_Bhishti._--A small Muhammadan caste of water-bearers. Only 26
Bhishtis were shown in the Central Provinces in 1901 and 278 in
1891. The tendency of the lower Muhammadan castes, as they obtain
some education, is to return themselves simply as Muhammadans, the
caste name being considered derogatory. The Bhishtis are, however,
a regular caste numbering over a lakh of persons in India, the bulk
of whom belong to the United Provinces. Many of them are converts
from Hinduism, and they combine Hindu and Muhammadan practices. They
have _gotras_ or exogamous sections, the names of which indicate
the Hindu origin of their members, as Huseni Brahman, Samri Chauhan,
Bahmangour and others. They prohibit marriage within the section and
within two degrees of relationship on the mother's side. Marriages are
performed by the Muhammadan ritual or Nikah, but a Brahman is sometimes
asked to fix the auspicious day, and they erect a marriage-shed. The
bridegroom goes to the bride's house riding on a horse, and when he
arrives drops Rs. 1-4 into a pot of water held by a woman. The bride
whips the bridegroom's horse with a switch made of flowers. During
the marriage the bride sits inside the house and the bridegroom in
the shed outside. An agent or Vakil with two witnesses goes to the
bride and asks her whether she consents to marry the bridegroom,
and when she gives her consent, as she always does, they go out and
formally communicate it to the Kazi. The dowry is then settled, and
the bond of marriage is sealed. But when the parents of the bride are
poor they receive a bride-price of Rs. 30, from which they pay the
dowry. The Bhishtis worship their leather bag (_mashk_) as a sort of
fetish, and burn incense before it on Fridays. [354] The traditional
occupation of the Bhishti is to supply water, and he is still engaged
in this and other kinds of domestic service. The name is said to be
derived from the Persian _bihisht_, 'paradise,' and to have been given
to them on account of the relief which their ministrations afforded
to the thirsty soldiery. [355] Perhaps, too, the grandiloquent name
was applied partly in derision, like similar titles given to other
menial servants. They are also known as Mashki or Pakhali, after
their leathern water-bag. The leather bag is a distinctive sign of
the Bhishti, but when he puts it away he may be recognised from the
piece of red cloth which he usually wears round his waist. There is
an interesting legend to the effect that the Bhishti who saved the
Emperor Humayun's life at Chausa, and was rewarded by the tenure
of the Imperial throne for half a day, employed his short lease of
power by providing for his family and friends, and caused his leather
bag to be cut up into rupees, which were gilded and stamped with the
record of his date and reign in order to perpetuate its memory. [356]
The story of the Bhishti obtaining his name on account of the solace
which he afforded to the Muhammadan soldiery finds a parallel in the
case of the English army:
The uniform 'e wore
Was nothin' much before,
An' rather less than 'arf o' that be'ind,
For a piece o' twisty rag
An' a goatskin water-bag
Was all the field-equipment 'e could find.
With 'is mussick on 'is back,
'E would skip with our attack,
An' watch us till the bugles made 'Retire,'
An' for all 'is dirty 'ide
'E was white, clear white, inside
When 'e went to tend the wounded under fire. [357]
An excellent description of the Bhishti as a household servant is
contained in Eha's _Behind the Bungalow_, [358] from which the
following extract is taken: "If you ask: Who is the Bhishti? I
will tell you. Bihisht in the Persian tongue means Paradise, and a
Bihishtee is therefore an inhabitant of Paradise, a cherub, a seraph,
an angel of mercy. He has no wings; the painters have misconceived
him; but his back is bowed down with the burden of a great goat-skin
swollen to bursting with the elixir of life. He walks the land when
the heaven above him is brass and the earth iron, when the trees and
shrubs are languishing and the last blade of grass has given up the
struggle for life, when the very roses smell only of dust, and all
day long the roaming dust-devils waltz about the fields, whirling
leaf and grass and cornstalk round and round and up and away into
the regions of the sky; and he unties a leather thong which chokes
the throat of his goat-skin just where the head of the poor old goat
was cut off, and straightway, with a life-reviving gurgle, the stream
called _thandha pani_ gushes forth, and plant and shrub lift up their
heads and the garden smiles again. The dust also on the roads is laid,
and a grateful incense rises from the ground, the sides of the water
_chatti_ grow dark and moist and cool themselves in the hot air,
and through the dripping interstices of the _khaskhas_ tattie a
chilly fragrance creeps into the room, causing the mercury in the
thermometer to retreat from its proud place. I like the Bhishti and
respect him. As a man he is temperate and contented, eating _bajri_
bread and slaking his thirst with his own element. And as a servant
he is laborious and faithful, rarely shirking his work, seeking it out
rather. For example, we had a bottle-shaped filter of porous stoneware,
standing in a bucket of water which it was his duty to fill daily;
but the good man, not content with doing his bare duty, took the
plug out of the filter and filled it too. And all the station knows
how assiduously he fills the rain-gauge." With the construction of
water-works in large stations the Bhishti is losing his occupation,
and he is a far less familiar figure to the present generation of
Anglo-Indians than to their predecessors.