==============+=======
Districts. |Number.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~
Mathura | 7
Agra | 248
Farrukhâbâd | 100
Etâwah | 256
Etah | 1
Bareilly | 20
Bijnor | 295
Morâdâbâd | 3,510
Shâhjahânpur | 13
Pilibhît | 6
Cawnpur | 342
Fatehpur | 87
Bânda | 1,140
Hamîrpur | 1,614
Allahâbâd | 8
Jhânsi | 8,239
Jâlaun | 8,580
Lalitpur | 1,470
Tarâi | 235
Lucknow | 16
Sîtapur | 1,182
Kheri | 1,192
+~~~~~~~
Total | 29,361
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Gandharb; Gandharv. [393]—A caste of singers and prostitutes. Of the
original Gandharvas Professor Dowson [394] writes:—“The heavenly
Gandharva of the Veda was a deity who knew and revealed the secrets of
heaven and divine truths in general. He is thought by Goldstücker to
have been a personification of the fire of the sun. The Gandharvas
generally had their dwelling in the sky or atmosphere, and one of their
offices was to prepare the heavenly soma juice for the gods. They had a
great partiality for women, and had a mystic power over them. The
Atharva Veda speaks of 6,333 Gandharvas. The Gandharvas of later times
are similar in character; they have charge of the soma, are skilled in
medicine, regulate the asterisms, and are fond of women. Those of
Indra’s heaven are generally intended by the term, and they are singers
and musicians who attend the banquets of the gods.”
[Marriage rules.] 2. The Gandharbs of these provinces are found in
small numbers only in Benares, Allahâbâd and Ghâzipur. They address
themselves by the title of Râê. They name seven exogamous gotras—Arakh,
Sîtal, Ramsi, Shâhimal, Hîwan, Pachbhaiya, and Udhomana. The detailed
Census Returns give the gotras as Anrukh, Arakh, Bacha, Bahajbana,
Bajbhân, Banal, Baturha, Bhakwa, Chhatri, Gandwâr, Kanaujiya, Kashmîri,
Khodari, Manho, Namahrin, Namin, Rabisi, Ramsan, Râwat, Sahmal,
Saliyâli, Shâhi, and Somal. A man must marry outside his own gotra,
that of his father, mother, and their ancestors, to the fifth degree.
He, moreover, cannot marry in the gotra of his sister’s and brother’s
father-in-law. He cannot marry two sisters at the same time; but if he
marry the elder of two sisters and she die, he can marry her younger
sister.
[The rules of prostitution.] 3. Beautiful girls or those who show from
their childhood a taste for music are selected for prostitution and not
allowed to marry in the caste. A meeting of the brotherhood is held
before the girl comes to maturity, and it is settled that she is to be
allowed to have intercourse with no one but a Hindu of high caste. If
she does not abide by this rule, she is at once expelled from the
caste. When the matter is thus settled, some sweets are distributed,
and she is formally declared to be a prostitute. The first man who
engages her services is regarded as her quasi-husband. On such an
occasion all the ordinary ceremonies of a Hindu marriage are performed
at the house of the girl, except the walking round the fire (phera).
Other girls not selected for prostitution are married in the tribe in
the ordinary way. But if a man take to any low or degrading occupation,
not sanctioned by tribal usage, he is not allowed to marry.
[Tribal traditions.] 4. The Gandharbs of Benares ascribe their origin
to Delhi. They tell the following legend to account for their
emigration. The fort of Chandrâvati was built by Râni Chandrâvati. This
is possibly the place of that name in the Jhallâwar State in Râjputâna.
She was a Chhatri by caste and married the Muni Uddâlaka. Their
descendants reigned there for many generations, until they were driven
out by the Raghubansi Râjputs, and were obliged to retreat to the banks
of the river Tons. Khemrâj was the first Raghubansi king of
Chandrâvati, and he was succeeded by his son, Doman Deo. He had a groom
named Shîru, who one day went out to cut grass in the jungle and fell
asleep. While he slept a cobra raised its hood over his head and a
wagtail (khanjarît) kept flying over him. Doman Deo happened to observe
these signs which pointed to his groom becoming a king, so he sent for
him and asked what he would do for him if he ascended the throne. Shîru
for a long time could not understand his meaning. At last he promised
to make Doman Deo his prime minister. So he went to Delhi, the throne
of which happened to be vacant at the time, and, as was the custom, an
elephant was given a garland which it was to lay on the neck of the
fittest. [395] Three times, to the astonishment of everyone, the
elephant laid the garland on the neck of Shîru, and he became Emperor
of Delhi under the name of Shîr Shâh, and according to his promise, he
made Doman Deo his prime minister. It need hardly be said that there is
no historical foundation for the story.
