
weddings and the like. Their holidays are the Phagua or Holi, the
Kajari, the Panchaiyân, Naumi, and Dasmi, at all of which they get
drunk, if they can afford to do so. They are much afraid of the ghosts
of those who die a violent death by drowning or some other accident.
Such ghosts haunt the scene of the accident, and need careful
propitiation. They have a very vague idea of the other world. They
believe in a sort of hell into which evil-doers are flung and fall into
a pit full of human ordure and urine. [280] This place they call Narak,
of which Manu enumerates twenty-one varieties. Some of them who are
becoming more enlightened have now begun to perform some rude kind of
srâddha. Women who are tattooed on the arms, wrists, breast, and below
the knee, become holy, and the door-keepers of Bhagwân admit them into
his paradise.
[Social customs.] 8. The women wear nose-rings (nathya, phurhur),
ear-rings (bâli), ear ornaments (karanphûl), bangles (chûri, kara),
ankle ornaments (pairi, sânkar). They swear by the Ganges,
Kâli-Bhawâni, and on their sons’ heads. They will eat almost any meat,
including beef and pork, and all kinds of fish, but not monkeys,
vermin, and the like. They will not eat other people’s leavings, nor
food touched by a Musahar, Dom, Chamâr, Dhobi, Halâlkhor, or Dharkâr.
Like all of the Dom race, they have a hatred for Dhobis, and consider
them the vilest of all castes. They have the usual taboos. They will
not touch their younger brother’s wife, their child’s mother-in-law
(samdhin), nor will they mention their wives by name. The elder
brother’s wife can eat out of the same dish as her husband’s younger
brother; but no wife or younger brother’s wife will eat with a husband
or his elder brother or father. Their salutation is Râm! Râm! and the
juniors touch the feet of their elders. Women seem, on the whole, to be
fairly well treated; but they are soundly beaten if they misbehave
themselves. No one, not even a Dom or Mehtar, will drink water from
their hands. They will eat food cooked by a Nâi or any higher caste.
[Occupation.] 9. They live by making baskets and other articles
manufactured out of bamboo, and playing on the flute (bânsuli), or the
tambourine (dafla), at marriages. Their women are midwives.
DISTRIBUTION OF THE BASORS ACCORDING TO THE CENSUS OF 1891.
=========+=======
District.|Number.
~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~
Cawnpur | 42
Bânda | 12,264
Jhânsi | 7,912
Jâlaun | 5,231
+~~~~~~~
Total | 25,447
=========+=======
Bâwariya. [281]—A hunting and criminal tribe practically found only in
Muzaffarnagar and Mirzapur. Various explanations have been given of the
name. Colonel Dalton would connect it with the Sanskrit barbara,
varvara, which appears to be the Greek barbaros, and applied to any
outcaste who cannot speak Sanskrit. Others take it to be another form
of the Hindi bâola, bâora (Sanskrit, vâtûla, “inflamed with wind”). It
is most probably derived from the Hindi banwar, “a creeper” (Sanskrit
bhramara), in the sense of a noose made originally from some fibrous
plant and used for trapping animals, which is one of the primary
occupations of the tribe. The Bâwariyas in these provinces seem to fall
into two branches—those resident in the Upper Duâb, who still retain
some of their original customs and manners, and those to the east, who
assert a more respectable origin, and have abandoned their original
predatory life.
[The Western Bâwariyas.] 2. The best account of the western branch is
that given by Mr. J. Wilson [282]:—“The Bâwariyas of Sirsa are divided
into four sections—(1) the Bidâwati from Bikâner territory, claiming
connection with the Bidâwat Râjputs, giving Chithor as their place of
origin; (2) the Deswâli, living in the country about Sirsa; (3) the
Kapriya to the west about Delhi; (4) the Kâlkamaliya, or “black blanket
people,” who (especially the women) wear black blankets, and are found
chiefly among the Sikhs of the jungle and Mâlwa country. These four
sections do not eat together or intermarry; but say they all came
originally from the country about Bikâner. They are most numerous in
Râjputâna and the districts bordering upon it, but extend up the Satlaj
to Fîrozpur and Lahore. The name of the tribe seems to be derived from
the banwar or snare with which they catch wild animals, but many of
them despise this their hereditary occupation; and, indeed, it seems
now to be practised only by the Kâlkamaliya or Panjâbi section. The
Bâwariyas are seemingly an aboriginal tribe, being of a dark complexion
and inferior physique, though resembling the Bâgri Jâts. Many of them
are fond of a wandering life, living in wretched huts, and feeding upon
lizards, foxes, and other jungle animals, but they say they will not
eat fish. In other districts they are known as a criminal tribe, but
here many of them are fairly respectable cultivators, some are employed
as village watchmen, and many of them are skilled in tracking. They are
divided into clans (got, nak) with Râjput names, such as Chauhân,
Panwâr, Bhâti. The Bâwariyas who live among the Sikhs (Kâlkamaliya)
wear the hair long (kes), and some of them have become regular Sikhs,
and have received the pahul. The black blanket Bâwariyas speak Panjâbi,
and the Bidâwati Bâgri; but they have besides a dialect peculiar to
themselves, and not understood by the ordinary peasants. Bâwariyas
consider themselves good Hindus, and say that regular Brâhmans
officiate at their marriage ceremonies—the same Brâhmans as officiate
for Jâts and Banyas. They hold the cow sacred and will not eat beef;
they burn their dead and send their ashes to the Ganges. They are said
sometimes to admit men of other tribes to their fraternity, and an
instance is given in which a Banya for love of a Bâwariya woman became
a Bâwariya himself.”
[Manner of hunting practised by the Western Bâwariyas.] 3. “Whole
families of Bâwariyas come South in the rains for a lizard hunt, and
may be seen returning with baskets full of their game, which live for
days without food, and thus supply them with a succession of fresh
meat. The lizard has a soft fat body and a broad tail with spikes along
each side. He lives on grass, cannot bite severely, and is sluggish in
his movements, so that he is easily caught. He digs a hole for himself
of no great depth, and the easiest way to catch him is to look out for
the scarcely perceptible air-hole and dig him out; but there are
various ways of saving oneself this trouble. One, which I have seen,
takes advantage of a habit the lizard has in cold weather (when he
never comes out of his hole) of coming to the mouth for air and warmth.
The Chûhra or other sportsman puts off his shoes and steals along the
prairie till he sees signs of a lizard’s hole. This he approaches on
tiptoe, raising over his head with both hands a mallet with a round,
sharp point, and fixing his eyes intently upon the hole. When close
enough, he brings down his mallet with all his might on the ground just
behind the mouth of the hole, and is often successful in breaking the
lizard’s back before he awakens to a sense of his danger. Another plan,
which I have not seen, is to tie a wisp of grass to a long stick and
move it over the hole, so as to make a rustling noise. The lizard
within thinks “Oh here’s a snake! I may as well give in,” and comes to
the mouth of the hole, putting out his tail first that he may not see
his executioner. The sportsman seizes his tail and snatches him out
before he has time to learn his mistake.
4. “Again, a body of them, men, women, and children, go out into the
prairie in search of game. When they have sighted a herd of antelope in
the distance, they choose a favourable piece of ground and arrange
their banwars, which are a series of many running nooses of raw hide
tied together and fastened loosely to the ground by pegs; from the
banwars they rapidly make two lines of bogies by sticking bits of straw
with black rags tied to them into the ground at distances of a foot or
two apart. These lines widen away from the snares so as to enclose a
V-shaped piece of ground with sides perhaps a mile in length, the
unsuspecting herd of antelope being enclosed within the V, at the
pointed end of which are the snares. All this is arranged in a
wonderfully short space of time, and when it is all ready, the main
body of hunters, who have meanwhile gone round the herd of antelope and
formed a line across the open mouth of the V, suddenly start up, and by
unearthly yells drive the herd inwards towards the point. The first
impulse of the antelopes is to rush directly away from their
tormentors, but they soon come to the long lines of fluttering bits of
rag which forms one line of the V. They are thus directed into the
place occupied by the snares. It is interesting as one of the methods
by which an ignorant tribe with the simplest means can by their
superior cunning circumvent the swift antelope on his native prairies.”
