Baidguâr.—A small Muhammadan caste shown at the last Census only in Morâdâbâd (173) and Pilibhît (247). The information obtained about them is not very precise; but there can be little doubt that they are an off-shoot of the Baid Banjâras. It is said that formerly the Baid followed the occupation of carrying grain on pack animals: while the Guâr used to make hemp matting (tât), and tend cattle. Since their conversion to Islâm they are known collectively as Baidguâr, but the two divisions do not intermarry. The Census returns give their sections as Baghâri, Chauhân, Mahrora, Nahar, Sadîqi, Shaikh, and Tomar.

Bairâgi.—(Sans. Vairâgya, “freedom from passion.”)—A term applied to a sect of Hindu ascetics, which is often used in rather a vague sense. On this sect Mr. Maclagan writes24:—“The worship of Râma and Krishna is said to be of comparatively recent date; and Professor Wilson points out that in the Sankara Vijaya, published by a pupil of Sankara Achârya, the religious leader who is supposed to have lived in the ninth or tenth century, no mention whatever is made of Râma or Krishna, or Lakshmana or Hanumân. The popularity of this particular form of worship is supposed to date from the time of the spread of the Râjput power, which followed the overthrow of the Buddhist dynasties. The various orders who attach themselves to the worship of Râma and [113]Krishna are generally known as Bairâgis. The appearance of these orders dates from the period at which the worship of Râma and Krishna appears to have been in the ascendant, and though primarily they have their origin in the Dakkhin, their strength is, and has been, mainly in the North-West Provinces, where the worship of Râma and Krishna has always been strongest.

“The history of the Bairâgis commences with Ramânuja, who taught in the south of India, and who is supposed to have lived in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. But it is not till the time of Râmanand, that is until the end of the fourteenth century, that the sect was in any way powerful or important in Northern India; and, indeed, it is only to the followers of Râmanand or his contemporaries that the term Bairâgi is properly applied. The split occasioned by the secession of Râmanand was, like most of the movements in modern Hinduism, a revulsion of the more liberal Northern thinkers against the stricter doctrines of Southern Hindustân. The sect founded by Râmanand was, nominally at least, open to all castes, whereas previous to his time Brâhmans and Kshatriyas alone were admitted, and many of his followers, who founded important schools of doctrine, were men of the humbler classes. The movement started by Râmanand was essentially popular, and the books published by his adherents were written in the tongue of the people, no longer in Sanskrit, but in Hindi—a departure which has been very far-reaching in its results, and which has led in the Panjâb to a new scripture, and a new national religion of a very clear and vigorous type.”

Divisions of the Bairâgis. 2. At the last Census in these Provinces the Bairâgis were classed in three great sub-divisions—Mâdhavachârya, Nimâwat, and Râmanandi. On this Mr. Maclagan writes:—“The Bairâgis have, however, been so far outdone by the newer sects which have sprung from the original stock, that they may be now looked upon as representing orthodox Hinduism, in contrast to the more independent schools of thought. As a rule they venerate both Krishna and Râma, but there are sections of them which pay more reverence to the one, and others that pay more reverence to the other. There are always supposed to have been four sections of Bairâgis, but it appears a little uncertain what the four sections are. There are at least four enumerations:—

• “(a) Râmanandi; Nîmanandi; Vishnuswâmi; Mâdhavachârya. [114]
• “(b) Ramânuja; Mâdhavachârya; Vishnuswâmi; Nimikharakswâmi.
• “(c) Râmanandi; Nimânuja; Mâdhavachârya; Vallabhachârya.
• “(d) Râmanandi; Biganandi; Mâdhavachârya; Vishnuswâmi.

“In the Panjâb there are practically two main sections only, namely, the Râmanandi and Nîmanandi, of whom the former are more specially addicted to the worship of Râma, and the latter to that of Krishna. They both hold a great feast on the death of a fellow devotee, and also on the Râmnaumi, the day of the incarnation of Râmchandra, and on the eighth day of Bhâdon, the incarnation day of Krishna. But the Râmanandis study the Râmâyana, and look on Ajudhya and Râmnâth as places of pilgrimage, while the Nîmanandis study the books relating to Krishna, and consider Mathura, Brindâban and Dwârikanâth to be sacred places. The forehead marks of the Râmanandis are in the form of a trident, of which the two outer prongs are white, and the central one white or red; while those of the Nîmanandis are two-forked only, and entirely in white. The shape of the latter emblem is said to be derived from the figures of the Narasinha Avatâra, and the Nîmanandis are stated to be special worshippers of this incarnation.”

