Kāyasth,1 Kaith, Lāla.—The caste of writers and village accountants. The Kāyasths numbered 34,000 persons in 1911 and were found over the whole Province, but they are most numerous in the Saugor, Damoh, Jubbulpore and Narsinghpur Districts. In the Marātha country their place is to some extent taken by the Prabhus, the Marātha writer caste, and also by the Vidūrs. No probable derivation of the name Kāyasth appears to have been suggested. The earliest reference to Kāyasths appears in an inscription in Mālwa dated A.D. 738–739. The inscription is of a Maurya king, and the term Kāyasth is used there as a proper noun to mean a writer. Another dated A.D. 987 is written by a Kāyasth named Kānchana. An inscription on the Delhi Siwālik pillar dated A.D. 1164 is stated to have been written by a Kāyasth named Sispati, the son of Māhava, by the king’s command. The inscription adds that the Kāyasth was of Gauda (Bengal) descent, and the term Kāyasth is here used in the sense of a member of the Kāyasth caste and not simply meaning a writer as in the Mālwa inscription.2 From the above account it seems possible that the caste was of comparatively late origin. According to their own legend the first progenitor of the Kāyasths was Chitragupta, who was created by Brahma from his own body and given to Yama the king of the dead, to record the good and evil actions of all beings, and produce the result when they arrived in the kingdom of the dead. Chitragupta was called Kāyastha, from kaya stha, existing in or incorporate in the body, because he was in the body of Brahma. Chitragupta was born of a dark complexion, and having a pen and ink-pot in his hand. He married two wives, the elder being the granddaughter of the sun, who bore him four sons, while the younger was the daughter of a Brāhman Rishi, and by her he had eight sons. These sons were married to princesses of the Nāga or snake race; the Nāgas are supposed to have been the early nomad invaders from Central Asia, or Scythians. The twelve sons were entrusted with the government of different parts of India and the twelve subcastes of Kāyasths are named after these localities.

There has been much discussion on the origin of the Kāyasth caste, which now occupies a high social position owing to the ability and industry of its members and their attainment of good positions in the public services. All indications, however, point to the fact that the caste has obtained within a comparatively recent period a great rise in social status, and formerly ranked much lower than it does now. Dr. Bhattachārya states:3 “The Kāyasths of Bengal are described in some of the Hindu sacred books as Kshatriyas, but the majority of the Kāyasth clans do not wear the sacred thread, and admit their status as Sūdra also by the observance of mourning for thirty days. But whether Kshatriya or Sūdra, they belong to the upper layer of Hindu society, and though the higher classes of Brāhmans neither perform their religious ceremonies nor enlist them among their disciples, yet the gifts of the Kāyasths are usually accepted by the great Pandits of the country without hesitation.” There is no doubt that a hundred years ago the Kāyasths of Bengal and Bihār were commonly looked upon as Sūdras. Dr. Buchanan, an excellent observer, states this several times. In Bihār he says that the Kāyasths are the chief caste who are looked upon by all as pure Sūdras and do not reject the appellation.4 And again that “Pandits in Gorakhpur insist that Kāyasths are mere Sūdras, but on account of their influence included among gentry (Ashrāf). All who have been long settled in the district live pure and endeavour to elevate themselves; but this has failed of success as kindred from other countries who still drink liquor and eat meat come and sit on the same mat with them.”5 Again he calls the Kāyasths the highest Sūdras next to Vaidyas.6 And “In Bihār the penmen (Kāyasthas) are placed next to the Kshatris and by the Brāhmans are considered as illegitimate, to whom the rank of Sūdras has been given, and in general they do not presume to be angry at this decision, which in Bengal would be highly offensive.7 Colebrooke remarks of the caste: “Karana, from a Vaishya by a woman of the Sūdra class, is an attendant on princes or secretary. The appellation of Kāyastha is in general considered as synonymous with Karana; and accordingly the Karana tribe commonly assumes the name of Kāyastha; but the Kāyasthas of Bengal have pretensions to be considered as true Sūdras, which the Jātimāla seems to authorise, for the origin of the Kāyastha is there mentioned before the subject of mixed castes is introduced, immediately after describing the Gopa as a true Sūdra.”8 Similarly Colonel Dalton says: “I believe that in the present day the Kāyasths arrogate to themselves the position of first among commoners, or first of the Sūdras, but their origin is involved in some mystery. Intelligent Kāyasths make no pretension to be other than Sūdras.”9 In his Census Report of the United Provinces Mr. R. Burn discusses the subject as follows:10 “On the authority of these Purānic accounts, and in view of the fact that the Kāyasths observe certain of the Sanskārs in the same method as is prescribed for Kshatriyas, the Pandits of several places have given formal opinions that the Kāyasths are Kshatriyas. On the other hand, there is not the slightest doubt that the Kāyasths are commonly regarded either as a mixed caste, with some relationship to two if not three of the twice-born castes, or as Sūdras. This is openly stated in some of the reports, and not a single Hindu who was not a Kāyasth of the many I have personally asked about the matter would admit privately that the Kāyasths are twice-born, and the same opinion was expressed by Muhammadans, who were in a position to gauge the ordinary ideas held by Hindus, and are entirely free from prejudice in the matter. One of the most highly respected orthodox Brāhmans in the Provinces wrote to me confirming this opinion, and at the same time asked that his name might not be published in connection with it. The matter has been very minutely examined in a paper sent up by a member of the Benāres committee who came to the conclusion that while the Kāyasths have been declared to be Kshatriyas in the Purānas, by Pandits, and in several judgments of subordinate courts, and to be Sūdras by Manu and various commentators on him, by public opinion, and in a judgment of the High Court of Calcutta, they are really of Brāhmanical origin. He holds that those who to-day follow literary occupations are the descendants of Chitragupta by his Brāhman and Kshatriya wives, that the so-called Unāya Kāyasths are descended from Vaishya mothers, and the tailors and cobblers from Sūdra mothers. It is possible to trace to some extent points which have affected public opinion on this question. The Kāyasths themselves admit that in the past their reputation as hard drinkers was not altogether unmerited, but they deserve the highest credit for the improvements which have been effected in this regard. There is also a widespread belief that the existing general observance by Kāyasths of the ceremonies prescribed for the twice-born castes, especially in the matter of wearing the sacred thread, is comparatively recent. It is almost superfluous to add that notwithstanding the theoretical views held as to their origin and position, Kāyasths undoubtedly rank high in the social scale. All European writers have borne testimony to their excellence and success in many walks of life, and even before the commencement of British power many Kāyasths occupied high social positions and enjoyed the confidence of their rulers.”

