_Bhat, Rao, Jasondhi._--The caste of bards and genealogists. In
1911 the Bhats numbered 29,000 persons in the Central Provinces
and Berar, being distributed over all Districts and States, with
a slight preponderance in large towns such as Nagpur, Jubbulpore
and Amraoti. The name Bhat is derived from the Sanskrit Bhatta,
a lord. The origin of the Bhats has been discussed in detail by Sir
H. Risley. Some, no doubt, are derived from the Brahman caste as stated
by Mr. Nesfield: "They are an offshoot from those secularised Brahmans
who frequented the courts of princes and the camps of warriors, recited
their praises in public, and kept records of their genealogies. Such,
without much variation, is the function of the Bhat at the present
day. The Mahabharata speaks of a band of bards and eulogists marching
in front of Yudishthira as he made his progress from the field of
Kurukshetra towards Hastinapur. But these very men are spoken of in the
same poem as Brahmans. Naturally as time went on these courtier priests
became hereditary bards, receded from the parent stem and founded a new
caste." "The best modern opinion," Sir H. Risley states, [281] "seems
disposed to find the germ of the Brahman caste in the bards, ministers
and family priests, who were attached to the king's household in Vedic
times. The characteristic profession of the Bhats has an ancient and
distinguished history. The literature of both Greece and India owes
the preservation of its oldest treasures to the singers who recited
poems in the households of the chiefs, and doubtless helped in some
measure to shape the masterpieces which they handed down. Their place
was one of marked distinction. In the days when writing was unknown,
the man who could remember many verses was held in high honour by
the tribal chief, who depended upon the memory of the bard for his
personal amusement, for the record of his own and his ancestors'
prowess, and for the maintenance of the genealogy which established
the purity of his descent. The bard, like the herald, was not lightly
to be slain, and even Odysseus in the heat of his vengeance spares
the aoidos Phemius, 'who sang among the wooers of necessity.'" [282]