[Dialect of the Western Bâwariyas.] 5. “The Bâwariyas have a dialect of
their own, which has sometimes been considered a sort of thieves’ slang
kept up to facilitate their combination for purposes of crime; but the
great mass of the Bâwariyas in this district are not at all given to
crime, and have no desire to conceal their dialect; moreover it is
spoken most generally by the women and children, while the men, at all
events in their intercourse with their neighbours, speak in ordinary
Bâgri or Panjâbi. It seems probable that it is simply the dialect of
the country of their origin, kept up by them in their wanderings. I had
not much time to make much enquiry about it, but was given the
following as their names for the numbers by their leading men—ek, bai,
tren, châr, pânch, chhau, hât, âth, nau, daukh, vik, (20) and the
following words—khakhra for susra (father-in-law), khakhu for sâsu
(mother-in-law), hândo for sândo (lizard), manukh (man), châro
(antelope), haru (snake), laukra (fox), nauri (jackal), jamna (right
hand), dava (left hand). Some of these words may be Bâgri, and they are
not much to go upon, but the use of h, for s, and the peculiar kh for
the Sanskrit palatal sibilant should afford some clue to the origin of
the dialect; for this kh sound, like the Arabic kh in khâwind, is not
found in any dialect indigenous in this part of India.” The numerals
are obviously of Sanskrit origin, and so are most of the words—châro,
harina; haru, sarpa; laukra, lomasa; nauri, nakula; jamna is the
direction of the river Yamuna, Jumna; dava, dakshina.
[The Bâwariyas of the North-Western Provinces.] 6. A body of Bauriyas
or Bâwariyas who were, many years ago, interrogated as to their customs
and kindred, gave the following account of themselves [283]:—“The
Mugîns and Baguras who reside in Mâlwa and on the Chambal river commit
dacoity, burglary, and theft; they stick at nothing. They go in large
parties (kâfila), sometimes as carriers of Ganges water, sometimes as
Brâhmans, with the sacred string round their necks. The Hâbûras commit
theft. The Gûjars call us Gidiyas, and the Jâts call us Bauris. Gidiya
is merely a local name of our tribe; there is no distinct class of
people of that name. The Sânsiyas are not of our tribe; they are a
distinct class; they are thieves, but seldom ascend to dacoity—(this is
certainly incorrect). The Kanjars are all thieves; they cut grass and
make thatches, and bivouac in suburbs under huts of long grass (sirki),
but always thieve. Our caste was originally Râjput, and our ancestors
came from Mârwâr. We have seven clans (got)—Punwâr, Soharki, Dabas,
alias Dâbi, Chauhân, Tunwar, Dhandara, alias Dhandal or Koli, and
Gordhi, with the Châmi, making eight in all. Two or three centuries
ago, when the Emperor of Delhi attacked the fortress of Chithor and
besieged it for twelve years for the sake of the Princess Padmani, the
country became desolate, and we were obliged to emigrate in search of
employment, and disperse. Those that came into the Delhi territory were
called Bauris; those that went into the Gwâlior territory were called
Mugîns and Bagûras. To the eastward they were called Baddhiks, and in
Mâlwa Hâbûras. We are not people of yesterday; we are of ancient and
illustrious descent. When Râvana took away the wife of the god Râma,
and Râma wanted to recover her, men of all castes went to fight for him
in the holy cause. Among the rest was a leader of the Bauris called
Pardhi. When Râma vanquished his enemy and recovered Sîta he asked
Pardhi what he could do for him. ‘Grant,’ said Pardhi, ‘that I may
attend your Majesty, mount guard, and hunt in the intervals of leisure,
and I shall have all that my heart wishes.’ The god granted him his
request, and his occupation has come down to us. If any Prince happens
to have an enemy that he wishes to have made away with, he sends for
some of our tribe and says,—‘Go and bring so and so’s head.’ We go,
steal into his sleeping apartments, and take off the person’s head
without any other person knowing anything about it. If a Prince wanted,
not the head of his enemy, but the gold tassels of the bed on which he
lay asleep, we brought them to him. In consequence of our skill in
those matters we were held everywhere in high esteem, and we served
Princes and had never occasion to labour at tillage. This was before
the emigration and dispersion of the tribe. We, who have come to the
Delhi territory and are called Bauris, took to the trade of thieving.
Princes still employed us to take off the heads of their enemies and
rob them of their valuables. At present the Bauris confine themselves
almost exclusively to robbing tents; they do not steal cattle or break
into houses, but they will rob a cart on the highway occasionally; any
other trade than robbery they never take to. They reside in or near
villages under the protection of landlords, and while out for a long
period at their vocation, they leave their wives and children under
their care. They give them the means of subsistence, and for these
advances we are often indebted to them three hundred or four hundred
rupees by the time we return. When we are about to set out on our
expeditions we get a loan of twenty or thirty rupees from the
landholders or merchants of the place, and two days before starting we
sacrifice a goat and make burnt offerings to the goddess Devi,
sometimes to her of the fiery furnace of Jawâla, in the Himâlaya, and
sometimes to our old tutelary god of Chithor. We present sweetmeats and
vow unwearied devotions if we are successful. After this we take our
auspices thus:—We go in the evening into the jungle, and there in
silence expect the call. If the partridge or jackal call on the left we
set out without further ceremony; the bark of a fox even will do. If
any of them call on the right, we return home and try again the day
following. As soon as we get a good omen we set out. If we take it in
the morning it must be before sunrise, and the fox, partridge, or
jackal, must cry on the right to be good. If a deer cross from the left
to the right it is a good omen. We have a couplet on this subject
signifying that if the crow and the deer cross from the left to the
right and the blue jay from left to right, even the wealth that has
gone from us will come back.”
[Present condition in the Upper Duâb.] 7. The Census returns give the
sections as Badniyâr, Banwâr, Bardhia, Barmâr, Chauhân, Dalê, Dhandin,
Dyâs, Garali, Gaur, Gûjar, Kori, Madniyâriya, Pahari, Panwâr, Râjput,
Solankhi, Saurangi, and Topiwâl. Those best known in the Upper Duâb
are, Turai, Pachhâda or “Western,” Gola Kori, and Khâgi. These gotras,
as they are called, are exogamous, but the Turai marry only with the
Pachhâda and the Gola with the Khâgi. This rule of exogamy they
reinforce with the rather vague formula that marriage with relatives by
blood (dûdh kê nâtêdâr) is prohibited. They can marry two sisters in
succession. They have now settled down and abandoned their wandering
habit of life. They admit strangers into the caste. The only ceremony
is that the convert has to eat and drink with his new clansmen. Some
say that candidates for admission must be of high caste themselves; but
they do not appear to be very particular, and these new admissions are
treated at the outset with some contempt, and are not all at once
admitted into full tribal privileges. Marriage usually takes place in
infancy. The standard of morality is very low, because in Muzaffarnagar
[284] it is extremely rare for a Bâwariya woman to live with her
husband. Almost invariably she lives with another man; but whoever he
may be, the official husband is responsible for the children. Divorced
wives and widows can marry in the clan by the karâo form, and a man can
have two or three wives at a time. The marriage ceremony is carried out
by the brother-in-law (dhiyâna) of the bride, and he makes them walk
round the marriage shed, and promise to be faithful to each other. The
relative, in fact, does all their religious and quasi-religious
ceremonies. Infidelity, contraction of a fatal disease, and loss of
religion and caste warrant either husband or wife giving up
cohabitation, and if the separation is approved of by the clansmen, the
woman can re-marry by the karâo form. It is also said that a wife can
be discarded when she loses her good looks.
[Religion and customs of the Western Bâwariyas.] 8. They are Hindu by
religion and worship Kâli-Bhawâni and Zâhir Dîwân. The women in
particular worship Kâli-Bhawâni. As already stated, they do not employ
Brâhmans, but get their religious business done by the brother-in-law.
They usually burn the adult dead, and bury those who have not been
married. They are in constant fear of the ghosts of the dead, and lay
out food for them in platters made of leaves. They now principally live
by catching birds of all kinds. Those that are eatable, they sell;
others they take to the houses of rich Jain merchants, and make an
income by releasing them from their cages. They do not prostitute their
married women or girls. They will eat almost any kind of meat except
beef, and indulge freely in liquor. They will eat and drink from the
hands of any Hindu except Nats and the regular outcaste tribes.
[The Eastern Bâwariyas of the North-Western Provinces.] 9. In direct
contrast to this disreputable branch of the tribe are the Eastern
Bâwariyas of Mirzapur. They are very possibly an offshoot of the Bauris
of Western Bengal, of whom Mr. Risley writes [285]:—“They are a
cultivating, earth-working, and palanquin-bearing race, whose features
and complexion stamp them as of non-Aryan descent, although evidence is
wanting to affiliate them to any particular tribe now in existence.