It appears then a legitimate conclusion from the evidence that the claim of the Kāyasths to be Kshatriyas is comparatively recent, and that a century ago they occupied a very much lower social position than they do now. We do not find them playing any prominent part in the early or mediæval Hindu kingdoms. There is considerable reason for supposing that their rise to importance took place under the foreign or non-Hindu governments in India. Thus a prominent Kāyasth gentleman says of his own caste:11 “The people of this caste were the first to learn Persian, the language of the Muhammadan invaders of India, and to obtain the posts of accountants and revenue collectors under Muhammadan kings. Their chief occupation is Government service, and if one of the caste adopts any other profession he is degraded in the estimation of his caste-fellows.” Malcolm states:12 “When the Muhammadans invaded Hindustān and conquered its Rājpūt princes, we may conclude that the Brāhmans of that country who possessed knowledge or distinction fled from their intolerance and violence; but the conquerors found in the Kāyastha or Kaith tribe more pliable and better instruments for the conduct of the details of their new Government. This tribe had few religious scruples, as they stand low in the scale of Hindus. They were, according to their own records, which there is no reason to question, qualified by their previous employment in all affairs of state; and to render themselves completely useful had only to add the language of their new masters to those with which they were already acquainted. The Muhammadans carried these Hindus into their southern conquests, and they spread over the countries of Central India and the Deccan; and some families who are Kānungos13 of districts and patwāris of villages trace their settlement in this country from the earliest Muhammadan conquest.” Similarly the Bombay Gazetteer states that under the arrangements made by the Emperor Akbar, the work of collecting the revenues of the twenty-eight Districts subordinate to Surat was entrusted to Kāyasths.14 And the Māthur Kāyasths of Gujarāt came from Mathura in the train of the Mughal viceroys as their clerks and interpreters.15 Under the Muhammadans and for some time after the introduction of English rule, a knowledge of Persian was required in a Government clerk, and in this language most of the Kāyasths were proficient, and some were excellent clerks.16 Kāyasths attained very high positions under the Muhammadan kings of Bengal and were in charge of the revenue department under the Nawābs of Murshīdābād; while Rai Durlao Rām, prime minister of Ali Verdi Khān, was a Kāyasth. The governors of Bihār in the period between the battle of Plassey and the removal of the exchequer to Calcutta were also Kāyasths.17 The Bhatnāgar Kāyasths, it is said, came to Bengal at the time of the Muhammadan conquest.18 Under the Muhammadan kings of Oudh, too, numerous Kāyasths occupied posts of high trust.19 Similarly the Kāyasths entered the service of the Gond kings of the Central Provinces. It is said that when the Gond ruler Bakht Buland of Deogarh in Chhindwāra went to Delhi, he brought a number of Kāyasths back with him and introduced them into the administration. One of these was appointed Bakshi or paymaster to the army of Bakht Buland. His descendant is a leading landholder in the Seoni District with an estate of eighty-four villages. Another Kāyasth landholder of Jubbulpore and Mandla occupied some similar position in the service of the Gond kings of Garha-Mandla.

