[81]

Anantpanthi.—One of the reformed Vaishnava sects found in the Râê Bareli and Sîtapur Districts. They number only 170 persons. They are monotheists, and, as the name implies, worship Vishnu in the form of Ananta, “The Infinite.”

Apapanthi.—A Vaishnava sect founded about a century ago by Munna Dâs, a goldsmith ascetic of Mundwa, in the Kheri District, to whose miraculous powers an escape from drought, which threatened the country, was believed to be due, and who has since had a not inconsiderable number of followers in the District of his birth, and Sîtapur and Bahrâich. It does not appear that the tenets taught by Munna Dâs to any considerable extent differ from those of the usual Vaishnava sects.64 At the last enumeration the Apapanthis numbered 4,267, and the Munna Dâsis, 2,636.

Arakh65.—A tribe of cultivators and labourers found in Oudh, some of the eastern districts, and scattered about in smaller numbers through some of the western districts.

Traditions of origin. 2. All the traditions connect them with the Pâsis and Parasurâma, the sixth Avatâra of Vishnu. One story runs that Parasurâma was bathing in the sea when a leech bit his foot and caused it to bleed. He divided the blood into two parts: out of one part he made the first Pâsi and out of the second the first Arakh. Another story is that the Pâsis were made out of the sweat (pasîna) of Parasurâma. While Parasurâma was away the Pâsi shot some animals with his bow, and the deity was so enraged that he cursed the Pâsi, and swore that his descendants should keep pigs. This accounts for the degradation of the Pâsis. Subsequently Parasurâma sent for some Pâsis to help him in one of his wars; but they ran away and hid in an arhar field, and were hence called Arakhs. Another story goes that Parasurâma was once meditating in the jungle. From the dirt of his body he made a figure, and gave it life by cutting his little finger and sprinkling blood upon it. In Lucknow they have an extraordinary story that Tilok Chand founded a Bhar dynasty and was a worshipper of the sun (arka), so he called his family Arkabansi. The Arkabans became the Arakhs, and the Râjbansi the Râjpâsi.66 The Arakhs appear at an early date to have obtained [82]considerable power in Oudh, especially in Hardoi. In the early history of Pargana Sandîla Arakhs occupy the place which is filled in other parts of the district by the Thatheras.67 Two brothers of the tribe, Salhiya and Malhiya, are said to have founded the one Salhiya Purwa, now Sandîla, the chief town of the Pargana; and the other, Malihâbâd, in the adjacent Pargana of that name in the Lucknow District. The Arakhs held the tract till towards the end of the fourteenth century. Sayyid Makhdûm Ala-ud-dîn, the fighting apostle of Nasîr-ud-dîn, the “lamp of Delhi,” undertook to drive out the infidels, and to carry the faith and arms of Islâm a stage further to the south. The promise of a royal revenue-free grant made the prospect of success as tempting to the soldier as was the expulsion of the infidel to the saint. How long or how fiercely the Arakhs resisted we know not. Only the issue of the contest has been remembered. To this day the Arakhs of Atraula, on the Râpti, 120 miles away to the east in Gonda, recall their lost domains in Sandîla.

Tribal organisation. 3. In most places they divide themselves into seven, or what are supposed to be seven exogamous clans. Thus, in Cawnpur, they have the Arakh, Khagâr, Khidmatiya, Chobdâr and Adhrij (which is the highest of all, claiming descent from a Brâhman), Guâr and Bâchhar. These names show that the caste is very much mixed. Khidmatiya means an “attendant,” and was the title given by Akbar to his palace guards. Chobdâr means “mace bearer.” Guâr connects them with the Guâla Ahîrs, and Bâchhar with the Bâchhal Râjputs. In Hardoi they are reported to have no known sub-divisions. The Census returns give their chief clans in Shâhjahânpur, Ratanjat; in Cawnpur, Balahar and Sûpa Bhagat, which connects them with the Doms; in Basti, Maghariya, and Sarjupâri, or “residents of Maghar and the land beyond the river Sarju,” respectively; the Jonkiya, in Lucknow, Unâo, Sîtapur, and Hardoi, who seem to take their name from catching leeches (jonk); in Hardoi, the Mothi; in Gonda, the Adhrij or Adhurj, Bâgri and Baiswâr. In Hardoi too they are said to have no permanent tribal council; the elders merely attend whenever any case comes up for consideration.

