==============+======+=====+======+===+=====+======+=======+======+======+===+======+=======+======+=======
Districts. | Ajudhiyabâsi.
| | Bais.
| | | Bâtham.
| | | | Chithoriya.
| | | | | Deswâr.
| | | | | | Kaithiya.
| | | | | | | Kanaujiya.
| | | | | | | | Kathariya.
| | | | | | | | | Mathuriya.
| | | | | | | | | | Purbiya.
| | | | | | | | | | | Sribâstab.
| | | | | | | | | | | | Others.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | Musalmân Dhobis.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | Total.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~+~~~~~+~~~~~~+~~~+~~~~~+~~~~~~+~~~~~~~+~~~~~~+~~~~~~+~~~+~~~~~~+~~~~~~~+~~~~~~+~~~~~~~
Dehra Dûn | ... | ... | ... |...| ...| ...| 629| ...| ...|...| ...| 719| 313| 1,661
Sahâranpur | ... | ... | ... |...| ...| ...| 211| ...| ...|...| ...| 3,652| 4,340| 8,203
Muzaffarnagar | ... | ... | 12|...| ...| ...| ...| ...| ...|...| ...| 821| 5,413| 6,246
Meerut | ... | ... | ... |...| ...| ...| ...| ...| ...|...| ...| 2,110| 8,684| 10,794
Bulandshahr | ... | ... | ... |...| ...| ...| 19| 60| 186|...| ...| 7,982| 1,906| 10,153
Aligarh | ... | ... | ... |...| ...| ...| ...| ...| 4,665|...| ...| 10,015| 1,187| 15,867
Mathura | ... | ... | 609| 1| 347| ...| 109| 105| 1,488|...| ...| 4,031| 1,046| 7,736
Agra | ... | ... | 2,951| 38|1,229| ...| 264| ...| 2,380|648| ...| 4,998| 675| 13,183
Farrukhâbâd | ... | 142| 1,491|...| ...| 4,435| 2,866| 76| 115|...| 142| 3,031| 239| 12,537
Mainpuri | ... | 129| 1,208| 11| ...| 2,621| 297| ...| 5,523|...| ...| 3,674| 18| 13,481
Etâwah | ... | ... | 7,198|...| ...| 920| 319| ...| 510|...| 88| 2,480| 3| 11,518
Etah | ... | ... | 6|138| ...| 645| 15| 7| 9,781|...| ...| 1,406| 379| 12,377
Bareilly | ... | ... | ... |...| ...| ...| 113| 8,604| ...|...| ...| 9,546| 3,838| 22,101
Bijnor | ... | ... | ... |...| ...| ...| 152| ...| ...|...| ...| 1,445| 7,030| 8,627
Budâun | ... | ... | ... |...| ...| 95 | 37| 715| 8,110|...| ...| 2,400| 4,174| 15,531
Morâdâbâd | ... | ... | ... |...| ...| ...| 17| ...| 884|...| ...| 5,967| 7,384| 14,252
Shâhjahânpur | ... | 107| 8,470|...| ...| 390| 1,384| 382| 1,760|...| 376| 6,427| 325| 19,571
Pilibhît | ... | 60| 1,563|...| ...| ...| 1,621| 293| 734|...| 571| 4,819| 314| 9,975
Cawnpur | ... | 39| 8,202|...| ...| 125| 1,528| 47| ...|...| 2,173| 5,170| 117| 17,401
Fatehpur | ... | 276| 4,740|...| ...| ...| 105| ...| ...|...| 1,645| 1,795| 708| 9,269
Bânda | ... | ...| 2,159|...| ...| ...| 15| ...| ...|...| 5,506| 1,057| 172| 8,909
Hamîrpur | ... | 249| 182|...| ...| ...| 7| ...| 10|...| 5,806| 1,698| 377| 8,329
Allahâbâd | ... | ...| 9,195|...| ...| ...| 4,840| ...| ...|...| 809| 5,715| 715| 21,274
Jhânsi | ... | ...| 4,314|...| ...| ...| 315| ...| 25|...| 637| 1,250| 15| 6,556
Jâlaun | ... | 14| 4,443|...| ...| ...| 9| ...| ...|...| 108| 1,667| 144| 6,385
Lalitpur | ... | 20| 3,771|...| ... | ...| 1| ...| ...|...| ...| 625| ...| 4,417
Benares | ... | ... | ... |...| ... | ...| 6,878| ...| ...|...| ...| 344| 818| 8,040
Mirzapur | ... | ... | ... |...| ... | 442| 9,044| ...| ...|...| ...| 2,308| 672| 12,466
Jaunpur | ... | ... | ... |...| ... | ...| ...| ...|12,776|...| ...| 1,783| 1,080| 15,639
Ghâzipur | ... | ... | ... |...| ... | ...| 7,076| ...| ...|...| ...| 396| 1,250| 8,722
Ballia | ... | ... | ... |...| ... | ...| 7,947| ...| ...|...| ...| 280| 6| 8,233
Gorakhpur | 117| ... | ... |...| ... | ...| 37,238| ...| ...|...| ...| 9,174| 2,971| 49,500
