Abhyâgat.—(Sans. “Abhyâgata,” “a guest,” “a visitor”) is hardly a special sect. It is referred generally to mendicants and Brâhmans who live by begging. It is practically synonymous with Atît (q.v.). Some live a solitary life, others associate in monasteries (math) under an abbot (mahant).

Agariya.1—A Dravidian tribe found in scanty numbers only in the hilly parts of Mirzâpur south of the Son, where, according to the last Census, they number 481 males and 457 females, in all 938 souls. The Mirzâpur Agariyas confined themselves almost entirely to mining and smelting iron. They are certainly quite a different people from those described by Colonel Dalton and Mr. Risley in Chota Nâgpur,2 who claim to be Kshatriya immigrants from the neighbourhood of Agra and live by cultivation. The Mirzâpur Agariyas seem to be almost certainly of non-Aryan origin. A tribe of the same name and occupation in the Mandla District of the Central Provinces is described as a sub-division of the Gonds and among the laziest and most drunken of that race.3 Colonel Dalton and Mr. Risley again describe a people of the same name as a sub-division of the Korwas, who are undoubtedly Dravidians.4 It is with these people that the Mirzâpur tribe are almost certainly connected.

Appearance. 2. In appearance the Agariyas approximate very closely to allied Dravidian tribes, such as the Korwas, Parahiyas, etc., but they have a particularly [2]gaunt appearance and worn expression of countenance, which is undoubtedly the result of the severe occupation which they follow.

Tribal organization. 3. Those in Mirzâpur have seven exogamous septs all of totemistic origin. The Markâm is also a sept of the Mânjhis (q.v., paragraph 3). The word means “a tortoise,” which the members of this sept will neither kill nor eat. The Goirâr take their name from a tree so called, which the members of this sept will not cut. The Paraswân take their name from the palása tree (Butea frondosa), and members of this sept will not cut the tree or eat out of platters (dauna) made of its leaves. The Sanwân say that they take their name from san or hemp, which they will not sow or use. The Baragwâr are named from the bar tree (Ficus Indica), from the leaves of which they will not eat, and which they will not cut or climb.5 Banjhakwâr, the name of the fifth sub-division, is said to be a corruption of Bengachwâr from beng, “a frog,” which the members of this sept will not kill or eat. The Gidhlê, which is also the name of a sept of the Bengal Orâons,6 will not kill or even throw a stone at a vulture (Gidh). The Census returns give the chief sept as Bâjutheb, which was not recorded by the members of the tribe examined on the spot.

Tribal council. 4. They have a tribal council (panchâyat) at which all adult males attend. The meetings, in default of any specially urgent business, assemble when the members meet on the occasion of marriages or deaths. The members are summoned by the President of the council (mahto), who circulates a root of turmeric among them. The council deals with caste matters, such as adultery, fornication, and the like. The orders are enforced in the usual way (see Mânjhi, paragraph 9). The office of President is permanent and hereditary. If the incumbent happens to be a minor he can select another clansman to act for him until he becomes competent to fill the post.

Rules of exogamy. 5. The only rule of exogamy is that no one may marry within his sept (kuri). This obviously admits of very close marriage connections, but it is not supplemented by the usual formula which prohibits marriage in the [3]family of both the paternal and maternal uncles and paternal and maternal aunts. It is, in fact, admitted on all sides that a man may marry the daughter of his paternal uncle. It is essential that the bridegroom must not be engaged in any degrading labour, such as shoe-making or groom’s work. There is no restriction as to place of origin or family worship, but he must nominally conform to the tribal religion.

Traditions of origin. 6. The Mirzâpur Agariyas say that some five or six generations ago they emigrated from Rîwa, hearing that they could carry on their business in peace in British territory. Their first settlement was in the village of Khairahi in Pargana Dudhi. Their head-quarters in Rîwa are at the village of Rijaura; they do not make any pilgrimages to their original settlements or draw their priests or tribal officials from there.

Marriage. 7. The bride is purchased and her price by tribal custom is fixed at ten rupees. Polygamy is permitted, and an Agariya may have as many wives as he can afford to purchase and maintain. The senior wife (Jethi Mehrâru) is head of the household; she joins her husband in the family worship and she receives a degree of respect among the clansmen at marriages, etc., which is denied to the junior wives. If there are more wives than one they live in the same house, but in separate huts. Concubinage with women who are not members of the tribe and polyandry are prohibited. The women enjoy a considerable amount of liberty both before and after marriage. If an unmarried girl is detected in an intrigue with a clansman, her father can get her married to her lover on paying a tribal fine of ten rupees and providing a feast for the clansmen to the amount of one goat and the necessary quantity of rice. If she offends with a stranger she is permanently expelled.