5. Doman Deo continued to hold the office of Wazîr for some time, and
at last had a quarrel with his master, because he bought a horse which
his master was anxious to secure. So he was banished and had to return
to Chandrâvati, and with him came a Gandharb, named Nandu, with his
wife Arjuni, the former of the Ramsi and the latter of Arakh gotra, and
from them were descended the present Gandharbs.
[Marriage.] 6. They do not admit outsiders into their caste. In most
cases marriage is infant; but there have been occasional instances of
the marriage of adults. Sexual license before marriage of these girls
selected for a respectable life is strictly prohibited. The prostituted
girls are never allowed to marry. Polyandry is totally forbidden, and
polygamy is allowed only when the first wife is barren or suffering
from some loathsome or contagious disease. A man can marry as many
wives as he can afford to keep; but they never have more than two or
three. Their marriage ritual is of the usual high class type.
Widow-marriage is strictly forbidden; but it appears that the keeping
of widows as concubines is not unknown; such are known as Suraitin;
they have no rights, and their children are illegitimate and not
admitted to caste privileges. If a man suspect his wife of adultery, he
brings the matter before the tribal council (Panchâyat) which, if the
case be proved, permits a divorce, though in some cases a stipend is
assigned to the woman. A divorced woman cannot be remarried, but she
often lives with some one as a concubine.
[Inheritance.] 7. They follow the Hindu law of inheritance. Among the
married people (grihasth) the daughter has no rights of succession;
among the dancing classes, on the contrary, the shares of a daughter
and a son are equal, and if a dancing girl lives with her friends and
dies among them, the uncle, mother, son, daughter, and brother would
share equally. On this question the Hindu law, as laid down by Mr.
Mayne, [396] is clear. “It is hardly necessary to say that as under the
ordinary Hindu law an adoption by a widow must always be to her
husband, and for his benefit, an adoption made by her to herself alone
would not give the adopted child any right, even after her death, to
property inherited by her from her husband, nor indeed to her own
property, however acquired, such an adoption being nowhere recognised
as creating any new status, except in Mithila, under the Kritima
system. But among dancing girls it is customary in Madras and Western
India to adopt girls to follow their adoptive mother’s profession, and
the girls so adopted succeed to their mother’s property. No particular
ceremonies are necessary, recognition alone being sufficient. In
Calcutta, however, such adoptions have been held illegal, and it seems
probable that the recognised immorality of the class of dancing girls
might lead the courts generally to follow this view.”
[Religion.] 8. Gandharbs are Hindus of the Vaishnava sect. The women
who are married specially worship Mahâdeva, while Ganesa is the special
patron of the dancing girls, since he is regarded by them as the author
of music. They offer wreaths of flowers, and a sweetmeat made of
sesamum and sugar called til-ka-laddu, to him on Wednesdays. Mahâdeva
is worshipped on no particular day with the leaves of the bel (aegle
marmelos). They also worship a deity known as Thâkur Deota, who is
probably some form of Vishnu. In the city of Benares these offerings
are taken by a class of Brâhmans called Panda; in villages by
Bhanreriyas or Husaini Brâhmans. The Gandharb women keep a fast
exclusive to them in the month of Bhâdon, known as the Tij bharat, in
honour of the goddess Pârvati. Their special tribal deity is Bâba
Kinnarâm, who was a famous ascetic. His shrine (asthân) is at Râmgarh,
in the Chandauli Tahsîl of the Benares District, and it is largely
frequented by barren women who come to pray for children, and by
dancing girls in hope of success in their profession. [397] They always
employ Brâhmans for ceremonial and seldom for religious purposes. Such
Brâhmans are treated on an equality by other Brâhmans: for their
funeral ceremonies they employ Mahâbrâhmans. The dead are cremated in
the orthodox way and the ashes consigned to the Ganges. They practice
the usual srâddha and feeding of Brâhmans after a death in the family.
[Occupation.] 9. The Gandharbs believe dancing and singing to be their
tribal occupation. A few have settled down in the Benares District as
agriculturists. Some live with their dancing girls and accompany them
to entertainments, where they play on the sâz, which consists of the
tambourine (tabla) and fiddle (sârangi). Half of the dancing fees are
received by these men and distributed in the following way:—Two
tambourine men get two annas each; the drummer three annas; one tuner
of the instruments one anna. Some, again, act as trainers of dancing
girls in music and dancing. Those in the villages are often tenants;
but it is a peculiarity among them that they will never sublet their
land to a person of their own caste. In Benares the sowing of poppy is
one of their favourite occupations.
[Social rules.] 10. They will eat the flesh of goats and sheep and
scaly fish and drink spirits. A good many who consider themselves
specially pious abstain from the use of meat and spirits. They will not
eat kachchi from the hands of any but Brâhmans and clansmen; and they
will smoke with no other caste but their own. The lowest caste that
they can take pakki from or drink with is the Ahîr. Another peculiarity
of them is that they will not eat pakki with any Hindu landlord of
their village.