Basti | 4,128| ... | ... |...| ... | ...| 17,425| ...| ...|...| ...| 12,367| 1,795| 35,715
Azamgarh | ... | ... | ... | 22| ... | ...| 14,071| ...| 68|...| ...| 1,115| 2,212| 14,488
Kumâun | ... | ... | ... |...| ... | ...| 11| ...| ...|...| ...| 195| ...| 206
Garhwâl | ... | ... | ... |...| ... | ...| ...| ...| ...|...| ...| 32| 29| 61
Tarâi | ... | ... | ... |...| ... | ...| 38| 1,258| ...|...| ...| 526| 2,096| 3,918
Lucknow | 140| 82| 1,034|...| ... | ...| 2,052| ...| ...|...| 2,092| 6,624| 769| 12,793
Unâo | ... | 447| 1,781|...| ... | ...| 1,991| ...| ...|...| 7,784| 3,828| 311| 16,142
Râê Bareli | 24| 33| 1,098|...| ... | 62| 3,258| 43| 1,715|...| ...| 6,408| 474| 13,115
Sîtapur | 318| ...| 5,558|...| ... | ...| 1,143| 27| 81|...| 3,768| 8,616| 889| 20,400
Hardoi | ... | ...|14,628|...| ... | ...| 497| ...| ...|...| ...| 3,955| 452| 19,532
Kheri | 27| 19| 8,874| 71| ... | 74| 499| 126| 5|...| 347| 3,017| 1,755| 16,814
Faizâbâd | 1,094| ... | 14|...| ... | ... | 12,698| ... | ... |...| 141| 2,632| 638| 17,217
Gonda | 6,619| ... | ... |...| ... | 283| 1,906| ... | ... |...| ... | 14,377| 2,450| 25,635
Bahrâich | 2,958| 2| 428|...| ... | ... | 2,634| ... | ... |...| 259| 9,476| 3,469| 19,226
Sultânpur | 165| 54| 1,163|...| ... | ... | 6,612| ... | ... |...| 674| 3,951| 1,319| 13,938
Partâbgarh | ... | ... | ... |...| ... | ... | 2,632| ... | ... |...| 862| 5,557| 1,385| 10,436
Bârabanki | 19| 78| 370|...| ... | ... | 7,200| ... | ... |...| 763| 6,124| 2,591| 17,145
+~~~~~~+~~~~~+~~~~~~+~~~+~~~~~+~~~~~~+~~~~~~~+~~~~~~+~~~~~~+~~~+~~~~~~+~~~~~~~+~~~~~~+~~~~~~~
Total |15,609|1,751|95,462|281|1,576|10,092|157,723|11,693|50,816|648|36,551|197,585|78,947|658,734
==============+======+=====+======+===+=====+======+=======+======+======+===+======+=======+======+=======
Dhuniya, Dhuna (Hindi dhunna, “to card:” Sans. dhu, “to agitate”), the
cotton-carding caste. Other names for them are Behna (Sans. vija,
“seed”), who is properly the man who removes the cotton seed from the
fibre; Katera (kâtna “to spin”), Kandera (Sans. karsha, “dragging,”
kâra, “doer”); if he is a Muhammadan or the speaker a pedant he is
called Naddâf, which in Arabic means “separator.” There are some Hindus
who carry on this occupation; but most of them are Muhammadans, and
these alone find an entry in the returns of the last Census.
[The Hindu Dhuniyas.] 2. To the west of the Province the Hindu Dhuniyas
claim to be of Râjput origin. They are divided into five endogamous
sub-castes—Chauhân and Bargûjar, which are well-known Râjput septs; and
the Dhakeri, Bargali and Chhunkari, which take their names from the
dhâk tree (butea frondosa), the bar (Ficus Indica), and the chhonkar
(prosopis spicigera), all of which are sacred trees and regarded with
special respect by those Dhuniyas who take their names from them. This
idea is probably of totemistic origin. The sub-castes are endogamous,
and though there does not appear to be any regular formula of exogamy,
marriage is usually forbidden in the families of the uncles and aunts
on both sides. Their marriage, birth, and death customs are of the
usual type common to low castes in the same social grade. Their deities
are Mâta, the small-pox goddess, Mîrân Sâhib, the saint of Amroha,
Châmar, Devi, and the Ganges. They employ Brâhmans in their religious
ceremonies and perform the srâddha for deceased ancestors. They drink
spirits and eat the flesh of goats, sheep and fish, but not beef, pork,
fowls, or carrion.