Marriage ceremonies. 8. The age for marrying girls is between five and ten, and the parents are disgraced if they do not marry their daughters at an early age. The boy’s maternal uncle (mâmu) arranges the marriage.7 There are no professional marriage brokers. The consent of the parents on both sides is essential, and the parties have no freedom of choice. When the preliminaries are arranged, the boy’s father sends to the girl’s [4]father ten rupees and two loin cloths (dhoti). This is the invariable rate whatever the means of the parties may be. None of this becomes the property of the bride and bridegroom, except one of the loin cloths which is given to the bride; but her father is expected to spend the cash received on the marriage feast. No physical defects are a bar to marriage, and if after marriage the bridegroom discovers any defect in the bride he must take her home. But this very seldom happens because the relatives on both sides take care to inspect the bride and bridegroom before the preliminaries are arranged. The betrothal consists in the approval of the bride by the boy’s maternal uncle and his acceptance of a dinner from the father of the girl. After this the wedding day is fixed. Their marriages usually take place in the light half of the month of Mâgh (January–February). Five days before the wedding day, the matmângar ceremony is performed in the usual way. On the marriage day the bridegroom comes with his procession to the house of the bride. They are put up in a place (Janwânsa) arranged for their reception. On that day it is not the custom for the father of the bride to entertain the party. Next morning the bridegroom comes with his friends to the bride’s house, and going into the inner chamber, where she is hiding, drags her out into the courtyard. This, and the rule of not entertaining the friends of the bridegroom before the marriage, are obvious survivals of marriage by capture. In the courtyard is fixed up a sort of pavilion (mânro), in the centre of which is planted a branch of the sâl tree (Shorea robusta). The sâl is the sacred tree of many of the Dravidian races, and its use at marriages seems to imply that tree marriage was the original custom. Round this the pair walk five times, and then the bride’s father makes a mark with turmeric on the foreheads of both, and warns them to live in unity. After this the clansmen are fed, and the bride is sent home with her husband. When she arrives at the door of her husband’s house his sister (nanad) bars the entrance, and will not admit the bride until the bridegroom gives her a couple of pice. After this the bridegroom’s father feeds his clansmen, who return home next day. Before they enter their new home there is a sort of confarreatio ceremony when the pair have to sit down outside and eat together. The essential part of this marriage ceremony, which is known as charhauwa, because the bride is offered (charhâna) to the bridegroom, is the payment of the bride price and the marking of the foreheads of the pair by the father of the bride. [5]

Divorce. 9. There is no real divorce: merely expulsion of the faithless wife from hearth and home. The only ground for expulsion is proof of the wife’s adultery to the satisfaction of the clansmen. In fact, it is understood that no proof short of her being caught in the act of adultery will be sufficient. If a woman is put away for adultery, she cannot be remarried in the tribe. Concubinage with strange women is forbidden. All the sons of all the wives rank and share equally. If a woman has a child by a man of another tribe, he is not received into the caste, cannot be married in the tribe, and the clansmen will not eat with him.

Widow Marriage. 10. Widow marriage in the Sagâi form is allowed. When a man proposes to marry a widow, he can do so with the consent of the head of the family. Both parties give a tribal dinner, and the man rubs some oil on the woman’s head and some red lead on the parting of her hair, and brings her home. When he brings her home he has to entertain the clansmen. The levirate is permitted, with the usual restriction that it is only the younger brother of her late husband who is entitled to claim her. It is only on his renouncing his right to her that she can marry an outsider. If she have children by her first husband, they do not accompany her to her new home, but remain with their father’s brother. The widow, on re-marriage, has no rights to her first husband’s property. If the children are very young, the uncle, who maintains them, gets half their property as his remuneration. In the same way if their uncle does not care to look after them, and they go to their step-father, he receives half their inheritance, and in this case the children are considered to be his own.

Adoption. 11. Adoption is permitted to a sonless man or one whose son is permanently expelled from caste; but there is no idea of religious merit in adoption. The son adopted must be of the sept (kuri) of the adopter, and is in most cases a brother’s son. Having once adopted he cannot adopt again as long as the adopted son is alive. A bachelor, an ascetic, or a blind man cannot adopt, nor can a married woman without the leave of her husband, and under no circumstances has the widow this power. A man may give his eldest, but not his only son, in adoption to another. There is no condition of age in the boy to be adopted. Girls cannot be adopted. The adopted [6]son is not excluded from succeeding to his natural father, and will do so if he have no other son. If a natural son be born after adoption, both share equally in the estate.

These are the rules as stated in a meeting of the caste, but they obviously represent the influence of their Hindu neighbours. It is very doubtful if the real Agariyas have any idea of adoption.

Succession. 12. The rules of succession are very similar to those of the Mânjhis (q.v.). When a man dies leaving a widow or widows, a son or sons, a daughter or daughters, brothers or other relatives, the sons alone inherit, and primogeniture is so far observed that the eldest son gets one animal or article, an ox, a brass pot, etc., in excess of the others. The sons take their shares per capita. When a man leaves only a sonless widow, his brothers inherit with the obligation of maintaining the widow for her lifetime or until she marries again. She can be expelled for unchastity. Stepsons inherit only the amount of their father’s property which their step-father may have received, but he is bound to support and marry them. Many of the elaborate rules which the tribe pretend to observe are derived from Hindu practice; and it is obvious that it is seldom difficult for an Agariya to dispose of his simple property.

Relationship. 13. The relations of the husband are regarded as relations of the wife, and vice versâ. The scheme of relationship agrees with that of the Kols (q.v.).

Birth ceremonies. 14. There are no ceremonies during pregnancy. Contrary to ordinary Hindu custom the woman lies on a bed facing east during delivery. She is attended during seclusion by the Chamâin midwife, who cuts the cord and buries it outside under the eaves of the house. The mother is dosed with a decoction of dill (ajwâin), and gets in the evening a mess of boiled sâwân, millet and konhrauri or balls made of urad pulse, and cucumber (konhra). On the sixth day the clothes of the mother and all the household are washed by one of them. They do not employ a Dhobi which, as the birth pollution is much dreaded, marks a very low stage of ceremonial purity. On the same day mother and child are bathed by the midwife, who gets a loin cloth (dhoti) as her fee. The mother then cooks for the family and a few of the neighbouring clansmen. On the same day the delivery room (saur) is cleaned and replastered by the sister of the husband (nanad), who receives a fee of four annas for her trouble. On the twelfth day the clansmen and their wives who live in the neighbourhood are fed. [7]

Couvade. 15. The husband is allowed to do no work on the day his wife is delivered, and has to take the first sip of the cleansing draught which is given her after delivery. He does not cohabit with his wife for a month after her confinement.

