THE PEOPLE: NUMBERS, RACES, AND LANGUAGES
~Growth of Population.~--It is probable that in the 64 years since
annexation the population of the Panjáb has increased by from 40 to 50
per cent. The first reliable census was taken in 1881. The figures for
the four decennial enumerations are:
|-------------------------------------------------------------|
| | | | |
| | Panjáb | N.W.F. | Kashmír |
|Year |----------------------------------| Province | |
| | British | Native | Total | | |
| | | States | | | |
|-------------------------------------------------------------|
|1881 |17,274,597 |3,861,683 |21,136,280 |1,543,726 | |
|1891 |19,009,368 |4,263,280 |23,272,648 |1,857,504 |2,543.952|
|1901 |20,330,337 |4,424,398 |24,754,735 |2,041,534 |2,905,578|
|1911 |19,974,956 |4,212,974 |24,187,730 |2,196,933 |3,158,126|
|-------------------------------------------------------------|
~Incidence of Population in Panjáb.~--The estimated numbers of independent
tribes dwelling within the British sphere of influence is 1,600,000. The
incidence of the population on the total area of the Panjáb including
native States is 177 per square mile, which may be compared with 189 in
France and 287 in the British Isles. As the map shows, the density is
reduced by the large area of semi-desert country in the south-west and
by the mountainous tract in the north-east. The distribution of the
population is the exact opposite of that which prevails in Great
Britain. There are only 174 towns as compared with 44,400 villages, and
nearly nine-tenths of the people are to be found in the latter. Some of
the so-called towns are extremely small, and the average population per
town is but 14,800 souls. There are no large towns in the European
sense. The biggest, Delhi and Lahore, returned respectively 232,837 and
228,687 persons.
[Illustration: Fig. 27. Map showing density of population.]
[Illustration: Fig. 28. Map showing increase and decrease of
population.]
~Growth stopped by Plague.~--The growth of the population between 1881 and
1891 amounted to 10 p.c. Plague, which has smitten the Panjáb more
severely than any other province, appeared in 1896, and its effect was
seen in the lower rate of expansion between 1891 and 1901.
Notwithstanding great extensions of irrigation and cultivation in the
Rechna Doáb the numbers declined by 2 p.c. between 1901 and 1911. In the
ten years from 1901 to 1910 in the British districts alone over two
million people died of plague and the death-rate was raised to 12 p.c.
above the normal. It actually exceeded the birth-rate by 2 p.c. Of the
total deaths in the decade nearly one in four was due to plague. The
part which has suffered most is the rich submontane tract east of the
Chenáb, Lahore and Gujránwála, and some of the south-eastern districts.
A glance at the map will show how large the loss of population has been
there. It is by no means entirely due to plague. The submontane
districts were almost over-populated, and many of their people have
emigrated as colonists, tenants, and labourers to the waste tracts
brought under cultivation by the excavation of the Lower Chenáb and
Jhelam canals. The districts which have received very marked additions
of population from this cause are Jhang (21 p.c.), Sháhpur (30 p.c.), and
Lyallpur (45 p.c.). Deaths from plague have greatly increased the
deficiency of females, which has always been a noteworthy feature. In
1911 the proportion had very nearly fallen to four females for every
five males.
~Increase and Incidence in N.W.F. Province.~--The incidence of the
population in the area covered by the five districts of the N.W.F.
Province is 164 per square mile. The district figures are given in the
map in the margin. The increase between 1901 and 1911 in these districts
was 7-1/2 p.c. There have been no severe outbreaks of plague like those
which have decimated the population of some of the Panjáb districts.
[Illustration: Fig. 29. Map showing density of population in N.W.F.
Province.]
General figures for the territory of the Mahárája of Kashmír are
meaningless. In the huge Indus valley the incidence is only 4 persons
per sq. mile. In Jammu and Kashmír it is 138. The map taken from the
Census Report gives the details. The increase in the decade was on
paper 8-1/2 p.c., distributed between 5-1/4 in Jammu, 12 in Kashmír, and
14 in the Indus valley. A great part of the increase in the last must be
put down to better enumeration.