Their meagre folk-lore throws no light on their origin. According to
one story they were degraded for attempting to steal food from the
banquet of the gods; another professes to trace them back to a mythical
ancestor named Bâhak Rishi (the bearer of burdens), and tells how,
while returning from a marriage procession, they sold the palanquin
they had been hired to carry, got drunk on the proceeds, and assaulted
their Guru, who cursed them for the sacrilege, and compelled them to
rank thenceforward among the lowest castes of the community. Another
name for this ancestor is Rik Muni, the same as the eponym of the
Musahars and Bhuiyas; but it would be straining conjecture to infer
from this any connection between the Bauris and the Bhuiyas.” At any
rate the Mirzapur Bâwariyas admit no connection with such people.
According to their own account they were originally Bais Chhatris, and
come from Baiswâra, a tract of country which Sir H. M. Elliot defines
as lying between Cawnpur on the west, the Sâi river which, running
through the Partâbgarh District, joins the Gûmti some twenty miles
south-east of the town of Jaunpur; and between the Chhuâb rivulet on
the south, and Dikhtân, or the land of the Dikhit Râjputs, on the
north.
10. They tell their story as follows:—There were two Chhatri brothers
named Sûrê and Bîrê, who left Baiswâra in search of employment, and
went to Chayanpur, in the Shâhâbâd District. There they took service
with a Râja who had a lovely daughter. When her suitor, a neighbouring
Râja, came to woo her, the two brothers challenged his wrestlers. To
show their prowess they took a well-burnt tile and crushed it into
dust, with which they rubbed their bodies as athletes do before they
enter the arena. Then they tore up a great tamarind tree by the roots,
and the rival wrestlers ran away in fear. This so pleased their master
that he gave them a village called Bâwari or Chân Bâwari, from whence
they take their name. They appear now to be fully recognised as
Chhatris, and marry in the Chauhân, Jethi, and Gaharwâr clans.
11. They have now no landed property, but settle as tenants wherever
they can find land. They do not admit outsiders into the tribe. Their
marriage rules are of the type common to the more respectable tribes,
but their special worship of Dulha Deo at marriages suggests a
connection with some of the non-Aryan races. This is done on the eve of
the marriage. The house kitchen is plastered, and the oldest woman of
the family draws a lota full of water from the well, but in doing this
she must use only her right hand. A burnt offering is then made with
one-and-a-quarter sers of butter, and the water is poured on the floor
in honour of the godling. Widow marriage is forbidden, and a woman
caught in adultery must be discarded. They are generally initiated into
either the Saiva or Sâkta sect, and specially worship Dulha Deo and one
Sinha Bâba, who was a Nânak Shâhi faqîr. To him is made a burnt
offering of sugar and butter once a year; the butter must be of the
weight of one pice and the sugar one quarter pice. A goat is also
sometimes offered in the house court-yard. The priests of the clan are
known as the Pânres of Machhiâwan, who have come with them from their
original settlement. Their death ceremonies are such as are performed
by the higher castes. They abstain from spirits, and their women are
kept under careful control. They eat the flesh of deer and goats, and
all kinds of fish except the gûnch or Gangetic shark. Brâhmans will eat
pakki from their hands, and they will eat kachchi cooked by their
Brâhman spiritual guides. They smoke only with their clansmen. Lower
castes, like Kahârs and Nâis, will eat both kachchi and pakki from
their hands.
[The criminal Bâwariyas.] 12. The Western Bâwariyas of these Provinces
are best known to District Officers as a criminal tribe. When they go
on their predatory excursions, which extend over a large part of
Northern India, they usually assume the garb of faqîrs, and the only
way of finding them out is by a peculiar necklace of small wooden
beads, which they all wear, and by a kind of gold pin which they wear
fixed to their front teeth. [286] It seems, however, doubtful whether
this last test is always conclusive. In cases of doubt their mouths
should be examined, for under their tongues a hollow is formed by
constant pressure from their younger days, in which they can secure
from fifteen to twenty silver bits. The women are believed to possess
secrets for charms and medicines, and sell the roots and herbs which
they collect in the jungles. They are said to be expert in making
patchwork quilts, which they sell. Whenever they wander they sleep on a
bed and not on the ground. One peculiarity about their thieving is
that, like the Alâgiris of Madras, [287] when they enter a house they
take with them some dry grain, which they throw about in the dark, so
as to be able by the rattle to ascertain the position of brass vessels
and other metal articles. In Central India they are said to be greatly
wanting in intelligence and timid in their intercourse with their
fellowmen. They are there divided into five tribes—the Râthaur or
Mewâra, Chauhân, Sawandiya, Korbiyâr, Kodiyâr; and each tribe has a
separate hunting ground. They are governed by Chiefs called Hauliya,
who attain their office by descent. “Game is divided into three
shares—one for the god of the wilds, one for the god of the river, and
the remainder is divided among those present at the capture. At the
Holi they all assemble at the Hauliya’s residence, when he collects his
income, one rupee per head. For the first five years after the beard
first appears, it and the hair are cut once a year; but ever after that
they wear both unshorn, and their long shaggy locks add to their
uncouth appearance. Few attain sixty years of age, and ten is the
greatest number of children they have known one woman to bear. They
call themselves a branch of the Dhângar or shepherd class. [288]”
DISTRIBUTION OF BÂWARIYAS ACCORDING TO THE CENSUS OF 1891.
==============+=========+=========+========
District. | Hindu. |Musalmân.| Total.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~
Muzaffarnagar | 1,107 | ... | 1,107
Agra | 40 | ... | 40
Mirzapur | 1,333 | ... | 1,333
Gorakhpur | 1 | ... | 1
Tarâi | 9 | ... | 9
Ballia | ... | 239 | 239
+~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~
Total | 2,490 | 239 | 2,729
==============+=========+=========+========
Beldâr. [289]—(One who works with the bel or mattock.)—A general term
for the aggregate of low Hindu tribes who make their living by
earth-work. But, besides these, there appears to be a real endogamous
group of this name found chiefly in Bareilly, Gorakhpur, Basti, and
Pilibhît. Mr. Risley [290] describes under the same name a wandering
Dravidian caste of earth-workers and navvies in Bihâr and Western
Bengal, many of whom are employed in the coal mines of Râniganj and
Barâkar. “Both men and women labour, the former digging the earth and
the latter removing it in baskets carried on the head. The Beldârs
regard this mode of carrying earth as distinctive of themselves, and
will on no account carry earth in baskets slung from the shoulders.”
Whatever may be the case in Bengal, in these provinces at least, the
practice of carrying earth and other burdens on the head and not on the
back or shoulders is habitual among all the castes who do this kind of
labour.
[Internal organization.] 2. The Beldârs of these provinces classified
themselves at the last Census under three sub-castes—Bâchhal, Chauhân,
and Kharot. The two former are, of course, well known Râjput tribes.
The Kharot appear to take their name from khar (Sanskrit, khata),
“grass.” They are described as a tribe of mat-makers in Basti, and a
number have entered themselves separately at the last enumeration.
Besides these, among the most important local sub-castes, we find the
Mahul and Orh of Bareilly; the Desi, Kharêbind, and Sarwariya, or
“dwellers beyond the Sarju,” of Gorakhpur; and the Kharêbind and
Maskhauwa, or “flesh-eaters,” of Basti. The Census returns give 186
sub-castes of the usual type. Some taken from the names of existing
well known tribes, such as Bachgoti, Bâchhal, Baheliya, Bindwâr,
Chauhân, Dikhit, Gaharwâr, Gaura, Gautam, Ghosi, Kurmi, Luniya, Orh,
Râjput, Thâkur; others, local terms of the usual type, like Agarwâl,
Agrabansi, Ajudhyabâsi, Bhadauriya, Dehliwâl, Gangapâri, Gorakhpuri,
Kanaujiya, Kashiwâla, Purabiya, Sarwariya, and Uttarâha. The Beldârs
have no definite traditions of their origin, save that they were once
Râjputs who were compelled by some Râja to work as navvies, and were in
consequence degraded. There can, however, be little doubt that they are
an occupational offshoot from the great Luniya, Orh, or Bind tribe, who
are certainly to a large extent of non-Aryan origin.
[Occupation and status.] 3. Besides their trade of doing earth-work,
they also make their living by fishing. They are very fond of field
rats, which they dig out of the rice fields after the harvest is over,
and boil down with the grain which they have collected in their
granaries. They also eat pork, but in spite of this it is reported from
Gorakhpur that Brâhmans and Kshatriyas drink water from their hands.
Their widows marry by the sagâi form, and a man may discard his wife
for adultery; but if she marries her paramour, the council compels him
to repay the original cost of her marriage to her first husband.