Puberty ceremonies. 16. There is no regular ceremony on arrival at puberty. The only rite in the nature of initiation is the ear-boring, which is done both for boys and girls in the fifth year. Up to this they may eat from the hands of a person of any caste. After this ceremony they must conform to tribal usage.

Death ceremonies. 17. The dead, except young children and those dying of small-pox, are cremated in the jungle. This is done very carelessly, and in times of epidemic disease the corpses are merely exposed in the jungle to be eaten by wild animals. The corpse is laid face upwards on the pyre with the feet to the south. The nearest kinsman moves five times round the pyre and touches the face of the corpse five times with a straw torch. As soon as the pyre blazes all go and bathe. Then they fill their vessels (lota) with water and return to the house of the deceased, where each pours the water he has brought in the court-yard. No fire is lit and no cooking done in the house that day. The food is cooked at the house of the brother-in-law (bahnoi) of the dead man. On the tenth day the clansmen assemble at some running water, and then go and eat at the house of the deceased. The bones which remain after cremation are thrown into the nearest running stream. They are not buried, and subsequently, when convenient, conveyed to the Ganges, as is the custom with the similarly named tribe in Chota Nâgpur.8

Ancestor worship. 18. On the day of the Phagua (Holi) they feed a fowl with gram and kill it in the name of the sainted dead. But they recognise no deceased ancestor beyond their father and mother, in whose name after the sacrifice they pour a little water on the ground. Only the members of the family eat the flesh of the victim. They do not employ Brâhmans at funerals; they have no Srâddha, and the sister’s son has no special functions on this occasion. [8]

Religion. 19. They call themselves Hindus, but worship none of the regular Hindu deities. In the month of Aghan they get the Baiga to worship the village gods (dih). The offering consists of five fowls and a goat. The Baiga chops off the heads of the victims with his axe and takes the heads as his perquisite, while the worshipper and his family cook and eat the rest of the meat at the shrine. In the month of Pûs they worship the tribal deity—the goddess of iron—Lohâsur Devi. To her is offered a female goat which has never borne a kid and some cakes made of flour and molasses fried in butter. These cakes are broken into pieces before dedication. A fire offering (hom) is lit and some of the scraps of cake are thrown into it. The remainder are eaten by the worshippers. There is no temple or image of this deity. Brâhmans are never employed by them, and they do all their religious business themselves, except the worship of the village gods, which is entrusted to the Baiga. Among them the Baiga is always one of the Parahiya (q.v.) caste. The village gods are worshipped at their special shrine; offerings to Lohâsur Devi and the sainted dead are made in the court-yard of the house. It is only in the case of the sacrifice to the local gods that the Baiga receives the head of the victim; in other cases the whole of the meat is consumed by the worshippers themselves. No substitutes are used in sacrifice, and they do not offer parts of their own bodies, such as locks of hair, drops of blood, etc.

Festivals. 20. Their festivals are the Phagua or Holi and the Baisâkhi called after the months in which they occur. At both they sacrifice to deceased ancestors and drink liquor. Both these are regular fixed feasts. They have no other Hindu holidays, nor at the Phagua do they light the holy fire as Hindus do. Before they offer the black goat to Lohâsur Devi they worship it, and before sacrificing it pour water on its head. Ancestors are worshipped to ward off evil from the household. They do not sacrifice animals at funerals, nor do they make any funeral offerings.

Ghosts. 21. They dread the ghosts of the dead who appear in dreams, not because their obsequies have not been duly performed, but because they have not received their customary periodical worship. They are then appeased by the sacrifice of goats and fowls. [9]

Tattooing. 22. All the Dravidian tribes of Mirzapur, the Kharwâr, Majhwâr, Patâri, Panka, Ghasiya, Bhuiya, Parahiya, Bhuiyâr, Korwa, Agariya, etc., have their bodies tattooed. This is done both to married and unmarried girls as soon as they attain to puberty. A widow cannot get herself tattooed, unless she marries again by the sagâi form. If a widow gets tattooed it is believed to bring trouble on the village. There are twenty-four forms of tattoo, any of which may be used by any woman of any of the castes. In general opinion tattooing is a sacred rite by which the body is sanctified. They say that the road to the heaven of Parameswar is full of difficulties, and at the end is a great gate guarded by terrible demons. The keepers will let no woman pass who is not tattooed. Accordingly every woman has to be tattooed, and in particular it is advisable to have the mark of some god marked on the body. They also believe that women who are not tattooed during life are tortured by the keepers of the gate of heaven. They burn them in the fire and brand them with a hot iron. They also roll them among thorns and afflict them in sundry ways. Some are taken to the top of the gate and flung down from thence. The only ornament which accompanies the soul to the other world is the godna or tattoo.9 Besides being a religious obligation the tattoo is used as a decoration, and it hence takes the form of various kinds of jewelry. The tattooing is done by the women of the Bâdi or Malâr tribes of Nats. The remuneration varies according to the wealth of the patient and the character of the ornament. It ranges from half an anna to four annas. Women get themselves tattooed on the wrists, arms, shoulders, neck, breast, thighs, knees and below the knees. It is done with lamp-black mixed with the milk of the patient. If a woman be unmarried or barren, the milk of another woman of the family is used. If the milk of a woman of another caste be used it is considered most injurious to health. While the operation is going on, the patient is kept amused by the recitation of verses usually obscene. Tattooing is also used as a remedy for pains in various parts of the body. The black substance is made by burning the roots of certain jungle plants known as the gaihora and Chainshora. [10]Opium is also mixed with the black pigment to reduce the pain. A favorite remedy for barrenness is to tattoo the part of the stomach below the navel. In the same way a woman whose children are unhealthy and die gets a tattoo mark made on her armpit or stomach.

