[183]

Baranwâl, Baranwâr.—A sub-caste of Banyas who take their name from the old town of Baran, the modern Bulandshahr. They are principally found in the Rohilkhand, Benares, and Gorakhpur Divisions. Curiously enough they have entirely avoided Bulandshahr, their old home. As illustrating the domestic customs of Banyas the following account from Mirzapur may be given:—

Birth customs. 2. When a woman is in the eighth month of pregnancy the Athmâsa ceremony is performed. Two or three days before it commences the women sing songs. On the day of the ceremony the Pandit makes a square in the courtyard, in which the husband and his wife are seated with their clothes knotted together. The Pandit makes them worship Gauri and Ganesa, and sweetmeats are sent to the houses of the clansmen. In the evening a feast is given to the clansmen. When the child is born, what is called the Nandi mukh srâddha is performed, and then the Chamârin midwife is called in to cut the navel cord. She attends the mother only on the first day. Then follow the usual sixth and twelfth day ceremonies (chhathi, barahi), when the mother bathes, the house is purified, and she returns to her household duties. When the child is one or three years old comes the shaving (mûnran). All the women of the family and their friends go to the temple of some goddess and worship her; then they worship the barber’s razor, and offer a rupee to it, which is the perquisite of the barber. Then he shaves the boy’s head, and the mother receives the hair on a cake made of unbaked dough. But more generally this is done by the sister or father’s sister of the boy. The boy and his mother then put on yellow garments and return home. A feast is given, and some small sums distributed to Brâhmans. In some families the ceremony of ear-boring (kanchhedan) is done at the same time as the mûnran; sometimes it is deferred till the boy is five years old. The boring is done by a Sunâr, and the friends are entertained. When the boy is six months old the anna-prâsana ceremony is performed. The mother cooks some rice milk (khîr), and the eldest member of the family puts some of it on a rupee and makes the child lick it. The function ends with the distribution of betel and cardamoms among the guests.

Occupation. 3. The Baranwâls are bâzâr traders of the ordinary type, and deal in grain and various kinds of merchandise. [184]

Bargâh, Bargâha, Bargâhi.—(Probably connected with Bâri, q.v.)—A caste of personal servants and makers of leaf platters (dauna). To the east of the province they trace their origin to Kanauj, and say that they emigrated with the Gaharwâr Râjputs. Their women act as wet-nurses to the Gaharwârs, and their men pass round betel at entertainments, and do other kinds of higher domestic service. They claim kinship with the Guâl Ahîrs. Thus, in Gorakhpur, Dr. Buchanan88 says:—“The Râjput chiefs have certain families of the Ahîrs, the women of which serve as wet-nurses to their children, and the men attend to their persons. These families are called Bargâha; they have received, of course, great favours, and several of them are very rich; but others look down upon them as having admitted their women to too great familiarity with their chiefs.”

2. They marry in their own tribe; but they have no sections, and their rule of exogamy is not to marry in a family with which they have been once connected in marriage as long as any recollection of relationship exists. The marriage customs are of the usual type. In Mirzapur they practise adult marriage. The ceremony occupies three days—the sil, main, and bârât. On the day of the sil the grindstone and rice pounder (sil batta) are placed in the courtyard, and a Brâhman worships Gauri. The clansmen are fed on rice and pulse. On the main day the mâtri pûja and worship of [185]deceased ancestors is performed, and a second feast is given. On the third day, the bârât, the procession, goes to the house of the bride. The pair are seated in a shed (mânro); the bride’s father worships the feet of the bridegroom and presents him with fruits, etc., the garments of the pair are knotted, and they revolve seven times round the shed. The bride’s father then marks the forehead of the bridegroom with turmeric and rice, and takes him and the bride into the retiring room (kohabar), a relic of the custom of immediately consummating the marriage. There the women of the family make the bridegroom join the lights of two lighted wicks as a sign of lasting affection between the pair. The girl is then sent off at once with her husband. They do not allow widow marriage or the levirate. Their death customs are of the usual orthodox type.

