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District. | Number.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~
Muzaffarnagar | 1
Gorakhpur | 6
Kumâun | 7,270
Garhwâl | 174
Tarâi | 6
+~~~~~~~~
Total | 7,457
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Bhuînhâr—(Sanskrit Bhûmi, “land,” kâra, “maker”).—An important tribe of
landowners and agriculturists in the Eastern Districts. They are also
known as Bâbhan, Zamîndâr Brâhman, Grihasth Brâhman, or Pachhima, or
“Western” Brâhmans. They must, of course, be very carefully
distinguished from the Dravidian Bhuînhâr or Bhuiyâr tribe, of whom
some account has been given in a separate article.
[Origin of tribe.] 2. One story of their origin is that when Parasurâma
destroyed the Kshatriya race, he set up in their place the descendants
of Brâhmans, who, after a time, having abandoned their priestly
functions, took to land-owning. Another story tells that a King of
Ajudhya being childless, sought to obtain an heir by the sacrifice of a
Brâhman, and purchased the son of the Rishi Jamadagni for that purpose.
The uncle of the child, the sage Viswamitra, procured a child for the
Râja, and the sacrifice was rendered unnecessary; but the Brâhman boy
having been sold was considered degraded, and was forced to take to
agriculture, and became the ancestor of the Bhuînhârs. This, as Mr.
Risley says, is the famous legend of Sunahsephas in another form. [68]
“A third legend, perhaps the best known of all, traces the Bâbhans back
to a sacrifice offered by Jarasandha, King of Magadha, at which a very
large number of Brâhmans, some say a lakh and-a-quarter, were required
to be present. Jarasandha’s Dîwân, a Kâyasth of the Amisht or Karan
sub-caste, did his best to meet the demand, but was driven to eke out
the local supply by distributing sacred threads among members of the
lower castes, and palming them off on the King as genuine Brâhmans.
Jarasandha’s suspicions being roused by the odd appearance of some of
the guests, the Dîwân was compelled to guarantee their respectability
by eating the food which they had cooked, while the Brâhmans thus
manufactured had to set up a caste of their own, the name of which
(Bâbhan or Bâhman) is popularly supposed to mean a sham Brâhman, just
as in some districts an inferior Râjput is called a Râwat, the
corruption of the name betokening the corruption of the caste.” [69]
3. It has been suggested [70] that the legend that they were Brâhmans
degraded at the feast of Jarasandha points to the fact that after the
downfall of Buddhism, the Bâbhans were those Brâhmans (with whom there
was possibly some admixture of Râjputs) who were either converted to
the Buddhistic faith or chose to live under the Buddhistic system with
a changed status. Of this, however, there is no evidence.
4. On their relations to Brâhmans and Râjputs a competent observer, Mr.
J. R. Reid, writes [71]:—“Their Brâhman and Chhatri neighbours
generally insinuate that they are of mixed breed, the offspring of
Brâhman men and Chhatri women, or of Chhatri men and Brâhman women. By
other castes they are regarded as a kind of Chhatri, and are spoken of,
and indeed often speak of themselves, as Bhuînhâr Thâkurs. Their clans
(gotra) are the same as those of the Brâhmans, and, like the latter,
the Bhuînhârs wear a thread (janeû) ninety-six hands breadth (chaua) in
length, the Chhatri’s thread being eighty only. They do not perform
priestly offices, nor receive offerings given from a religious motive
(dân, dakshina); but they are saluted with the pranâm, or pâêlagi, and
return the salutation with a blessing (asîrbâd). Physically they are of
the same type as the Brâhman or Chhatri. In character they resemble the
former more than the latter; and the following proverbs are in vogue:—
Nadi kai bhânwak,
Bhuînhâr kai ghânwak.
Sabse chatur Banya, tese chatur Sunâr;
Lasê lûse lâike tehi thâgê Bhuînhâr.
“The Bhuînhâr is as uncertain as the current of the rivulet. Cutest of
all is the Banya; cuter than him is the goldsmith; but the Bhuînhâr
with his wiles tricks them both.”
“Brâhmans do not eat with them, nor do Râjputs. Possibly the existence
of the Bhuînhâr class is also evidence of the time when the bonds of
caste, as we know them, had not been forged, or, if forged, were not
worn by those who pushed forward into new settlements beyond the old.
It has been pointed out that to the non-Aryan inhabitants of the
country all Aryans were of one caste,—all Brâhmans. Within the Aryan
body the exchange of priestly for military employment was not
impossible, and did not involve degradation. It is unnecessary,
therefore, to believe that all Bhuînhârs are Brâhmans of inferior,
because illegitimate stock. They may be as true born as the Brâhmans or
Chhatris who surround them, and many of whom they possibly preceded in
the occupation of the land. Further, it seems probable that many so
called Kshatriya tribes are Brâhmans who have fallen from their former
status.”
