Bhar. [1]—A caste of apparently Dravidian origin found in the eastern
parts of the United Provinces.
They are also known as Râjbhar, Bharat, and Bharpatwa. The word Bhar is
derived by the Pandits from the Sanskrit root bhri, to nourish, but
this is improbable, and it is more likely to be of non-Aryan origin.
Dr. Oppert [2] indulges in some curious speculations on the subject. He
suggests their connection with the Barrhai of Ptolemy (VII–2–20), and
with the Bharatas, a mountain tribe mentioned in connection with the
Sabaras and with the Barbara, Varvara, or Barbarian. The derivation of
large numbers of local names in Upper India from the same source, such
as Bihâr, Bahrâich, Bârabanki, Bareilly, Barhaj, Barhar, and even
Varanasi or Benares, etc., must be accepted with the greatest caution.
[Traditions.] 2. This tribe has given rise to much wild speculation. In
Gorakhpur they claim to be the descendants of, and named from, an early
Kshatriya Râja named Bhâradwâja, whose sons strayed from the ancient
way of life and took to the use of meat and wine. Their descendant
Surha settled in the village of Surauli, and wishing to marry a high
caste Râjput girl, was murdered by her relations, and became an evil
spirit, who does much damage still if he is not duly propitiated. That
they claim to have been once a dominant race in the eastern part of
Oudh and the North-Western Provinces is certain. Thus Sir C. Elliott
writes:—“The scene before us in Oudh at the fall of the historic
curtain is an uninhabited forest country and a large colony of
Sûrajbansis occupying Ajudhya as their capital. When the curtain rises
again we find Ajudhya destroyed, the Sûrajbansis utterly banished, and
a large extent of country ruled over by aborigines, called Cheros in
the Far East, Bhars in the Centre, and Râjpâsis in the West. The great
revolution seems to be satisfactorily explained by the conjecture that
the Bhars, Cheros, etc., were the aborigines whom the Aryans had driven
to the hills, and who, swarming down from thence not long after the
beginning of our era, overwhelmed the Aryan civilisation even in
Ajudhya itself, drove the Sûrajbansis under Kanaksen to emigrate into
distant Gujarât, and spread over all the plain between the Himalayas
and that spur of the Vindhya range which passes through the south of
Mirzapur.” [3] Again we read that the primitive inhabitants of
Sultânpur are said to have been Bhars. “Their character is painted in
the most sombre colours. They are represented to have been
dark-complexioned, ill-favoured, and of mean stature, intemperate in
their habits, and not only devoid of any religious belief themselves,
but addicted to the persecution of those who ventured to profess any.
They are said to have possessed a few scattered and detached fortresses
to serve as rallying points; but to have been otherwise of nomadic and
predatory habits, while their numbers are said to have barely sufficed
to furnish a scanty population to the tract they occupied.” [4] In
support of these pretensions to have been a ruling race in the eastern
part of the Province, numerous old stone forts, embankments, wells, and
subterraneous caverns are attributed to them. Thus the Chiraiyakot
fort, in Ghâzipur, is said to have been their work. [5] The same is the
case with numerous ruins in the Basti and Ghâzipur Districts. [6] The
present town of Bahrâich is said to take its name from them and to have
been their oldest abode, from which they spread southward into Faizâbâd
and Sultânpur. Similarly they are said to have left their name in the
Bhadohi and Barhar parganas of Mirzapur. [7] Two other fortresses of
the Bhars are said to have been Zahurâbâd and Lakhnesar, in Ghâzipur.
[8] In Gorakhpur they are said to have been ousted by the Kausik
Râjputs. Mr. Sherring considers their capital in Mirzapur to have been
Pampapura near Bindhâchal, where extensive ruins and a curious series
of bearded stone figures are attributed to them. [9] In fact,
throughout Oudh and the eastern part of the North-West Provinces every
town the name of which does not end in pur, âbâd, or mau is assigned to
them. [10]
[Historical evidence.] 3. An attempt has been made to support these
traditions by historical evidence. On the evidence of two inscriptions
from Ajaygarh and Kalinjar, in Bundelkhand, and a passage from
Farishta, Mr. W. C. Benett [11] argues “that a man whose name is not
given, but who is described as the founder of his family, possessed
himself of the fort of Ajaygarh. One of his descendants was Malika,
whose brother, Dalki, on the overthrow of the last Kanauj King,
conquered the whole of the Duâb; and Farishta records the utter defeat
and destruction of Dalki and Malki, who had royal forts at Kalinjar and
Karra and held the whole country as far as Mâlwa in their possession,
by Nasir-ud-din Muhammad, the King of Delhi, in 1246 A.D. The universal
tradition of Southern Oudh proves that these princes were really Bhars,
and that the whole of the south of the province as far as the Ghâgra
was included in their dominions.” This theory, however, has failed to
stand further investigation, and the Princes Dalki and Malki are
identified by General Cunningham with the Baghel Râjas Dalakeswar and
Malakeswar. [12] It is probable that out of the same legend has arisen
the worship of Râja Bal, who is specially venerated by Bhars and Ahîrs.