Finally in the English administration the Kāyasths at first monopolised the ministerial service. In the United Provinces, Bengal and Bihār, it is stated that the number of Kāyasths may perhaps even now exceed that of all other castes taken together.20 And in Gujarāt the Kāyasths have lost in recent years the monopoly they once enjoyed as Government clerks.21 The Mathura Kāyasths of Gujarāt are said to be declining in prosperity on account of the present keen competition for Government service,22 of which it would thus appear they formerly had as large a share as they desired. The Prabhus, the writer-caste of western India corresponding to the Kāyasths, were from the time of the earliest European settlements much trusted by English merchants, and when the British first became supreme in Gujarāt they had almost a monopoly of the Government service as English writers. To such an extent was this the case that the word Prabhu or Purvu was the general term for a clerk who could write English, whether he was a Brāhman, Sunār, Prabhu, Portuguese or of English descent.23 Similarly the word Cranny was a name applied to a clerk writing English, and thence vulgarly applied in general to the East Indians or half-caste class from among whom English copyists were afterwards chiefly recruited. The original is the Hindi karāni, kirāni, which Wilson derives from the Sanskrit karan, a doer. Karana is also the name of the Orissa writer-caste, who are writers and accountants. It is probable that the name is derived from this caste, that is the Uriya Kāyasths, who may have been chiefly employed as clerks before any considerable Eurasian community had come into existence. Writers’ Buildings at Calcutta were recently still known to the natives as Karāni ki Barīk, and this supports the derivation from the Karans or Uriya Kāyasths, the case thus being an exact parallel to that of the Prabhus in Bombay.24

From the above argument it seems legitimate to deduce that the Kāyasths formerly occupied a lower position in Hindu society. The Brāhmans were no doubt jealous of them and, as Dr. Bhattachārya states, would not let them learn Sanskrit.25 But when India became subject to foreign rulers the Kāyasths readily entered their service, learning the language of their new employers in order to increase their efficiency. Thus they first learnt Persian and then English, and both by Muhammadans and English were employed largely, if not at first almost exclusively, as clerks in the public offices. It must be remembered that there were at this time practically only two other literate castes among Hindus, the Brāhmans and the Banias. The Brāhmans naturally would be for long reluctant to lower their dignity by taking service under foreign masters, whom they regarded as outcaste and impure; while the Banias down to within the last twenty years or so have never cared for education beyond the degree necessary for managing their business. Thus the Kāyasths had at first almost a monopoly of public employment under foreign Governments. It has been seen also that it is only within about the last century that the status of the Kāyasths has greatly risen, and it is a legitimate deduction that the improvement dates from the period when they began to earn distinction and importance under these governments. But they were always a literate caste, and the conclusion is that in former times they discharged duties to which literacy was essential in a comparatively humble sphere. “The earliest reference to the Kāyasths as a distinct caste,” Sir H. Risley states, “occurs in Yājnavalkya, who describes them as writers and village accountants, very exacting in their demands from the cultivators.” The profession of patwāri or village accountant appears to have been that formerly appertaining to the Kāyasth caste, and it is one which they still largely follow. In Bengal it is now stated that Kāyasths of good position object to marry their daughters in the families of those who have served as patwāris or village accountants. Patwāris, one of them said to Sir H. Risley, however rich they may be, are considered as socially lower than other Kāyasths, e.g. Kānungo, Akhauri, Pānde or Bakshi. Thus it appears that the old patwāri Kāyasths are looked down upon by those who have improved their position in more important branches of Government service. Kānungo, as explained, is a sort of head of the patwāris; and Bakshi, a post already noticed as held by a Kāyasth in the Central Provinces, is the Muhammadan office of paymaster.

