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District. |Bhatnâgar. |Jagjâdon. |Kaithiya. |Kanaujiya. |Kându. |Râthaur. |Saksena. |Sribâstab. |Others. |Musalmâns. | Total.
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Dehra Dûn | ... | ... | ... | 281 | ... | ... | ... | ... | 72 | ... | 353
Sahâranpur | 58 | ... | 30 | 48 | ... | ... | ... | ... | 1,211 | 1,103 | 2,450
Muzaffarnagar | 451 | 690 | 632 | 18 | ... | ... | ... | ... | 71 | 188 | 2,050
Meerut | ... | 85 | 2,040 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | 1,123 | 126 | 3,374
Bulandshahr | ... | 144 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | 54 | 520 | 1,881 | 2,599
Aligarh | ... | ... | 104 | ... | ... | 24 | ... | ... | 1,407 | 670 | 2,205
Mathura | 1 | 38 | ... | ... | ... | 6 | 10 | ... | 510 | 10 | 575
Agra | ... | 41 | 503 | ... | ... | 2 | 321 | 102 | 1,163 | 328 | 2,460
Farrukhâbâd | ... | ... | 4,228 | 195 | ... | ... | 5,169 | 252 | 220 | 113 | 10,177
Mainpuri | ... | ... | 2,269 | 365 | ... | ... | 2,210 | 252 | 76 | 67 | 5,239
Etâwah | ... | ... | 2,859 | 128 | ... | ... | 1,348 | 427 | 181 | 7 | 4,950
Etah | ... | ... | 874 | ... | ... | ... | 1,055 | 7 | 273 | 227 | 2,436
Bareilly | ... | 320 | 288 | 362 | ... | ... | 7,591 | ... | 1,127 | ... | 9,688
Bijnor | ... | 602 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | 440 | 901 | 1,943
Budâun | ... | 18 | 528 | ... | ... | ... | 4,481 | 47 | 210 | 746 | 6,030
Morâdâbâd | 179 | 1,329 | 448 | ... | ... | ... | 1,461 | 5 | 1,143 | 499 | 5,064
Shâhjahânpur | ... | ... | 2,152 | 240 | ... | 3 | 12,517 | 357 | 453 | ... | 15,722
Pilibhît | ... | 11 | 442 | 70 | 30 | 2 | 4,198 | 33 | 380 | 83 | 5,249
Cawnpur | ... | ... | 338 | 8,362 | 142 | 166 | 435 | 55 | 645 | 1 | 10,144
Fatehpur | ... | ... | ... | 6,934 | ... | 32 | ... | ... | 705 | ... | 7,671
Bânda | ... | ... | ... | 5,683 | ... | ... | ... | 71 | 1,609 | ... | 7,363
Hamîrpur | ... | ... | 90 | 2,526 | ... | ... | 14 | 293 | 96 | ... | 3,019
Allahâbâd | ... | ... | ... | 13,631 | ... | ... | 16 | 21 | 613 | ... | 14,281
Jhânsi | ... | ... | 39 | 14 | 8 | ... | 32 | 168 | 139 | 23 | 423
Jâlaun | ... | ... | 597 | 187 | ... | 2 | 129 | 169 | 91 | 300 | 1,475
Lalitpur | ... | ... | ... | 8 | ... | ... | ... | 26 | 18 | ... | 52
Benares | ... | ... | ... | 1,509 | 50 | ... | ... | ... | 703 | ... | 2,262
Mirzapur | ... | ... | ... | 4,901 | 53 | ... | ... | ... | 309 | ... | 5,263
Jaunpur | ... | ... | ... | 11,324 | ... | ... | ... | ... | 383 | ... | 11,707
Ghâzipur | ... | ... | ... | 80 | ... | ... | ... | ... | 70 | ... | 150
Gorakhpur | ... | ... | ... | 5,816 | 204 | ... | ... | ... | 792 | ... | 6,812
Basti | ... | ... | ... | 9,845 | ... | ... | ... | ... | 96 | ... | 9,941
Azamgarh | ... | ... | ... | 142 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | 142
Tarâi | ... | 261 | ... | ... | ... | ... | 755 | ... | 43 | 22 | 1,081
Lucknow | ... | ... | ... | 5,013 | 159 | 1,745 | 3 | ... | 1,266 | 4 | 8,190
Unâo | ... | ... | 251 | 3,209 | ... | 400 | 48 | 11 | 3,204 | ... | 7,123
Râê Bareli | ... | ... | 73 | 10,018 | 103 | 584 | ... | ... | 1,099 | ... | 11,877
Sîtapur | ... | ... | 3 | 8,159 | 147 | ... | 884 | 2,365 | 1,801 | 193 | 13,552
Hardoi | ... | ... | 1,080 | 30 | 25 | ... |13,855 | ... | 426 | ... | 15,416
