==============+========
District. | Number.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~
Dera Dûn | 10
Sahâranpur | 280
Muzaffarnagar | 396
Meerut | 802
Bulandshahr | 884
Aligarh | 1,984
Mathura | 658
Agra | 1,588
Farrukhâbâd | 851
Mainpuri | 1,136
Etâwah | 947
Etah | 1,244
Bareilly | 4,488
Bijnor | 729
Budâun | 2,607
Morâdâbâd | 1,147
Shâhjahânpur | 1,601
Pilibhît | 660
Cawnpur | 750
Fatehpur | 634
Bânda | 56
Hamîrpur | 57
Allahâbâd | 1,542
Jhânsi | 24
Jâlaun | 38
Benares | 793
Mirzapur | 248
Jaunpur | 450
Ghâzipur | 254
Ballia | 78
Gorakhpur | 112
Basti | 160
Azamgarh | 401
Tarâi | 51
Lucknow | 548
Unâo | 311
Râê Bareli | 136
Sîtapur | 215
Hardoi | 493
Kheri | 126
Faizâbâd | 228
Gonda | 135
Bahrâich | 84
Sultânpur | 284
Partâbgarh | 34
Bârabanki | 404
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~
Total | 30,658
==============+========
Bhatiya. [42]—A tribe of money-dealers and traders found in these
Provinces only in Mathura. Of those in the Panjâb Mr. Ibbetson writes:
[43]—“The Bhatiyas are a class of Râjputs, originally coming from
Bhatner, Jaysalmer, and the Râjputâna Desert, who have taken to
domestic pursuits. The name would seem to show that they were Bhâtis
(called Bhatti in the Panjâb); but be that as it may, their Râjput
origin seems to be unquestioned. They are numerous in Sindh and
Gujarât, where they appear to form the leading mercantile element, and
to hold the place which the Aroras occupy higher up the Indus. They
have spread into the Panjâb along the lower valleys of the Indus and
Sutlej, and up the whole length of the Chenâb as high as its debouchure
into the plains, being indeed most numerous in Siâlkot and Gujarât.
They stand distinctively below the Khatri, and perhaps below the Arora,
and are for the most part engaged in petty shop-keeping, though the
Bhatiyas of Dehra Ismail Khân are described as belonging to a
widely-spread and enterprising mercantile community. They are often
supposed to be Khatris, and in Jahlam they are said to follow the
Khatri divisions of Bhari, Bunjâhi, Dhâighar, Chârzâti, etc. They are
very strict Hindus, far more so than the other trading classes of the
Western Punjâb; and eschew meat and liquor. They do not practise
widow-marriage.”
[Tribal tradition of the Mathura Bhatiyas.] 2. The Bhatiyas of Mathura
claim to be descended from a personage called Bhâti Sinh, from whom
they take their name. He was the founder of the city and kingdom of
Jaysalmer. It is related that the Yaduvansis, or descendants of Yadu,
engaged in a deadly intestine quarrel, and of them only two escaped the
general destruction—Odhu and Bajarnâbh. The latter lived at the time at
the house of his maternal grandfather, Râja Bânâsura. In return for the
services which Sri Krishna, himself a Yaduvansi, had once rendered to
Râja Parikshit, in protecting him while still in his mother’s womb, the
latter brought Bajarnâbh from Bânâsura’s house and delivered to him the
kingdom of Mathura and Indraprastha. Bajarnâbh ruled wisely and
protected his subjects, and raised a temple in honor of Sri Krishna at
Dwârika. Eighty of his successors ruled in succession at Mathura; but
during the reign of the last, Râja Jay Sinh, Râja Ajaypâl of Biyâna
invaded Mathura, and, in the battle which ensued, Jay Sinh was killed,
and his three sons, Bijaypâl, Ajây Râj, and Bijay Râj, fled to Karauli.
Bijaypâl, the eldest of the three, gained the kingdom of Karauli, but
he quarrelled with his brothers, and they retired to a forest in the
neighbourhood of Karauli, where they devoted themselves to the worship
of Ambâmâna Devi. At the end of a year of devotion, when they failed to
propitiate the goddess they determined to gain her favour by offering
their heads to her in a furnace (bhatti). Pleased with this final act
of piety the deity appeared to them and desired them to crave a boon
from her. They answered that as Kshatriyas they needed a kingdom.