The chief forms of tattoo used by these jungle tribes are as follows:—The elephant; this is the sign of Ganesa, and women have it done on both arms; the sacred book (pothi),—this is done on the shoulders and arms; Mahâdeva,—this represents the name of Siva and is done on the breast; sankha or the conch shell,—this is done on the wrist, but is prohibited to women of the Majhwâr and Patâri tribes. It is the sign of coverture, and the woman who wears it does not become a widow in this world or in the life to come; pahunchi and chûra—these represent bangles or bracelets; the pahunchi is done on the arms, and the chûra below the knee; Jata Mahâdeva—this represents the matted locks of Siva and is done on the breast and other parts of the body; the hansuli or necklace—this is made on the neck in the place where the necklace is worn. While this mark is being tattooed, the mother of the girl seats her daughter on her knee because it is believed that the existence of this mark ensures that they both shall meet in the next world; the person who makes this mark receives extra remuneration. Pân pattar or betel leaf, châwal or rice mark, and the kharwariya are done on the arms in the place where the ornaments known as the bâju or jaushan are worn. Women of the Bhuiya and Parahiya tribes call this mark rijhwâr or “pleasing.” The bhanwara or large bumble bee is done on the knees and thighs. The murli-manohar is the representation of Krishna as the flute-player. It is done on the wrists and arms. The phulwâri or flower garden is done on the breasts and arms. The dharm gagariya is a mark which is supposed to make the wearer holy in the world to come. The râwana is the sign of Rawana, the enemy of Râma Chandra. It is done on the breast and hands. Garur is the sign of the bird Garuda, the vehicle of Vishnu. It is done on the arms chiefly by women of the Majhwâr, Patâri and Panka tribes. Chandrama is the sign of the moon, and is delineated on the breast and arms. Râdha Krishna is the sign of Krishna and his consort, done on the breast, wrist, and arms. The dhandha or “work” is the mark made below the navel by barren women in the hope of obtaining offspring. Muraila is the mark of the peacock made on the breast. Many of these marks are probably [11]totemistic in origin, but the real meaning has now been forgotten, and they are at present little more than charms to resist disease and other misfortunes, and for the purpose of mere ornament.

Tree worship. 23. The only tree they respect is the sâkhu or sâl which is used at these marriages.

Clothes and jewelry. 24. There is nothing peculiar about their clothes, except their extreme scantiness. The men wear rings of brass or gold in the ear-lobes. The women wear ear ornaments made of palm-leaf (tarki), glass bangles (chûri), heavy pewter anklets (pairi), and on the arm brass rings (ragari), with bead necklaces on the throat.

Oaths. 25. They swear on the head of their son and believe that they die if they forswear themselves. They have no form of ordeal.

Witchcraft. 26. There appears to be no idea that their women, like those of the Bengal Agariyas, are notorious witches.10 They have Ojhas in the tribe, who announce, by counting the grains of rice put before them in a state of ecstacy, what particular Bhût has attacked the patient. The usual result is that he decides that some particular godling (deota) is clamouring for an offering. They believe in dreams which are interpreted by the oldest man in the family. They are usually due to inattention to the wants of the sainted dead. They do not profess to believe in the Evil Eye. But this is more than doubtful.

Food. 27. They eat all kinds of meat, including beef. They will not touch a Dom; they will touch a Chamâr, Dharkâr, Ghasiya, or Dhobi, but will not eat from their hands. They have a special detestation for Doms.

Taboos. 28. They will not touch a menstrual woman or their younger brother’s wife, or mother-in-law, or a connection through the marriage of children (Samdhin). They will not name their wives or elders in the family or the dead. In the morning they will not speak of death or quarrels or unlucky villages or persons of notorious character. They will not eat the flesh of monkeys, horses, crocodiles, lizards or snakes. [12]

Social usages. 29. Children eat first, then the men and women eat together, but in separate vessels. They have no ceremony at eating. They use liquor and chewing tobacco freely; they do not use the huqqa, but smoke out of pipes made of the leaf of the sâl tree. When they cannot get liquor to offer to deceased ancestors they mix flowers of the Mahua (Bassia latifolia) in water. They believe that the use of liquor keeps off sickness, but consider drunkenness disreputable. They salute in the same form as the Mânjhis (q.v.). They will eat food cooked in butter (pakka) from the hands of Kahârs, and boiled rice from Chhatris. There is no caste which will drink water touched by them.