3. The Bargâhs are all Hindus, and appear chiefly to worship Mahâbîr, the Pânchonpîr and the Dih, or the collective body of the village godlings.

4. They live principally by domestic service, and are known to be courageous and faithful. Many of them take to agriculture. In Chota Nâgpur, according to Mr. Risley,89 they claim to be Râjputs and act as domestic servants to the local Râjas.

Bargaiyân.—A sept of Râjputs who are found principally in the Ghâzipur district. There they claim to be of the Chauhân family, and to be emigrants from Mainpuri. The name is probably derived from some place called Baragâon, or “the great village.” They have a very absurd folk etymology, and say that they are so called because their ancestors performed some great exploit (bara kâm kiya). They are now poor and discontented.90 [186]

Bargala.—A sept of Râjputs found chiefly in the Bulandshahr91 District. They are a spurious branch of the Lunar race and are ranked as Gaurua, because they practise widow marriage. They claim descent from two brothers, Drigpâl and Battipâl, who are said to have been emigrants from Indor, in Mâlwa, and commanded the royal force at Delhi in the attack on Râo Pithaura. A number were converted to Islâm in the time of Aurangzeb. They are a turbulent, disorderly sept, and lost most of their villages in the Mutiny.

2. In the Upper Duâb, they are reported to give brides to the Bhâlê Sultân, Jaiswâr, and Bâchhal, and to take wives from the Jaiswâr.

Bargi.—A tribe found only in Mathura, according to the last Census, where they numbered 1,076. They are said to live by service, cultivation, and hunting. They are probably, if not identical, closely connected with the Bâri and Bargâh. [187]

Bargûjar.—(Sanskrit, vriddha; Hindi, bara, “great.”)—An important sept of Râjputs classed as one of the thirty-six royal races, and descended, like their opponents, the Kachhwâhas, from Râma, but through Lava, the second son. Sir H. M. Elliot92 writes:—“Colonel Tod says that it was in Anûpshahr that the Bargûjars, on their expulsion by the Kachhwâhas from Rajor, found refuge; and that is still the chief town of the Bargûjar family. But as this expulsion occurred only in the time of the illustrious Siwâi Jay Sinh, in the beginning of the last century, the chief of Rajor must have chosen for his residence a part of the country already in the occupation of his brethren; for Bargûjars are mentioned, even in Akbar’s time, as the Zamîndârs of Khurja, Dibâi, and Pahâsu. Their own assertion is that they came from Rajor, the capital of Deoti, in the Macheri country, under Râja Pratâp Sinh, and first resided in Kheriya, near Pitampur, and that the Râja, after marrying at Koil into a Râjput family of the Dor tribe, which at that time occupied the whole country between Koil and Bulandshahr, obtained favour in the sight of the Dors and got authority to establish himself as far eastward as he chose. Having, in consequence, exterminated the Mewâtis and Bhihars, who are represented to have been in previous occupation, he was so successful as to acquire the possession of sixteen hundred villages, eight hundred on the east and eight hundred on the west of the Ganges. At the time of his death Chaundera, near Pahâsu (in the Bulandshahr District), was reckoned the chief possession of the Bargûjars, and one of the descendants of Pratâp Sinh, Râja Sâlivâhana, gave his name to a Pargana, which comprised the present divisions of Pîtampur, Pahâsu, and Birauli. Râja Pratâp Sinh left two sons, Jatu and Rânu. Jatu took up his abode in Katehar or Rohilkhand, and Rânu remained as chief of Chaundera.