Marriage rules. 4. The tendency seems to be towards the establishment of regular exogamous sub-divisions, but these are reported not to be known in Hardoi, and there [83]the rule of exogamy is that a boy is not married into a family to which a girl has been given in marriage. A man can marry the sister of his late wife, but he cannot have two sisters to wife at the same time. There is a regular ceremony whereby the newly-married bride is introduced into her husband’s family. His relatives assemble, eat food cooked by her, and then make her a present. As a rule they practise monogamy. Polyandry is prohibited; concubinage with a woman of the tribe in the Dharauna form is recognised. Marriage is both infant and adult. A wife can be divorced for infidelity, and after divorce she can live with a man by the Dharauna form. A widow can marry by Dharauna: the only difference between this and the regular marriage is that there is no walking round (bhanwar) the sacred fire. The levirate prevails; but the widow is free to marry an outsider if she pleases. If her children by the first marriage are grown up, and she marries a person other than the younger brother of her late husband, she leaves them with his relations; if the children are very young she usually takes them to the house of her new husband, and there they are brought up and supported. When she marries a stranger she loses all claim on her husband’s estate, which falls to his children if there are any; if there are no children, to his associated brethren.

Birth ceremonies. 5. At a woman’s first pregnancy, in the seventh month, sweets (gul-gula) are placed in her lap, and then distributed to the caste people. Her parents at this time send her a present of sweetmeats and money.

Marriage ceremonies. 6. The marriage ceremonies are of the usual type; rich people use the ordinary charhauwa ritual; poor people take the bride to her husband’s house and marry her there by the dola form.

Death ceremonies. 7. These are carried out in the usual way. They get a Brâhman to perform the Srâddha ceremony. As in some of the menial tribes, if a Brâhman’s services cannot be secured the sister’s son of the deceased can take his place.

Ceremonial impurity. 8. The woman is impure for seven days after child-birth, and four days after menstruation. The chief mourner is impure for nine days, and is then purified by bathing and shaving.

Religion. 9. They are Hindus, not belonging to any particular sect, visiting no particular shrine, and worshipping no special saint. Their goddess is Devi, whom [84]they propitiate with an offering of goats. Their priests are Brâhmans of low social position. Their festivals are the Holi, the Janamashtami, on the eighth of the dark half of Bhâdon. They fast all day and eat at midnight. They observe the Diwâli, or feast of lamps, and the Shivrâtri, on the thirteenth of the dark half of Phâlgun, when they fast all day and night, and worship the idol of Siva. At the Karwa Chauth, in the early part of Kârttik, women worship the moon by pouring water on the ground from a pot (karwa).

Demonology and superstition. 10. Their demonology and superstitions do not differ materially from the beliefs of the allied tribes.

Social rules. 11. They will eat anything except beef, pork, the flesh of monkeys, fowls, crocodiles, snakes, lizards, jackals, rats, vermin and the leavings of other people. During the fifteen days in the month of Kuâr, sacred to the worship of the dead, they do not eat meat.

Occupation. 12. Arakhs say that their original occupation was service. They hold no zamîndâri, but cultivate and work as ordinary labourers. In some places they bear a somewhat equivocal reputation for petty thieving.

Âshiqân.—(Literally “lovers”). A branch of the Madâri (q.v.) Muhammadan Faqîrs.

[86]

Âtishbâz.—(Âtish, “fire,” bâz, bâkhtan or bazîdan “to play”.) Also known as Hawaigar or rocket-maker—the maker of fire-works. The variety of fire-works made is very great: the chief are the grenade (anâr), the rocket (mahtâbi, hawai), and the squib (chachhundar). The trade is a fluctuating one, as fire-works are chiefly in demand about the time of Hindu marriages in May, June, and hardly any are used between the Muharram and Chehlam, when Muhammadans do not marry. The caste is purely occupational, and all are Muhammadans.

Atît68.—(Sanskrit, Atîta—“past, gone by”.) A term of rather vague significance, but usually regarded as synonymous with Sannyâsi. Some who are known as Sannyâsi Atîts are regular ascetics. The Gharbâri or house-holders have abandoned the celibate life and marry. They marry usually at the age of seven or eight. Widow marriage is not allowed, but it is understood that the widows of the caste very often leave the family and form irregular connections. Concubinage is allowed.

2. Atîts are Saiva Hindus, and worship Mahâbîr, Mahâdeva and Bhairon Nâth. Their priests are Brâhmans. At Mirzapur they [87]put some fire into the mouth of the corpse and throw it into the Ganges. The death impurity lasts ten days, as in the case of high caste Hindus. They do not feed Mahâpâtras after a death, but Dasnâmis. Many of them are cultivators and some hold patches of rent-free land which have been granted to them by land-holders. They wear clothes dyed in ochre (geru), and carry a rosary of rudrâksha beads. Brâhmans, Kshatriyas and Vaisyas will not eat either kachchi or pakki from their hands; Kahârs and Nâis will do so. Brâhmans will, however, take water from them. They do not use spirits or flesh. Other people salute them by Namo Nârâyan; and they use the same form of salutation among themselves.