Occupation. 30. They practically do no agriculture. Their business is smelting and forging iron. The following account of the manufacture is given by Dr. Ball11:—“The furnaces of the Agariyas are generally erected under some old tamarind or other shady tree on the outskirts of a village, or under sheds in a hamlet where Agariyas alone dwell, and which is situated in convenient proximity to the ore or to the jungle of sâl (Shorea robusta), or bijay sâl (Pterocarpus marsupium), where the charcoal is prepared. The furnaces are built of mud and are about three feet high, tapering from below upwards from a diameter of rather more than two feet at base to eighteen inches at top, with an internal diameter of about six inches, the hearth being somewhat wider. Supposing the Agariya and his family to have collected the charcoal and ore, the latter has to be prepared before being placed in the furnace. The magnetic ores are first broken into small fragments by pounding, and are then reduced to a fine powder between a pair of mill-stones. The hematite ores are not usually subjected to any other preliminary treatment besides pounding. A bed of charcoal having been placed on the hearth, the furnace is filled with charcoal and then fired. The blast is produced by a pair of kettle-drum-like bellows, which consist of basins loosely covered with leather in the centre of which is a valve. Strings attached to these leather covers are connected with a rude form of springs which are simply made by planting bamboos or young trees into the ground in a sloping [13]direction. The weight of the operator, or pair of operators, is alternately thrown from one drum to the other, the heels acting at each depression as stoppers to the valves. The blast is conveyed to the furnace by a pair of hollow bamboos, and has to be kept up steadily without intermission for from six to eight hours. From time to time ore and fuel are sprinkled on the top of the fire, and as fusion proceeds the slag is tapped off by a hole pierced a few inches from the top of the hearth. For ten minutes before the conclusion of the process, the bellows are worked with extra vigour, and the supply of ore and fuel from above is stopped. The clay luting of the hearth is then broken down, and the ball (giri) consisting of semi-molten iron slag and charcoal is taken out and immediately hammered, by which a considerable portion of the included slag which is still in a state of fusion is squeezed out. In some cases the Agariyas continue the further process, until after various reheatings in open furnaces and hammerings, they produce clean iron fit for the market, or even at times they work it up themselves into agricultural tools, etc. Not unfrequently, however, the Agariya’s work ceases with the production of the giri which passes into the hands of the Lohârs. Four annas or six-pence is the price paid for an ordinary giri, and as but two of these can be made in a very hard day’s work of fifteen hours’ duration, and a considerable time has also to be expended on the preparation of charcoal and ore, the profits are very small. The fact is that although the actual price which the iron fetches in the market is high, the profits made by the native merchants (Mahâjan) and the immense disproportion between the time and labour expended and the outturn, both combine to leave the unfortunate Agariya in a miserable state of poverty.” Some further enquiries recently made in Mirzapur prove the hopelessness of competition between native and imported iron. The native iron is specially valued for tools, etc., but with the diminution of jungle its manufacture will probably soon disappear.

Agariya: Agari.—There is another set of people known under this name who are found in the Central Ganges-Jumna Duâb who have no connection with the Agariyas of Mirzâpur. They claim to be Chauhân Râjputs, and say that they emigrated to Bulandshahr about two centuries ago from Sambhal in the Morâdâbâd district. They are, as a rule, settled, but in the hot weather they migrate to Rohtak, in the Panjab, where they settle in rude [14]huts near villages and pursue their trade of making salt (khâri nimak) and saltpetre. They follow the customs of Râjputs in their marriage ceremonies, except that they levy a bride price from the relations of the bridegroom. They profess not to permit widow marriage, but they recognise the levirate. A wife may be put away for adultery or other misconduct with the sanction of the tribal council, and then she can re-marry by the karâo form. Some of them now live by agriculture. Gûjars, they say, will eat and smoke with them.

2. A caste known as Agari are miners and smelters in the hills: there they are regarded as a branch of the Doms.

3. Of the Agaris of the Panjab Mr. Ibbetson writes:—“The Agari is the salt-maker of Râjputâna and the east and south-east of the Panjab, and takes his name from the Agar or shallow pan in which he evaporates the saline water of the lakes or wells at which he works. The city of Agra derives its name from the same word. The Agaris would appear to be a true caste, and in Gurgâon are said to claim descent from the Râjputs of Chithor. There is a proverb,—“The Ak, the Jawása, the Agari and the cartman: when the lightning flashes these four give up the ghost:” because, I suppose, the rain which is likely to follow would dissolve their salt. The Agaris are all Hindus and are found in the Sultânpur tract on the common borders of the Delhi, Gurgâon and Rohtak districts, where the well water is exceedingly brackish, and where they manufacture salt by evaporation. Their social position is fairly good, being above that of the Lohârs, but, of course, below that of Jâts.”12

4. Another name for them in these provinces is Gola Thâkur, or illegitimate Râjput. At the last Census they were included in the Luniyas.

Agarwâla.13—Usually treated as a sub-caste of the great Banya caste, a wealthy trading class in Upper India. There are various explanations of the name. According to one account they take their title from dealing in the aromatic wood of the agar (Sans. aguru), the eagle wood tree (Aquilaria agallocha). There is, however, no evidence that the sale of this article is, or ever was, a speciality [15]of the Agarwâlas. Another story is that there were a thousand families of Agnihotri Brâhmans settled in Kashmîr, and that they were supplied with agar wood for their sacrifices by a special tribe of Vaisyas. When Alexander the Great invaded India he broke their sacred fire pits (Agni kunda), and these Vaisyas were dispersed and settled in the neighbourhood of Agra, whence they derived their name. A third legend again refers the name to Agroha, an ancient town in the Hissâr district of the Panjab, where a lâkh of families of Vaisyas were settled by King Agra Sena. Round this Râja Agra Sena there is a whole cycle of legend. His ancestor was Dhana Pâla, Râja of Pratâpnagar, which some identify with the present State in Râjputâna, and some place vaguely in the Dakkhin or Southern India. He had eight sons—Shiu, Nala, Anala, Nanda, Kunda, Kumuda, Vallabha, Suka, and a daughter, Mukuta. At that time there was a Râja Visâla, who had eight daughters—Padmâvati, Mâlati, Kanti, Subhadra, Sra, Srua, Basundhara and Râja. They were married to the eight sons of Dhana Pâla. Each of these, except Nala, who became an ascetic, had a kingdom of his own. In the family of Shiu there reigned in succession Vishnu Râja, Sudarsana, Dhurandhara, Samadi, Mohan Dâs and Nema Nâtha, who populated Nepâl and called it after his own name. His son Vrinda performed a great sacrifice at Brindâban, and named the place after himself. His son was Râja Gurjara, who occupied Gujarât. Râja Harihar succeeded him, and he had one hundred sons. One of these, Rangji, became Râja, and the others, for their impiety, were degraded into Sûdras. To him, in the fifth generation, succeeded Râja Agra Sena. At that time, Râja Kumuda of Nâga Loka, or “Dragon land,” had a very beautiful daughter named Mâdhavi, who was wooed by the God Indra; but her father preferred to marry her to Râja Agra Sena. After his marriage he performed notable sacrifices at Benares and Hardwâr, and then went to Kolhâpur where he won the daughter of the Râja Mahidhara in the swayamvara. Finally he settled in the neighbourhood of Delhi and made Agra and Agroha his capitals. His dominions reached from the Himâlaya to the Ganges and the Jumna, and as far as Mârwâr on the west. He had eighteen queens, who bore him fifty-four sons and eighteen daughters. In his latter days he determined to perform a great sacrifice with each of his queens. Each of these sacrifices was in charge of a separate Achârya or officiant priest, and the gotras which sprang from him are named after these Achâryas. When he was performing the last [16]sacrifice, he was interrupted, and so there are seventeen full gotras and one half gotra. There are considerable differences in the enumeration of these gotras. One list, which seems authoritative, gives them as follows with the Veda, Sâkha and Sutra, to which they conform:—

