Bânsphor.77—(Bâns, “bamboo,” phorna, “to split”).—A sub-caste of Doms who may be considered separately as they have been separately enumerated at the last Census. Those in Mirzapur represent themselves to be immigrants from a place called Bisurpur or Birsupur in the Native State of Panna, which, according to some, is identical with Birsinhpur, a place north-west of the town of Rîwa. In Gorakhpur they call themselves Gharbâri, or “settled” Doms, in contradistinction to the Magahiya, or vagrant branch of the tribe. Their immigration from the west is said in Mirzapur to have commenced some four generations ago and still continues. They profess to undertake occasional pilgrimages to their old settlement to worship a local Mahâdeva. In Gorakhpur they have a story that they are the descendants of one Supach Bhagat, who was a votary of Râmchandra. He had two wives, Mân Devi and Pân [168]Devi, the first of whom was the ancestress of the Bânsphors. They freely, like other Doms, admit outsiders into the caste, and this is generally the result of an intrigue with one of their women. The applicant for admission has to give a feast of rice, pulse, pork, and spirits to the brotherhood, and when he has drunk with them he is admitted to full caste rights.

Internal organization. 2. The sub-caste being a purely occupational offshoot from the original Dom tribe, their internal organization is rather vague. Thus at the last Census they were enumerated under one main sub-caste, the Dhânuk, who, though possibly allied to the Dom race, are generally treated as distinct, and the Benbansi of Gonda. In Bhâgalpur, according to Mr. Risley,78 they have a number of exogamous sections (pangat); but other Bânsphors on the Nepâl frontier regulate their marriages by local sections (dih); while others in the town of Bhâgalpur have neither pangat nor dih. In Mirzapur they enumerate eight exogamous sections: Mahâwati, Chamkel, Gausel, Samudra, Nahar, Kalai, Magariha, and Saraiha; and they reinforce the rule of section exogamy by prohibiting marriages with the daughter of the maternal uncle, of their father’s sister, and of their own sister; also they do not intermarry with a family in which one of these relations marries until at least one or two generations have passed. Similarly, in Hardoi, where they have no sub-castes or sections, they are reported to prohibit marriage with first cousins on both the father’s and mother’s sides. In Gorakhpur they name, like so many castes of this social grade, seven endogamous sub-castes: Bânsphor; Mangta, or “begging” Doms; Dharkâr, which has been treated as a separate caste; Nâtak, or dancers; Tasiha; Halâlkhor, “one to whom all food is lawful;” and Kûnchbandhiya, or makers of the brushes constructed out of the roots of the kans grass used by weavers for cleaning the thread.

Tribal Council. 3. The Bânsphors on the whole agree with the customs of the Doms and Dharkârs, of whom an account has been separately given; but, as might be expected from their living a more settled life than the vagrant Doms, they are more completely Hinduised. Their caste council, under a hereditary president (Chaudhari), is a very powerful and influential body, the members of which are, however, only a sort of assessors to the [169]president, who, after consultation with them, gives any orders he pleases. If a man is caught in an intrigue with a Dhobin or Domin he is permanently excommunicated, and the same rule applies to a woman detected in an amour with a man of either of these castes. Intrigues with persons of more respectable castes involve expulsion only until the necessary feasts of expiation are given to the brethren. In addition to the feast the offender has always, in Mirzapur, to pay a cash fine of one-and-a-quarter rupees. Monogamy is the rule, but there is no restriction against a man having as many wives as he can marry and support. Concubinage with a woman of another caste is prohibited, and the caste look on the very idea of polyandry with such horror that it is more than doubtful if it could ever have been a tribal institution. If an unmarried girl is detected in an intrigue with a clansman she is married to him by order of the council, and her father has to give a dinner to the brethren. When a married woman offends in this way, both her husband and father have to give a feast; but, as among all these tribes, inter-tribal infidelity is lightly regarded; a woman is not condemned except on the actual evidence of eye-witnesses.