2. “The antiquity of the Katehar Bargûjars may be surmised from a passage in the Râthaur Genealogies:—

‘Bharat, the eleventh grandson of Nain Pâl, the Râthaur, at the age of sixty-one conquered Kanaksir, under the Northern Hills, from Rudra Sen, of the Bargûjar tribe.’ Nain Pâl is supposed to have lived in the fifth Century. Though there appears no reason for ascribing to his reign so early a date, he must, at any rate, have preceded the final Muhammadan conquest of Kanauj. [188]

3. “While the Katehar Bargûjars and the Anûpshahr family have preserved their ancient faith, nearly all the Duâb tribes which preceded the expulsion of their chief from Rajor have turned Muhammadans; and the early opponents of the British in Kamona and Pindrâwal were Bargûjars of that persuasion. They still, however, appear proud of their Râjput lineage; for they assume the appellation of Thâkur. Thus we hear the strange combination of Thâkur Akbar’ Ali Khân and Thâkur Mardan’ Ali Khân. At their marriages they paint on their doors the image of a Kahârin or female bearer, under whose instructions they executed a stratagem by which they exterminated the Mewâtis, who had been engaged in a drunken revel during the Holi. Some of the Musalmân families have of late discontinued this custom. The Bargûjars to the west of Muzaffarnagar were all converted to the Muhammadan faith in the time of Alâ-ud-dîn Khilji; but they still retain most of their old Hindu customs. A stricter conformity to the Musalmân tenets was endeavoured to be introduced by some reformers, and all Hindu observances were sedulously proscribed by them; but when it was found, as they themselves assert, that all their children became blind and maimed in consequence of their apostacy, they were induced to revert to their ancestral customs, and still adhere to them with so much pertinacity, that it is almost doubtful which faith prevails most.

4. “The Muzaffarnagar Bargûjars state that they came from Dobandesar, near Dhain Dawâsa, south of the Alwar country, under one Kura Sen, whose ancestor, Bâba Megha, is still invoked when they make their offerings at the time of naming their children. They intermarry with the converted Pundîr Râjputs of Sakrauda in Sahâranpur, and the Râo Bargûjars, in Farîdâbâd, of Balabhgarh, to the south of Delhi. They seem to know but little of their brethren who reside in the neighbourhood of Anûpshahr.

5. “The place whence they migrated may be easily traced, for Dawâsa or Deosa lies on the Bânganga river about thirty miles east of Jeypur, and Dhain is about eight miles south of Deosa. Deosa is famous as being the first place belonging to the Bargûjars, which was occupied by the Kachhwâhas, after their emigration from Narwar, in the middle of the tenth Century. It is not improbable that the Kachhwâhas may at this period have compelled the Bargûjars to emigrate in search of other seats, and they, in turn, may have wreaked their vengeance on the Kachhwâhas of the [189]Upper Duâb, and established their Chaurâsi among the brethren of their distant foe. Certain it is that tradition assigns a large tract of country in these parts to the Kachhwâhas before the Bargûjars, Jâts, and Pathâns obtained possession.

6. “The Sikarwâl Râjputs state that they are a branch of the Bargûjars; but they are separately entered among the thirty-six royal races in Colonel Tod’s list. It is to be observed, however, that in some of the other lists which he has given neither Bargûjars nor Sikarwâls are entered.”

7. In Mathura93 the Hindu branch are classed as pure because they do not practise widow marriage. The Rohilkhand94 branch have various traditions of their origin, some claiming Tomar and some Sûrajbansi descent. They seem to have pushed across the Ganges from Anûpshahr about the same time that the Katehriyas occupied Bareilly.

8. In Bulandshahr they give brides to the Gahlot, Bhatti, Tomar, Chauhân, Katiyâr, Punwâr, and Pundîr; and take wives from the Gahlot, Pundîr, Chauhân, Bais, Janghâra, and Bâchhal. In Aligarh they take brides from the Janghâra, Gahlot, and Chauhân, and give wives to the Chauhân and Gahlot.

Barhai,95 Barhi, Badhi.—(Sanskrit, vardhika; root vardh, “to cut.”)—The carpenter class, also known as Tarkhân in the Panjab, Mistri (which is probably a corruption of the English “Master, Mr.”), and Lakarkata or “wood-cutter” (lakri-kâtna). The term [191]Gokain is generally applied to a wood carver: it is derived by Mr. Nesfield from the Hindi khonchna, “to scoop out,” but is more possibly connected with gaukh, Sanskrit, gavâksha, “a window frame.” Traditionally they claim descent from Viswakarma, son of Brahma (who is identified with Twashtri, the divine artisan), through Vikramajît, who is said to have espoused a Kshatriya woman. As the sub-divisions show, the caste is probably a functional group recruited from various castes following the common occupation of carpentry.