His worship is connected with protection from snake-bite. He is said to
have been one of two Bhar brothers who ruled at Dalmau and Râê Bareli,
and were slain by the Muhammadans in the time of Ibrahim Sharqi of
Jaunpur. In their memory, it is said that the Bharautiya section of
Ahîrs in time of mourning abstain from wearing anklets. Bal Râja is
chiefly worshipped in Râê Bareli, Basti, and Eastern Oudh. He has
76,395 followers. The evidence, then, for an extensive Bhar kingdom in
the eastern part of the Province rests almost entirely on the so-called
Bhar dihs or ancient mounds and forts which abound all over the
country, and on the so-called Bhar tanks, which are distinguished from
those of a later date by being Surajbedi or longer from east to west,
while modern tanks are Chandrabedi or lie north and south. Who may have
been the builders of these monuments, our existing knowledge hardly
entitles us to say with certainty. But that the identification of these
monuments with the Bhars is not in every case to be trusted is proved
by the fact that two buildings at Bihâr, in Partâbgarh, which are
confidently ascribed to the Bhars by a writer in the Oudh Gazetteer,
[13] are proved by General Cunningham to be genuine Buddhist stupas.
[14] Similarly, the identification of the Bhars with the early rulers
of the country presents many features of difficulty. Their
identification with the Ubaræ of Pliny and the Barrhai of Ptolemy [15]
is little more than conjectural. As Sir H. M. Elliot pointed out
[16]:—“It is strange that no trace of Bhars is to be found in the
Purânas, unless we may consider that there is an obscure indication of
them in the Brahma Purâna, where, it is said, that among the
descendants of Jayadhwaja are the Bhâratas, who, it is added, are not
commonly specified on account of their great number, or they may
perhaps be the Bhargas of the Mahâbhârata subdued by Bhimsen on his
Eastern expedition.” To this it has been replied by Mr. Sherring [17]
that, first, Brâhmanical writers generally speak of the Dasyus and
Asuras with superciliousness and contempt, and, secondly, the
abandonment of a considerable tract of country by the Aryans was
dishonourable and not likely to be mentioned. It is, perhaps, possible
that the Bhars, like the Doms, may have established a fairly advanced
civilisation prior to their downfall. But, as Dr. Tylor
remarks:—“Degeneration probably operates even more actively in the
lower than the higher culture,” [18] and we must be cautious in
identifying the race of fort and tank builders with the existing Bhars
mainly on the uncertain evidence of popular tradition. Whoever these
people were, they probably succumbed before the eastern emigration of
the Râjput tribes contemporaneous with the fall of Kanauj and the
invasion of Shahâb-ud-dîn Ghori. In Azamgarh and Ghâzipur they were
driven out by the Sengar tribe, who reckon fifteen generations since
their immigration; in Mirzapur and the adjoining part of Allahâbâd by
the Gaharwâr; in Bhadohi, north of the Ganges, by the Monas, and
further west, in Allahâbâd, by the Bais, Sonak, Tissyâl, Bisen, and
Nanwak; in Faizâbâd and Eastern Oudh by the Bais; and in Gorakhpur by
the Kausik. “The overthrow of the Bhars was followed by the
establishment, much as we find them now, of the principal elements of
modern Oudh society. The country was divided into a number of small
chieftainships, ruled over by clans who, whatever their real origin may
have been, all professed themselves to be of the ruling caste of
Chhatris. Many of these, such as the Kânhpuriyas of Partâbgarh, the
Gaurs of Hardoi, and their offshoot the Amethiyas of Râê Bareli are
probably descendants of men or tribes who flourished under the low
caste government.” [19] How far this process may have gone on is one of
the problems connected with the Râjput Ethnology of the eastern part of
the Province. Mr. Carnegy was of opinion that the more respectable and
influential Râjput clansmen may have fled before the then dominant
rulers of the serpent race or of the followers of Buddha; but that the
mass of the Chhatris remained and were in fact none other than the
Bhars, Cheros, and the like, and that the final overthrow of these
degraded races after the fall of Delhi was neither more nor less than
the restoration of Râjput influence in those parts where it had been
dormant, and the social reclamation of the Bhars. [20] Mr. V. A.