Kheri | ... | ... | 186 | 4,476 | ... | ... | 3,300 | 1,805 | 948 | 87 | 10,802
Faizâbâd | ... | ... | ... | 8,040 | ... | ... | ... | ... | 222 | ... | 8,262
Gonda | ... | ... | ... | 16,539 | ... | 168 | ... | ... | 18 | 41 | 16,766
Bahrâich | ... | ... | ... | 10,317 | 235 | 1,227 | ... | 2 | 50 | 327 | 12,158
Sultânpur | ... | ... | ... | 14,082 | 460 | ... | ... | ... | 576 | 15 | 15,133
Partâbgarh | ... | ... | ... | 8,240 | ... | ... | ... | ... | 312 | ... | 8,552
Bârabanki | ... | ... | ... | 10,894 | 1,413 | ... | ... | ... | 4,670 | 1,047 | 18,024
+~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~
Total | 689 | 3,539 | 20,054 | 171,686 | 3,029 | 4,361 | 59,832 | 6,522 | 31,484 | 9,009 |310,205
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Bharsaiyân, Bharsiyân.—A sept of Râjputs found in Sultânpur. The word
is a corruption of Bhainsauliyân, or natives of Bhainsaul, whence the
sept derives its origin. They are not shown separately in the returns
of the last Census. They are said to be originally Chauhâns of
Mainpuri. Their leader into Oudh was Karan Sinh, who married into a
Bais family. One of his successors, Bâz Sinh, was converted to Islâm in
the reign of Shîr Shâh, and received the title of Khân-i-Âzam
Bhainsauliyân. His descendants are manifestly the Chauhân-i-nau-Muslim,
alluded to in the Aîn-i-Akbari as occupying the Inhauna Pargana. [31]
Bhât. [32]—(Sanskrit, bhatta, “lord,” probably connected with bhartri,
“a cherisher,” “nourisher”).—A caste of family bards and genealogists.
Traditionally they are generally supposed to be descended from the
intercourse of a Chhatri and a Brâhman widow. Many legends are told of
their origin. Some believe them to be “the modern representatives of
the Magadha spoken of in Manu as the offspring of a Vaisya father and a
Kshatriya mother. Lassen regards this mythical pedigree as a
theoretical explanation of the fact that the professional singers of
the praises of great men had come by Manu’s time to be regarded a
distinct class. Zimmer, on the other hand, seems to take the tradition
more seriously and speaks of the Magadha as a “mixed class,” out of
which, as we learn by numerous passages in later writings, a guild of
singers arose, who devoting themselves to the deeds of the
Kosala-Videha and Kuru Panchâla may have laid the foundation of the
epic poems.” [33] Sir John Malcolm says [34]:—“According to the fable
of their origin, Mahâdeva first created Bhâts to attend to his lion and
bull; but the former killing the latter every day gave him infinite
vexation and trouble in creating new ones. He, therefore formed the
Châran, equally devout as the Bhât, but of bolder spirit, and gave him
charge of these favourite animals. From that period no bull was ever
destroyed by the lion.” By another account:—“Once upon a time Brahma
performed a sacrifice when two men appeared and stood before the
sacrificial fire. When Mahâkâli saw that they were dying of thirst she
gave them suck from her breasts, and named them Mâgadha and Sûta. The
Mâgadha Brâhmans settled in the East and the Bhât Brâhmans are their
descendants; the Sûta settled in the West, and from them sprang the
Bhâts.” By another legend, when Kâli destroyed the Râkshasas she formed
a figure out of her sweat and breathed life into it, so that it might
record her victory.