5. Dr. Oldham, [72] speaking of the Ghâzipur branch of the tribe, says
that in popular estimation they share something of the sacredness which
attaches to Brâhmans. Their divisions are very often the same as those
of well-known Râjput tribes, such as the Kinwâr, Gautam, and Kausik
Bhuînhârs; and the corresponding Râjput tribe sometimes names the same
city or country as the first home of the race. In one case “a Bhuînhâr
and Râjput tribe both claim descent from a common ancestor, and each
admits that the pretensions of the other are well founded. The Bhuînhâr
tribes all intermarry on terms of equality and eat together; on the
other hand Râjputs marry their daughters into what they consider
superior, and their sons into inferior tribes, and are very chary of
eating together. There is consequently a much closer bond of sympathy
between the various Bhuînhâr tribes of the district than between the
Râjputs.”
6. Sir H. M. Elliot [73] thinks that “we perhaps have some indication
of the true origin of the Bhuînhârs in the names Garga Bhûmi and Vatsa
Bhûmi, who are mentioned in the Harivansa as Kshatriya Brâhmans,
descendants of Kasya princes. Their name of Bhûmi and residence at
Kâshi are much in favour of this view; moreover, there are to this day
Garga and Vatsa gotras among the Sarwariya Brâhmans.”
7. The theory that they are a mixed race, derived from a congeries of
low caste people accidentally brought together, is disproved by the
high and uniform type of physiognomy and personal appearance which
prevails among them. This, as Mr. Risley says, would not be the case
“if they were descended from a crowd of low caste men promoted by the
exigencies of a particular occasion, for brevet rank thus acquired
would, in no case, carry with it the right of intermarriage with pure
Brâhmans or Râjputs, and the artificially formed group, being compelled
to marry within its own limits, would necessarily perpetuate the low
caste type of features and complexion. As a matter-of-fact, this is
what happens with the sham Râjputs whom we find in most of the outlying
Districts of Bengal. They marry among themselves, never among the true
Râjputs, and their features reproduce those of the particular
aboriginal tribe from which they may happen to be sprung.”
8. The next supposition is that they may be Brâhmans who for some cause
(in this case it is said to have been because they took to agriculture)
have been degraded. There are, of course, many so-called Brâhmans, like
the Mahâbrâhman, Ojha, or Dakaut, who are of a degraded type; but many
of these are almost certainly derived from the lower races, and have
little or no Aryan blood in their veins. Further, many true Brâhmans
hold land and cultivate, and are not necessarily degraded by so doing.
9. Further, Mr. Risley seems to be certainly right in dwelling on the
fact that while they have sections both of the territorial and
eponymous class, the former regulate the exogamy of the tribe, and not
the latter. Many lower castes have adopted Brâhmanical gotras; but it
is unreasonable to suppose that if the Bhuînhârs were originally
Brâhmans, and as such necessarily provided with a set of real
Brâhmanical gotras, they would deliberately have discarded them and
adopted a tribal organization of the territorial type. On this ground
he regards them as more probably a branch of the Râjputs.
10. The question then of the origin of the Bhuînhârs is not capable of
exact determination. Their traditions, customs, and appearance point
all to a Brâhmanical origin; their tribal organization seems to show
that they are not, as is asserted by some, Brâhmans, who for a reason
obviously inadequate, have been degraded from their original position.
They may be a real branch of the Aryan stock, who in very remote ages
colonised the part of the country which they occupy at present, and
being reduced by the exigencies of their position to abrogate their
sacerdotal functions, took to a life of war and agriculture, and in
consequence of this organized their tribe in a manner analogous to
those of the early Kshatriya settlers.
[Tribal organisation.] 11. As has been already said, the tribal
divisions of the Bhuînhârs are organised on both the territorial and
eponymous systems. Of the former the chief sub-divisions in the eastern
part of these Provinces are the Kinwâr, Donwâr, Sakarwâr, Baghochhiya,
Bemuwâr, Karenawa, Kotraha, Karmâi, Kolhaniyân, Athariya, Jaithariya,
Chaudhari, Kotaha, Sobraniyân, Belhariya, Domkatâr, Baksariya,
Eksariya, Gautamiya, Titiha, Bhaiwadh, Kolaha, Sorhaniya, Biruâr,
Surohau, Birramiya, Kahatwâr, Mirzapuri, Raikwâr and Parasiya. Besides
these are a number of sub-divisions of the Brâhmanical type, such as
Dikshit, Garga, Gautam, Sândilya, Pânrê, Dûbê, Tiwâri, Upâdhya, Pâthak,
Shukl, Kapilgotri, Kausik, Bhâradwâja, and Payâsi Misr. They further
enumerate eighty-four of the regular Brâhmanical gotras, such as
Kasyapa, Vasishtha, Parâsara, Bhârgava, Vatsya, Katyâyana, Gargya,
Gobhila, Angiras, and so on. But in carrying out the rules of exogamy
the mûl or territorial section is alone taken account of, and not the
Brâhmanical gotra. With this exception the prohibited degrees follow
the standard Brâhmanical formula. Some of these sections are possibly
totemistic, such as the Baghochhiya or “tiger” (bâgh); Domkatâr, “Dom’s
knife,” Belhariya, from the bel tree; and these sections carry with
them some degree of inferiority, which results in a form of hypergamy.