Marriage rules. 4. Marriage takes place usually in infancy; and, in Mirzapur, if a girl is not married by the time she comes to puberty, her parents are put out of caste. Marriages are arranged by the brother-in-law of the boy’s father, and the bride-price is fixed in Mirzapur by tribal custom at four-and-a-quarter rupees, four annas being added as siwâi for good luck. If a wife habitually commit adultery, eat with a low-caste person, or give her husband food in an impure dish, she is put away with the sanction of the council. A woman is allowed to leave her husband only if he be put out of caste. It is said, in Mirzapur, that a divorced wife cannot marry again. This is true, so far as that, of course, she cannot go through the regular service which is restricted to virgin brides; but she can live with a man by the sagâi form, and the connection, after it has been ratified by a feast, is binding, and her children are legitimate. Widows are married by the sagâi, or dharauna form, generally to a widower, and their children are recognised as heirs. The only ceremony is that the husband gives the woman a new suit of clothes, which are put on her inside the house at night, in secret, and he then eats with the family of his father-in-law. Next day he takes his bride home, and feeds his clansmen, on which the union is recognised. The levirate prevails under the usual [170]restrictions. Even if a widow be taken over by the younger brother, her children by the first marriage inherit the estate of their father. A man may adopt his brother’s, or daughter’s, not his sister’s, son. A woman can adopt if there be no one in her husband’s family to support her.

Birth ceremonies. 5. In their birth ceremonies the Bânsphors agree with the Dharkârs. The mother, during her confinement is, in Mirzapur, attended by a woman of the Basor caste. There is no rite performed on the sixth day, and the mother is impure till the twelfth day (barahi). They have the usual dread of the menstrual and parturition impurity. On the twelfth day a hog is sacrificed to the deceased ancestors of the family, and the brethren eat the flesh boiled with rice. The woman has to worship the well from which water is drawn for the use of the family by walking five times round it in the course of the sun and marking it with red lead. A man does not cohabit with his wife for two months after her confinement. The only approach to a puberty ceremony is the ear-boring, which takes place at the age of three or five, but in some cases is delayed to a later date, and it marks an approach to Hinduism, that they ask the Pandit to fix a lucky time for its performance. From that time the child is regarded as a member of the tribe and must conform to caste usages regarding food.

Marriage. 6. In the same way the Pandit draws auspices (ganana ganna) of marriages. The betrothal is settled by the father of the boy exchanging with the girl’s father a leaf platter full of liquor in which a rupee is placed, and the brother-in-law of the bridegroom ties a turban on the head of the bride’s father. The marriage ceremony resembles that of Dharkârs (q.v.). It is preceded by the matmangara ceremony. The earth is dug by the bridegroom’s mother, who offers a burnt sacrifice (homa) to the village deities (dih). In the centre of the marriage shed (mânro) is fixed up a branch of the fig tree (gûlar) and the cotton tree (semal). The usual anointing precedes the marriage. The bride’s nails are solemnly cut (nahchhu) and her feet are coloured with lac dye (mahâwar). The usual wave ceremony (parachhan) is done with a pestle (mûsar) and a water jar (kalsa). At the bride’s door her father makes a mark (tîka) on the forehead of the bridegroom with rice and curds. The bride’s father washes the feet of the bride and bridegroom in a square in the court-yard. They sit facing east, and the bride’s father worships the fig tree branch, and [171]then, in imitation of Hindus, Gauri and Ganesa. Then holding some kusa grass in his hand he formally gives away the bride (kanyâdâna). The clothes of the pair are knotted together, and they walk five times round the fig and cotton branches, while at each revolution the girl’s brother sprinkles a little parched rice into a sieve which the bridegroom holds. This he scatters on the ground, and the ceremony ends by the bridegroom marking the girl’s head with red lead, which is the binding portion of the ceremony. Then they go into the retiring room (kohabar), where jokes are played on the bridegroom, and he receives a present from his mother-in-law. As is usual with these tribes they have the ceremony of plunging the wedding jars (kalsa dubâna) into water a day or two after the wedding.