Similarly Mr. Crooke states that while the higher members of the caste stand well in general repute, the village Lāla (or Kāyasth), who is very often an accountant, is in evil odour for his astuteness and chicanery. In Central India, as already seen, they are Kānungos of Districts and patwāris of villages; and here again Malcolm states that these officials were the oldest settlers, and that the later comers, who held more important posts, did not intermarry with them.26 In Gujarāt the work of collecting the revenue in the Surat tract was entrusted to Kāyasths. Till 1868, in the English villages, and up to the present time in the Baroda villages, the subdivisional accountants were mostly Kāyasths.27 In the Central Provinces the bulk of the patwāris in the northern Districts and a large proportion in other Districts outside the Marātha country are Kāyasths. If the Kāyasths were originally patwāris or village accountants, their former low status is fully explained. The village accountant would be a village servant, though an important one, and would be supported like the other village artisans by contributions of grain from the cultivators. This is the manner in which patwāris of the Central Provinces were formerly paid. His status would technically be lower than that of the cultivators, and he might be considered as a Sūdra or a mixed caste.

As regards the origin of the Kāyasths, the most probable hypothesis would seem to be that they were an offshoot of Brāhmans of irregular descent. The reason for this is that the Kāyasths must have learnt reading and writing from some outside source, and the Brāhmans were the only class who could teach it them. The Brāhmans were not disposed to spread the benefits of education, which was the main source of their power, with undue liberality, and when another literate class was required for the performance of duties which they disdained to discharge themselves, it would be natural that they should prefer to educate people closely connected with them and having claims on their support. In this connection the tradition recorded by Sir H. Risley may be noted to the effect that the ancestors of the Bengal Kāyasths were five of the caste who came from Kanauj in attendance on five Brāhmans who had been summoned by the king of Bengal to perform for him certain Vedic ceremonies.28 It may be noted also that the Vidūrs, another caste admittedly of irregular descent from Brāhmans, occupy the position of patwāris and village accountants in the Marātha districts. The names of their subcastes indicate generally that the home of the Kāyasths is the country of Hindustān, the United Provinces, and part of Bengal. This is also the place of origin of the northern Brāhmans, as shown by the names of their most important groups. The Rājpūts and Banias on the other hand belong mainly to Rājputāna, Gujarāt and Bundelkhand, and in most of this area the Kāyasths are immigrants. It has been seen that they came to Mālwa and Gujarāt with the Muhammadans; the number of Kāyasths returned from Rājputāna at the census was quite small, and it is doubtful whether the Kāyasths are so much as mentioned in Tod’s Rājasthān. The hypothesis therefore of their being derived either from the Rājpūts or Banias appears to be untenable. In the Punjab also the Kāyasths are found only in small numbers and are immigrants. As stated by Sir H. Risley, both the physical type of the Kāyasths and their remarkable intellectual attainments indicate that they possess Aryan blood; similarly Mr. Sherring remarks: “He nevertheless exhibits a family likeness to the Brāhman; you may not know where to place him or how to designate him; but on looking at him and conversing with him you feel quite sure that you are in the presence of a Hindu of no mean order of intellect.”29 No doubt there was formerly much mixture of blood in the caste; some time ago the Kāyasths were rather noted for keeping women of other castes, and Sir H. Risley gives instances of outsiders being admitted into the caste. Dr. Bhattachārya states30 that, “There are many Kāyasths in eastern Bengal who are called Ghulāms or slaves. Some of them are still attached as domestic servants to the families of the local Brāhmans, Vaidyas and aristocratic Kāyasths. Some of the Ghulāms have in recent times become rich landholders, and it is said that one of them has got the title of Rai Bahādur from Government. The marriage of a Ghulām generally takes place in his own class, but instances of Ghulāms marrying into aristocratic Kāyasth families are at present not very rare.”

