==============+=========+=========+=======+=======
Districts. |Bânsphor.|Benbansi.|Others.|Total.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~
Dehra Dûn | ... | ... | 13 | 13
Sahâranpur | ... | ... | 32 | 32
Allahâbâd | 198 | 986 | 4,050 | 5,234
Benares | ... | 1,559 | 323 | 1,882
Ghâzipur | ... | ... | 1 | 1
Gorakhpur | 102 | 3,588 | 1,538 | 5,228
Basti | 213 | 4,712 | 379 | 5,304
Azamgarh | 798 | 2,505 | 431 | 3,734
Lucknow | 28 | 1 | 40 | 69
Faizâbâd | 144 | 2,274 | 278 | 2,696
Gonda | ... | 1,311 | 485 | 1,796
Bahrâich | ... | 66 | 16 | 82
Sultânpur | 285 | 1,453 | 636 | 2,374
Partâbgarh | 37 | 555 | 602 | 1,194
+~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~
Total | 1,805 | 19,010 | 8,824 |29,639
==============+=========+=========+=======+=======
Dhobi., [324]—the washerman caste who take their name from the Hindi
dhona (Sans. dhâv), to wash. Dhobis have no very distinct traditions of
their origin. In Bihâr, according to Mr. Risley, [325] they trace their
descent from Gâri Bhuiya—one of the local gods of that part of the
country. Another account makes them out to be the offspring of a
Kshatriya father and a Chamâr woman. In Mirzapur they name as their
ancestor a personage named Râwat, and say that Mahâdeva and Pârvati,
disgusted at the filth of the people of the world, created the Dhobi to
keep their clothes clean in future. Mr. Nesfield suggests that “the
washerman represents an impure caste, but is many degrees higher than
that of the Bhangi, from whom he has sprung. Both are descended from
the Dom, whose sole wealth, according to Manu, must be dogs and asses.
The Indian washerman has always been associated with the indigenous
ass, which carries the soiled clothes down to the bank of the river or
tank, and takes them back clean to the house. No Hindu of any caste,
even the lowest, will wash his own clothes, and so the Dhobi has been
formed into a caste which shall bear the impurities of all.” Mr. Risley
disputes this connection of Doms and Dhobis through the common use of
the donkey on various grounds. “In the first place the use of donkeys
by the Dhobi caste is so far from being universal that it has given
rise to the formation of a slightly inferior sub-caste called Gadhaiya.
Secondly, beyond the highly conjectural identification of the Doms with
the Chandâls spoken of by Manu, there is nothing to show that the Doms
have the faintest partiality for the donkey. On the contrary the
Magahiya Doms of Bihâr will not touch a donkey and regard the Dhobi
with very special aversion.” It does not appear necessary to connect
the Dhobi with either the Dom or Bhangi in order to account for the low
social rank which he holds. One of his chief tasks, except among the
Dravidian tribes who do the work themselves, is to wash the clothing of
women after child-birth, and his association with blood of this kind,
which is particularly abhorred, stamps him as specially impure. Like
the Kumhâr he keeps asses; but every Dhobi does not necessarily do so,
and may use oxen for carrying clothes to and from the river.
[Internal Organisation.] 2. Like many castes of the same social grade
Dhobis assert that there are seven endogamous divisions or sub-castes.
Thus Sir H. M. Elliot gives the sub-castes as Kanaujiya, Magahiya,
Pagahiya, Belwâr, Bâtham, and Sribâtham (who take their name from
Srâvasti) and Bharka. The last Census gives eleven—Ajudhyabâsi, Bais,
Chithoriya, Deswâr, Kaithiya, Kanaujiya, Kathariya, Mathuriya, Purbiya
or Purabiya, and Sribâstab. A list from Mirzapur gives them as
Kanaujiya, Belwâr, Magahiya, Sribâstab, Musalmân Dhobi, Baiswâra, and
Bhojpuriya. Another from Agra gives—Mathuriya, Bharka, Mârwâri,
Purbiya, and Purbiya Kampu. In Bareilly we find Kathariya, Dehliwâla,
Kampûwâla, and Musalmân. All these are endogamous. Their rule of
exogamy, as stated by them, at Mirzapur is that they will not marry in
the family of their maternal uncle, father’s sister or their own family
(kul) as long as any connection by marriage is remembered. The complete
Census Return shows no less than 925 sub-divisions of the Hindu and 216
of the Muhammadan branch. Of these the most important locally are the
Chauhân, Chhonkar and Gaur of Muzaffarnagar, the Chhonkar of Meerut,
the Purabiya of Agra, the Deswâli of Farrukhâbâd, the Sakarwâr of
Mainpuri, the Bakhar, Jalchhatri, Magadhiya, Mangasha and Pâthak of
Bareilly, the Râjput of Morâdâbâd, the Bhadauriya, Jalkhatri, and
Mahadwâr of Shâhjahânpur, the Deswâli and Purbiya of Pilibhît, the
Amethiya and Belwâr of Cawnpur, the Mâthur of Fatehpur, the Belwâr and
Mâthur of Bânda, the Dakkhinâha, Sarwariya and Uttarâha of Basti, the
Dakkhinâha, Deswâli, Sarwariya and Uttarâha of Azamgarh, the Purabiya
of Lucknow, the Jalpachhar, Magaraha and Sarwariya of Râê Bareli, the
Jaiswâr of Faizâbâd, the Ujjaini of Gonda, the Bahrâichiya of Bahrâich,
the Jaiswâr of Sultânpur, and the Mangaraha of Bârabanki.