The lists given by both Mr. Risley and Mr. Sherring differ considerably from this. Mr. Risley gives—

(1) Garg; (2) Goil; (3) Gâwâl; (4) Batsil; (5) Kâsil; (6) Singhal; (7) Mangal; (8) Bhaddal; (9) Tingal; (10) Airan; (11) Tairan; (12) Thingal; (13) Tittal; (14) Mittal; (15) Tundal; (16) Tâyal; (17) Gobhil; (17½) Goin.

Mr. Sherring gives the Gotras as follows:—

(1) Garga; (2) Gobhila; (3) Garwâla; (4) Batsila; (5) Kasila; (6) Sinhal; (7) Mangala; (8) Bhadala; (9) Tingala; (10) Erana; (11) Tâyal; (12) Terana; (13) Thingala; (14) Tittila; (15) Nîtal; (16) Tundala; (17) Goila and Goina; (17½) Bindal. [17]

Agarwâlas again have the divisions Dasa and Bîsa, the “tens” and the “twenties” like the Oswâls (q.v.). One account of their origin is that when the daughters of Râja Vâsuki, the king of the snakes, married the sons of Râja Agra Sena, they each brought a handmaid with them, and their descendants are the Dasas. The Bîsa or pure Agarwâlas do not eat, drink or intermarry with the Dasas.

Connection of the Agarwâlas and Nâgas. 2. Regarding the legend of the connection of the Agarwâlas and Nâgas Mr. Risley14 writes:—“With the Agarwâlas, as with all castes at the present day, the section names go by the male side.

In other words a son belongs to the same gotra as his father, not to the same gotra as his mother, and kinship is no longer reckoned through females alone. Traces of an earlier matriarchal system may perhaps be discerned in the legend already referred to, which represented Râja Agar Nâth as successfully contending with Indra for the hand of the daughters of two Nâga Râjas, and obtaining from Lakshmi the special favor that his children by one of them should bear their father’s name. The memory of this Nâga princess is still held in honor. “Our mother’s house is of the race of the snake” (jât kâ nânihâl nâgbansi hai) say the Agarwâlas of Behâr; and for this reason no Agarwâla, whether Hindu or Jain, will kill or molest a snake. In Delhi Vaishnava Agarwâlas paint pictures of snakes on either side of the outside doors of their houses, and make offerings of fruit and flowers before them. Jaina Agarwâlas do not practise any form of snake-worship. Read in the light of Bachofen’s researches into archaic forms of kinship, the legend and the prohibition arising from it seem to take us back to the prehistoric time when the Nâga race still maintained a separate national existence, and had not been absorbed by the conquering Aryans; when Nâga women were eagerly sought in marriage by Aryan chiefs; and when the offspring of such unions belonged by Nâga custom to their mother’s family. In this view the boon granted by Lakshmi to Râja Agar Nâth that his children should be called after his name, marks a transition from the system of female kinship, characteristic of the Nâgas, to the new order of male parentage introduced by the Brâhmans, while the Behâr saying about the Nânihâl is merely a survival of those matriarchal ideas according to [18]which the snake totem of the race would necessarily descend in the female line. In the last of the six letters entitled “Orestes—Astika, Eine Griechisch—Indische Parallele” Bachofen has the following remarks on the importance of the part played by the Nâga race in the development of the Brâhmanical polity. The connection of Brâhmans with Nâga women is a significant historical fact.

Wherever a conquering race allies itself with the women of the land, indigenous manners and customs come to be respected, and their maintenance is deemed the function of the female sex. A long series of traditions corroborate it in connection with the autochthonous Nâga race. The respect paid to Nâga women, the influence which they exercised, not merely on their own people, but also in no less degree on the rulers of the country, the fame of their beauty, the praise of their wisdom—all this finds manifold expression in the tales of the Kashmîr chronicle, and in many other legends based upon the facts of real life.”

Snake-worship among Agarwâlas. 3. In connection with these speculations it may be noted that Agarwâlas have a special form of worship in honor of the Saint Astika Muni. He was the son of Jaratkâru by the sister of the great serpent Vâsuki and saved the life of the serpent Takshaka, when Janmejaya made his great sacrifice of serpents. This worship appears to be peculiar to the Agarwâlas, and is said to be performed only by Tiwâri Brâhmans. On the fourth day of the light half of Sâwan they bathe in the Ganges and make twenty-one marks on the wall of the house with red lead and butter; and an offering is presented consisting of cocoa-nuts, clothes, five kinds of dry fruits, and twenty-one pairs of cakes (pâpar), some yellow sesamum (sarson) flowers and a lamp lighted with butter. Some camphor is then burnt, and the usual ârti ceremony performed.