Death ceremonies. 7. The dead are cremated, except young children or those who die of epidemic disease, whose bodies are thrown into a river or buried. After the cremation they chew leaves of the nîm tree as a mark of mourning. The death pollution lasts ten days, during which the mourner every night lays out a platter of food on the road by which the corpse was removed for its use. On the tenth day the chief mourner throws five lumps (pinda) of rice boiled in milk (khîr) into water in the name of the dead, and, on returning home, sacrifices a hog in the name of the deceased, which is boiled with rice and eaten by the clansmen. No Brâhmans are employed at any of these ceremonies. In the festival of the dead (pitripaksha) in Kuâr they pour off water on the ground every day for fifteen days in honour of deceased ancestors; and on the ninth day they offer cakes (pûri), sweet rice (bakhîr), and pork, to their ancestors. These are laid out in the court-yard for their use. On the fifteenth day they offer rice, pulse, bread, and pork, if obtainable, in the same way. Any senior member of the family presents the offering.

Religion. 8. Their chief deity, in Mirzapur, is the Vindhyabâsini Devi, of Bindhâchal, whom they worship on the ninth day of Chait, with hogs, goats, cakes (pûri), and pottage (lapsi). They honour the village gods (dih) with a sacrifice of a hog or goat; butter, barley, and treacle are burnt in a fire offering. On the fifth of Sâwan they lay milk and parched rice near a snake’s hole. They respect the pîpal tree, and will not cut or injure it. In Gorakhpur they worship Kâlika and Samai. The former is worshipped at marriages, child-birth, etc., with an offering [172]of a young pig, one-and-a-quarter jars of liquor, flowers, and ground rice boiled in treacle and milk (pithi). To Samai is offered a yearling pig. Maidens and widows married by the Sagâi form are not permitted to join in this worship, which takes place in a corner of the house set apart for the purpose. They do not employ Brâhmans in their domestic ceremonies, which are carried out by some old man (syâna) of the family. In Hardoi their tribal deity is Kâla Deo, whose image is painted on the wall of the house, and worshipped at any event, such as marriage, birth, etc., in the family. They also sometimes sacrifice a goat or sheep to Devi, and the worshippers consume the offerings. Their holidays are the Phagua or Holi, at which they get drunk and eat choice food; the Râmnaumi, on the ninth of Chait, when they worship the Vindhyabâsini Devi; the Tîj, on the third of Sâwan, when women pray for the long life of their husbands, and the Kajari, on the third of Bhâdon, when women get drunk, and all rules of sexual morality are ignored. In Hardoi, on the Karwa Chauth feast, the women fast and worship the moon by pouring water out of an earthen pot (karwa), whence the name of the festival. At the Guriya feast girls make dolls of rags, which are beaten with sticks by boys on the banks of a tank. The dolls are believed to represent snakes, and the feast is in commemoration of the destruction of serpents by Garuda. They worship the dead by laying out food in seven leaf platters and letting the children or crows eat it. They have a great respect for the village shrine, and never dare to tread on the pieces of earthenware horses, etc., with which it is decorated. They also, as is shown in the birth ceremonies, worship wells. The sainted dead specially delight in the savour of pork, and give trouble if not honoured with this sacrifice.

Social customs. 9. Women wear in the ears the ornaments known as utarna and karnphûl, bead necklaces (dharkauwa), and bangles (chûri) on the arms: anklets (pairi), brass rings on their fingers. Boys and girls have two names, one for ordinary use and one kept secret. They swear on the sun or the heads of their children. Those who break an oath become smitten with leprosy or lose their property. Disease, generally due to demoniacal possession, is treated by the Ojha, who also prescribes in cases of the Evil-eye. They will not eat beef, nor touch a Dom, Dhobi, the wife of a younger brother, the wife of the elder brother-in-law, or the wife of their sister’s son. They will not mention their eldest son by his name. To do so is regarded as a sin. They eat [173]pork, fowls, goats, and other animals, but not the cow, monkey, alligator, snake, lizard, jackal, or rat. Men eat before women. They salute their castemen in the form Râm! Râm!