Further, the Dakshina Rārhi Kāyasths affect the greatest veneration for the Brāhmans and profess to believe in the legend that traces their descent from the five menial servants who accompanied the five Brāhmans invited by king Adisur. The Uttara Rārhi Kāyasths or those of northern Burdwān, on the other hand, do not profess the same veneration for Brāhmans as the southerners, and deny the authenticity of the legend. It was this class which held some of the highest offices under the Muhammadan rulers of Bengal, and several leading zamīndārs or landholders at present belong to it.31 It was probably in this capacity of village accountant that the Kāyasth incurred the traditional hostility of one or two of the lower castes which still subsists in legend.32 The influence which the patwāri possesses at present, even under the most vigorous and careful supervision and with the liability to severe punishment for any abuse of his position, is a sufficient indication of what his power must have been when supervision and control were almost nominal. On this point Sir Henry Maine remarks in his description of the village community: “There is always a village accountant, an important personage among an unlettered population; so important indeed, and so conspicuous that, according to the reports current in India, the earliest English functionaries engaged in settlements of land were occasionally led, by their assumption that there must be a single proprietor somewhere, to mistake the accountant for the owner of the village, and to record him as such in the official register.33 In Bihār Sir H. Risley shows that Kāyasths have obtained proprietary right in a large area.

It may be hoped that the leading members of the Kāyasth caste will not take offence, because in the discussion of the origin of their caste, one of the most interesting problems of Indian ethnology, it has been necessary to put forward a hypothesis other than that which they hold themselves. It would be as unreasonable for a Kāyasth to feel aggrieved at the suggestion that centuries ago their ancestors were to some extent the offspring of mixed unions as for an Englishman to be insulted by the statement that the English are of mixed descent from Saxons, Danes and Normans. If the Kāyasths formerly had a comparatively humble status in Hindu society, then it is the more creditable to the whole community that they should have succeeded in raising themselves by their native industry and ability without adventitious advantages to the high position in which by general admission the caste now stands. At present the Kāyasths are certainly the highest caste after Brāhman, Rājpūt and Bania, and probably in Hindustān, Bengal and the Central Provinces they may be accounted as practically equal to Rājpūts and Banias. Of the Bengal Kāyasths Dr. Bhattachārya wrote:34 “They generally prove equal to any position in which they are placed. They have been successful not only as clerks but in the very highest executive and judicial offices that have yet been thrown open to the natives of this country. The names of the Kāyastha judges, Dwārka Nāth Mitra, Ramesh Chandra Mitra and Chandra Mādhava Ghose are well known and respected by all. In the executive services the Kāyasths have attained the same kind of success. One of them, Mr. R. C. Dutt, is now the Commissioner of one of the most important divisions of Bengal. Another, named Kālika Dās Datta, has been for several years employed as Prime Minister of the Kuch Bihār State, giving signal proofs of his ability as an administrator by the success with which he has been managing the affairs of the principality in his charge.” In the Central Provinces, too, Kāyasth gentlemen hold the most important positions in the administrative, judicial and public works departments, as well as being strongly represented in the Provincial and subordinate executive services. And in many Districts Kāyasths form the backbone of the ministerial staff of the public offices, a class whose patient laboriousness and devotion to duty, with only the most remote prospects of advancement to encourage them to persevere, deserve high commendation.

The northern India Kāyasths are divided into the following twelve subcastes, which are mainly of a territorial character:

• (a) Srivāstab.
• (b) Saksena.
• (c) Bhatnāgar.
• (d) Ambastha or Amisht.
• (e) Ashthāna or Aithāna.
• (f) Bālmīk or Vālmīki.
• (g) Māthur.
• (h) Kulsreshtha.
• (i) Sūryadhwaja.
• (k) Karan.
• (l) Gaur.
• (m) Nigum.

(a) The Srivāstab subcaste take their name from the old town of Sravāsti, now Sahet-Mahet, in the north of the United Provinces. They are by far the most numerous subcaste both there and here. In these Provinces nearly all the Kāyasths are Srivāstabs except a few Saksenas. They are divided into two sections, Khare and Dūsre, which correspond to the Bīsa and Dasa groups of the Banias. The Khare are those of pure descent, and the Dūsre the offspring of remarried widows or other irregular alliances.

(b) The Saksena are named from the old town of Sankisa, in the Farukhābād District. They also have the Khare and Dūsre groups, and a third section called Kharua, which is said to mean pure, and is perhaps the most aristocratic. A number of Saksena Kāyasths are resident in Seoni District, where their ancestors were settled by Bakht Buland, the Gond Rāja of Deogarh in Chhīndwāra. These constituted hitherto a separate endogamous group, marrying among themselves, but since the opening of the railway negotiations have been initiated with the Saksenas of northern India, with the result that intermarriage is to be resumed between the two sections.