These things are all provided by the Agarwâla who does the worship. Astika Muni they believe to have been the preceptor (Guru) of the Nâga, and Agarwâlas call themselves Nâga Upâsaki or snake-worshippers. After this the women of the family come to the house of the officiating Brâhman. The ârti ceremony is again done by burning camphor, and the Brâhman marking their foreheads with red (rori) gives them part of the cakes as a portion of the sacred offering (prasâda). Each woman presents two pice to the Brâhman in return. This sesamum they sprinkle in their houses as a preservative against snake-bite. [19]

They are taught a special mantra or spell for this purpose which is said to run:—“I say that at whosoever’s birth the ceremony of Astika is performed the most poisonous snake runs away when he calls out Snake! Snake!”

This ceremony is performed once a year, and the day after it each person who joins in it gives the officiating Brâhman a present of uncooked grain.

Exogamy. 4. Agarwâlas follow the strict rules of the Shâstras in regulating the prohibited degrees. “All the sections are strictly exogamous, but the rule of unilateral exogamy is supplemented by provisions forbidding marriage with certain classes of relations. Thus a man may not marry a woman, (a) belonging to his own gotra; (b) descended from his own paternal or maternal grandfather, great-grandfather or great-great-grandfather; (c) descended from his own paternal or maternal aunt; (d) belonging to the grand maternal family (nânihâl) of his own father or mother. He may marry the younger sister of his deceased wife, but not the elder sister, nor may he marry two sisters at the same time. As is usual in such cases, the classes of relations barred are not mutually exclusive. All the agnatic descendants of a man’s three nearest male ascendants are necessarily members of his own gotra, and, therefore, come under class (a) as well as class (b). Again, the paternal and maternal aunt and their descendants are included among the descendants of the paternal and maternal grandfathers, while some of the members of the nânihâl must also come under class (b). The gotra rule is undoubtedly the oldest, and it seems probable that the other prohibited classes may have been added from time to time as experience and the growing sense of the true nature of kinship demonstrated the incompleteness of the primitive rule of exogamy.”15

Birth ceremonies. 5. In these Provinces when the moment of delivery comes, it is the etiquette for the husband to go himself and call the Chamârin midwife. This is always so in case of the birth of a son; but if it is a girl he can either go himself or send a servant to fetch her. She comes and cuts the cord, which is not, as is the case with many other castes, buried in the delivery room. A fire (pasanghi) is kept burning near the mother to keep off evil spirits, and guns are fired to scare the [20]dreaded demon Jamhua. After the child is born the mother is given a dose of assafœtida and water, the bitterness and smell of which she is not under the circumstances supposed to be able to feel. The Chamârin remains three days in attendance, and during that time the mother is fed on fruits and not allowed to eat grain in any form. On the third day she is bathed and the Chamârin dismissed. After this she is fed on grain. On the sixth day is the Chamar Chhathiya when the women keep awake all night and have lamps burning. All the women take lamp-black from one of these lamps and mark their eyes with it to bring good luck, and a little is also put on the eyes of the baby. Within fifteen days of delivery when the Pandit fixes an auspicious time the mother is bathed. There is no twelfth day (barahi) ceremony. The astrological (râs) name is fixed by the Pandit; the ordinary name by the head of the family. The mother is again bathed on the fortieth day, and is then pure and can rejoin her family. If the family can afford it, after this the Pandit is sent for and there is a formal naming ceremony (nâma karma), but this is not absolutely necessary.

Marriage ceremonies. 6. There is no fixed age for marriage. The wealthier members of the tribe marry their daughters in infancy; poorer people keep them till they are grown up in default of a suitable match being arranged. The marriage follows the usual high caste form. When the horoscopes agree (râs barag) and the friends are satisfied, a Pandit is asked to fix a lucky day. No bride price is given or received. Then the boy’s father sends to the bride’s house a maund of curds, some sweets and two rupees in cash to clench the proposal. The curds are sent in an earthen pot smeared with yellow; some red cloth is put over the mouth and on this the money is placed. This constitutes the betrothal. When the marriage day approaches the boy’s father sends the bride some ornaments made of alloy (phûl), a silken tassel, some henna and pomegranates, some sweetmeats, toys and a sheet (sâri). The number of trays of presents should be at least eleven and not more than one hundred and twenty-five. The girl’s father keeps for the bride only the shawl, some sweets and flowers, and sends back the rest. Next day these flowers are tied in the bride’s hair. If the marriage takes place in a town she goes to a temple and worships, and there she meets her future mother-in-law for the first time. After this follows the anointing of the bride and bridegroom, [21]known as Tel-hardi. When the bridegroom reaches the house of the bride, he is seated on a wooden stool, and the women of the family take up the bride in their arms and revolve her in the air round the bridegroom. During this the bride sprinkles rice (achhat) over him.

This ceremony is known as Barhi phirâna. Then comes the Sakhran ceremony. Some curds are put in a bag and hung up. When all the whey has escaped, the remainder is mixed with the same quantity of milk and sugar, some cardamoms, pepper and perfume; this is first offered to the family god (kula-deva), the other godlings (deota), and to a Brâhman, and is then distributed in the form of a dinner (jeonâr). This is always given on the day the tilak ceremony is performed. The girl is brought into the marriage pavilion by a near relation (mân), generally her father’s son-in-law, and seated in her father’s lap. He puts her hand in his with some wheat dough and a gold ring. Then he does the Kanyâdân or solemn giving away of the bride to the bridegroom, while the priest reads the formula of surrender (sankalpa). Then a cloth is hung up, and behind it in secret the bridegroom puts five pinches of red-lead on the parting of the bride’s hair, and they march round the pavilion five times. The girls of the family tie the clothes of the pair in a knot. When this is over they are taken to the retiring room (kohabar) where they are escorted by the next-of-kin (mân) of the bride, who sprinkles a line of water on the ground as they proceed. There the bridegroom’s head-dress (sehra) is removed. It is not the custom for the bride to return at once with her husband; there is a separate gauna. This gauna must take place on one of the odd years first, third or fifth after the regular marriage.