[Religion.] 4. To the east of the province they worship the Pânchonpîr,
to whom they offer a turban (patuka) and a sheet (patau) made of coarse
country cloth, and occasionally a fowl. The sheets before being offered
are marked by a streak of red. Another form of offering is what is
known as kâra, which is made of flour and urad pulse. Some worship
Mahâdeva once a year in the month of Phâlgun or at the Sivarâtri.
DISTRIBUTION OF BELDÂRS ACCORDING TO THE CENSUS OF 1891.
===============+========+========+========+========+==========+========
District. |Bâchhal.|Chauhân.|Kharot. | Others.|Musalmâns.| Total.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~
Sahâranpur | ... | ... | ... | 32 | 5 | 37
Muzaffarnagar | ... | ... | ... | ... | 29 | 29
Mathura | ... | ... | ... | 2 | ... | 2
Etâwah | ... | ... | ... | 222 | ... | 222
Bareilly | 5,688 | ... | ... | 748 | ... | 6,436
Budâun | ... | ... | ... | 17 | ... | 17
Morâdâbâd | ... | ... | ... | 160 | ... | 160
Shâhjahânpur | 62 | 350 | ... | 369 | ... | 781
Pilibhît | 627 | 149 | ... | 1,579 | ... | 2,355
Cawnpur | ... | ... | ... | 56 | ... | 56
Fatehpur | ... | ... | ... | 96 | ... | 96
Bânda | ... | ... | ... | 148 | 3 | 151
Hamîrpur | ... | ... | ... | 212 | ... | 212
Allahâbâd | ... | ... | ... | 1 | 2 | 3
Jhânsi | ... | ... | ... | 246 | ... | 246
Jâlaun | ... | ... | ... | 586 | ... | 586
Lalitpur | ... | ... | ... | 248 | ... | 248
Ghâzipur | ... | ... | ... | 2 | ... | 2
Ballia | ... | ... | ... | 35 | ... | 35
Gorakhpur | ... | ... | 9,782 | 5,463 | 3 | 15,248
Basti | ... | ... | 3,623 | 3,162 | ... | 6,785
Azamgarh | ... | ... | ... | 31 | 1 | 32
Tarâi | 973 | ... | ... | 42 | ... | 1,015
Lucknow | ... | ... | ... | 69 | ... | 69
Unâo | ... | ... | ... | 79 | 5 | 84
Râê Bareli | ... | ... | ... | 122 | 2 | 124
Sîtapur | ... | 59 | ... | 115 | ... | 174
Hardoi | ... | ... | ... | 216 | ... | 216
Kheri | ... | ... | ... | 336 | ... | 336
Faizâbâd | ... | ... | ... | 110 | ... | 110
Gonda | ... | ... | ... | 170 | ... | 170
Bahrâich | ... | ... | ... | 226 | ... | 226
Sultânpur | ... | ... | ... | 148 | 1 | 149
Partâbgarh | ... | 16 | ... | 92 | 10 | 118
Bârabanki | ... | 520 | ... | 249 | ... | 769
+~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~
Total | 7,350 | 1,094 | 13,405 | 15,389 | 61 | 37,299
===============+========+========+========+========+==========+========
Belwâr, Bilwâr.—A tribe in Oudh of whom no satisfactory account has
been received. According to Mr. Nesfield, they take their name from
bela, “a purse”; but this is very uncertain. They are said to deal in
grain and cultivate.
2. According to the last Census their chief sub-caste is the Sanâdh. In
Kheri the chief sub-castes are Baghel, Bhonda, and Gaur.
DISTRIBUTION OF THE BELWÂR ACCORDING TO THE CENSUS OF 1891.
==============+=========+=========+=========
District. | Sanâdh. | Others. | Total.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~
Dehra Dûn | ... | 42 | 42
Etâwah | 7 | 35 | 42
Lucknow | ... | 22 | 22
Sîtapur | 1,255 | 793 | 2,048
Hardoi | 605 | 146 | 751
Kheri | 1,269 | 1,412 | 2,681
Bahrâich | ... | 608 | 608
+~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~
Total | 3,136 | 3,058 | 6,194
==============+=========+=========+=========
Benawa.—(“Without provisions,” “destitute.”)—A class of Muhammadan
faqîrs, the chief of the Beshara or unorthodox orders. They are said to
be followers of Khwâja Hasan Basri. Mr. Maclagan [291] says:—“The term
is sometimes apparently applied in a loose manner to Qâdiri and Chishti
faqîrs, but is properly applicable only to a very inferior set of
beggars, men who wear patched garments and live apart. They will beg
for anything except food, and in begging they will use the strongest
language, and the stronger the language the more pleased are the
persons from whom they beg. Many of the offensive names borne by
villages in the Gujrânwâla District are attributed to mendicants of
this order, who have been denied an alms. The proper course is to meet
a Benawa beggar with gibes and put him on his mettle, for he prides
himself on his powers of repartee, and every Benawa wears a thong of
leather, which he has to unloose when beaten in reply, and it is a
great source of shame for him to unloose this thong” (tasma khol dena).
DISTRIBUTION OF THE BENAWAS ACCORDING TO THE CENSUS OF 1891.
===============+==========
District. | Number.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~~
Dehra Dûn | 3
Sahâranpur | 2,347
Muzaffarnagar | 2,620
Meerut | 1,620
Bulandshahr | 24
Mathura | 63
Agra | 31
Farrukhâbâd | 10
Mainpuri | 8
Bareilly | 451
Bijnor | 655
Morâdâbâd | 755
Shâhjahânpur | 32
Pilibhît | 8
Bânda | 8
Lalitpur | 4
Benares | 5
Ghâzipur | 212
Gorakhpur | 84
Basti | 1,134
Tarâi | 293
Râê Bareli | 45
Sîtapur | 13
Faizâbâd | 62
Bahrâich | 10
Sultânpur | 201
Partâbgarh | 5
Bârabanki | 32
+~~~~~~~~~~
Total | 10,735
===============+==========
Benbans.—(“Of the stock of Râja Vena.”)—A small sept of Râjputs in
Mirzapur and Rîwa. The sept is interesting as an example of the
development in quite recent times of a new Râjput sept. There seems to
be little doubt that only a couple of generations ago they were
Kharwârs, a purely Dravidian tribe, and have developed into Râjputs
since they obtained the chiefship of that part of the country. The
present Râja has now married into a respectable Chandel family, and his
claim to be a pure bred Râjput will doubtless soon cease to be
disputed.
Beriya, [292] Bediya.—A caste of vagrants found in various parts of the
Province. They are very closely allied if not identical with the Sânsi,
Kanjar, Hâbûra, Bhântu, etc. In Bengal the term is applied to a number
of vagrant, gypsy-like groups, of whom it is difficult to say whether
they can properly be described as castes. Of these Bengal Beriyas a
very full account has been given by Bâbu Rajendra Lâla Mitra. [293]
According to him, they show no tendency to obesity, and are noted for
“a light, elastic, wiry make, very uncommon in the people of this
country. In agility and hardiness they stand unrivalled. The men are of
a brownish colour like the bulk of Bengâlis, but never black. The women
are of lighter complexion, and generally well formed; some of them have
considerable claims to beauty, and for a race so rude and primitive in
their habits as the Bediyas, there is a sharpness in the features of
their women which we see in no other aboriginal race in India. Like the
gypsies of Europe, they are noted for the symmetry of their limbs; but
their offensive habits, dirty clothing, and filthy professions, give
them a repulsive appearance, which is heightened by the reputation they
have of kidnapping children and frequenting burial grounds and places
of cremation. Their eyes and hair are always black, but their stature
varies much in different individuals. They are a mixed race, and many
outcastes join them. Some of them call themselves Mâl, and live by
snake-catching and sale of herbs. Though known as Bediyas, they keep
distinct, and do not intermarry or mix with the pure Bediyas, who,
unlike European gypsies, keep themselves distinct. They seldom build
houses, and take to agriculture, but wander about with a few miserable
wigwams. Like all gypsies, they dress like the people of the country.
They cook in a pipkin in common. Their women and children eat
promiscuously, except when placed among Bengâlis, when the women eat
separately. They eat whatever they can get, and nothing comes amiss to
them, whether it be a rotten jackal or a piece of beef or mutton.