Occupation. 10. Some work as ordinary day-labourers, but their business is making fans, baskets, and boxes of bamboo. Some work as sweepers and remove night-soil. No other caste will touch food or water from their hands.

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Banya.—(Sanskrit, banija, vanija.)—The great trading class of Northern India. Pedantically the Banya is known as Baqqâl—a term applied in Arabia and Persia to greengrocers. When he becomes a large merchant he is known as Mahâjan. Banya is, in fact, a generic term including a large number of endogamous sub-castes, of whom some account has been given in separate articles. The Banya has rather an indifferent reputation in the country-side, where he is hated and despised for his habits of money-grubbing, meanness, and rapacity. But at the same time he is an indispensable element in the social life of the people whose trade and business he finances. The modern Banya does not seem to have changed much since the time of Tavernier,79 who writes:—“Those of this caste are so subtle and nimble in trade that the Jews may be their ’prentices. They accustom their children betimes to fly idleness, and instead of suffering them to lose their time by playing in the streets, as we generally do, they teach them arithmetic, which they are so perfect at, that without making use either of pen or ink or counters, but only of their memories, they will in a moment cast up the most difficult account that can be imagined. They always live with their fathers, who instruct them in trade, and do nothing but what they show them. If any man in the heat of passion chafe at them, they will hear him patiently without making any reply, and parting coldly from him will not see him again till three or four days, when they think their passion may be over. They never eat anything that has life, nay, they would rather die than kill the smallest animal or vermin, being in that point above all things the most zealous observers of the law. They never fight nor go to war, neither will they eat or drink at the house of a Râjput.”

2. The current proverbs abound with chaff at the Banya:—Na Banya mît na besva sati—“A Banya is as little a friend as a prostitute is chaste”; Banya mârê jan, thag mârê anjân—“The Banya cheats his friends, and the rogue, strangers,” and so on.

3. At the same time some of the Banya sub-divisions, like the Agarwâla and Oswâl, are perhaps some of the purest races in Northern India.

4. In his social habits the Banya is very precise in the matter of food. In religion he is either a Hindu or Jain, or, as he calls himself, a Sarâogi, a word derived from the Sanskrit srâvaka, “a disciple of the Buddha.”

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Bârahseni.—(Bârah, twelve; sena, an army).—A sub-caste of Banyas found principally in the Western Districts. The last Census shows none in Benares; but Mr. Sherring80 speaks of them as a considerable colony of bankers:—“They state that their original home was Agroha. In Benares they are of the Garga gotra.”

Barai, Baraiya.—(Sanskrit vritti, “occupation, maintenance.”)—The caste engaged in the cultivation of the piper betel, usually known as pân (Sanskrit, parna), the leaf par excellence. The distinction generally made between the Barai and the Tamboli is that the former grows the plant, while the latter sells the leaves. But this distinction does not seem to be always observed. It would seem that the Barai hardly ever sells the leaves, while the Tamboli sometimes cultivates the plant. Mr. Sherring denies that the distinction prevails in Benares, and says that there the Tamboli sells betel-nut as well as pân, and appears to be more of a wholesale dealer than the Barai.81 The Barais are replaced in the Meerut, Agra, and Rohilkhand Divisions by the Tambolis. [178]

Traditions of origin. 2. In the eastern part of the Province they have a curious legend to explain their origin:—“There were two Brâhman brothers so devout that after bathing they used to throw their loin cloths up to the skies, where they dried and came down when they were wanted. One day the brothers were in the forest and were athirst. The elder brother directed the younger to climb a mahua tree and see if there was any water in the cavities of the trunk. He did so and found water, which in his greediness he drank, and, lying to his elder brother, denied that there was any water in the tree. Next day they threw their loin cloths up to the sky as usual, and when they wanted them only that of the elder brother came down. So he knew that his brother had lied unto him. The younger brother denied the charge. Then Parameswar came down from heaven, and, convicting the younger brother of falsehood, ordered that the elder brother should remain a Brâhman, while the younger should tend the nâg bel or pân plant, which he formed out of the sacred thread of the offender, and that the elder brother should serve the younger brother as his priest.” Another story is that Brahma created them to save Brâhmans from the labour of growing the plant. Traditionally the Tâmbûlika or seller of betel is descended from a Sûdra woman by a Vaisya man. The caste is probably occupational and of mixed origin. In Gorakhpur they say that once a Brâhman had three sons. He came down with them from fairy land and was able to support them only by growing betel, for which he was excommunicated. They explain the name of the caste as derived from baraitha, the betel conservatory, which comes from the Sanskrit vriti. The Gorakhpur branch fix on Bîrbhânpur, in the Azamgarh District, as their head-quarters.