Whereupon the Devi ordered Ajay Râj to go towards the West and found a
kingdom in the Râjputâna Desert, and henceforth to call himself Bhâti
Sinh, as he had been saved from the burning fiery furnace. He followed
her orders and founded the kingdom of Jaysalmer, and there established
his tribe under the name of Bhattis or Bhatiyas.
3. Here it may be noted that the Jaysalmer tradition is different from
this. [44] “Prayâg or Allahâbâd was the cradle of the race, after which
Mathura remained the seat of the Yaduvansi power for a long period. On
the death of Sri Krishna, the deified leader of the Jâdons, from whom
the Bhatti Râjputs claim descent, the tribe became dispersed; many of
them abandoned Hindustân, among them two of the sons of Krishna, who
proceeded northward along the Indus, and settled there. Some time after
this one of their descendants being defeated and killed in a battle,
the tribe was driven southward into the Panjâb, where Sâlivâhana, son
of Gaj, founded a town called after his name, and conquered the whole
region. His grandson was named Bhatti; he was a great warrior and
conquered many of the neighbouring princes, and from him the patronymic
was changed, and the tribe was henceforth distinguished by his name.
Shortly after this the tribe was again driven southward by the King of
Ghazni, and crossing the Sutlej found refuge in the Indian Desert,
which was henceforth to be their home. This traditional account may
represent in outline the early migrations of the Bhatti tribe, which
may be supposed to have entered India from the north-west under heroic
leaders now deified as the sons of Krishna, and to have settled for
some time in the Panjâb. One of the grand expeditions of Mahmûd of
Ghazni was against the city of Bhattia, also called Bhera, which place
is now said to have been on the left bank of the Jahlam, opposite the
Salt Range. Mr. E. Thomas considers that the four last Hindu Kings of
Kâbul, before the Ghaznavis, may have been Bhatiya Râjputs.”
[Internal organisation.] 4. The Mathura story runs that when the
Bhatiyas left their Western home and came to Mathura they had
considerable difficulty in finding alliances for their children,
because having by this time taken to trade the Râjputs of the
neighbourhood were unwilling to intermarry with them. They accordingly
convened a meeting of the caste at Multân, and there consulted learned
Brâhmans and the books of the law, and it was after great discussion
decided that a man might marry within his own tribe in a family removed
from himself by forty-nine degrees, and that the families thus removed
should each form a nukh or exogamous group. These nukhs were designated
after some person, village, or occupation, such as the nukh Râêhariya
was named after Râê Hari Singh; Râê Gajariya after the village
Gajariya, and Râê Tâmbol after a Tâmboli or seller of betel. This story
describes in a very interesting way the manner in which new exogamous
and endogamous groups are formed.
5. The following are the names of the Mathura gotras with the nukhs
which each includes:—
(1) Parâsara gotra including twenty-three nukhs:—Râê Gajariya; Râê
Panchloriya; Râê Palîja; Râê Gagla; Râê Sarâki; Râê Soni; Râê
Suphla; Râê Jiya; Râê Mogaya; Râê Ghaga; Râê Rîka; Râê Jaydhan; Râê
Korhaiya; Râê Kova; Râê Rariya; Râê Kajariya; Râê Sijballa; Râê
Jiyâla; Râê Malan; Râê Dhava; Râê Dhîran; Râê Jagta; Râê Nisât.
(2) Sanras gotra containing eleven nukhs as follows:—Râê Dutaya;
Râê Jabba; Râê Nâgobabla; Râê Suâra; Râê Dhawan; Râê Danda; Râê
Dhaga; Râê Kandhiya; Râê Udesi; Râê Bâdhûcha; Râê Balâyê.
(3) Bhâradwâj gotra with the following eighteen nukhs:—Râê Hariya;
Râê Padamshi; Râê Maidaya; Râê Chandan; Râê Khiyâra; Râê Thula; Râê
Sodhiya; Râê Bora; Râê Mochha; Râê Tâmbol; Râê Lakhanbanta; Râê
Dhakkar; Râê Bhudariya; Râê Mota; Râê Anghar; Râê Dhadhâl; Râê
Degchanda; Râê Asar.
(4) Sudharvans gotra with the following eight nukhs:—Râê Sapta; Râê
Chhachhaiya; Râê Nagara; Râê Gâthababla; Râê Parmala; Râê Potha;
Râê Ponrdhagga; Râê Mathura.