2. Again, according to Mr. Nesfield, the Bhâts are an “offshoot from
those secularised Brâhmans 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
Bhât at the present day. The ancient epic known as the Mahâbhârata
speaks of a band of bards and eulogists marching in front of
Yudhishthira as he made his progress from the field of Kurukshetra
towards Hastinapur. But these very men are spoken of in the same poem
as Brâhmans. Nothing could be more natural than that, as time went on,
these courtier-priests should have become hereditary bards, who receded
from the parent stem and founded a new caste bound together by mutual
interests and sympathies. There are several facts in support of this
theory, that one of the sub-castes is called Baram or Biram Bhât; that
some Gaur Brâhmans still act as bards and genealogists; that the Bhât
still wears the sacred thread, and is addressed by the lower caste by
the Brâhman title of Mahârâja; and lastly, that by an obvious survival
of Brâhmanical titles, the Bhât’s employer is called jajmân, “he who
gives the sacrifice,” while the Bhât himself is jagwa jâjak or jâchak,
“the priest by whom the sacrifice is performed.” To this Mr. Risley
objects that “if the Bhâts of the present day are descended solely from
a class of degraded Brâhmans, if, in other words, they are a
homogeneous offshoot from the priestly class, how do they come to have
a number of sections which are certainly not Brâhmanical, and which
appear rather to resemble the territorial exogamous groups common among
the Râjputs? Brâhmans, however degraded, hold fast to their
characteristic series of eponymous sections, and I know of no case in
which it can be shown that they have adopted section names of a
different type. On the other hand, there is nothing specially
improbable in the conjecture that Râjputs may have taken up the
profession of bard to the chiefs of their tribe, and thus may, in
course of time, have become incorporated in the Bhât caste. It will be
seen that this solution of the difficulty in no way conflicts with Mr.
Nesfield’s view, but merely modifies it by introducing a second factor
into the formation of the caste. Mr. Nesfield regards the Bhâts as a
homogeneous functional group thrown off by the Brâhmans. I look upon
them as a heterogeneous group made up of Brâhmans and Râjputs welded
together into one caste by virtue of their exercising similar
functions. I may add, however, that the inviolability of the Bhât’s
person, which was admitted in Western India towards the end of the last
century, makes rather for Mr. Nesfield’s view than for mine; while the
theory of Roth and Zimmer, that the first germ of the Brâhman caste is
to be sought in the singers of Vedic times, may perhaps be deemed to
tell in the same direction.” At the last Census the Bhâts were recorded
under no less than nine hundred and sixty-eight sub-castes for the
Hindu and one hundred and sixty-one for the Muhammadan branch. The
analysis of the sub-castes goes on the whole to support Mr. Risley’s
theory. We find very few distinctively Brâhmanical titles, such as
Achârya, Bhâradwâja, Dikshit, Gangaputra, Gaur, Sândilya, Sâraswata, or
Sarwariya, but many either of purely local origin, such as Bhatnâgar,
Dakkhinwâr, Dalpuriya, Dilliwâl, Hamîrpuri, Hastinapuri, Jaiswâr,
Jaunpuriya, Mathuriya, and the like; and many derived from the names of
existing Râjput or other tribes, such as Bargûjar, Bargyân, Bhadauriya,
Bundel, Chandrabansi, Kachhwâha, Râthaur, Sakarwâr, and so on.