Internal structure. 3. In the last Census returns the Barais were recorded in no less than one hundred and forty-seven sub-castes. Of these a large number are local, such as the Aharwâr of Ahâr, the Ajudhyabâsi of Ajudhya, the Audha of Awadh, the Bindrabanbâsi of Bindraban, the Chaurasiya of Chaurâsi, in Mirzapur, the Dakkhinâha or “Southern,” the Gorakhpuri, Jaiswâr, Jaunpuri, Kânhpuriya, of Cawnpur, Mahobiya, Pachhwâhân or “Western”; Sarjupâri or “residents beyond the river Sarju,” Sribâstab of Srâvasti; and Uttarâha or “Northern.” Many, again, are connected by origin or function with other tribes, as the Banya, Banjariya, Baiswâr, Chauhân, Donwâr, Gaderiya, [179]Gahlot, Gauriya, Gondar, Jâdubansi, Katheriya, Karwâra, Kokâs, Maharwa, Nâgbansi, Nânakshâhi, Ummar, Pansariya, Panwariya, Râjbansi, Rauteli, Sândil, Shuklabans. This will give some idea of the diverse elements out of which the caste has been composed.

4. In Mirzapur they name seven endogamous sub-castes, Partâbgarhi (from Partâbgarh), Chaurâsi (the Chaurasiya of Benares)82, Jaiswâr or Jaiswâra Nâsarkhâni (the Nâsalkâni of Benares), Tâmboli, Uttarâha (“Northern”), Pachhiwâha (“Western”). Mr. Sherring adds Sribâstava (from Srâvasti), Bherihâra (“tenders of sheep”), Magahiya (from Magadha), Phuihâra, and Dhanwariya. Of these three, the Magahiya, Chaurasiya, and Jaiswâr appear in Behâr, where there are two others, Semariya and Sokhwa. In the Central Duâb they are divided into the Chaurasiya, who prepare betel, and the Katyâr, who sell it. In Gorakhpur we have the Kanaujiya, Chaurasiya, and Jaiswâr.

Marriage rules. 5. Marriage within the endogamous sub-castes is regulated by a rule of exogamy, which forbids marriage in the family of the paternal and maternal uncle and paternal and maternal aunt as long as there is any recollection of relationship, which is usually after five or six generations. But at the same time they usually marry locally in the families of those with whom they are accustomed to eat and smoke. In Mirzapur the Partâbgarhi are distinguished from the Chaurâsi, inasmuch that the former permit the use of spirits while the latter prohibit it. They marry their daughters at the age of eight or nine, and their sons at twelve or thirteen. A man cannot take a second wife unless he proves to the satisfaction of the tribal council that the first wife is barren, disobedient, extravagant, or a thief, and even then he has to pay a fine to the council, which is spent in a tribal feast. They seldom take more than two wives. They have the usual forms of marriage,—Charhauwa for the well-to-do, Dola for poor people, and Sagâi for widows. In both the regular forms of virgin marriage the binding portions of the ceremony are the worshipping of the bridegroom’s feet (pair pûja, pânw pûja) by the father of the bride, and marking of the parting of the bride’s hair with red lead (sindurdan). In Sagâi the only ceremony is dressing the bride in a suit of clothes and ornaments provided by the bridegroom, [180]and the feeding of his relations and clansmen. Intertribal infidelity is lightly regarded and is condoned by a tribal feast, but fornication with an outsider involves excommunication. They have the extraordinary rule that a woman who poisons her husband is excommunicated. If a man, in spite of the admonition and punishment administered by the tribal council, refuses to support his wife or loses caste, the council permit the woman to leave her husband, and, if she so pleases, to marry again by the Sagâi form.