The Census returns give no less than four hundred and fifty-eight
Bhuînhâr sections: but here the territorial sections and the
Brâhmanical gotras are mixed up together. The most important local
sections according to these returns are the Chaudhari, Gautam, and
Kolaha, in Benares: the Gautam in Mirzapur: the Bhâradwâja,
Bhrigubansi, Dichhit, Donwâr, Gautam, Kausik, Kinwâr, Kistwâr,
Sakarwâr, Sonwâr, in Ghâzipur: the Asuriya, Bhagata, Domkatâr, Kinwâr,
Manchaura, Nanauliya, and Bemwâr, of Ballia: the Baghochhiya,
Baksariya, Gautam, Kausik, and Sakarwâr, of Gorakhpur: the Barasi,
Birhariya, and Kausik, of Basti: and the Barwâr, Bhâradwâja,
Bhrigubans, Denwâr, Gargbans, Gautam, Purwâr, Sakarwâr, and Sândil, of
Azamgarh.
[Domestic ceremonies.] 12. The Bhuînhârs of this part of the country
follow in every respect the standard Brâhmanical rules.
[Religion.] 13. Bhuînhârs are usually Saivas or Sâktas, and worship the
deohâr or community of village godlings and local demons or ghosts such
as Goraiya, Hardiya, Bandi Mâi, and the like.
[Territorial sub-divisions.] 14. Some account may be given of the chief
territorial sub-divisions. [74]
[The Kinwâr.] 15. The Kinwâr Bhuînhârs claim an origin from Padampur,
in the Carnâtic, like the Kinwâr Râjputs. They have in Ghâzipur three
sub-sections—Rajdhar, Makund, and Pithaur Râê.
[Bemwâr.] 16. The Bemwâr Bhuînhârs say they came from Bempur and
settled in Narwan in Benares. They are respectable, well-to-do people.
[The Sakarwâr.] 17. The Sakarwâr Bhuînhârs are closely connected with
the Râjput sept of the same name, and like them their legends connect
them and their name with Fatehpur-Sikri. In Ghâzipur they are generally
rich, and have retained the greater part of their ancestral property.
[The Donwâr.] 18. The Donwâr sub-division say that their original home
was near Fatehpur-Sikri. When they settled in Azamgarh they were known
as Bhath. They derive their name from their parent village Donauli,
which took its name from Dona Achârya, a Pânrê Brâhman. Dr. Oldham says
that they are frugal and industrious. The ancestor of the Donwârs of
two or three villages was in the military service of one of the Delhi
Emperors, and received from him for his valour the title of Khân, which
is borne to the present day by all his descendants.
[The Gautam.] 19. Of the Gautam Bhuînhârs one tradition runs that about
the year 304 Hijri (882 A.D.) a Brâhman of the Gautam gotra, named
Khattu Misra, came to Benares. Every day after he had bathed he used to
pour some water at the root of a madâr tree (Asclepias gigantea) in
which lived a Râkshasa. One day he had forgot to make the accustomed
offering, and the Râkshasa appeared and implored him to relieve his
thirst. He complied with the request, and the Râkshasa offered him any
boon he chose. Khattu replied that he was much inconvenienced by having
to dry his wet loin cloth over his shoulders whenever he went to bathe.
So the demon gave him the power of throwing the cloth into the air,
where it was miraculously suspended until it dried. The Râkshasa then
introduced him to Vyâsa, who was living in Benares, and the fame of his
miracles rapidly brought him reputation and wealth. So he built a tank
at Benares, which is still known as Misra ka pokhara, and planted trees
on its bank. Benares was then ruled by Râja Banâr; and one day an
elephant belonging to the Râja injured one of the trees of Khattu
Misra, whereat he was wroth, and the Râja was forced to take the worthy
into his favour. One day the Râja gave Khattu a packet of betel on
which he had written a deed-of-gift of twenty-eight villages. Khattu
unwittingly swallowed the betel, and being considered to have thus lost
status by accepting a gift, he henceforth lost the power of drying his
loin cloth in the air. This estate was the present Gangapur, which
belongs to his descendant, the present Mahârâja of Benares, who belongs
to the Bipra branch of the Gautam gotra, with the title of Misra.
According to Mr. Sherring [75] it is “of the Kauthumiya sâkha, or
branch of Brâhmans following the ritual of the Sâma Veda. It has three
Pravaras, distinguished by the number of knots in the Brâhmanical
cord—the Gautam, Angiras, and Anthatiya. The clan intermarries with the
Bhuînhârs of the Madhyandina sâkha of Brâhmans, observing the ritual of
the Yajur Veda. It is traditionally allied to the Sarwariya Brâhmans of
Madhubani beyond the Ghâgra.”
[Occupation and social status.] 20. The Bhuînhârs of these Provinces
claim to observe a high standard of personal purity and carry out all
the rules of the Brâhmanical ritual. They are in the villages at least
quarrelsome and litigious; but they are, on the whole, a fine body of
sturdy yeomen, and turn out excellent crops, though they will not
plough with their own hands. To agriculture they very generally add
dealing in grain and money-lending.