3. In these Provinces, according to one authority,25 the four primary orders of the Bairâgis are Ramânuji or Sri Vaishnava, Nîmâvat, or Nimbârak, Vishnuswâmi and Mâdhavachârya; each of these orders is called a samprâdaya or sect, and all four mesh together. Of the Sri Vaishnava Mr. Growse26 writes:—“The most ancient and respectable of the four reformed Vaishnava communities is based on the teaching of Ramânuja, who flourished in the eleventh or twelfth century A.D. Their sectarial mark is two white perpendicular streaks down the forehead, joined by a cross line at the root of the nose, with a streak of red between. Their chief dogma, called Vasisthadwaita, is the assertion that Vishnu, the one Supreme God, though invisible as cause, is as effect visible in a secondary form in material creation. They differ in one marked respect from the mass of the people at Brindâban,—in that they refuse to recognise Râdhâ as an object of religious adoration. In [115]this they are in complete accord with all the older authorities, which either totally ignore her existence, or regard her simply as Krishna’s mistress, and Rukminî as his wife. Their formula of initiation (mantra) is said to be Om Râmâya namah, i.e., “Om! Reverence to Râma!” This sect (sampradâya) is divided into two sects, the Tenkalai and the Vadakalai.27 They differ in two points of doctrine, which, however, are considered of much less importance than what seems to outsiders a very trivial matter, viz., a slight variation in the way of making the sectarial mark on the forehead. The followers of the Tenkalai extend its middle line a little down the nose itself, while the Vadakalai terminate it exactly at the bridge. The doctrinal points of difference are as follows:—The Tenkalai maintain that the female energy of the godhead, though divine, is still a finite creature that serves only as a mediator or minister (parushakâra) to introduce the soul into the presence of the Deity; while the Vadakalai regard it as infinite and uncreated, and in itself a means (upâya) by which salvation can be assured. The second point of difference is parallel to the controversy between the Calvinists and Armenians in the Christian Church. The Vadakalai, with the latter, insist on the concomitance of the human will in the work of salvation, and represent that the soul lays hold of God as a young monkey which grasps its mother in order to be conveyed to a place of safety. The Tenkalai, on the contrary, maintain the irresistibility of divine grace and the utter helplessness of the soul till it is seized and carried off by its mother like a kitten to be conveyed to a place of safety. From these two curious but apt illustrations the one doctrine is known as markata kishora nyâya, the other, as marjala kishora nyâya, the “young monkey theory,” or the “kitten theory.”

The Nimbârak sect. 4. Of the Nimbârak Mr. Growse28 writes:—“The word means ‘the sun in a nîm tree,’ a curious designation which is explained as follows:—The founder of the sect, an ascetic, by name Bhaskarachârya, had invited a Bairâgi to dine with him, but unfortunately delayed to fetch his guest until after sunset. Now the holy man was forbidden by the rules of his order to eat except in the daytime, and was [116]greatly afraid that he would be compelled to practise an unwilling abstinence; but at the solicitation of his host the Sun God, Sûraj Nârâyan, descended from the Nîm tree, under which the repast was spread, and continued beaming upon them until the claims of hunger were fully satisfied. Thenceforth the saint was known by the name of Nîmbarka or Nimaditya. Their doctrines, so far as they are known, are of a very enlightened character. Thus their doctrine of salvation by faith is thought by many scholars to have been directly derived from the Gospel; while another article in their creed, which is less known but is equally striking in its divergence from ordinary Hindu sentiment, is the continuance of conscious individual existence in a future world, when the highest reward of the good will be not extinction, but in the enjoyment of the visible presence of the divinity whom they have served while on earth: a state, therefore, absolutely identical with heaven, as our theologists define it. The one infinite and invisible God, who is the only real existence, is, they affirm, the only proper object of man’s devout contemplation. But as the incomprehensible is utterly beyond the reach of human faculties, He is partially manifested for our behoof in the book of Creation, in which natural objects are the letters of the universal alphabet, and express the sentiments of the Divine Author. A printed page, however, conveys no meaning to any one but a scholar, and is liable to be misunderstood even by him; so, too, with the book of the world. And thus it matters little whether Râdhâ and Krishna were ever real personages, the mysteries of divine love which they symbolise remain though the symbols disappear.”