(5) Madhobadhas gotra including the following eleven nukhs:—Râê
Ved; Râê Surya; Râê Gugalgandhi; Râê Nâêgandhi; Râê Panchal; Râê
Phurâsgândhi; Râê Parêgândhi; Râê Jujargândhi; Râê Praima; Râê
Bibal; Râê Povar.
(6) Devdâs gotra including the following nine nukhs:—Râê Ramaiya;
Râê Pawâr; Râê Râja; Râê Parijiya; Râê Kapûr; Râê Gurugulâb; Râê
Dhâdhar; Râê Kartari; Râê Kukaur.
(7) Rishivans gotra consisting of the following four nukhs:—Râê
Multâni; Râê Chamuja; Râê Daiya; Râê Karangona.
6. The Census Returns supply them with a set of sections most of which
are of the Banya type, such as Agarwâla, Belwâr, Bhâlê, Bhorâr, Bhudi,
Bohra, Gaur, Jaysalmer, Kain, Madkul, Maheswari, Mârwâri, Oswâl,
Palliwâl, Râhtu, Sahasri.
[Marriage rules.] 7. Marriages may take place between members of the
same gotra, but not of the same nukh. There is no exact formula or
exogamy; but a man cannot marry among his near relations on the
father’s or mother’s side, and the same rule applies to women.
Differences of religion, provided both parties are followers of some
form of Hinduism, and changes of occupation, are not a bar to
intermarriage; but differences of local or geographical position are a
bar. Thus intermarriages between Bhatiyas of Bombay, Kachh, and
Gujarât, and those of the Panjâb, Sindh, and the North-Western
Provinces, are not permitted. Thus Bhatiyas may be divided into the
following two endogamous groups based on geographical position:—The
first group consists of Kâchhis, Halâis, Prijas, Kathiâwâris, Gujarâtis
and Bhatiyas of Dhârangânw. The second group consists of Bhatiyas of
Jaysalmer, Sindh, the Panjâb, and the North-Western Provinces. As a
rule no Bhatiya can take a second wife in the lifetime of the first,
unless she be barren or unfaithful to her husband, in which case she
will be expelled from caste. In no case can the number exceed two, and
that limit is seldom reached. When a Bhatiya happens to have two wives
they live under the same roof and enjoy the same privileges in every
respect. In the case of girls marriage must be performed before the age
of twelve: there is no time fixed in the case of males. Marriage is
arranged by the friends in both sides, and there are no marriage
brokers. The children of both marriages, should a man have two wives,
rank equally for purposes of inheritance. Widow marriage is not
allowed, and the offspring of an illicit connection are not admitted
into the caste, and do not rank as heirs to the estate of their father.
An unfaithful wife is excommunicated, and so is a man who openly keeps
a concubine.
[Marriage ceremonies.] 8. At the betrothal the father of the girl sends
what is called the sagun, consisting of one rupee, a cocoanut, and some
coarse sugar, for the boy, which is given to him in the presence of the
brethren, who are invited to be in attendance, and the betrothal is
thus complete. The ceremony presupposes the mutual consent of the
parents of the parties. Betrothal is generally not reversible, and is
not annulled except on the discovery of some very serious physical
defect in either bride or bridegroom, and, if annulled, the expenses
are repaid by the party breaking the engagement, though there is no
distinct rule on the subject. Betrothal may take place any time before
marriage. The marriage ceremony is of the orthodox type, and the
binding part of it is the giving away of the bride (kanyâdân) and the
perambulation (pheron phirna) round the sacred fire. The marriage is
complete and irreversible when the fourth circuit is finished. Pokharnê
Brâhmans act as priests at marriage and other ceremonies.
[Occupation.] 9. The chief occupation of the Bhatiyas is money-lending,
and to this they add trade of all kinds—agriculture, landholding, and
Government service. Many of them go on expeditions to Arabia, Kâbul,
Bokhâra, and other distant places on business. Many in Bombay carry on
trade with Zanzibar, Java, and the Malay Peninsula. Their religion
continues to be mainly Vedic; but some have become followers of
Vallabhachârya. The Bhatiyas of these Provinces in appearance, customs,
and dress, strongly resemble Khatris; but between the two castes there
seems to be no real connection.