[Internal structure.] 3. The structural division of the caste is not
very well defined. At the last Census in these Provinces they were
recorded under nine main endogamous sub-castes: Bhâradwâja, “the lark,
the bringer of food,” which is a gotra title common to Brâhmans and
other castes; Biram or Brâhman Bhâts; Dasaundhi, of which there are at
least two derivations, either from the Hindi dasaundh, or “receiver of
tithes,” or Sanskrit dasa-vandika, in the sense of “reader of the
stars,” “an astrologer,” which is more probable; Gajbhîm; Jâga
(Sanskrit yakshya, “to be sacrificed or worshipped”); Keliya;
Mahâpâtra; Râê; and Râjbhât. Among the sub-castes locally important we
find in Bulandshahr the Sapahar; in Mathura, the Barwâr; in Etâwah, the
Athsaila and Barwa; in Cawnpur, the Lâhauri; in Allahâbâd, the Gangwâr;
in Ghâzipur, the Bandijan; in Azamgarh, the Lakhauriya; in Unâo and
Sîtapur, the Kanaujiya; in Râê Bareli, the Amlakhiya; in Faizâbâd, the
Athsaila, Bandijan Dakkhinwâr, and Gangwâr; in Gonda, the Basoriya; in
Sultânpur, the Gadh, Gangwâr, Madhuriya, and Râna; in Partâbgarh, the
Gadhwa, Gangwâr, and Jujhaina; in Bârabanki, the Basodhiya. Sir H. M.
Elliot has given a very complete account of the Bhâts in these
provinces:—“By some tribes the Bhât and Jâga are considered synonymous,
but those who pretend to greater accuracy distinguish them by calling
the former Birmbhât or Bâdi, and the latter Jâgabhât. The former recite
the deeds of ancestors at weddings and other festive occasions; the
latter keep the family records, particularly of Râjputs, and are
entitled by right of succession to retain the office, whereas the
Birmbhâts are hired and paid for the particular occasion. Jâgabhâts pay
visits to their constituents every two or three years, and receive
perquisites to which they are entitled. After recording all the births
which have taken place since their last tour, they are remunerated with
rupees, cattle, or clothes, according to the ability of the registering
party. Those of the North-Western Râjputs generally reside between the
borders of Râjputâna and the Delhi territory. Many also live at
Dâranagar on the Ganges, and travel to the remote East to collect their
fees; whereas the Birmbhâts are resident in towns and do not emigrate
periodically. Both of these classes are held in the same dread for
their exactions, which are satisfied by their constituents for fear of
being lampooned and paraded in effigy before the other members of the
family. Several communities of Bhâts reside in the north of Oudh, and a
few are scattered over these Provinces. In Rohilkhand the occupation of
Bhâts as bards is frequently usurped by Gaur Brâhmans. There are
several sub-divisions of the Bhâts of these provinces, and an attempt
is sometimes made, as with many other classes, to reduce them to the
definite number of seven, viz.—Athsaila, Mahâpâtra, Keliya,
Mainpuriwâla, Jangira, Bhatara, and Dasaundhi. But there are several
which are not included under these heads, as Chaurâsi, Gajbhîm,
Chungelê, Gujariwâla, Sikatpuriya, Nagauri, Barua, etc., which shows
that the classification into seven is not correct.
4. This, however, does not exhaust the sub-divisions of the Bhâts.
Thus, in Mirzapur, they are divided into the Jagawa or Jâga, Barpagwa,
“those who wear a large turban,” Phulwariya, “of the flower garden,”
Dasaundhi, Kavirâj, or poets, Kewat kê Bhât, or those attached to the
Kewat caste, and the Musalmâni. The Hindu Bhâts have, besides, a number
of gotras or sections which are identical with those of Brâhmans. The
Dasaundhi, again, who call themselves Jasaundhi, and derive their name
from the Hindi jas, Sanskrit, yasas, “glory,” are sub-divided into
Kalsa, Pâtha, and Kulîn. In Hardoi they give their sub-divisions as
Keliya, Mahâpâtra or “prime minister,” Athsaila, Bhâradwâja,
Mohanmûrat, Bhatara, Changelê, and Brahmbhât. In Râê Bareli they give
their sub-divisions as Banswariya, Mahâpâtra, Keliya, Athsaila,
Gajbhîm, Gohorwâriwâl, Jaisari kâ Bhatra, Pihâniwâl, Mainpuri kâ
Bhâtra, Pitarpuri Rauwa, Senbasiya, Kuttaha, Dospuriya, Pipariha,
Dukanha, Gangwâr, Bhagtaha, Majhgânwiya, Sirohiwâl, Lahariwâl,
Nagrauiyân, Ghoraha, Nabinagar kâ langota, Garhwapâri, Chaurasiya, and
Katiha. These are said to be exogamous sections, many of which are of
the territorial type. Among these the Keliya, Mahâpâtra, Banswariya,
Athsaila, Gajbhîm, Gohorwariwâl, and Jaisari kâ Bhâtra are regarded as
superior and practise a form of hypergamy, taking brides from the other
sections, but not giving them their daughters in return. In Bareilly,
again, there are two sub-divisions of the Jâga sub-caste who are
Muhammadans—the Sârhê tîn ghar or “three and a half houses,” and the
Das ghar or “ten houses,” of whom the former practise hypergamy with
the latter.
