_Bania, Ajudhiabasi, Audhia_.--A subcaste of Bania, whose name
signifies a resident of Ajodhia, the old name of Oudh. Outsiders often
shorten the name to Audhia, but, as will be seen, the name Audhia
is regularly applied to a criminal class, who may have been derived
from the Ajudhiabasi Banias, but are now quite distinct from them. The
Ajudhiabasis numbered nearly 2000 persons in 1911, belonging chiefly
to the Jubbulpore, Narsinghpur and Hoshangabad Districts. This total
includes any persons who may have returned themselves as Audhia. The
Ajudhiabasis are nearly all Hindus with a small Jain minority. Though
Oudh was their original home they are now fairly numerous in Cawnpore
and Bundelkhand as well, and it may have been from this last locality
that they entered the Central Provinces. Here they form a separate
endogamous group and do not marry with their caste-fellows in northern
India. They have exogamous sections, and marriage is prohibited
within the section and also between first cousins. They permit the
remarriage of widows, but are said not to recognise divorce, and to
expel from the caste a woman guilty of adultery. It may be doubted,
however, whether this is correct. Brahmans serve as their priests,
and they invest boys with the sacred thread either at marriage or at
a special ceremony known as Gurmukh. The dead are either buried or
burnt; in the case of burial men are laid on the face and women on
the back, the body being first rubbed with salt, clarified butter,
turmeric and milk. A little earth from the grave is carried away and
thrown into a sacred river, and when the dead are burnt the ashes are
similarly disposed of. Their principal deity is the goddess Devi,
and at the Dasahra festival they offer a goat to her, the flesh of
which is distributed among members of the caste.
The Audhias are a well-known criminal tribe, whose headquarters is
in the Fatehpur District. They say that they are Banias, and use the
name Ajudhiabasi in speaking of themselves, and from their customs and
criminal methods it seems not unlikely that they may originally have
been an offshoot from the Ajudhiabasi Banias. They are now, however,
perfectly distinct from this group, and any confusion between them
would be very unjust to the latter. In northern India it is said that
the Audhias deal largely in counterfeit coin and false jewellery, and
never commit crimes of violence; [138] but in Bombay they have taken
to housebreaking, though they usually select an empty house. [139]
From their homes in the United Provinces they wander over Central
India, the Central Provinces, Bengal and Bombay; they are said to
avoid the Punjab and Sind owing to difficulties of working, and they
have made it a caste offence to commit any crime in the Ganges-Jumna
Doab, probably because this is their home. It is said also that if
any one of them is imprisoned he is put out of caste. They wander
about disguised as religious mendicants, Brahmans or Bairagis. They
carry their bedding tied on their back with a cloth, and a large bag
slung over the shoulders which contains food, cooking-vessels and
other articles. Sometimes they pretend to be Banias and hawk about
sweets and groceries, or one of the gang opens a shop, which serves
as a rendezvous and centre for collecting information. [140] In the
Districts where they reside they are perfectly well-behaved. They are
well-to-do and to all appearance respectable in their habits. Their
women are well-dressed with plenty of ornaments on their persons. They
have no apparent means of support; they neither cultivate land
nor trade; and all that appears on the surface is that most of the
men and boys go off after the rains and return at the end of the
cold weather. If asked how they support themselves they reply by
begging. Their marriage rules are those of high-caste Hindus. They
are divided into two classes, Unch or high and Nich or low, the
former being of pure blood, and the latter the descendants of kept
women. These are practically endogamous. A man may not have more than
two wives. If a girl is detected in immorality before marriage, she
is permanently excommunicated, and a married woman can be turned out
by her husband on proof of adultery. A bridegroom-price is usually
paid, the father of the bride visiting the bridegroom and giving
him the money in secret. The dead are burnt, and Brahmans are duly
fed. If a man has died through an accident or from cholera, smallpox,
poison or leprosy, the corpse, if available, is at once consigned to
the Ganges or other river, and during the course of the next twelve
months a Mahabrahman is paid to make an image of the deceased in
gram-flour, which is cremated with the usual rites. As in the case
of the Ajudhiabasi Banias, the tribal deity of the Audhias is the
goddess Devi. [141]