Smith[20] again believes them to have been Jains, and Mr. Millett
thinks them to be probably of Scythic origin, and that the termination
of their influence was coeval with the first Aryan invasion. [21] The
most probable supposition is that the Bhars were a Dravidian race
closely allied to the Kols, Cheros, and Seoris, who at an early date
succumbed to the invading Aryans. This is borne out by their appearance
and physique, which closely resemble that of the undoubted non-Aryan
aborigines of the Vindhyan Kaimûr plateau.
[Internal structure.] 4. The last Census classes the Bhars under the
main sub-castes of Bhâradwâj, Kanaujiya, and Râjbhar. We find among the
locally more important sub-castes the Hela of Benares, the Goriya of
Jaunpur; in Ghâzipur, the Baltent, Dhelphor, Dhongiya, Kharwâra,
Khutant, Kinwâr, Kuntel, Maunas, Pataun, Sarpos; in Ballia, the
Dhelphor and Kulwant; in Faizâbâd, the Bhagta, Gangoha, and Râêdâs; and
in Bahrâich, the Patolbans. The Bhars of Mirzapur name three endogamous
sub-divisions—Bhar Bhuînhâr, Râjbhar, and Dusâdha. The local Pâsis
represent the Bhars as merely a sub-caste of their tribe; but this is
denied by the Bhars themselves. The Bhar Bhuînhâr assert that they are
the remnant of the ruling race among the Bhars. In support of this they
wear the sacred thread, and have begun generally to call themselves
Sûrajbansi Râjputs. The other Bhars, they say, are the descendants of a
single pregnant woman who escaped the general massacre of the tribe by
the Turks or Muhammadans. The Dusâdha Bhars are not acknowledged by the
Dusâdhs themselves, but the Bhars claim them as a regular sub-caste.
[Exogamy.] 5. Bhars have the usual rule of exogamy, that is they will
not intermarry in their own family or in that of their maternal uncle
and father’s sister until four or five generations have elapsed. They
prefer to marry in those families with whom they have been accustomed
for generations to eat and smoke. In Gorakhpur the usual sevenfold
division is made up of the Bhar, Râjbhar, Musahar, Godiya, Chain,
Patiwân, and Tiyar, in which we have several different, but possibly
originally cognate tribes mixed up. In Azamgarh [22] they name several
sub-castes—Bhar, Râjbhar, Biyâr, Patiwân, Bind, and Jonkaha or
“leech-finders.” Of these the Bind and Biyâr are practically
independent castes, and have here been accordingly treated separately.
In Azamgarh the Bhars are reckoned outcasts, but the Râjbhar are
counted among Hindus. There the special title of the Râjbhars is
Patait, and of the common Bhars Khuntait. The latter rear pigs, which
the former do not. These divisions intermarry, but the families who do
not keep pigs will not marry with those who do. Intercourse between the
sexes is regulated by no strict rule. If an unmarried girl intrigue
with a clansman they are married after a fine is exacted from the
girl’s father by the tribal council. A man may take a second wife in
the lifetime of the first, with her consent, which is generally given,
as it relieves her of household work. [23] In Azamgarh the tendency
seems to be towards monogamy, and a second marriage is allowed only
when the first wife is barren, insane, or hopelessly diseased. When a
second wife is taken she is usually a younger sister or close relation
of the first. Concubinage is not permitted. They have a strong
representative council (panchâyat), which is presided over by a
chairman (chaudhari), whose office is hereditary. The council deals
with offences in connection with marriage and caste usages.
Illegitimate children by women of other castes follow the caste of the
father, but are not allowed to eat, smoke, or intermarry with
legitimate Bhars. Widow marriage is permitted. Widows generally marry
widowers. The levirate is permitted but not enforced.