[Marriage ceremonies.] 3. To the east of the Province the age for
marriage is twelve for girls and fourteen for boys. A match maker
(agua) at the request of the girl’s father looks out for a suitable
match. When the auspicious time (sa’at) has been fixed by the Brâhman,
he casts the horoscopes (gauna girâna), and when these are found to
correspond, the parents meet and the rite of kori katori is performed.
In this the girl’s father fills a glass full of liquor, puts into it a
silver coin and passes it over to the boy’s father with the words Râm!
Râm! When he has drunk he hands it back to the girl’s father, who also
drinks out of it, and then liquor is served to the clansmen present.
This constitutes the betrothal (mangni). Then a Brâhman is called in
for the dhân pân. In this the girl’s father takes one ser of paddy, two
packets of betel and two betel-nuts. Both fathers hold a cloth in their
hands. The Brâhman first throws one packet of betel and one betel-nut
into the cloth where it is held by the boy’s father, and does the same
for the girl’s father. He next throws a handful of paddy five times
into each side of the cloth. Both parents tie this up, and it is
parched and used for throwing over the pair at the wedding. Then the
Brâhman explains to both the fathers the lucky days for the collection
of the sacred earth (matmangara) and for the anointing (tel hardi), and
the proper date for the wedding. For this service each gives the
Brâhman a pice and a ration of uncooked grain. The girl is feasted that
night and returns home the following morning.
4. On the day of the matmangara the women assemble and sing after they
have anointed their heads with oil. Then the sacred earth is collected
in the way already described in the case of the Bhuiyas. On the day of
the anointing five men of the tribe erect the marriage pavilion in the
usual manner. The barber’s wife rubs the boy with a sprig of dûb grass
soaked in oil and turmeric. No Brâhman attends. On the bhatwân day the
clansmen are fed on rice and pulse, and at night they get drunk and
sing the song known as birha. When the bridegroom, dressed in his
wedding garments, starts with his procession, he is carried out as far
as the door in the arms of his brother-in-law. When he gets outside the
village his wedding clothes are taken off, and he does the rest of the
journey on foot until he approaches the house of the bride, when he is
dressed again. His brother-in-law again carries him in his arms to the
door of the bride’s house, where the wave ceremony (parachhan) is done
by his future mother-in-law, who moves a rice pounder, sieve and a lota
full of water round his head. During this time a Dhârhi plays the
mridang or double drum, and the women beat earthen saucers (thiliya)
with pieces of stone. Then men sing the birha and the women the lâchâri
songs. The wedding party then retire to the reception place (janwânsa)
where all the clansmen assemble. There some food is sent for the
bridegroom from the bride. Then the bridegroom and another boy who acts
as his best man (shâhbâla) eat together. This food is brought by the
girl’s brother-in-law, who receives one anna as his perquisite. Then
the clansmen have a drink and salute each other. When the lucky time
arrives for the marriage, they take the bridegroom to the pavilion and
seat him on a stool facing the east. The friends sit on each side. A
piece of mango wood is lighted and some clarified butter dropped on it
with mango leaves (tallo). The men recite the auspicious marriage songs
(sumangala swâha) and then the bride is brought into the pavilion by
her sister or sister-in-law and she knots together the clothes of the
pair. Then the bride’s father washes the great toes of the pair in a
tray full of Ganges water, which he drinks, and throws a little of the
water on his head. Then behind the shelter of a sheet which is held up
before them the boy applies red lead to the parting of the girl’s hair,
and they walk five times round the marriage pavilion. The boy’s elder
brother throws parched rice over them, and puts a necklace round the
bride’s neck. Then her sister-in-law escorts the pair into the retiring
room (kohabar) and makes them bow to the family god. After this the
boy’s wedding crown is removed and he returns to the wedding party.
5. Next comes the wedding feast (byâh ka bhât). Unmarried boys among
Dhobis do not eat boiled rice (bhât). They taste it first after they
are married. The next day the bride goes off with her husband. On the
third day is the panwpheri, when, if the two houses are near, the bride
goes alone back to her father’s house and comes home by herself to her
husband. Widows are married in the ordinary way by the sagâi or
dharauna form and the levirate is allowed, but it is not compulsory on
the widow to take the younger brother of her late husband.
[Birth and death ceremonies.] 6. The ceremonies at birth and death are
of the usual type common among tribes of the same social standing. The
ceremonial shaving (mûnran) is not usually done unless the parents have
been blessed with a son in answer to a vow (manauti).
[Religion.] 7. Dhobis usually worship the Pânchonpîr and Devi. They are
much given to the worship of ghosts, one of whom named Ghatoriya has a
great reputation in Bundelkhand. They have a very strong tribal council
and are very severe on breaches of caste custom. They rank of course
very low in the social scale, and no respectable Hindu will take
anything from their hands. He is the subject of many proverbs:
Nai dhobiniya aweli,
Chirkutwe sâbun laweli.
“The new washerwoman will apply soap even to rags.” “A new broom sweeps
clean.” Dhobi par Dhobi base, tab kapre par sâbun pare. “When many
Dhobis compete, then only does soap reach the clothes.” [326]