[Illustration: Fig. 30. Map showing density of population in Kashmir.]
~Health and duration of life.~--The climate of the Panjáb plains has
produced a vigorous, but not a long-lived, race. The mean age of the
whole population in the British districts is only 25. The normal
birth-rate of the Panjáb is about 41 per 1000, which exceeds the English
rate in the proportion of 5 to 3. In 1910 the recorded birth-rate in the
N.W.F. Province was 38 per 1000. Till plague appeared the Panjáb
death-rate averaged 32 or 33 per 1000, or more than double that of
England. The infantile mortality is enormous, and one out of every four
or five children fails to survive its first year. The death-rate in the
N.W.F. Province was 27 per 1000 in 1910. In the ten years ending 1910
plague pushed up the average death-rate in the Panjáb to 43-1/2 per
1000. Even now malarial fever is a far worse foe than plague. The
average annual deaths in the ten years ending 1910 were:
Fevers 450,376
Plague 202,522
Other diseases 231,473
-------
Total 884,371
-------
Fever is very rife in October and November, and these are the most
unhealthy months in the year, March and April being the best. The
variations under fevers and plague from year to year are enormous. In
1907 the latter claimed 608,685 victims, and the provincial death-rate
reached the appalling figure of 61 per 1000. Next year the plague
mortality dropped to 30,708, but there were 697,058 deaths from fever.
There is unfortunately no reason to believe that plague has spent its
force or that the people as a whole will in the near future generally
accept the protective measures of inoculation and evacuation.
Vaccination, the prejudice against which has largely disappeared, has
robbed the small-pox goddess of many offerings. As a general cause of
mortality the effect of cholera in the Panjáb is now insignificant. But
it is still to be feared in the Kashmír valley, especially in the
picturesque but filthy summer capital. Syphilis is very common in the
hill country in the north-east of the province. Blindness and leprosy
are both markedly on the decrease. Both infirmities are common in
Kashmír, especially the former. The rigours of the climate in a large
part of the State force the people to live day and night for the seven
winter months almost entirely in dark and smoky huts, and it is small
wonder that their eyesight is ruined.
~Occupations.~--The Panjáb is preeminently an agricultural country, and
the same is true in an almost greater degree of the N.W.F. Province and
Kashmír. The typical holding is that of the small landowner tilling from
3 to 10 acres with his own hands with or without help from village
menials. The tenant class is increasing, but there are still three
owners to two tenants. Together they make up 50 p.c. of the population
of the Panjáb, and 5 p.c. is added for farm labourers. Altogether,
according to the census returns 58 p.c. of the population depends for
its support on the soil, 20.5 on industries, chiefly the handicrafts of
the weaver, potter, leather worker, carpenter, and blacksmith, 9.4 on
trade, 2.5 on professions, and 9.6 on other sources of livelihood.
~Measures taken to protect agriculturists.~--In a country owned so largely
by small farmers, the first task of the Government must be to secure
their welfare and contentment. Before plague laid its grasp on the rich
central districts it was feared that they were becoming congested, and
the canal colonization schemes referred to in a later chapter were
largely designed to relieve them. But there is a much subtler foe to
whose insidious attacks small owners are liable, the temptation to abuse
their credit till their acres are loaded with mortgages and finally
lost. So threatening had this economic disease for years appeared that
at last in 1900 the Panjáb Alienation of Land Act was passed, which
forbade sales by people of agricultural tribes to other classes without
the sanction of the district officer, and greatly restricted the power
of mortgaging. The same restrictions are in force in the N.W.F.
Province. The Act is popular with those for whose benefit it was
devised, and has effected its object of checking land alienation and
probably to some extent discouraged extravagance. It has been
supplemented by a still more valuable measure, the Co-operative Credit
Societies Act. The growth of these societies in the Panjáb has been very
remarkable, a notable contrast to the very slow advance of the similar
movement in England. In 1913-14 there were 3261 village banks with
155,250 members and a working capital of 133-3/4 _lakhs_ or £885,149,
besides 38 central banks with a capital of 42-3/4 _lakhs_ or about
£285,000. Village banks held deposits amounting to nearly 37 _lakhs_,
more than half of which was received from non-members, and lent out
71-1/2 _lakhs_ in the year to their members.