Adoption. 7. In a recent16 case it was held that according to the usage prevailing in Delhi and other towns in the North-Western Provinces among the sect of Agarwâlas who are Sarâogis, a sonless widow takes an absolute interest in the self-acquired property of her husband, has a right to adopt without permission from her husband or consent of his kinsmen, and may adopt a daughter’s son who on the adoption takes the place of a son begotten. It was questioned whether on such an adoption a widow is entitled to retain possession of the estate either as proprietor or as manager of her adopted son. [22]

Agarwâlas and Chamârs. 8. Between the Agarwâla, who is perhaps, in appearance, the best bred of the tribes grouped under the name of Banya, and the dark non-Aryan Chamâr, it is difficult to imagine any possible connection, but it is curious that there are legends which indicate this. Thus it is said that an Agarwâla once unwittingly married his daughter to a Chamâr. When after some time the parents of the bridegroom disclosed the fact, the Agarwâla murdered his son-in-law. He became a Bhût and began to trouble the clansmen, so they agreed that he should be worshipped at marriages. Hence, at their weddings they are said to fill a leather bag with dry fruits, to tie it up in the marriage shed, to light a lamp beneath it, and to worship it in the form of a deity called Ohur, which is supposed to save women from widowhood. A similar story is told at Partâbgarh:—“I have heard it alleged (and the story is current, I believe, in parts of the Panjab) that once upon a time a certain Râja had two daughters, named Chamu and Bamu. These married and each gave birth to a son, who in time grew up to be prodigies of strength (pahalwân). An elephant happened to die on the Râja’s premises, and being unwilling that the carcase should be cut up and disposed of piecemeal within the precincts of his abode, he sought for a man of sufficient strength to carry it forth whole and bury it. Chamu’s son undertook and successfully performed this marvellous feat. The son of Bamu, stirred no doubt by jealousy, professed to regard this act with horror and broke off all relations with his cousin and pronounced him an outcaste. Chamârs are asserted to be descendants of the latter and Banyas of the former, and hence the former in some parts, though admitting their moral degradation, have been known to assert that they are in reality possessed of a higher rank in the social scale than the latter.”17 The story is worth repeating as an instance of some of the common legends regarding the original connection of castes. Why the Chamârs should have selected in the Agarwâla Banyas the most unlikely people with whom to assert relationship, it is very difficult to say. Agarwâlas are also said at marriages to mount the bridegroom secretly on an ass which is worshipped. If this be true, it is probably intended as a means of propitiating Sîtalâ mâi, the dreaded goddess of small-pox, whose vehicle is the ass. [23]

Religion. 9. Most of the Agarwâlas are Vaishnavas; some are Jainas or Sarâogis. At the last Census 269,000 declared themselves as Hindus, and 38,000 as Jainas. A small minority are Saivas or Sâktas, but in deference to tribal feeling they abstain from sacrificing animals and using meat or liquor. As Mr. Risley says18:—“Owing, perhaps, to this uniformity of practice in matters of diet, these differences of religious belief do not operate as a bar to intermarriage; and when a marriage takes place between persons of different religions, the standard Hindu ritual is used. When husband and wife belong to different sects, the wife is formally admitted into her husband’s sect and must in future have her own food cooked separately when staying at her father’s house.” Their tribal deity is Lakshmi. They venerate ancestors at the usual Srâddha. They worship snakes at the Nâgpanchami in addition to the special tribal worship described in para. 3. Among trees they venerate the pîpal, kadam, sami and babûl. Their priests are generally Gaur Brâhmans. Some of them profess to abstain from wearing certain kinds of dress and ornaments, as they say, under the orders of their family Sati.

Social rules. 10. As regards food, the use of the onion, garlic, carrot and turnip is forbidden. At the commencement of meals a small portion is thrown into the fire, and a little known as Gogrâs is given to the family cow. “All Pachhainiya and most Purabiya Agarwâlas wear the sacred thread. In Behâr they rank immediately below Brâhmans and Kâyasths, and the former can take water and certain kinds of sweetmeats from their hands. According to their own account they can take cooked food only from Brâhmans of the Gaur, Tailanga, Gujarâti and Sanâdh sub-castes; water and sweetmeats they can take from any Brâhmans, except the degraded classes of Ojha and Mahâbrâhman, from Râjputs, Bais Banyas, and Khatris (usually reckoned as Vaisyas), and from the superior members of the so-called mixed castes, from whose hands Brâhmans will take water. Some Agarwâlas, however, affect a still higher standard of ceremonial purity in the matter of cooked food, and carry their prejudices to such lengths that a mother-in-law will not eat food prepared by her daughter-in-law. All kinds of animal food are strictly prohibited, and the [24]members of the caste also abstain from jovanda rice which has been parboiled before husking. Jaina Agarwâlas will not eat after dark for fear of swallowing minute insects. Smoking is governed by the rules in force for water and sweetmeats. It is noticed that the Purohits of the caste will smoke out of the same huqqa as their clients.”19

Occupation. 11. The Agarwâlas are one of the most respectable and enterprising of the mercantile tribes in the Province. They are bankers, money-lenders and land-holders. These rights in land have generally been acquired through their mercantile business. It is a joke against them that the finery of the Agarwâla never wears out because it is taken so much care of. They are notorious for their dislike to horsemanship, and for the skill of their women in making vermicelli pastry and sweetmeats. The greatness of Agroha, their original settlement, is commemorated in the legend told by Dr. Buchanan20 that when any firm failed in the city, each of the others contributed a brick and five rupees which formed a stock sufficient for the merchant to recommence trade with advantage.