2. “Familiar with the use of bows and arrows, and great adepts in
laying snares and traps, they are seldom without large supplies of game
and flesh of wild animals of all kinds. A variety of birds they keep
dried for medical purposes; mungooses, squirrels, and flying foxes they
eat with avidity as articles of luxury. Spirituous liquors and
intoxicating drugs are indulged in to a large extent, and chiefs of
clans assume the title of Bhangi or drinkers of hemp (bhang) as a mark
of honour.” They practise all the usual gypsy trades. “In lying,
thieving, and knavery he is not a whit inferior to his brother of
Europe, and he practises everything that enables him to pass an easy
life without submitting to any law of civilized Government or the
amenities of social life. The women deal in charms for exorcising the
devil, love phylters, palmistry, cupping with buffalo horns,
administering moxas and drugs for spleen and rheumatism. She has a
charm for extracting worms from carious teeth by repeating indecent
verses. They are the only tattooers. At home she makes mats of palm
leaves, while her lord alone cooks. Bediyas have no talent for music;
Nats and Banjâras have. Firdausi says this was the reason they were
exiled to Persia. Bediya women are even more circumspect than European
gypsies. If she does not return before the jackal’s cry is heard in the
evening, she is subject to severe punishment. It is said that a faux
pas among her own kindred is not considered reprehensible. Certain it
is that no Bediyâni has ever been known to be at fault with any one not
of her own caste. They are fond husbands, kind parents, affectionate
children, and unswerving friends. Attachment to their nationality is
extreme, and no Bediya has ever been known to denounce his race.
Whenever a Bediya is apprehended by a police officer, his clansmen do
their best to release him, and if condemned to imprisonment or death,
they invariably support his family. He is a Hindu or Musalmân according
to the population he lives in. Some are Deists, some Kabîrpanthis, or
Sikhs; some take the disguise of Jogis, Faqîrs, Darveshes, Santons,
etc. Hence he is called Panchpîri. His dead are usually buried, and his
marriage contract is solemnized over country arrack without the
intervention of priests, the only essential being the consent of the
elders of the clan. Marriage is restricted to his own clan; but
kidnapped children brought up in camp are not prohibited. He is very
sparing of ceremony; in reply to the exhortations of the bride’s
relatives to treat her kindly, he simply declares,—‘This woman is my
wedded wife,’ marking her head at the same time with red lead. The
bride replies,—‘This man is my husband.’ Incestuous marriages are
believed to be common among them. It is said that all Bediyas, whether
professing Hinduism or Muhammadanism, worship Kâli. Like the gypsies,
they never go to court. Their chiefs (sardârs) have supreme power, and
manage their affairs with the help of tribal councils (panchâyat). The
punishments are fine, stripes with a shoe, expulsion from caste. The
fines are spent in liquor. The chief is generally hereditary, and he is
invested with authority over his clansmen, wherever they may be
located. This is possible, as the Bediya, though a vagrant, is much
attached to his birthplace, and often returns there.”
[The Beriyas of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh.] 3. The Beriyas
of these Provinces are in a much more degraded condition than their
brethren in Bengal. At the last Census they recorded themselves under
three main sub-castes—Chauhân and Raghubansi, the titles of well known
Râjput sub-divisions, and Kâmchor or “loafers.” But in the Central
Duâb, like so many of the tribes of the same social rank, they pretend
to have seven sub-castes. By one enumeration these are given as
Khâlkhur, Chhâhari, Bhains, Gunnar, Nâritor, Rattu, and Kachhâr.
Another list adds Mahish. The complete returns show 250 sections of the
Hindu, and 12 of the Muhammadan branch. These are of the usual type,
many taken from the names of existing castes, such as Bais, Banya,
Bangâli, Chauhân, Chhatri, Gaur, Ghosiya, Janwâr, Kachhwâha,
Kânhpuriya, Raghubansi, Râwat, Teli, and Thâkur; others of local origin
like Amrapuriya, Baiswâri, Bhadauriya, Deswâl, Jaiswâr, Mainpuriya,
Multânwâri; others again common to them and similar vagrant and
prostitute tribes, such as Brijbâsi, Dhânuk, Gandharb, Gidhmâr
(“kite-killers”), Jangali, Kuchbandhiya, Kapariya, Karnâtaki, Nat,
Paturiya, Râjnat, and Tawâif. They believe themselves indigenous in the
Central Duâb, and profess to have some unexplained connection, like
their kinsmen the Hâbûras, with the old ruined city of Nohkhera, in the
north of Pargana Jalesar, in the Etah District. All the camps (gol)
which frequent that part of the country meet there during the rainy
season, and hold tribal councils at which marriages and all matters
affecting the caste are settled. Regular marriages seldom occur among
them, because nearly all the girls are reserved for prostitution, and
the men keep concubines drawn from any fairly respectable caste. So far
is this the rule, that in Farrukhâbâd, it is alleged that if a man
marry a girl of the tribe, he is put out of caste; and in Etâwah, if a
man marry a girl who has been prostituted, he is obliged to pay a fine
to the tribal council. This is a good example of what Sir John Lubbock
[294] calls “Communal marriage.” “In many cases,” he says, “the
exclusive possession of a wife could only be legally acquired by a
temporary recognition of the pre-existing communal rights.” While,
however, concubinage is a tribal institution, connections with a woman
of the menial tribes, such as Chamâr, Bhangi, Kori, or Dhânuk, are
prohibited; and a man offending in this way is expelled from the caste.
The only ceremony in selecting a concubine is the presenting to her a
suit of clothes, and eating with her and the clansmen. There seems,
however, to be an increasing tendency towards the more respectable form
of marriage, and some of them not only profess to have a law of exogamy
to this extent that they will not give their boys to, or take a bride
from, a family with which within memory they have been allied by
marriage, but they also pretend to allow the levirate under the usual
restrictions, and permit widow marriage. When they do marry in the
caste continence is compulsory on the wife, and her husband can put her
away for infidelity proved to the satisfaction of the tribal council.
[Domestic ceremonies.] 4. During pregnancy the mother generally vows
that if she gets over her confinement in safety, she will have the head
of the child shaved at some shrine. She is attended at delivery by the
Chamârin midwife, and after that by the women of her family. All
Beriyas do the chhathi or sixth day ceremony after delivery; some do
the barahi or twelfth day rite as well, and if the child be a boy, feed
the tribesmen. Adoption is common among them; usually a sister’s son is
adopted. There is no ceremony except the distribution of sweets to the
kinsmen, and the formal announcement that the adoption has taken place.
There is no initiation rite for males; but when a girl reaches puberty,
and is prostituted for the first time, the money she earns is spent in
drinking and in feeding the other unmarried girls of the tribe, while
Satya Nârâyana is worshipped, and verses in honour of him are recited.
In a marriage of a virgin girl of the caste, which is very unusual,
they follow the orthodox form; when they get hold of some other woman
or of a widow there is no ceremony except feeding the clansmen, and
until this is done the husband cannot eat the food cooked by her.
5. The caste is in the intermediate stage between burial and cremation.
In Farrukhâbâd they touch the left foot of the corpse with fire and
then bury it. In Etâwah they cremate the dead and collect the ashes,
which they put into an earthen pot, and then bury this in the ground,
raising over it a small earthen platform. When they can afford it, they
offer at this place some cakes in honour of the dead, which they
subsequently consume themselves. They do not employ the Mahâbrâhman;
all the death ceremonies are done by the sister’s son or son-in-law of
the deceased. They have no regular srâddha; but once a year, on any
convenient date, they offer up cakes in the name of their dead
ancestors in general, and invite a few of the brethren to a feast.
[Religion.] 6. Their tribal deities are Devi, Kâliji, and Jwâlamukhi.
Many of them also worship a deity called Sayyid, which they understand
to represent Muhammad, the prophet. Others visit the shrine of Madâr
Sâhib. They seem to depend more on ancestor worship than on any other
form of belief. They hardly employ Brâhmans at all except for giving
omens at marriages, and it is, of course, only the very lowest Brâhmans
who serve them.
[Occupation and social status.] 7. The Beriya, as we have seen,
supports himself to a large extent by prostituting his women. His women
loaf about villages and procure information about valuable property for
their male relations. He is a pilferer and petty thief, and will steal
crops from fields and any uncared-for property which he can find lying
about. He makes almost a speciality of stealing the clothes and brass
vessels of men who labour in the fields, and a camp of these people is
such a pest in a neighbourhood that they would meet with short shrift
from the villagers if they were not protected by some landowners, who
intrigue with their women, and by goldsmiths and others, who receive
stolen property from them. They have also been known to commit more
serious crime and attack camel carts and wedding parties at night. They
usually begin the attack on a travelling party with a shower of stones,
and if this fail to compel them to abandon their goods, they assail
them with their bludgeons. In Farrukhâbâd the Gunnar sub-caste carry
the regular Kanjar spud (khanti,) with which they dig out young jackals
and pass them off as wolf cubs for the sake of the Government reward.