(c) The Bhatnāgar take their name from the old town of Bhātner, near Bikaner. They are divided into the Vaishya or Kadīm, of pure descent, and the Gaur, who are apparently the offspring of intermarriage with the Gaur subcaste.

(d) Ambastha or Amisht. These are said to have settled on the Girnār hill, and to take their name from their worship of the goddess Ambāji or Amba Devi. Mr. Crooke suggests that they may be connected with the old Ambastha caste who were noted for their skill in medicine. The practice of surgery is the occupation of some Kāyasths.35 It is also supposed that the names may come from the Ameth pargana of Oudh. The Ambastha Kāyasths are chiefly found in south Bihār, where they are numerous and influential.36

(e) Ashthāna or Aithāna. This is an Oudh subcaste. They have two groups, the Pūrabi or eastern, who are found in Jaunpur and its neighbourhood, and the Pachhauri or western, who live in or about Lucknow.

(f) Bālmīk or Vālmīki. These are a subcaste of western India. Bālmīk or Vālmīk was the traditional author of the Rāmāyana, but they do not trace their descent from him. The name may have some territorial meaning. The Vālmīki are divided into three endogamous groups according as they live in Bombay, Cutch or Surat.

(g) The Māthur subcaste are named after Mathura or Muttra. They are also split into the local groups Dihlawi of Delhi, Katchi of Cutch and Lachauli of Jodhpur.

(h) The Kulsreshtha or ‘well-born’ Kāyasths belong chiefly to the districts of Agra and Etah. They are divided into the Bārakhhera, or those of twelve villages, and the Chha Khera of six villages.

(i) The Sūryadhwaja subcaste belong to Ballia, Ghāzi-pur and Bijnor. Their origin is obscure. They profess excessive purity, and call themselves Sakadwīpi or Scythian Brāhmans.

(k) The Karan subcaste belong to Bihār, and have two local divisions, the Gayawāle from Gāya, and the Tirhūtia from Tirhūt.

(l) The Gaur Kāyasths, like the Gaur Brāhmans and Rājpūts, apparently take their name from Gaur or Lakhnauti, the old kingdom of Bengal. They have the Khare and Dūsre subdivisions, and also three local groups named after Bengal, Delhi and Budaun.

(m) The Nigum subcaste, whose name is apparently the same as that of the Nikumbh Rājpūts, are divided into two endogamous groups, the Kadīm or old, and the Unāya, or those coming from Unao. Sometimes the Unāya are considered as a separate thirteenth subcaste of mixed descent.

Educated Kāyasths now follow the standard rule of exogamy, which prohibits marriage between persons within five degrees of affinity on the female side and seven on the male. That is, persons having a common grandparent on the female side cannot intermarry, while for those related through males the prohibition extends a generation further back. This is believed to be the meaning of the rule but it is not quite clear. In Damoh the Srivāstab Kāyasths still retain exogamous sections which are all named after places in the United Provinces, as Hamīrpur ki baink (section), Lucknowbar, Kāshi ki Pānde (a wise man of Benāres), Partābpūria, Cawnpore-bar, Sultānpuria and so on. They say that the ancestors of these sections were families who came from the above places in northern India, and settled in Damoh; here they came to be known by the places from which they had immigrated, and so founded new exogamous sections. A man cannot marry in his own section, or that of his mother or grandmother. In the Central Provinces a man may marry two sisters, but in northern India this is prohibited.

Marriage may be infant or adult, and, as in many places husbands are difficult to find, girls occasionally remain unmarried till nearly twenty, and may also be mated to boys younger than themselves. In northern India a substantial bridegroom-price is paid, which increases for a well-educated boy, but this custom is not so well established in the Central Provinces. However, in Damoh it is said that a sum of Rs. 200 is paid to the bridegroom’s family. The marriage ceremony is performed according to the proper ritual for the highest or Brahma form of marriage recognised by Manu with Vedic texts. When the bridegroom arrives at the bride’s house he is given sherbet to drink. It is said that he then stands on a pestle, and the bride’s mother throws wheat-flour balls to the four points of the compass, and shows the bridegroom a miniature plough, a grinding pestle, a churning-staff and an arrow, and pulls his nose. The bridegroom’s struggles to prevent his mother-in-law pulling his nose are the cause of much merriment, while the two parties afterwards have a fight for the footstool on which he stands.37 An image of a cow in flour is then brought, and the bridegroom pierces its nostrils with a little stick of gold. Kāyasths do not pierce the nostrils of bullocks themselves, but these rites perhaps recall their dependence on agriculture in their capacity of village accountants.