Bais.—(Sans. Vaishya, “one who occupies the soil”.)—A very important and influential sept of Râjputs, widely distributed all over the Province. Their legend is thus given by Sir C. Elliott29:—“The Bais assert themselves to be descended from Sâlivâhana, the mythic son of a snake who conquered the great Râja Vikramaditya, of Ujjain, and fixed his own era in A.D. 55. About 1250 A.D. the Gautam Râja of Argal refused to pay tribute to the Lodi King of Delhi, and defeated the Governor of Oudh, who sent a force against him. Soon after this defeat, the Râni, without his knowledge and without fitting escort, went secretly to bathe, at Baghsar, in the Ganges, on the festival of the new moon. Baghsar is close to Dundiya Khera. Sir H. M. Elliot places the locale of this story at Allahâbâd; but the other is the tradition current in Baiswâra, and seems more probable, because Baghsar is closer to Argal, and is the nearest bathing place she could have gone to, and, secondly, Allahâbâd [119]being a much-frequented place of pilgrimage, she would hardly have gone there in any case without an escort, particularly as it was the head-quarters of the Muhammadan Governor. The Governor of Oudh heard of her arrival and sent men to capture her. Her escorts were dispersed, and she was on the point of being made prisoner, when she lifted the covering of her litter and cried,—“Is there no Chhatri who will rescue me from the barbarian, and save my honour?” Abhay Chand and Nirbhay Chand, two Bais Râjputs, from Mungipatan, heard her, and came to her rescue, beat off her assailants, and guarded her litter till she arrived safely at her home in Argal, in the Fatehpur District. Nirbhay Chand died of his wounds, but Abhay Chand recovered, and the Râja, in gratitude for his gallant rescue, gave him his daughter in marriage, and with her as dowry all the lands on the north of the Ganges, over which the Gautam bore rule. He also conferred on his son-in-law the title of Râo, which is still the highest dignity among the Bais. Abhay Chand fixed his home in Dundiya Khera, and the title and estates descended, in an unbroken line, to Tilok Chand, the great eponymous hero of the clan, who are called after him Tilok Chandi Bais, in contradistinction to other branches of the same tribe. He lived about 1,400 A.D., and extended the Bais dominion over all the surrounding country, and it is from his victories that the limits of Baiswâra became definitively fixed. The tract is universally said to include twenty-two Parganas, and though there is considerable discrepancy in the various lists of these Parganas, which are furnished from different quarters, the following list is probably correct:—

Râê Bareli and Unâo Districts:—Dundiya Khera, Unchhgâon, Kumhi, Bâr, Kahanjar, Ghâtampur, Serhupur, Makraid, Dalmau, Bareli, Bihâr, Pathân, Panhan, Sathanpur, Harha, Purwa, Morâwan, Sirwan, Asoha, Gorinda, Parsandan.

Lucknow District:—Bijnaur.”

Tilok Chand was the premier Râja of Oudh, and his descendants are never weary of telling stories of his almost divine and unequalled power. He once turned the Kahârs, who carried his palanquin, into Râjputs; and one account of the Bhâlê Sultân sept in Faizâbâd is that they were Bâris, or link-boys, in his service.

Origin. 2. In Faizâbâd the Bais say that they came from Baiswâra about five hundred years ago, and expelled the Bhars; but this story is disbelieved by Mr. [120]Carnegy30 on the ground that there were few Bais even in Baiswâra in those days. He believes the Faizâbâd colony to be of local origin. They are divided into two great families, the Eastern and the Western, who, though they eat together, recognise no relationship, and retain the memory of bitter border warfare with each other. The Pargana of Mangalsi is overrun by different independent Bais colonies, the members of which say they came from the West (no one knows from where) and expelled the Bhars two or three centuries or, according to their pedigree tables, sixteen generations ago. There are traditions of a Gautam (Sombansi) colony founded by Mangalsen, from whom the Pargana takes its name, who is said to have been a cadet of the great Fatehpur house of Argal. But the Gautams were long ago pushed across the river Ghâgra. It is noteworthy that the Muhammadans, who produce title deeds more than three hundred years old, declare that Mangalsen was not a Gautam but a Bhar. Another curious fact is that both the Muhammadans and the few Gautams who are left are shown by Mr. Woodburn to pay the feudal tribute (bhent) to the Bais headmen. How long they have done so is not very clear, but the conclusion from all this is, according to Mr. Carnegy, that the local Bais are the indigenous Bhars; that the Bhars became Bais about or after the Muhammadan conquest; the Gautam footing was by marriage with the Bais, and the Muhammadans succeeded to the Bais Bhars. These conclusions of Mr. Carnegy must be received with some degree of caution. That the Bais of the Faizâbâd District may have some admixture of indigenous blood is more than probable; but at the same time that they have a large basis of Râjput blood may be regarded as quite certain.