[Marriage rules.] 5. Where there are exogamous sections or gotras the
rule of exogamy follows the standard formula as in the case of the
higher castes; in other places, as in Mirzapur, they will not marry
their sister’s daughter, father’s sister’s daughter, brother-in-law’s
daughter, maternal uncle’s daughter, or any member of their own family
(kul). They can marry a sister-in-law, but not if she be older than the
first wife, because, by virtue of the giving away of the bride
(kanyâdân), the younger sister is considered daughter of the elder.
Marriage is carried out in infancy, and it is only when the parents are
very poor that the marriage of a daughter is deferred until puberty,
and then it involves social discredit. It is usual for parents to give
a dowry with the bride, which becomes the property of the bridegroom’s
parents. Some of the poorer Bhâts take a bride-price; but this is
considered disgraceful. This payment, however, appears to be generally
given by old men or widowers who would otherwise find it difficult to
marry. Widow marriage and the levirate are both prohibited.
[Domestic ceremonies.] 6. All the domestic ceremonies are of the
orthodox type. When a son is born the Nandi mukh srâddha is performed,
and in marriage the giving away of the bride (kanyâdân) is the binding
part of the ceremony. They follow the ordinary Hindu law of
inheritance.
[The Muhammadan Bhâts.] 7. Those in the Eastern Districts have an
absurd story that they were in the service of Chait Sinh and were
forcibly converted to Islâm by Mr. Jonathan Duncan in revenge for some
advice they gave to their master. Others to the West say that they were
converted by the orders of Shahâb-ud-dîn Ghori. They practise a curious
mixture of Hindu and Muhammadan rites. At marriage they call in a
Pandit, collect the sacred earth (matmangar), erect a marriage shed,
give away the bride, and make the pair perform the usual
circumambulations. When this is all over they send for the Qâzi, and
the nikâh is read in the usual Muhammadan fashion. They are a miserable
sort of people, who wander about singing at respectable houses. They
are more violent and abusive in their language if not suitably rewarded
than their Hindu brethren. In Mirzapur they have exogamous
sub-divisions, such as Jâga, Kanjriwâl, or those attached to the Kanjar
vagrants, Khawâni, Râjbhât, and Bandijan. In some places the title of
Jâga seems to be appropriated to them. They circumcise their boys and
bury their dead in the usual Muhammadan fashion, but they do a sort of
srâddha and pay annual worship to the spirits of the dead as Hindus do.
