=============+=======
Districts. |Number.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~
Shâhjahânpur | 9
Jhânsi | 2,186
Jâlaun | 74
Lalitpur | 94
+~~~~~~~
Total | 2,363
=============+=======
Darvesh.—A general Persian word for a faqîr. Mr. Platts derives it from
the Zend root drigh, “to be poor, to beg,” and compares the Sanskrit
darbh, root dribh and daridra. The term in these Provinces does not
seem to denote a special caste; but Mr. Ibbetson [277] notices in the
Panjâb that there seems to be a colony of people of this name, who
cultivate land, play musical instruments, beg, make ropes, go to a
house where there has been a death and chant the praises of the
deceased, hang about mosques, and so forth. They are hardly ascetics,
yet the small number of women seems to show that they have not yet
formed into a separate caste, and are still recruited from outside.