Internal structure. 2. The Barhais have broken up into an enormous number of endogamous sub-castes, of which the last Census returns enumerate eight hundred and fifty-nine in the Hindu and seventy-nine in the Muhammadan branch. Of these locally the most important are in Sahâranpur, the Bandariya, Dholi, Multâni, Nagar, and Tarloiya; in Muzaffarnagar, the Dhalwâl or “shield-makers,” and Lota; in Meerut, the Janghâra, the name of a Râjput sept; in Bulandshahr, the Bhîl; in Aligarh, the Chauhân; in Mathura, the Bâhman or Brâhman sub-caste, and the Sosaniya; in Agra, the Nagar, Janghâra, and Uprautya; in Farrukhâbâd, the Paretiya or “reel-makers”; in Mainpuri, the Umariya; in Etah, the Agwariya, Barmaniyân, Bisari, Jalesariya (from the town of Jalesar), and the Usarbhola; in Bareilly, the Jalesariya; in Ballia, the Gokalbansi; in Basti, the Dakkhinâha or “Southern,” and the Sarwariya, or those who come from beyond the Sarju river; in Gonda, the Kairâti, which is possibly a corruption of Kharâdi, and the Sondi; in Bârabanki, the Jaiswâr. In Mirzapur they name five,—Kokâsbansi, Magadhiya, or Magahiya (from Magadha), Purbiha or Purbiya (Eastern), Uttarâha (Northern), and Khâti (Sanskrit Kshatri; root, kshad, “to cut”). Of these the Khâti specially work as wheel-wrights. In Bareilly we have Mathuriya, Dhanman, and Khâti; in Bijnor, Dahman, Mathuriya, Lahori, and Kokâs; in Basti, Kokâsbans, and Lohâr Barhai. Another enumeration96 gives Kokâs, Mahur, Tânk, Khâti, Uprautiya, Bâmhan Barhai or Mathuriya, Ojha Gaur, and Chamar Barhai. Of these the Bâmhan and Ojha Gaur claim a Brâhmanical origin, and the Chamar Barhai are perhaps an offshoot from the Chamârs. In Benares,97 again, we have the Janeûdhâri, [192](wearers of the Brâhmanical cord, janeû), who eat no meat, wear the sacred cord, and regard themselves far superior to the others: they are said to come from the Duâb. The Khâti are wheel-wrights. The Kokâs come from Delhi, and make chairs and tables. Those designated Setbanda Rameswar manufacture puppets and dolls, on which they perform in public: they have a character for begging, and are, therefore, not a reputable branch of the caste. In the Hills some Barhais are emigrants from the plains; but most of them are of the Orh division of the Doms.98 To the west of the Province, the Ojha or Ujhâdon Barhais claim Brâhmanical descent, and wear the Brâhmanical cord. In some of the Western towns they have recently refused to do such degrading work as the repairs of conservancy carts, etc. In Morâdâbâd there is a sub-caste known as Khâti Bishnoi, who make a speciality of making cart-wheels like those of the same name to the east of the Province: in Bulandshahr the Khâti are said to be considered so low that water touched by them is not drunk by the higher castes.99 In the same district are also found the Tânk, Ukât, and Dibhân, as well as the Jânghra, who claim kindred with the Janghâra Râjputs. In the Central Duâb, again, we have, besides the Ujhâdon Brâhman sub-caste, three others known as Dhîmar, Mâhar, and Khâti. These names illustrate the composite character of the caste, the Ojha claiming to be Brâhmans, the Janghra Râjputs, the Dhîmar Kâhars, the Chamar Barhai, Chamârs, and so on. Akin again to these are the class of turners—Kharâdi (Arabic, kharât, “a lathe”), Kuner, Kundera, and, in the Hills, Chunyâra. In Mirzapur this sub-caste are occupied in making the stems of the huqqa pipe out of the wood of the acacia (khair). They appear to take their name from Sanskrit kunda, a bowl.