[The religion of the Hindu Bhâts.] 8. The Hindu Bhâts are orthodox
Hindus. They are usually either Vaishnavas or Sâktas. In Mirzapur, they
worship, in addition to the ordinary gods, of whom the most venerated
is Siva in the form of Gauripati, Barê Bîr, Mahâbîr, and Sârda. Barê
Bîr, who appears to be the deified ghost of some worthy of the tribe,
is honoured by making a plastered square in the court-yard and placing
within it a lighted lamp. To Gauripati they offer a burnt sacrifice
(hom) and some sweets (laddu) on the last day of Baisâkh in the family
kitchen. Mahâbîr is worshipped on a Tuesday in the month of Baisâkh by
painting a representation of him on the back of a brass tray with red
lead. This is placed on a stool, and the eldest male or female member
of the family bathes, marks his or her forehead with sandal, and offers
to the god sweet cakes (rot), laddu sweetmeats, a Brâhmanical thread
(janeû), garlands of flowers, a small loin cloth (langoti), and a
head-dress (pâta). Then a fire sacrifice (hom) is made, and the
articles offered are distributed among the members of the family. By
the Census Returns only 381 persons have recorded themselves as
exclusive worshippers of Mahâbîr; but this is made up for by 937,493
worshippers of Hanumân. Sârda is a corruption of the name of the
goddess Saraswati, the patroness of learning; she is not worshipped in
any systematic way, but is invoked whenever they commence their
recitations. The Census shows that Saraswati has 5,311 exclusive
worshippers. In common with many of the lower castes, they also worship
Birtiya on a Wednesday in the month of Aghan. A Chamâr Ojha is
selected, and he in front of the house makes a sacrifice of a young pig
and some turmeric. The head of the victim is buried deep in the ground,
and the rest of the meat is taken by the Ojha, who also gets some
uncooked grain and a few pice. Their other domestic ceremonies are done
by Sarwariya Brâhmans. In other parts of the Eastern Districts they
worship Bhawâni and Devi, particularly when epidemic disease prevails.
[The Chârans.] 9. No account of the Bhâts would be complete without
some reference to the Chârans, though they are hardly to be found in
this part of India. In Gujarât they are Vaishnavas, and find employment
in the Courts of Native Princes or in the families of private
gentlemen. Many go from place to place and earn a living by reciting
the pedigrees and family achievements of those from whom they ask alms.
They wear on their persons a variety of ornaments, such as the earring,
necklace, anklets, etc., and by way of arms they carry a sort of sword.
They are cultivators and have enough money to lend at interest. There
are not a few who stand security for a consideration. They are a
warm-blooded and passionate people, as many acts of theirs in past
times testify. [35] They had, some years ago, a ready way of extorting
money, or the fulfilment of a pledge made to them. If a man refused to
keep a promise made to them they brought a girl or an old woman of
their family to the house of the defaulter and threatened to kill or
did actually kill her. Not a century ago the faith placed in the word
of a Bhât was perhaps the only way of obtaining the feeling of security
necessary to conduct business of any kind. All men, from the prince to
the peasant, trusted to the Bhât or Châran that he would keep his word
or die. Soon after the advent of the British the use of this
intermediary collapsed, and the bad points in his character came into
relief; but his good work in past times should not be overlooked. By
violent threats to kill some member of their family, the Bhâts for a
long time, and up to quite recent times, were able to extort money or
the accomplishment of any promise made to them; but the late Mahârâja
Khandê Râo enacted a special provision of law to meet these cases of
extortion, and put an end to them. The Bhât women are as bold, voluble,
and ready in retort as the men. When a Bhât woman passes a male
caste-fellow on the road, it is the latter who raises a piece of cloth
to his face till the woman is out of sight.
10. The Chârans, [36] as they are called, still fill a large place in
the society of Western India, though their services as bards and
genealogists are less in demand than they were in the old days. They
are, nevertheless, considered, from their calling, to bear a sacred
character, and any injury done to one of them will bring down an
anathema on the head of the evil-doer, which no amount of penance will
wash away. The awe they inspire is as great with the Râjput chief as
with the illiterate Bhîl. They are also the principal carriers of the
country, and as such enjoy immunity from taxation, to which the rest of
the community have to submit. When the Châran cannot obtain what he
wants, or considers he has been unjustly dealt with, he will resort to
what is known as tragya, or self-sacrifice, by cutting or wounding
himself, or perhaps taking the life of some member of his family, in
order that the blood of the victim may rest upon the head of his
oppressor; and so great is the dread inspired by even the mere threat
of carrying out this act that a ready acquiescence is generally given
to all demands. The death of a Châran by his own hands would be
considered by the outside world a sort of excommunication of the chief,
against which the latter would find it almost hopeless to contend.