Religion. 6. They are seldom initiated into any special sect. Like all Hindus of the same class, when the men get old they undergo a process of initiation and become devotees (bhagat: Sanskrit, bhakta). The only effect of this is that they abstain from meat and fish, and attend more carefully to their religious duties, such as attending temples, ceremonial bathing, etc. To the east of the Province their special deities are Mahâbîr, the Pânchonpîr, Bhawâni, Hardiha Deva, or Hardaur, Sokha Bâba and Nâgbeli. Sokha Bâba is the special deity of the Nâsarkhâni sub-caste, and, if neglected, ruins their pân gardens. They can tell nothing about him. He seems to be a deified exorciser or magician, sokha (Sanskrit: sukshma, “acute, subtle”) being the equivalent of Ojha. Nâgbel or Nâgarbel is the special deity of the pân plant. Hardiha is the special deity of the Barais of South Mirzapur. Mahâbîr receives an offering of sweetened bread (rota), gram, Brâhmanical threads (janeû), and loin cloths. His holy day is Tuesday. The Pânchonpîr receive rice cooked in milk (jawar), and fried cakes (puri), which are offered on Wednesday. Bhawâni is honoured with the sacrifice of a he-goat or ram, and sweets and cakes (halwa-puri). Hardiha is worshipped in secret inside the house on Monday. On Wednesday they fast in honour of the Pânchonpîr. Sokha Bâba is said to have a temple in Magadha (Behâr). His offering consists of sweets and cakes (halwa-puri). These deities are worshipped only by that member of the family who is under the influence of the special divinity—a fact shown by his getting into a state of ecstasy and uttering oracles. Only those who cultivate pân worship Nâgbel by lighting a lamp in the conservatory and making a burnt-offering (hom). The special day for the Nâgbel worship is the fifth of the first half of Sâwan. The greater gods are worshipped through Tiwâri Brâhmans, and the minor deities by [181]some specially inspired member of the family. They cremate their dead in the ordinary way, and some go to Gaya to perform the srâddha ceremony.

Occupation. 7. Betel is the term applied to the leaf of the piper betel chewed with the areca nut, which is hence improperly called betel-nut. The word, according to the authorities is Malayâlam, vettila, i.e., veru + ila = “simple or mere leaf,” and comes to us through the Portuguese betre and betle.83 Areca is the seed, or, in common parlance, the nut, of the palm areca catechu. The word is Malayâlam, addakka, and comes to us through the Portuguese.84 There are various methods of preparing the compound known as pân supâri. “Garcias da Horta says distinctly:—‘In chewing betre they mix areca with it and a little lime; some add licio (i.e., catechu); but the rich and grandees add some Borneo camphor, and also some lign aloes, musk, and ambergris.’ ”85 Abul Fazl says:—“They also put some betel-nut and kath (catechu) on one leaf and some lime paste on another and roll them up: this is called a berah (bîra). Some put camphor and musk into it, and tie up both leaves with a silk thread.”86 This is very much the modern practice, except that the two leaves are very generally fastened together with a clove. The conservatory in which the pân is grown is treated with great reverence by the grower.87 They do not allow women to enter it, and permit no one to touch the plant or throw the leaves into fire. Very often they are given rent-free holdings by rich landlords to tempt them to settle in their neighbourhood. The women have an indifferent reputation, as they manage shops, and those who are attractive secure the most custom. They eat pakki cooked by all Brâhmans, Kshatriyas, and Vaisyas, except Kalwârs. In Gorakhpur, it is said, they eat pakki only from the hands of Brâhmans and Kshatriyas. They eat kachchi only if cooked by members of their own caste. Ghatiya Brâhmans and Râjputs eat pakki cooked by them. The highest caste which will eat kachchi cooked by them is the Nâi. They eat mutton and goat’s flesh, and some indulge in spirituous liquors. [182]