After the wedding the bridegroom’s father takes various kinds of fruit, as almonds, dates and raisins, and fills the bride’s lap with them four times, finally adding a cocoanut and a rupee. This is a ceremony to induce fertility, and the cocoanut perhaps represents a child.

The following are some specimens of songs sung at weddings. The first is about Rāma’s departure from Ajodhia when he went to the forests:

The following is a love dialogue:

The next is a love-song by a woman:

The last is a dialogue between Rādha and Krishna. Rādha with her maidens was bathing in the river when Krishna stole all their clothes and climbed up a tree with them. Girdhāri is a name of Krishna:

Polygamy is permitted but is seldom resorted to, except for the sake of offspring. Neither widow-marriage nor divorce are recognised, and either a girl or married woman is expelled from the caste if detected in a liaison. A man may keep a woman of another caste if he does not eat from her hand nor permit her to eat in the chauk or purified place where he and his family take their meals. The practice of keeping women was formerly common but has now been largely suppressed. Women of all castes were kept except Brāhmans and Kāyasths. Illegitimate children were known as Dogle or Surāit and called Kāyasths, ranking as an inferior group of the caste. And it is not unlikely that in the past the descendants of such irregular unions have been admitted to the Dūsre or lower branch of the different subcastes.

During the seventh month of a woman’s pregnancy a dinner is given to the caste-fellows and songs are sung. After this occasion the woman must not go outside her own village, nor can she go to draw water from a well or to bathe in a tank. She can only go into the street or to another house in her own village.

On the sixth day after a birth a dinner is given to the caste and songs are sung. The women bring small silver coins or rupees and place them in the mother’s lap. The occasion of the first appearance of the signs of maturity in a girl is not observed at all if she is in her father’s house. But if she has gone to her father-in-law’s house, she is dressed in new clothes, her hair after being washed is tied up, and she is seated in the chauk or purified space, while the women come and sing songs.

The Kāyasths venerate the ordinary Hindu deities. They worship Chitragupta, their divine ancestor, at weddings and at the Holi and Diwāli festivals. Twice a year they venerate the pen and ink, the implements of their profession, to which they owe their great success. The patwāris in Hoshangābād formerly received small fees, known as diwāt pūja, from the cultivators for worshipping the ink-bottle on their behalf, presumably owing to the idea that, if neglected, it might make a malicious mistake in the record of their rights.

The dead are burnt, and the proper offerings are made on the anniversaries, according to the prescribed Hindu ritual. Kāyasth names usually end in Prasād, Singh, Baksh, Sewak, and Lāla in the Central Provinces. Lāla, which is a term of endearment, is often employed as a synonym for the caste. Dāda or uncle is a respectful term of address for Kāyasths. Two names are usually given to a boy, one for ceremonial and the other for ordinary use.

The Kāyasths will take food cooked with water from Brāhmans, and that cooked without water (pakki) from Rājpūts and Banias. Some Hindustāni Brāhmans, as well as Khatris and certain classes of Banias, will take pakki food from Kāyasths. Kāyasths of different subcastes will sometimes also take it from each other. They will give the huqqa with the reed in to members of their own subcaste, and without the reed to any Kāyasth. The caste eat the flesh of goats, sheep, fish, and birds. They were formerly somewhat notorious for drinking freely, but a great reform has been effected in this respect by the community itself through the agency of their caste conference, and many are now total abstainers.

The occupations of the Kāyasths have been treated in discussing the origin of the caste. They set the greatest store by their profession of writing and say that the son of a Kāyasth should be either literate or dead. The following is the definition of a Lekhak or writer, a term said to be used for the Kāyasths in Purānic literature:

“In all courts of justice he who is acquainted with the languages of all countries and conversant with all the Shāstras, who can arrange his letters in writing in even and parallel lines, who is possessed of presence of mind, who knows the art of how and what to speak in order to carry out an object in view, who is well versed in all the Shāstras, who can express much thought in short and pithy sentences, who is apt to understand the mind of one when one begins to speak, who knows the different divisions of countries and of time,40 who is not a slave to his passions, and who is faithful to the king deserves the name and rank of a Lekhak or writer.”41