Holding such a formidable weapon over the heads of all alike, high or
low, the Châran becomes overbearing and avaricious, and consequently
they are a class difficult to manage. Members of the tribe are to be
found travelling over the length and breadth of India, with their
droves of pack-bullocks, by means of which, notwithstanding the
increased mileage of railways of late years, a great part of the
enormous trade of that vast continent is still transported to its
destination. It might have been thought that the railway would have
materially reduced their profits, and although it has curtailed the
sphere of their operations, it has obliged them to open up fresh lines
of traffic, and to become feeders to the various lines of railway.
Salt, grain, and seeds form the principal articles of transport by
means of their caravans. The loads are carried in strong thick bags
thrown across the backs of the bullocks without any rope or strap to
fasten them, but merely balanced on them, and after the day’s march is
over the bags are piled in stacks, around which the Nâik, his family,
and companions keep guard during the night, although the sacred calling
of tribe and the dread of their anathema are quite sufficient to insure
them immunity from all plunderers. There is no more picturesque sight
than one of these large caravans wending its way along the high road.
The men and women are invariably on foot and distributed along the
drove of bullocks, re-loading a beast which may have thrown his pack,
or balancing and adjusting another as the case may be. The men with
their large, loosely-folded turbans, white flowing robes, many of them
with necklaces, generally of gold, about their person, form a pleasing
contrast to the women in their brightly-coloured garments, with large
conical caps adorned with gold and silver chains and small bells, from
which is pendant a light richly-coloured scarf hanging gracefully over
the shoulders. Tall and upright in figure, lithe and active, often with
pleasing features and not an over-dark skin, her petticoat of one
colour, her boddice of another, but somewhat brighter, her jet-black
hair bound up and entwined with gold and silver coins, her arms encased
from wrist to elbow in bracelets of white and coloured ivory, bangles
of silver on her ankles, and the high conical cap profusely ornamented
on her head, the matron presents a picture which once seen is not
easily forgotten. As bard of the chief, the Châran occupies an exalted
position, and is one of the retainers always about his person, and
frequently the medium of communication on difficult and delicate
missions, such as an alliance in marriage, when he is the bearer of the
cocoanut, which is the emblem sent on such occasions. He used
invariably to accompany him in all his expeditions against his enemies,
in order that he might transcribe in glowing verse the deeds of prowess
done by his chief and the clan. The genealogy of the family is in his
keeping, and he can recount from memory all the stirring events
connected with the history of the house, which have been orally handed
down to him by his father before him. Like the Scald of the ancient
Norseman, the bard delights in narrating in open darbâr when called
upon by his lord, some inspiring themes connected with the fortunes of
the family. It is then, surrounded by an admiring and sympathetic
audience, that he will launch out in the flowery language of his
country, and with magical effect stir the hearts of his listeners with
the thrilling account of how their ancestors fought in defence of their
homes and their race, and fell covered with wounds, performing deeds
that have left them deathless names, and how by emulating their example
and treading in their footsteps they will make resplendent the blood of
their ancient line. All this has in these days become utterly unreal,
but the respect with which the bard is regarded when he recalls the
most stirring memories of the race is not matter for surprise.
11. In social position the Bhât ranks fairly high, and is as particular
in eating and drinking as a Brâhman: but he bears an indifferent
reputation for volubility and abusive language. One proverb about them
is,—
Bhât, Bhatiyâri, Beswa, tînon jât kujât:
Âtê kâ âdar karen; jât na pûchhen bât.
“The bard, the inn-keeper, and the harlot are a bad lot: when you come
they are civil; when you go they care nothing.”
Banyak dâta, Thakurak hîn,
Baidaka pût byâdh na chînh,
Bhâtak chup, beswak mail,
Kahen Ghâgh—pânchon ghar gail.
“A generous Banya, a mean Râjput, a physician’s son who cannot diagnose
disease, a silent Bhât, and an unclean courtesan—all five, says Ghâgh,
are on the road to ruin.”