Customs. 3. Of the sept in Râê Bareli we read:—“The Bais clan differ from all other Râjputs somewhat in their customs. Neither men nor women, rich or poor, will put a hand to cultivation or labour of any sort; the women wear one long cloth, which is fastened round their waists about the middle, the lower folds covering the lower portions of the person, and the upper parts being thrown over the shoulders. They are supposed to be more addicted to the crime of infanticide than other Râjputs, and they divide their inheritance according to a system of primogeniture [121]by which the three elder sons receive larger shares than the younger ones.”

Bais of Mainpuri. 4. The Bais of Bewar, in the Mainpuri District, are immigrants from Dundiya Khera, and as far back as 1391–92 A.D., in concert with the Râthaurs, they created such a disturbance here that it was found necessary to send out large bodies of Imperial troops to quell them. Deoli, their chief seat in Barnahal, is mentioned in the Târîkh-i-Mabârik Shâh as a very strong place, in the possession of infidels, and as having been attacked and destroyed in 1420 A.D. by Sultân Khizr Khân on his march from Koil to Etâwah.31

Sâlivâhana. 5. The tribal hero of the sept is Sâlivâhana. He appears to have been an historical character, and has been identified by General Cunningham32 with Gotamiputra Satakarni of the Kanheri and Nâsik inscriptions. The tradition is thus told by a writer in the Oudh Gazetteer33:—“A son of the great world serpent was born under the roof of a potter of Mûngi Pâtan, which, by one account, is on the Narbada, and, by another, is on the Godâvari, in the Ahmadnagar District, and early showed, by his wit and strength, that he was destined to be a king. As a judge among his youthful companions, by what would now be considered a simple process of cross-examination, he excited the wonder of a people unaccustomed to law courts; and deserved and received the same kind of honour that was accorded to Daniel by the Jews of the Captivity after his successful investigation of the case of Susanna and the Elders. His amusement was to make clay figures of elephants, horses, and men-at-arms, and before he had well reached manhood, he led his fictile army to do battle with the great King Vikramaditya. When the hosts met, the clay of the young hero became living brass, and the weapons of his enemies fell harmless on the hard material. Vikramaditya fled and took refuge in a large temple of Siva, whither he was pursued by Sâlivâhana. At the mere sound of the boy’s voice the ponderous gates of the temple rolled back, and Vikramaditya acknowledged his conqueror with appropriate homage. A reasonable arrangement was made on the spot for the partition of the royal power, and on the elder king’s death, Sâlivâhana [122]became undisputed Râja of India. Later in life he conquered the Panjâb and died and was buried at Siâlkot.” This tradition of serpent origin is perpetuated in the tribal tradition that “no snake has or ever can destroy one of the family. They seem to take no precautions against the bite, except hanging a vessel of water over the head of the sufferer, with a small tube in the bottom, from which the water is poured on his head as long as he can bear it.”34 The cobra is in fact the tribal totem.

Other Settlements of the Bais. 6. The Farrukhâbâd story is that the emigrants from Dundiya Khera were led by two brothers, Hansrâj and Bachrâj, that they were first subject to the aboriginal Bhyârs, but finally turned against them and established themselves in Sakatpur and Saurikh, and also in a few villages across the Isan Nadi.35 In Budaun there are two sub-divisions, Chaudhari and Râê, so called from the two sons of their traditional leader, Dalîp Sinh, of Baiswâra. They dated their immigration in Basti only five or six generations before Dr. Buchanan wrote.36 In Gorakhpur some call themselves Nâgbansi, and say that they are sprung from the nose of the mythical cow, Kâmdhenu, which belonged to the Rishi Vasishtha. The Ghâzipur branch claim descent from Baghel Râê, who came from Baiswâra fifteen generations ago, and colonized the jungle.37 Their emigration into Rohilkhand is not placed earlier than the time of Akbar.