~Tribal Composition.~--Table I based on the Census returns shows the
percentages of the total population belonging to the chief tribes. The
classification into "land-holding, etc." is a rough one.
[Illustration: Fig. 31. Jat Sikh Officers (father and son).]
~Jats.~--The Panjáb is _par excellence_ the home of the Jats. Everywhere
in the plains, except in the extreme north-west corner of the province,
they form a large element in the population. In the east they are
Hindus, in the centre Sikhs and Muhammadans, and in the west
Muhammadans. The Jat is a typical son of the soil, strong and sturdy,
hardworking and brave, a fine soldier and an excellent farmer, but
slow-witted and grasping. The Sikh Jat finds an honourable outlet for
his overflowing energy in the army and in the service of the Crown
beyond the bounds of India. When he misses that he sometimes takes to
dacoity. Unfortunately he is often given to strong drink, and, when his
passions or his greed are aroused, can be exceedingly brutal. Jat in the
Western Panjáb is applied to a large number of tribes, whose ethnical
affinities are somewhat dubious.
~Rájputs.~--Rájputs are found in considerable numbers all over the
province except in a few of the western and south-western districts. As
farmers they are much hampered by caste rules which forbid the
employment of their women in the fields, and the prohibition of widow
remarriage is a severe handicap. They are generally classed as poor
cultivators, and this is usually, but by no means universally, a true
description. The Dogra Rájputs of the low hills are good soldiers. They
are numerous in Kángra and in the Jammu province of Kashmír.
~Brahmans.~--The Brahmans of the eastern plains and north-eastern hills
are mostly agriculturists, and the Muhiál Brahman of the north-western
districts is a landowner and a soldier. In the hills the Brahman is
often a shopkeeper. The priestly Brahman is found everywhere, but his
spiritual authority has always been far less in the Panjáb than in most
parts of India.
~Biluches.~--When the frontier was separated off the Biluch district of
Dera Ghází Khán with its strong tribal organization under chiefs or
_tumandárs_ was left in the Panjáb. The Biluches are a frank, manly,
truthful race, free from fanaticism and ready as a rule to follow their
chiefs. They are fine horsemen. Unfortunately it is difficult to get
them to enlist.
~Patháns.~--Both politically and numerically the Patháns are the
predominant tribe in the N.W.F. Province, and are of importance in parts
of the Panjáb districts of Attock and Mianwálí. The Pathán is a democrat
and often a fanatic, more under the influence of _mullahs_ than of the
_maliks_ or headmen of his tribe. He has not the frank straightforward
nature of the Biluch, is untiring in pursuit of revenge, and is not free
from cruelty. But, when he has eaten the _Sarkár's_ salt, he is a very
brave and dashing soldier, and he is a faithful host to anyone whom he
has admitted under his roof.
~Awáns.~--The home of the Awán in the Panjáb is the Salt Range and the
parts of Attock and Mianwálí, lying to the north of it, and this tract
of country is known as the Awánkárí. In the N.W.F. Province they are,
after the Patháns, by far the largest tribe, and are specially numerous
in Pesháwar and Hazára.
~Shekhs.~--Of the Shekhs about half are Kureshís, Sadíkís, and Ansárís of
foreign origin and high social standing. The rest are new converts to
Islám, often of the sweeper caste originally.
~Saiyyids.~--Saiyyids are unsatisfactory landowners, and are kept going by
the offerings of their followers. They are mostly Shias. It is not
necessary to believe that they are all descended from the Prophet's
son-in-law, Ali. A native proverb with pardonable exaggeration says:
"The first year I was a weaver (Juláha), the next year a Shekh. This
year, if prices rise, I shall be a Saiyyid."
~Trading Castes.~--Aroras are the traders of the S.W. Panjáb and of the
N.W.F. Province. They share the Central Panjáb with the Khatrís, who
predominate in the north-western districts. The Khatrí of the
Ráwalpindí division is often a landowner and a first-class fighting
man. Some of our strongest Indian civil officials have been Aroras. In
the Delhi division the place of the Arora and Khatrí is taken by the
Bania, and in Kángra by the Súd or the Brahman. Khojas and Paráchas are
Muhammadan traders.