[Rules of marriage.] 6. In the marriage of a widow by sagâi the
bridegroom, accompanied by his friends, goes to the house of the widow,
where he pays a nominal sum as the bride-price. They are all
entertained on pork, boiled rice, and pulse. The bride is dressed in
ornaments and clothes provided by her suitor. Next morning he brings
her home and announces the union by feeding his clansmen. If he be not
a widower he has to perform a special ceremony. The bride and
bridegroom sit opposite each other, and a silver ring is placed between
them. The Pandit repeats some verses, during the recital of which the
bridegroom marks the ring five times with red lead. He then puts on the
ring, and never takes it off during his life. Girls are usually married
at the age of five or seven. In Azamgarh marriages are reported to take
place usually when the girl is nine years of age. A girl above ten is
known as rajaswâli, and it is a disgrace not to have her married. The
bride-price payable by the friends of the bridegroom is two-and-a-half
rupees and a sheet for the bride. In Azamgarh no bride-price is paid,
and if the bridegroom’s family is poor his friends contribute something
to the marriage expenses, which is known as tilak. Any serious physical
defect appearing in either party after marriage is recognised as a
valid ground for divorce. A wife cannot be divorced except for adultery
with a stranger to the caste. The divorce must be with the leave of the
tribal council, who will accept no evidence short of that of actual
eye-witnesses. Marriage negotiations are carried on by the maternal
uncle of the boy. When the match is settled the bride’s father goes to
the boy’s house and gives him a rupee. Then on a fixed day he returns
with some of his clansmen “to drink water” (pâni pîni kâ din). A square
(chauk) is formed in the court-yard, in which the boy and his future
father-in-law sit opposite each other. The bride’s father marks the
boy’s forehead with rice and curds, and he and his party are
entertained on rice, pork, goat’s flesh, and wine. On this day, with
the approval of the Pandit, the wedding day is fixed. The ritual is of
the usual type. It begins with the matmangar, or collection of earth,
as practised by allied castes. Then the pavilion (mânro) is set up at
both houses, in which a plough-share and plantain stems are fixed, near
which the family rice-pounder and corn-mill are placed. That day the
Pandit makes the boy wear an amulet to keep off evil spirits. This
contains some mango leaves, an iron ring, and some mustard seed. Next
follows the anointing (ubtauni), and the sacrifice of a young pig to
Agwân Deva, the Pânchonpîr, and Phûlmati Devi. At the last Census
25,069 people recorded themselves as worshippers of Agwân Deva.
According to Mr. Baillie the word means “a leader and may be the priest
(pujâri) in any temple. One District note states that Agwân is a
disease godling, the son of Râja Ben, and, therefore, brother to the
seven small-pox sisters.” With many of the lower castes to the east of
the province he seems to be connected with the worship of fire (agni)
in the form of the homa. The higher class Bhars sacrifice a goat
instead of a pig to the Pânchonpîr. As the procession starts the usual
incantation ceremony (parachhan) is done by the boy’s mother. The rest
of the ritual is of the usual type. At the bride’s door the Pandit
worships Gauri and Ganesa, and the pair, with their clothes knotted
together, move five times round the centre pole of the shed. Next
follows the ceremony in the retiring room (kohabar), where jokes are
played on the boy by the bride’s father’s sister, who will not desist
until she gets a present. The rest of the ceremonial is of the
customary type.
[Birth ceremony.] 7. During pregnancy the oldest woman in the family
waves a pice or a handful of grain over the woman’s head, and vows to
offer a pig to Birtiha (who is regarded as a village deity, dih), and
to Phûlmati Devi, if the confinement is easy. The Chamâin midwife cuts
the cord with a sickle and buries it in the delivery room: a fire is
lighted over it, and kept burning during the period of pollution. After
the sixth day ceremony (chhathi) the barber’s wife takes the place of
the midwife. The birth pollution ceases on the twelfth day (barahi)
when the father offers a pig and some wine to Birtiha Deva. On her
first visit to the well the mother worships it and lays a little washed
rice (achhat) on the platform. The husband does not cohabit with his
wife for six months after her confinement. [24] The only initiation
ceremony is the usual ear-boring (kanchhedan, kanbedha), which is done
at the age of five or six. After this the child must observe the caste
rules of food.
[Death ceremonies.] 8. The dead, except those who are unmarried or
those dying of cholera or small-pox, are cremated. The others are
buried or their corpses thrown into running water. Within six months
they are cremated in effigy with the usual ritual. The death pollution
lasts ten days, during which, daily, the chief mourner pours water on a
bunch of kusa grass fixed in the ground on the edge of a tank as a
dwelling place for the disembodied spirit. He also daily lays out a
little food for the ghost. They shave on the tenth day and offer sacred
balls (pinda) in the usual way. On that day uncooked grain (sîdha) is
given to Brâhmans, and the clansmen are fed on pork, boiled rice, and
wine.