Audhiya.69—A tribe found in the Fatehpur District. They are known as Audhiya or Audhya, Ajudhyabâsi or Avadhapuri, and take their name from the city of Ajudhya, in Oudh. They prefer the title of Ajudhyabâsi, or residents of Ajudhya; by outsiders they are usually called Audhiya, or “Oudh men.” They claim to be really Banyas, and say that they emigrated from Ajudhya; but they have no means of fixing the time of their arrival in Fatehpur. One tradition is that their movement was connected with the expedition of Râma Chandra against Lanka or Ceylon.

Divisions. 2. They are divided into two classes—Ûnch or “high,” and Nîch, or “low.” The former are those of pure blood; the latter, the descendants of a woman of another caste, taken as a concubine. These two classes are practically exogamous. Besides these they have no other exogamous sub-divisions, the only other restriction on marriage being that they do not receive brides from a family to which they have already given a daughter in marriage, at any rate until all recollection of the relationship has been lost.

Council. 3. A tribal council sits for the transaction of business connected with the caste. A chairman (sarpanch) is appointed for each meeting.

Marriage rules. 4. The marriage rules agree with those in force among high caste Hindus. The number of wives a man may have is restricted to two. If a girl is detected in immorality before marriage, she is permanently excommunicated, [88]and her parents are also put out of caste until they give a tribal feast. Some money is paid by the relations of the bride to those of the bridegroom; but there is no fixed price. A married woman can be turned out by her husband on proof of adultery. Only the children of the regularly married wives inherit their fathers’ estate.

Birth ceremonies. 5. In the fifth month of pregnancy the ceremony of Panchmâsa is celebrated on a day selected by a Brâhman. Friends are invited, and the relatives of the woman bring her presents of clothes and sweetmeats. The woman is seated inside a holy square marked out on the ground with flour by a Brâhman. The barber’s wife pares the nails of all the women present, and after colouring the soles of the woman’s feet with lac-dye (mahâwar) puts some red lead (sendur) in the parting (mâng) of her hair. Her mother, if she be alive, or if not, some senior woman of the family, fills her lap with rice and sweetmeats. She is then dressed in a new suit of clothes in the presence of the women and officiating Brâhman. On the next day the clothes are taken off and put away carefully for use when the sixth month (chhahmâsa) and seven months’ ceremony (satmâsa) are performed. At these ceremonies rice-milk is cooked, and the woman is fed with it. The caste men are feasted, Brâhmans fed and paid, and the whole day is spent in merry-making. The sweeper or Chamâr midwife attends the woman for three days after delivery; then her relatives and the wife of the barber nurse her for a month. On the third day after delivery the mother is bathed at a time fixed by the advice of a Brâhman. On the sixth day is the Chhathi, when the mother, dressed in the clothes she wore at the Panchmâsa ceremony already described, is seated in a sacred square made of flour by the Brâhman, and she, with her husband’s younger brother (dewar), is fed on choice food placed inside the square, at the four corners of which lighted lamps are placed. After this the relatives are feasted and the night is spent in merriment. During this ceremony some rude marks supposed to represent Chhathi or Shashti, the protectress of children, are made on the wall of the room (sobar) in which the woman was delivered; and near the figures is placed an earthen vessel full of water, covered with a saucer, on which a lamp is lighted. The mother and child are taken in there for the night and left there alone, these arrangements being supposed to be a protection against all kinds of demoniacal influence. The only [89]special rule about twins appears to be that it is unlucky to take any thing from their hands.

Adoption. 6. The ceremony of adoption of a boy who has not been initiated by the ear piercing ceremony (kanchhedan), is as follows:—The pair who are about to adopt a son sit on a wooden seat (patta) inside a sacred square (chauk) made by a Brâhman on a lucky day selected by him. The parents of the boy about to be adopted, or, in their absence, his nearest relatives, place him in the lap of the person adopting him. The Brâhman then worships an earthen water vessel (kalsa), drums are beaten, and alms distributed to the poor. The ceremony ends with a tribal feast.

Betrothal. 7. In the betrothal ceremony the father or other near relative of the girl visits the bridegroom and secretly presents him with some money. After this, on a day fixed by a Brâhman, the father of the girl sends by a Brâhman or barber some sweetmeats, clothes, rice, betel and money, and these are laid before the boy in the presence of his kinsfolk. The barber is then given a present and dismissed. The acceptance of these presents ratifies the engagement.