They have a vague tradition that they were once Râjputs, and were
forced to take to their present means of living by the Muhammadans
after the siege of Chithor. But their appearance and physique certainly
indicate that they are a branch of the Indian gypsy race, and closely
allied to the Sânsiya and his kinsfolk. The women who are prostitutes
salute with the word salâm; those who are married use Râm! Râm! When
they take an oath they turn to the river and swear by mother Ganges.
They are steady believers in the demoniacal theory of disease. When a
person falls sick they call in a wizard (syâna), who smokes a huqqa,
and with a few incoherent words waves a broom over the patient, and
thus scares the ghost. When a patient is attacked by the Evil-eye, they
put some thorns of the babûl (acacia arabica) in an earthen pot face
downwards; then a shoe is waved over it, and they call out—“Evil
glance! leave the sick man!” They eat mutton, goat’s flesh, and pork;
not beef, fowls, fish, vermin, or the leavings of other people. But
there is reason to believe that when in camps by themselves they are
much more catholic in their diet. No respectable caste will eat from
their hands, they will eat both kachchi and pakki from the hands of all
but the very lowest menials.
DISTRIBUTION OF THE BERIYAS ACCORDING TO THE CENSUS OF 1891.
=============+========+========+===========+=======+============+=======
District. |Chauhân.|Kâmchor.|Raghubansi.|Others.|Muhammadans.| Total.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~
Sahâranpur | ... | ... | ... | ... | 11 | 11
Meerut | ... | ... | ... | ... | 6 | 6
Bulandshahr | ... | ... | ... | ... | 3 | 3
Aligarh | ... | ... | ... | 7 | 1 | 8
Mathura | ... | ... | ... | 2 | ... | 2
Agra | 59 | 140 | ... | 926 | 96 | 1,221
Farrukhâbâd | 24 | 8 | 25 | 662 | 22 | 741
Mainpuri | ... | 32 | 49 | 600 | ... | 681
Etâwah | 26 | ... | ... | 779 | ... | 805
Etah | 1 | 39 | ... | 156 | ... | 196
Bijnor | ... | ... | ... | 9 | 1 | 10
Morâdâbâd | ... | ... | ... | 10 | ... | 10
Cawnpur | 57 | ... | ... | 1,033 | ... | 1,090
Fatehpur | 90 | ... | ... | 631 | ... | 721
Bânda | 54 | ... | ... | 190 | ... | 244
Hamîrpur | 53 | ... | ... | 368 | ... | 421
Allahâbâd | 7 | ... | ... | 1,015 | 2 | 1,024
Jhânsi | 14 | ... | ... | 113 | ... | 127
Jâlaun | 4 | ... | ... | 38 | ... | 42
Lalitpur | 1 | ... | ... | 147 | 4 | 152
Mirzapur | 19 | ... | ... | ... | ... | 19
Jaunpur | ... | ... | ... | 108 | ... | 108
Ghâzipur | ... | ... | ... | ... | 4 | 4
Gorakhpur | ... | ... | ... | 19 | ... | 19
Basti | 4 | ... | ... | 83 | 701 | 788
Azamgarh | ... | ... | ... | 89 | ... | 89
Lucknow | ... | ... | ... | 192 | 9 | 201
Unâo | 171 | ... | ... | 90 | 12 | 273
Râê Bareli | 794 | ... | ... | 676 | 1 | 1,471
Hardoi | ... | ... | ... | 90 | ... | 90
Faizâbâd | 227 | ... | ... | 455 | 2 | 684
Gonda | ... | ... | ... | 30 | ... | 30
Bahrâich | 48 | ... | ... | 105 | 7 | 160
Sultânpur | 773 | ... | ... | 709 | 2 | 1,484
Partâbgarh | 516 | 8 | ... | 537 | ... | 1,061
Bârabanki | 856 | ... | ... | 452 | 9 | 1,317
+~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~
Total | 3,798 | 227 | 74 |10,321 | 893 |15,313
=============+========+========+===========+=======+============+=======
Berwâr, Birwâr.—A Râjput sept found in the Districts of Ghâzipur,
Azamgarh, and Faizâbâd. In Ghâzipur they say that they are emigrants
from the neighbourhood of Delhi, and take their name from Bernagar,
their leading village. They are supposed to have come under the
auspices of the Narauliyas, whom they assisted to expel the Cheros.
[295] In Azamgarh they are said to be both Râjputs and Bhuînhârs, and
not to rank high among either. Each set ignores the origin of, or any
connection with, the other. The Bhuînhârs can only say that they came
from the westward. They Chhatris say they are Tomars, and were led from
Bernagar, near Delhi, to Azamgarh, by a chief named Garak Deo, who
lived between 1393 and 1512 of the Sambat era (1536–1455 A.D.). In
Faizâbâd they call themselves Bais of Dundiyakhera. The Chhatri and
Bhuînhâr branches are of the same origin, as at marriages and other
feasts they refuse to take from their hosts or offer to their guests
broken cakes of pulse (bara). The origin of the custom is said to be
that at a feast where a number of the Berwars had been invited by
another clan, their treacherous hosts, on the pass-word bara khanda
chalâo (khanda means “a sword” as well as “broken”), slaughtered the
Birwârs. Their name is possibly connected with this custom. [296] The
Brâhman ancestor of the sept is said to have come from Kanauj; but its
different branches are not unanimous as to his name or pedigree, or how
they came to Azamgarh. [297]
Bhadauriya.—An important sept of Râjputs who take their name from the
village of Bhadâwar, near Ater, south of the Jumna. The eastern branch
have some traditions which point to a Meo origin; [298] but according
to Sir H. M. Elliot [299] they are a branch of the Chauhâns; but the
Chauhâns are disposed to deny this relationship, now that for motives
of convenience the two tribes have begun to intermarry. They are
divided into the six clans of Athbhaiya, Kulhiya, Mainu, Taseli,
Chandraseniya, and Râwat. He further remarks:—“The high claims which
have been put forward in favour of the family are somewhat
unreasonable, and were indeed entirely needless, as its respectability
for many years past has been unquestionable. Bhatûla, or bread made
from the grain of arhar, chana, and mûng, is notorious for its
hardness, and is, therefore, seldom eaten by those who can afford to
grow or purchase the better grains. It is said to have been the cause
of the elevation of the Bhadauriyas, and the story, absurd as it may
appear, is commonly believed in the neighbourhood of Bhadâwar, and is
not denied by the Bhadauriyas themselves. One of the Bhadauriya chiefs,
Gopâl Sinh, went to pay his respects to the King, Muhammad Shâh. The
chief had very large eyes, so much so, as to attract the attention of
the King, who asked him how he obtained them. The chief, who was a wit,
replied that in his district nothing but arhar was grown, and that from
the constant practice of straining at swallowing bhatûla, his eyes had
nearly started out of his head. The King was pleased at his readiness,
and bestowed upon him other Parganas in which he could grow the finer
grains. The immediate cause of their aggrandisement is obscure, but it
is as likely to have been a pair of large eyes as the capture of a
fort. It is clear that their political importance lasted no longer than
for a few years at the beginning of the last century; that their
illustrious lineage even now invests them with consideration in the
eyes of the surrounding Râjas, who allow the Bhadauriya to sit higher
than themselves; who receive from him the investiture, or rather
impress of the tilak, who confess that he alone can cover with grain
the lingam at Batesar (the Râna of Gohag having tried twenty-one maunds
in vain); and that, though influential, they are not of that high
importance which they would arrogate to themselves. It is to be feared
also that they are much addicted to infanticide; so that when we take
all these circumstances into consideration, there seems some reason to
acknowledge that the indiscriminate bounty of the British Government
might perhaps have been more worthily bestowed.” The last Census
Returns give some colour to the supposition that infanticide prevails
among them. There are 16,312 males to 12,715 females.
2. Of the clans above enumerated the Chandraseniya, Kulhiya, Athbhaiya,
and Râwat marry girls of the Chauhân, Kachhwâha, Râthaur, Chandel,
Sirnet, Panwâr, Gautam, Raghubansi, Gaharwâr, Tomar, and Gahlot septs.
The Taseli intermarry with Râjputs of rank inferior to these. The high
class Bhadauriyas give their daughters to the Chauhân, Kachhwâha, and
Râthaur septs.
DISTRIBUTION OF THE BHADAURIYA RÂJPUTS ACCORDING TO THE CENSUS OF 1891.