~Artizans and Menials.~--Among artizans and menials Sunárs (goldsmiths),
Rájes (masons), Lohárs (blacksmiths), and Tarkháns (carpenters) take the
first rank.
~Impure Castes.~--The vast majority of the impure castes, the
"untouchables" of the Hindu religion, are scavengers and workers in
leather. The sweeper who embraces Islám becomes a Musallí. The Sikh
Mazhbís, who are the descendants of sweeper converts, have done
excellent service in our Pioneer regiments. The Hindu of the Panjáb in
his avoidance of "untouchables" has never gone to the absurd lengths of
the high caste Madrásí, and the tendency is towards a relaxation of
existing restrictions.
~Mendicants.~--Men of religion living on charity, wandering _fakírs_, are
common sights, and beggars are met with in the cities, who sometimes
exhibit their deformities with unnecessary insistence.
~Kashmírís.~--According to the census return the number of Kashmírí
Musulmáns, who make up 60 p.c. of the inhabitants of the Jhelam valley,
was 765,442. They are no doubt mostly descendants of various Hindu
castes, perhaps in the main of Hill Brahmans, but Islám has wiped out
all tribal distinctions. Sir Walter Lawrence wrote of them: "The
Kashmírí is unchanged in spite of the splendid Moghal, the brutal
Afghán, and the bully Sikh. Warriors and statesmen came and went; but
there was no egress, and no wish ... in normal times to leave their
homes. The outside world was far, and from all accounts inferior to the
pleasant valley.... So the Kashmírís lived their self-centred life,
conceited, clever, and conservative."
The Hindu Kashmírí Pandits numbered 55,276.
~Tribes of Jammu.~--Agricultural Brahmans are numerous in the Jammu
province. Thakkars and Meghs are important elements of the population of
the outer hills. The former are no doubt by origin Rájputs, but they
have cast off many Rájput customs. The Meghs are engaged in weaving and
agriculture, and are regarded as more or less impure by the higher
castes.
[Illustration: Fig. 32. Blind Beggar.]
~Gújars.~--Gújars in the Mahárája's territories are almost always
graziers. In 1911 they numbered 328,003.
~Dard Tribes of Astor and Gilgit.~--The people of Astor and Gilgit are
Dards speaking Shina and professing Islám. Sir Aurel Stein wrote of
them: "The Dard race which inhabits the valleys N. of (the Inner
Himálaya) as far as the Hindu Kush is separated from the Kashmírí
population by language as well as by physical characteristics.... There
is little in the Dard to enlist the sympathies of the casual observer.
He lacks the intelligence, humour, and fine physique of the Kashmírí,
and, though undoubtedly far braver than the latter, has none of the
independent spirit and manly bearing which draw us towards the Pathán
despite all his failings. But I can never see a Dard without thinking of
the thousands of years of struggle they have carried on with the harsh
climate and the barren soil of their mountains[3]."
[Illustration: Fig. 33. Dards.]
~Kanjútís.~--The origin of the Kanjútís of Hunza is uncertain, and so are
the relationships of their language.
~Mongoloid Population of Ladákh.~--The population of Ladákh and Báltistán
is Mongoloid, but the Báltís (72,439) have accepted Islám and polygamy,
while the Ladákhís have adhered to Buddhism and polyandry.
[Illustration: Fig. 34. Map showing races.]
~Ethnological theories.~--In _The People of India_ the late Sir Herbert
Risley maintained that the inhabitants of Rájputána, nearly the whole of
the Panjáb, and a large part of Kashmír, whatever their caste or social
status, belonged with few exceptions to a single racial type, which he
called Indo-Aryan. The Biluches of Dera Ghází Khán and the Patháns of
the N.W.F. Province formed part of another group which he called
Turko-Iranian. The people of a strip of territory on the west of the
Jamna he held to be of the same type as the bulk of the inhabitants of
the United Provinces, and this type he called Aryo-Dravidian. Finally
the races occupying the hills in the north-east and the adjoining part
of Kashmír were of Mongol extraction, a fact which no one will dispute.