Marriage. 8. The actual marriage ceremony is of the normal type. It begins with the reception (agwâni) of the party of the bridegroom as they approach the house of the bride. At the door two women stand, each with a water pot (kalas) on her head. Sharbat mixed with bhang, known as mirchwân, is distributed, and the boy being seated on a stool (patta), the “door worship” (duâr-pûja), and the worship of Ganesa are performed. The boy is seated in a sacred square (chauk) made of flour by a Brâhman, and near him is placed a water vessel surmounted by a lighted lamp, while the Brâhman recites sacred verses. After this the father or other near relative of the bride makes a present of money, cattle, clothes, ornaments, etc., to the bridegroom. Then follows the bhanwar, or perambulation round the sacred fire, which is done in the usual way. Poor people, however, do not go through all this elaborate ritual. The father of the bride and his friends take her to the house of the bridegroom, where he goes through the ceremony of pânw-pûja or “the worshipping of the feet” of the bridegroom, and this is the binding observance. [90]

Death. 9. The dead are cremated in the ordinary way. If a person has died of drowning or other accident, cholera, poison, small-pox, or leprosy, the regular death ceremony (kriya karma) is not performed. In such cases the observance is known as Nârâyana bala. The corpse is at once consigned to the Ganges, and within a year a Mahâbrâhman is paid to make a representation of the deceased in gram flour, upon which the regular rites are performed. One Brâhman is fed at the end of each month, and six at the close of the sixth month. When the anniversary of the death comes round, twelve Brâhmans are feasted. The spirits of ancestors who have died childless are propitiated in the same way, and in some cases the relatives employ a Brâhman to go to Gaya and perform the regular srâddha.

Religion. 10. Their tribal deity is Devi. Once their children began to die, and they prayed to the goddess to save them; she heard their prayer, and since then she has been held in honour. If possible they make a pilgrimage to her shrine at Calcutta. Their family priests are Kanaujiya Brâhmans, who suffer no degradation by serving them.

Social rules. 11. They will eat with no one but a member of the caste, and object to touch none but a sweeper or Chamâr.

Occupation. 12. The Audhiyas are well known as a dangerous criminal tribe. They deal largely in counterfeit coin and false jewelry: they never commit crimes of violence. They wander over Northern India as Faqîrs, their journeys commencing generally in June and ending in April; but they are sometimes two or three years away. It is said that if a member of the caste is imprisoned he is excommunicated. They bring home cash only, and dispose of the plunder to agents at different large cities. In the districts where they reside they are perfectly well behaved. They are well-to-do, and to all appearance respectable in their habits. Their women are well-dressed, with plenty of ornaments on their persons. They have no apparent means of support. They neither cultivate land nor trade; and all that appears on the surface is that most of the men and boys go off after the rains and return at the end of the cold weather. If asked how they support themselves, they reply, by begging. Convictions have been obtained against them at Jabalpur, Benares, Patna, Mongir, [91]Calcutta, Gwâlior, Sâgar, Murshidâbâd and Nadiya. They are not under the Criminal Tribes Act, but special Police have been quartered on them in Fatehpur. These have recently been removed. In 1890 there were ascertained to be 375 Audhiyas resident in Cawnpur, and 159 in Fatehpur. The majority of the adult males continue to absent themselves from time to time for the purpose of thieving and uttering false coin in distant places. The Audhiyas are not shown separately in the last Census returns, in which they have probably been included with the Ajudhyabâsi Banyas.

Awadhût.—(Sans. Avadhûta “discarded, rejected.”)—A Saiva sect who practise celibacy and make their living by begging. They wear as little clothes as they can, and let their hair (jata) grow long. They crouch over a fire in cold weather. Their life is one of the hardest led by mendicants of this class.

Âzâd.—A Persian word signifying “free, uncontrolled,” connected with the Sanskrit jâta, a class of Muhammadan Faqîrs, so recorded at the last Census. There are two classes of Muhammadan ascetics, the regular or Ba-shara, who follow the rules of Islâm as regards praying, fasting, alms-giving and pilgrimage; and the irregular or Be-shara, who, though nominally Musalmâns, do not accommodate their lives to the principles of any religious creed. The former are known as Sâlik, or “travellers,” and the latter as Âzâd, “free,” or Majzûb, “abstracted.” Dr. Herklots says that the regular Âzâd class “shave their beards, moustaches, eye-brows and eyelashes; in short, the hair in every part of the body, and lead lives of celibacy. They have no inclination for reading prayers daily. If they get anything to eat, be it good or bad, they partake of it. They have no fixed place of abode; the generality of them travel and subsist on alms.”70 [92]

[93]