=============+=========
District. |Number.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~=
Sahâranpur | 4
Meerut | 54
Aligarh | 62
Mathura | 54
Agra | 4,034
Farrukhâbâd | 1,490
Mainpuri | 1,936
Etâwah | 5,387
Etah | 239
Bareilly | 398
Budâun | 300
Morâdâbâd | 165
Shâhjahânpur | 1,130
Pilibhît | 257
Cawnpur | 2,533
Fatehpur | 933
Bânda | 169
Hamîrpur | 116
Allahâbâd | 421
Jhânsi | 371
Jâlaun | 596
Lalitpur | 36
Benares | 363
Ballia | 232
Gorakhpur | 68
Basti | 19
Azamgarh | 93
Lucknow | 162
Unâo | 521
Râê Bareli | 1,417
Sîtapur | 1,112
Hardoi | 609
Kheri | 1,266
Faizâbâd | 50
Gonda | 340
Bahrâich | 516
Sultânpur | 910
Partâbgarh | 366
Bârabanki | 298
+~~~~~~~~~
Total | 29,027
=============+=========
Bhagat.—(Sanskrit, bhakta, “a worshipper.”)—A term usually applied to
men of any caste who take a vow of abstinence from meat, wine, etc.
This they usually do as they advance in life, and wear a necklace of
beads as a mark of the vow. It is also applied to a Sâkti sect, not
Vaishnavas, as the ordinary Bhagats are, who are worshippers of Devi.
Some of them eat meat, but abstain from wine. To the west of the
province they are chiefly devotees of the Bajesri Devi of Kângra, whose
temple was plundered by Mahmûd of Ghazni and Fîroz Tughlaq. At
Jwâlamukhi, in the same District, is another and equally famous temple,
where jets of gas proceeding from the ground are kept ever burning, and
the crowds of pilgrims provide a livelihood for a profligate community
of Gusâîns and Bhojkis. “The days most holy to Devi are the first nine
days of the moon in the months of Chait and Kuâr. Some persons will
fast in the name of Devi on the eighth lunar day (ashtami) of every
month, and perform special ceremonies on that day. Sometimes they will
light lamps of flour, and when a Brâhman has read the Devipâtha, will
prostrate themselves before the lamps. Sometimes it is customary to
distribute rice and sweetmeats on this day to unmarried girls; and
goldsmiths will often close their shops in honour of the day. The
greatest Ashtamis of all, however, are those in the months above
mentioned; and of the two great yearly festivals, the Naurâtra is the
greatest, following as it does immediately after the completion of the
annual srâddha or commemoration of the dead. It is the custom in some
parts of the country for worshippers of Devi on the first day of this
festival to sow barley and water it, and keep a lamp burning by it, and
on the eighth day to cut it and light a sacrificial fire (homa),
breaking their fast next day.” [300]
2. The name is also applied to a class of dancing girls in the Agra
Division.
DISTRIBUTION OF THE BHAGATS ACCORDING TO THE CENSUS OF 1891.
==============+========
District. |Number.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~
Sahâranpur | 1
Farrukhâbâd | 185
Mainpuri | 7
Etâwah | 12
Etah | 127
Bareilly | 14
Budâun | 11
Bânda | 4
Benares | 124
+~~~~~~~~
Total | 485
==============+========
Bhâlê Sultân.—(“Lords of the spear:” Sanskrit, Bhâla, “a kind of arrow
or spear.”)—According to the tribal tradition in Sultânpur, [301]
between two and three hundred years ago Râê Barâr, son of Amba Râê,
brother of the then Râja of Morârmau, commanded a troop of cavalry
recruited entirely from the Bais clan in the Imperial service, and was
deputed to exterminate the troublesome Bhars in the Isauli Pargana.
Having accomplished his task he returned to Delhi and presented himself
at the head of his troop before the Emperor, who, struck with their
manly bearing, exclaimed, “Ao, Bhâlê Sultân,” “Come, spears of the
Sultân.” Thence they adopted the name. Another story is that it was as
link-bearers (Bâri), and not the lance, which they so dexterously
wielded, and that they were made Râjputs by Tilok Chand as a reward for
their diligence. A third account connects them with the Balla, who are
included in the royal races and were lords in Saurâshtra. “But this
lays stress on the first factor of the name, and leaves the other, an
equally perplexing one, altogether unexplained. That it is a corruption
there is little doubt. The Bhâlê Sultâns are either not mentioned by
Abul Fazl at all, or they are the Bais Naumuslim of Sâtanpur. In either
case the suspicion is raised that they did not take their modern name
till after the time of Akbar, and, if so, it hardly bears the ring of
Imperial coinage. ‘From this time’ (1507 A.D.), says Bâbar, ‘I order
that I should be styled Padshah,’ and from him downwards this, and not
Sultan, appears to have been the title affected by the Mughal Emperors.
It is very probable that the Bhâlê Sultâns are the Naumuslim Bais of
Sâtanpur, for they now occupy that locality, and Palhan Deo, great
grandson of Râê Barâr, is said to have been converted to Islâm in Shîr
Shâh’s time; and the only thing against this view is that the Gandeo
Bais may have held territory thus far east, and as they, too, had a
Musalmân branch, they would then answer equally well to the description
given.”
[Bhâlê Sultân of the North-West Provinces.] 2. The Bulandshahr [302]
branch, according to one story, claim descent from Sidhrâo Jai Sinh, a
Solankhi Râjput of Parpatan in Gujarât. After the defeat of Prithivi
Râja, Sawai Sinh, the ancestor of the family, obtained the title of
Bhâlê Sultân, or “Lord of the lance,” from Shahâbuddîn Ghori. Another
story is that they are descended from Sârang Deo, a nephew of the Râja
of Gujarât, who took service under Prithivi Râja of Delhi, with whom he
was distantly connected, and perished in the war against Kanauj, when
his descendant was rewarded with lands in Bulandshahr. It was his
grandson, Hamîr Sinh, who took service with the Râja of Kanauj, and
obtained through him and Shahâbuddîn the title of Bhâla Sultân. The
seventh in descent from him, Kirat Sinh, distinguished himself in the
campaign of Ghayâsuddin against the Meos, and got their lands. The
seventh in descent from him, Khân Chand, became a Musalmân to please
the Muhammadan Governor under Khizr Khân, the protegee of Timûr.
[The Oudh branch.] 3. In Faizâbâd [303] the Bhâlê Sultân claim descent
from Râo Mardan Sinh of Bais, of Dundiya Khera, who was a horse-dealer
by profession. He chanced to visit Gajanpur, in Isauli Pargana, of the
Sultânpur District, where there was a fort of the Râjbhars, whom he
overcame. His son, Râo Barâr, entered the service of the King of Delhi,
and as he was a good horseman and clever spearsman, he obtained the
title of Bhâla Sultân. One of his descendants, Baram Deo, ambitious of
obtaining the title of Râja, became Khânzâda to the King of Delhi, and
since then his descendants have been called Khânzâda. In Râê Bareli the
tradition runs that they were Ahîrs who were raised to the rank of
Râjputs by Tilok Chand.
4. In Sultânpur they are said to marry girls of the septs of the
Bhâratipur Chauhâns, Kath Bais and Kath Bisen, and to give girls to the
Tilokchandi Bais, Chauhâns of Mainpuri, Sûrajbansis of Mahul, Gautams
of Nagar, Bisens of Majhauli, Gahlot, Sombansi, Râjkumâr, Bandhalgoti,
and Bachgoti. In Faizâbâd they marry girls of the Gargbansi and
Raghubansi septs, and give girls to the Sombansi, Bachgoti, and Bais.
DISTRIBUTION OF THE BHÂLÊ SULTÂN RÂJPUTS ACCORDING TO THE CENSUS OF
1891.