[The Muhammadan Dhuniyas.] 3. These were recorded in the general Census
Report under only one main sub-caste, the Mansûri, who take their name
from a tribal saint, Khwâja Mansûr, of whom they can give no account,
save that he was a faqîr of wondrous piety, who had the power of
working miracles. He is believed to have been a native of Rûm or
Constantinople, and to have accompanied the Dhuniyas when they entered
the country in the train of the early Muhammadan invaders. To the east
of the Province they call themselves Sunni Muhammadans, but they have
retained in their domestic ceremonies many of the forms of the Hindu
ritual of the lower castes from which most of them are probably
converts. Thus they collect the sacred earth (matmangara) at marriages,
carry out the night watch (ratjaga) before marriage, and there is a
distinct survival of marriage by capture in the observance by which the
bride, when the bridegroom arrives at the house for the marriage, is
furnished with a small stick with which she gives him two or three
slight blows on the head as he enters the door. The marriage service is
read by the Qâzi if the parties are well-off; by the Dafâli if they are
poor. At death if there is an educated Muhammadan present he reads the
Fâtiha; but this is not indispensable. They are usually worshippers of
the Pânchonpîr, and they have one special usage, known as the Piyâla or
“cup,” when on a Tuesday in the month of Aghan the men and women go to
the riverside and offer up some spirits and sweetmeats to Sahjamâi, one
of the quintette of the Pânchonpîr; this is consumed by the Dafâli who
acts as priest. They spend the whole night by the river listening to
the songs sung in honour of the goddess by the Dafâli.
4. The complete Census Returns show 152 sections of the Muhammadan
branch of the tribe. Many of them are local terms, such as the
Ajudhyabâsi, Audhiya, Bahrâichi, Baksariya, Gangapâri, Mathuriya,
Purabiya; others are taken from well-known castes or septs, such as the
Baheliya, Banjâra, Bargûjar, Chauhân, Dhângar, Gaur, Gorakhi, Gûjar,
Kharebindi, Madâri, Mukeri, Naddâf, Panwâr, Pathân, Râjput, Râthaur,
Râwat; others are purely Muhammadan in form as Ansâri, Châryâri,
Jalâli, Khwâja-mahar, Khwâja-mansûri, Khwâja-Muhammadi, Khwâja-Sarâi,
Muhammad Hanfi, Muhammadi, Momîn, Sayyid, Shâhmansûri, Shaikh Shiah,
Sunni, Turkiya, and Usmâni.
[Occupation.] 5. The primary business of the Dhuniya is the carding or
rather scutching of cotton. This is done by subjecting it to the
vibration produced by a bow string (dhanuhi, Sanskrit, dhanus). The bow
is usually suspended from the roof so as to hang at a convenient height
above the pile of loose cotton. The string is then twanged with a
wooden catch so as to strike a small portion of the cotton, the fibre
of which is scattered by the impact and thrown off in an uniform
condition of soft fluff. At the same time any dirt which is entangled
in the fibre falls out and the clean cotton is made up into balls, some
of which are passed on to the spinner and some are used for the padding
of quilts and wraps (razâi, lihâf) and the warm-padded garments used in
the cold weather. The Dhuniya also sometimes keeps a small shop where
he sells thread and various articles, such as pewter bangles, forehead
spangles, and similar things. Another trade which he often follows is
the making of the little charcoal balls (tikiya) used for lighting the
tobacco in the huqqa.
[Nâmdeo, the saint.] 6. The Dhuniyas have in Nâmdeo Bhagat a tribal
saint who is much respected by them. He is said to have been born in
Mârwâr in A.D. 1443 and to have flourished in the time of Sikandar Lodi
(1488–1512). According to one account he was a Mahratta and was born at
Pandharpur, in the Dakkhin. “He is said to have been persecuted by the
Musalmâns, who tried to persuade him to repeat the words Allâh! Allâh!
instead of his favourite Râm! Râm! but by a variety of astonishing
miracles he escaped from their hands. After a considerable amount of
travelling to and fro, he at last settled in the village of Ghumân, in
the Batâla Tahsîl of the Gurdâspur District, where he died. A shrine,
known as the Darbâr, was erected in his honour in Ghumân, and on the
Sankrânt day of every Mâgh a crowded fair is held there in his honour.
His followers can scarcely be said to constitute a sect. They are
almost entirely Chhimbas (the Dhuniyas of these Provinces) or Dhobis by
caste. Their founder appears to have stoutly resisted the pretensions
of Muhammadanism, and was looked as a follower of Râmchandra, but his
Hinduism was by no means of the ordinary type. He taught emphatically
the unity of God and the uselessness of ceremonial, and his doctrines
would appear to have approached fairly close to those of Nânak and the
Eastern Sikhs; and several of his poems are included in the Sikh Adi
Granth. At any rate the followers of Bâba Nâmdeo are very largely Sikhs
by religion, and they are said, whether Sikhs or Hindus by religion, to
hold the Granth in reverence and to follow many Sikh customs. They have
no distinctive worship of their own.” [327]