Of the Indo-Aryan type Sir Herbert Risley wrote: "The stature is mostly
tall, complexion fair, eyes dark, hair on face plentiful, head long,
nose narrow and prominent, but not specially long." He believed that the
Panjáb was occupied by Aryans, who came into the country from the west
or north-west with their wives and children, and had no need to contract
marriages with the earlier inhabitants. The Aryo-Dravidians of the
United Provinces resulted from a second invasion or invasions, in which
the Aryan warriors came alone and had to intermarry with the daughters
of the land, belonging to the race which forms the staple of the
population of Central India and Madras. This theory was based on
measurements of heads and noses, and it seems probable that deductions
drawn from these physical characters are of more value than any evidence
based on the use of a common speech. But it is hard to reconcile the
theory with the facts of history even in the imperfect shape in which
they have come down to us, or to believe that Sakas, Yuechí, and White
Huns (see historical section) have left no traces of their blood in the
province. If such there are, they may perhaps be found in some of the
tribes on both sides of the Salt Range, such as Gakkhars, Janjúas, Awáns
Tiwánas, Ghebas, and Johdras, who are fine horsemen and expert
tent-peggers, not "tall heavy men without any natural aptitude for
horsemanship," as Sir Herbert Risley described his typical Panjábí (p.
59 of his book).
[Illustration: Fig. 35. Map showing distribution of languages.]
~Languages.~--In the area dealt with in this book no less than eleven
languages are spoken, and the dialects are very numerous. It is only
possible to tabulate the languages and indicate on the map the
localities in which they are spoken. For the Panjáb the figures of the
recent census are:
A 1. Tibeto-Chinese 41,607
B. Aryan:
(_a_) Iranian: 2. Pashtu 67,174
3. Biluchí 70,675
4. Kohistání 26
(_b_) Indian: 5. Kashmírí 7,190
6. Pahárí 993,363
7. Lahndí 4,253,566
8. Sindhí 24
9. Panjábí 14,111,215
10. Western Hindi 3,826,467
11. Rájasthání 725,850
The eastern part of the Indus valley in Kashmír forming the provinces of
Ladákh and Báltistán is occupied by a Mongol population speaking
Tibeto-Chinese dialects. Kashmírí is the language of Kashmír Proper, and
various dialects of the Shina-Khowár group comprehensively described as
Kohistání are spoken in Astor, Gilgit, and Chilás, and to the west of
Kashmír territory in Chitrál and the Kohistán or mountainous country at
the top of the Swát river valley. Though Kashmírí and the Shina-Khowár
tongues belong to the Aryan group, their basis is supposed to be
non-Sanskritic, and it is held that there is a strong non-Sanskritic or
Pisácha element also in Lahndí or western Panjábí, which is also the
prevailing speech in the Hazára and Dera Ismail Khán districts of the
N.W.F. Province, and is spoken in part of the Jammu province of Kashmír.
Pashtu is the common language in Pesháwar, Kohát, and Bannu, and is
spoken on the western frontiers of Hazára and Dera Ismail Khán, and in
the independent tribal territory in the west between the districts of
the N.W.F. Province and the Durand Line and immediately adjoining the
Pesháwar district on the north. Rájasthání is a collective name for the
dialects of Rájputána, which overflow into the Panjáb, occupying a
strip along the southern frontier from Baháwalpur to Gurgáon. The
infiltration of English words and phrases into the languages of the
province is a useful process and as inevitable as was the enrichment of
the old English speech by Norman-French. But for the present the results
are apt to sound grotesque, when the traveller, who expects a train to
start at the appointed time, is told: "_tren late hai, lekin singal down
hogaya_" (the train is late, but the signal has been lowered), or the
criticism is passed on a popular officer: "_bahut affable hai, lekin
hand shake nahín kartá_" (very affable, but doesn't shake hands).
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 3: _Sand Buried Ruins Of Khotan_, pp. 14-15.]