Sub-divisions of the Bais. 7. Numerous castes in the Faizâbâd and Gonda Districts, such as the Gandhariyas, the Naipuriyas, the Barwârs, and the Châhus, claim to have been originally Bais, while the equal lengths of their pedigrees show that they were established in these districts at about the beginning of the sixteenth century. There are, besides, numerous families of small landowners in the east of Râê Bareli, who call themselves Bharadih Bais, and whose want of any tradition of emigration and peculiar religion distinguish them from the pure Bais of the west. Another division is that of Bhîtariya and Bâhariya or “the outer” and “the inner” Bais.38 “The Brâhmans of Sultânpur relate that Tilok Chand in his old age, like another king of distinguished wisdom, supported [123]the prodigious responsibility of an establishment of three hundred wives, and became the father of a family countless as the sands of the sea. The Princesses of Rîwa and Mainpuri, to whom he had originally been married, disgusted by an association in which the dignity of castes had not been respected, fled from his castle and gave rise to a distinction between the Bais from within (Bhîtariya) and the Bais from without (Bâhariya); those from without being the offspring of pure Râjput blood, while those from within were of contaminated lineage, and occupied a doubtful position in the castes system.” But the most important distinction is between the Tilokchandi Bais or the descendants of Tilok Chand, and Kath Bais, or “wooden” Bais. Of these Colonel MacAndrew writes39:—“These call themselves Tilokchandi Bais to distinguish them from the Kath Bais, who are supposed to be the offspring of the real Bais by women of inferior caste. The Tilokchandi Bais will neither eat nor intermarry with them. An instance of this was exemplified the other day when the proposal was made that the Bais should erect a bridge over the Sâi at Râê Bareli. The Tilokchandis proposed that the Kath Bais should subscribe. The latter at once expressed their willingness to do so, provided the Tilokchandis would acknowledge them to be Bais by eating with them. Nothing more was heard of the proposal that they should subscribe.” The Tilokchandi Bais according to Sir H. M. Elliot,40 are sub-divided into four clans, Râo, Râwat, Naihatha, and Sainbansi, all of whom profess to derive their rights from the Gautam Râja of Argal. He says that beside the Tilokchandi, there are said to be no less than three hundred and sixty sub-divisions of the Bais, the descendants of as many wives of Sâlivâhana. Among these the most noted are the Tilsâri, Chak Bais, Nânwag, Bhanwag, Bach, Parsariya, Patsariya, Bijhoniya, Bhatkariya, Chanamiya, or Gargbans, but it may be doubted if these are really Bais.

Religion and social standing. 8. There is nothing peculiar about the religion of the Bais except their tribal worship of the snake, and their reverence for a clan goddess, Mathotê, who is worshipped at the Mathotepur fair, in the Sîtapur District. She became a Sati at the death of her consort. The ordinary Bais give their daughters in marriage, amongst others, to the Sengar, Bhadauriya, [124]Chauhân, Kachhwâha, Gautam, Parihâr, Dikhit and Gaharwâr Râjputs, and receive daughters in marriage from the Banâphar, Janwâr, Khîchar, Raghubansi, Raikwâr, Karchauli, and Gahlot. The Tilokchandi Bais ally themselves only with septs of the bluest blood. The Bais in Faizâbâd take brides from the Bachgoti, Bhâlê Sultân, Kalhans, and Kânhpuriya septs, and they give their daughters to the Gaharwâr, Bisen, Sombansi, Bhadauriya, Chauhân, and Kachhwâha septs. In Ballia they take wives from the Ujjaini, Haihobans, Kinwâr, Nikumbh, Sengar, Kausik, Râghubansi, Sûrajbansi, Bhrigubansi, Barhauliya, Gaharwâr, Gautam, Kâkan, Donwâr, Jâdon, Kachhwâha, Chauhân, Bisen, Nâgbansi, Sakarwâr, Baghel, Sombansi, Udmatiya, Solankhi, Chandel, Parihâr, and give brides to the Sirnet, Râjkumâr, Drigbansi, Maunas, Kachhwâha, and, in rare cases, to the Ujjaini. Their gotra is Bhâradwâja.