=============+=========+=============+=======
District. | Hindus. | Muhammadans.| Total.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~
Sahâranpur | 17 | 27 | 44
Meerut | 20 | ... | 20
Bulandshahr | 6,370 | 4,790 | 11,160
Agra | 59 | 3 | 62
Farrukhâbâd | 9 | 6 | 15
Mainpuri | 36 | ... | 36
Budâun | 11 | ... | 11
Shâhjahânpur | ... | 9 | 9
Pilibhît | 19 | 4 | 23
Cawnpur | 11 | 75 | 86
Fatehpur | 3 | ... | 3
Bânda | ... | 1 | 1
Allahâbâd | 324 | 18 | 342
Lalitpur | 2 | 2 | 4
Benares | 15 | 86 | 101
Jaunpur | 25 | 3 | 28
Ghâzipur | ... | 7 | 7
Gorakhpur | 35 | 64 | 99
Basti | 155 | 53 | 208
Azamgarh | 122 | 29 | 151
Lucknow | 17 | 283 | 300
Unâo | 5 | 38 | 43
Râê Bareli | 377 | 372 | 749
Sîtapur | 20 | 23 | 43
Kheri | 3 | 108 | 111
Faizâbâd | 757 | 687 | 1,444
Gonda | 406 | 352 | 758
Bahrâich | 108 | 271 | 379
Sultânpur | 8,016 | 4,607 | 12,623
Partâbgarh | 49 | 17 | 66
Bârabanki | 329 | 735 | 1,064
+~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~+
Total | 17,320 | 12,670 | 29,990
=============+=========+=============+=======
Bhând, Bhânr. [304]—(Sanskrit, Bhanda, a jester.)—The class of
story-tellers, buffoons, and jesters. They are sometimes known by the
Muhammadan title of Naqqâl, or actor. The Bhând is sometimes employed
in the courts of Râjas and native gentlemen of rank, where, at
entertainments, he amuses the company with his buffoonery and
imitations of European and Native manners, much of which is of a very
coarse nature. The Bhând is quite separate from, and of a lower
professional rank than, the Bahrûpiya. They appear now to be
practically all Muhammadans, but retain numerous Hindu usages. There
are two recognised endogamous sub-castes—the Chenr, which seems to mean
little (Hindi, chenra), and the Kashmîri. The former trace their origin
to the time of Taimûrlang, who, on the death of his son, gave himself
over to mourning for twelve years. Then one Sayyid Hasan, a courtier of
the Emperor, composed a humorous poem in Arabic which gained him the
title of Bhânr. Sayyid Hasan is regarded as the founder of the caste.
Though he was a Sayyid, the present Bhânrs are either Shaikhs or
Mughals; and the difference of faith, Sunni and Shiah, is a bar to
intermarriage. The Kashmîri Bhânrs are said to be of quite recent
origin, having been invited from Kashmîr by Nasîr-ud-dîn Haidar, King
of Oudh. The Chenr Bhânrs fix their headquarters at Karra in Allahâbâd,
and Lucknow. In Farrukhâbâd they profess to have twelve-and-a-half
sub-divisions, all of which, except the half sub-division, intermarry.
Many of these are derived from the names of castes from which they are,
or pretend to be, sprung: thus Kaithela (Kâyasth); Bamhaniya (Brâhman);
Kamarhas; Ujharha; Banthela; Gujarha (Gûjar); Nonela (Luniya); Karraha
(from Karra); Pitarhanda. The Census returns give the sub-caste of the
Hindu Bhânrs as Baraha, Nakhatiya, and Shâhpuri, and of the Muhammadan
branch as Bakarha, Bhandela, Burkiya, Desi, Gâorâni, Hasanpuri, Harkha,
Jaroha, Jaroyân, Kaithla, Kâyasth, Kâniwâla, Kashmîri, Kathiya, Katila,
Qawwâl, Kha, Kharya, Khatri, Kheti, Monkhra, Musalmâni, Naqqâl,
Naumuslim, Pathân, Patua, Purabiya, Râwat, Sadîqi, Shaikh, and
Târâkiya.
2. Girls are married at the age of twelve or fourteen, and unlimited
polygamy is allowed. Widows re-marry generally in the family of their
late husband, and if a match then is impossible, they marry an
outsider, and the levirate in the usual form prevails. A wife can be
put away for infidelity, and cannot then marry again in the caste. The
marriage ceremonies are conducted in the standard Musalmân form. Bhânrs
are generally Sunnis, except in Lucknow, where they are mostly Shiahs,
and respect the Pânchonpîr (of whom the most regarded is Ghâzi Miyân)
and Sayyid Hasan. To the Pânchonpîr are offered cakes (malîda),
sharbat, garlands of flowers, and perfumes. Sayyid Hasan receives
cakes, sweetmeats, flowers, and perfumes, at any time during the year.
Food is offered to the sainted dead at the Shab-i-barât festival. The
chief offering consists of the halwa sweetmeat, and cakes. The Chenr
Bhânrs play on the small drum (dholak), and Kashmîris on the drum
(tabla) and fiddle (sârangi). A popular proverb describes the Bhânr to
be as essential at an entertainment as a tiger in a forest,—Mahfil
vîrân jahân Bhânr na bâshad; Jangal vîrân jahân sher na bâshad. They
are notoriously exacting and abusive if offended. A proverb runs,—Rânr,
Bhânr, Sânr, bigrê burê,—“The rage of a widow, a Bhânr, and a bull is
terrible.” Another classes them with the monkey,—jaisê Lakkho bandariya
vaisê Manva Bhânr—“Lakkho, the monkey, is like Manva, the actor”—“six
of one and half a dozen of the other.” Dr. Buchanan quaintly describes
them as “impudent fellows who make wry faces, squeak like pigs, bark
like dogs, and perform many other ludicrous feats. They also dance and
sign, mimicking and turning into ridicule the dancing boys and girls,
on whom they likewise pass many jokes, and are employed on great
occasions.” [305]
DISTRIBUTION OF THE BHÂNDS ACCORDING TO THE CENSUS OF 1891.
===========================================
District. | Hindus. |Musalmâns.| Total.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~
Sahâranpur | ... | 12 | 12
Muzaffarnagar | ... | 50 | 50
Meerut | ... | 27 | 27
Bulandshahr | ... | 167 | 167
Aligarh | ... | 105 | 105
Mathura | ... | 20 | 20
Agra | ... | 180 | 180
Farrukhâbâd | 8 | 101 | 109
Mainpuri | ... | 80 | 80
Etah | ... | 112 | 112
Bareilly | ... | 23 | 23
Bijner | ... | 32 | 32
Budâun | ... | 21 | 21
Morâdâbâd | ... | 75 | 75
Shâhjahânpur | ... | 57 | 57
Pilibhît | ... | 11 | 11
Cawnpur | ... | 12 | 12
Fatehpur | ... | 79 | 79
Hamîrpur | ... | 40 | 40
Allahâbâd | ... | 52 | 52
Jhânsi | ... | 8 | 8
Jâlaun | ... | 9 | 9
Lalitpur | ... | 9 | 9
Jaunpur | ... | 33 | 33
Ghâzipur | ... | 84 | 84
Gorakhpur | ... | 47 | 47
Lucknow | ... | 43 | 43
Unâo | ... | 5 | 5
Râê Bareli | ... | 21 | 21
Sîtapur | ... | 294 | 294
Hardoi | ... | 58 | 58
Kheri | ... | 203 | 203
Gonda | ... | 1,325 | 1,325
Bahrâich | 6 | 385 | 391
Sultânpur | ... | 75 | 75
Partâbgarh | ... | 25 | 25
Bârabanki | ... | 120 | 120
+~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~
Total | 14 | 4,000 | 4,014
==============+=========+==========+======
Bhangi. [306]—The sweeper tribe of Hindustân. About the derivation of
the word there is some difference of opinion. It is usually derived
from the Sanskrit bhanga, “hemp,” in allusion to the drunken habits of
the tribe. Mr. Nesfield would derive it from the same word in the sense
of “interruption,” as a Hindu must give up whatever he is doing when he
is touched by a sweeper. The Benares sweepers say that the word is a
corruption of sarbhanga (sârva-bhanga), in the sense that while part of
the Hindu community they are isolated from it. There are various titles
used to designate the tribe. Thus they are known in the Western
districts of the province and in the Panjâb as Chûhra, Chûra, or
Chûhara, which is by some derived from their business of collecting or
sweeping up scraps (chûra-jhârna), while Mr. Nesfield, with perhaps
less probability, connects it with chûha, “a rat,” which would make
them eaters of rats and mice like the Musahars of the Eastern
districts. They are also known as Mehtar or “prince,” which is a
honorific title of various classes, such as Bhatiyâra, Mochi, Qasâi,
etc., and seems to have been used ironically, as cooks, tailors, or
barbers are called Khalîfa. In connection with this it is important to
note that the Bediyas of Bengal call their leaders Bhangi or
hemp-drinkers, as a title of honour. [307] The name Mehtar was commonly
applied to the servants of the Emperor Humâyun. [308] Another title for
them is Halâlkhor, “one who eats what is lawful, one whose earnings are
legitimate.” This euphemistic title is said to have been introduced by
the Emperor Akbar. [309] They are also known as Khâkrob, or “sweepers
of dust,” and Bâharwâla, “one who is not admitted into the house.”
Another euphemistic name for them in the Punjâb is Musalli, “one who
prays.” From their religion and patron saint they are sometimes known,
collectively, as Lâlbegi, which is really the name for one of their
sub-castes.