[Religion.] 9. Bhars are hardly ever initiated into any one of the
regular Hindu sects. Their tribal deities are Agwân Deva, Phûlmati
Bhawâni, the Pânchonpîr, generally represented by Parihâr, and a
deified ghost known as Bânru Bîr. The Pânchonpîr are worshipped in the
months of Jeth or Kuâr with fowls and cakes (malîda). The other deities
require the sacrifice of a pig or goat and an oblation of wine. In
Gorakhpur the tribal godlings are Kâlika and Kâshi Dâs Bâba, a deified
Bhût. His platform is in a jungle in the Deoriya Tahsîl. There they go
once a year to worship him with an offering of cakes, rice, milk, and
curds. Kâlika is worshipped in the house or in the field when it is
ready for the sowing of the spring crop. Her favourite offering is a
young, fat pig. According to Mr. Baillie, Kâshi Dâs is particularly
worshipped by Ahîrs in the Eastern Districts. It is uncertain whether
in life he was a Brâhman or an Ahîr. His votaries number, according to
the last Census returns, 172,599. [25] They have the usual feast to the
dead in Kuâr. Their religious duties are done by Brâhmans of the low
village class. They observe the festivals of the Phagua, Dasami,
Diwâli, Kajari, Khichari, and Tîj. A special sacrifice of a pig is made
to the evil spirits who reside in the old fig trees of the village.
This is done in Aghan. Some go to Gaya to perform the srâddha ceremony.
The pîpal tree is regarded as the abode of Vasudeva, and women bow and
cover their faces as they pass it.
[Social customs.] 10. Women are tattooed on the arms. A pig or an ass
is regarded as a lucky meeting omen. Women wear glass bangles (chûri)
on the wrist, bead necklaces, nose rings (nathiya), ear ornaments
(karanphûl), and anklets (pairi). Men wear a gold coin (mohar) round
the neck. Children have two names, one given by the Pandit, which is
kept secret, and the other, for ordinary use, selected by the parents.
They swear on Ganges water, on the head of a son, and standing in
water, and in the phrases Râma kriya, Râma duhâi, Ganga mâi kriya,
Bhawâni kriya. They believe in magic and witchcraft, but do not
practice these arts themselves. They believe in demoniacal possession
and the Evil-eye, and in such cases call in an Ojha to treat the
patient. They will not kill the cow. They will not touch a Dhobi, Hela,
Dom, or Dharkâr, nor the younger brother’s wife, nor the wife of the
senior brother-in-law. They will not call their wives by their name.
They drink liquor freely and eat the flesh of goats, sheep, deer, etc.,
but they will not eat the meat of the cow, crocodile, monkey, horse,
jackal, or fowls. During the fortnight in Kuâr sacred to the worship of
the sainted dead (pitra paksha), they abstain from meat. Among
themselves they use the salutation salâm, and address other low castes
in the form Râm! Râm! which is also used to the father-in-law of their
daughters. Women who assist the men in work are treated fairly well.
They eat kachchi and pakki cooked by Brâhmans. Like all Hindus they eat
pakki cooked by Halwâis or Chhatris, and, in fact, all Vaisyas, except
Kalwârs, Doms, Dharkârs, and similar menials, eat kachchi cooked by
them.
[Occupation.] 11. They are usually employed as day-labourers and
ploughmen. A few are tenants without occupancy rights. Some of them
have rather an equivocal reputation. They are occasionally burglars and
field thieves, and they have been known to combine for road robbery and
dacoity. The Bhars of Bhadohi, in the Mirzapur District, are nothing
short of a pest to their respectable neighbours at harvest time, and
much of the labour spent on field watching is due to their
depredations. Of the Oudh Bhars [26] it is said—“In appearance they
resemble low caste Hindus, Koris, and Chamârs; and I have not noticed
any Mongolian traits in their physiognomy. They have, however, one
striking peculiarity in common with the Thârus—their hatred of the
cultivated plain. When land has attained a certain pitch of cultivation
they always leave it for some less hospitable spot, and their lives are
spent in wandering from jungle to jungle. They commence the struggle
with nature, and after the first and most difficult victory over
disease and wild beasts, leave it to the Kurmis and Ahîrs to gather the
fruits of their desultory energy. They are very timid, very honest and
keen sportsmen, untiring in pursuit, and excellent shots with their
long guns. They show the influence of orthodox Hinduism in sparing the
nîlgâi, but are fond of the flesh of pigs, washing down their feasts
with copious draughts of spirits of rice or mahua.” They offer goats to
Samai, and decapitate chickens before the snake god Kârê Deo. Their
worship of Banspati Mâi is more Hindu in its character, and their pure
offering of grain and clarified butter are handed over to be eaten by a
Brâhman. The worshippers of Banspati Mâi according to the last Census
returns amounted to 16,489 persons. Marriages are contracted without
the intervention of a Pandit, and with the rites in use among other low
castes, such as Koris and Chamârs. With a magnificent assumption of
rights not recognised by our law, a bride’s father makes over in gift
(sankalpa) to the bridegroom a small patch of forest to clear and
cultivate. [27]