_Mirasi._--A Muhammadan caste of singers, minstrels and genealogists,
of which a few members are found in the Central Provinces. General
Cunningham says that they are the bards and singers of the Meos or
Mewatis at all their marriages and festivals. [270] Mr. Crooke is
of opinion that they are undoubtedly an offshoot of the great Dom
caste who are little better than sweepers. [271] The word Mirasi is
derived from the Arabic _miras_, inheritance, and its signification is
supposed to be that the Mirasis are the hereditary bards and singers
of the lower castes, as the Bhat is of the Rajputs. _Miras_ as a
word may, however, be used of any hereditary right, as that of the
village headman or Karnam, or even those of the village watchman or
temple dancing-girl, all of whom may have a _mirasi_ right to fees or
perquisites or plots of land held as remuneration for service. [272]
The Mirasis are also known as Pakhawaji, from the _pakhawaj_ or
timbrel which they play; as Kawwal or one who speaks fluently, that
is a professional, story-teller; and as Kalawant or one possessed
of art or skill. The Mirasis are most numerous in the Punjab, where
they number a quarter of a million. Sir D. Ibbetson says of them:
[273] "The social position of the Mirasi as of all minstrel castes is
exceedingly low, but he attends at weddings and similar occasions to
recite genealogies. Moreover there are grades even among Mirasis. The
outcaste tribes have their Mirasis, who though they do not eat with
their clients and merely render their professional services are
considered impure by the Mirasis of the higher castes. The Mirasi
is generally a hereditary servant like the Bhat, and is notorious
for his exactions, which he makes under the threat of lampooning
the ancestors of him from whom he demands fees. The Mirasi is almost
always a Muhammadan." They are said to have been converted to Islam
in response to the request of the poet Amir Khusru, who lived in the
reign of Ala-ud-din Khilji (A.D. 1295). The Mirasi has two functions,
the men being musicians, storytellers and genealogists, while the women
dance and sing, but only before the ladies of the zenana. Mr. Nesfield
[274] says that they are sometimes regularly entertained as jesters
to help these ladies to kill time and reconcile them to their domestic
prisons. As they do not dance before men they are reputed to be chaste,
as no woman who is not a prostitute will dance in the presence of men,
though singing and playing are not equally condemned. The implements
of the Mirasis are generally the small drum (_dholak_), the cymbals
(_majira_) and the gourd lute (_kingri_). [275]