Marriage rules. 3. To the east of the Province Barhais marry their daughters usually at the age of seven, nine, or eleven; and boys, at nine, eleven, and thirteen. They will not intermarry with a member of their own family or that of their maternal uncle or father’s sister as long as there is any recollection of relationship. They have four forms of marriage: Charhauwa, which is the respectable form; Dola, for poor people, Adala Badala, when two families exchange brides, and Sagâi, for widows. [193]

The levirate is permitted but not enforced, and the widow’s right of selecting her second partner is recognised. The rules of morality are strict, and a woman intriguing with a clansman or a stranger is liable to excommunication. Those who are guilty of an intrigue with a member of the clan can be restored to caste by paying money to Brâhmans, and bathing in a sacred stream: in bad cases a pilgrimage to Prayâg (Allahâbâd), Benares, or Ajudhya, is necessary. When a woman is expelled for an intrigue with a clansman, and conducts herself respectably for some time, she is re-admitted to caste by the council, and allowed to contract a sagâi marriage.

Religion. 4. Barhais who live in cities are usually Saivas, because they are not prohibited from the use of meat and wine. The village Barhais seldom become initiated into any regular sect. Their clan deities in the Eastern Districts are the Pânchonpîr, Mahâbîr, Devi, Dulha Deo, and a deity of rather uncertain functions, known as Bibiha Deva, or the “lady god.” They also worship Viswakarma, their divine ancestor, and he is represented by the wooden yard measure (gaz, gaj). This has a special worship in the month of Sâwan. A square is made in which it is placed, and to it are offered sandalwood, flowers, red lead (rori), and sweetmeats (halwa). This worship is supported by a general contribution. The worship is done by a Brâhman, and the sweets distributed among the worshippers. In the month of Kuâr, the other tribal deities are worshipped. Sweetmeats (halwa), sweet bread, gram, and some sugar balls (laddu) are offered to Mahâbîr on a Tuesday. Bhawâni or Devi receives the sacrifice of a goat or ram, garlands of flowers, and coloured cloth (chunari). Rice milk (khîr), and cakes (pûri) are dedicated to the Pânchonpîr. Only wives married in the regular (charhauwa) form are allowed to share in the worship of the tribal deities. In Basti they worship Mahâbîr, Purabi Deota or “the Eastern godling,” and Phûlmati Bhawâni. Purabi Deota gets an offering of clothes and rude ornaments on a Saturday: Phûlmati and Mahâbîr get, respectively, sweets and flowers on Monday and Tuesday. Mâlis, Gusâîns, and Brâhmans receive the offerings made to Mahâbîr and Phûlmati, while the offerings to Purabi Deota are taken home and consumed by the worshippers themselves. Their priests are Tiwâri Brâhmans, who hold a low rank in the caste. The dead are cremated, and the ashes thrown into the Ganges or one of its tributaries. Water is poured on the ground in honour of [194]the sainted dead during the first fortnight of Kuâr: lumps of rice and milk are offered on the thirteenth day, and uncooked grain is given to Brâhmans. Those who die of cholera or small-pox are either buried or their bodies thrown into running water. When the epidemic is over, they, as well as a person dying in a foreign land, are burnt in effigy in the regular way. This must be done within six months after the death.

Occupational and social status. 5. Carpentry is one of the ancient Hindu trades, and is mentioned in the Rigveda.100 The village carpenter is one of the recognised village menials and receives dues of grain at each harvest from his constituents (jajmân), whose agricultural implements he is bound to keep in order. The rate in Oudh is thirty village sers at each crop from each plough. This is known as tihâi. He also receives one ser of each kind of grain from each cultivator’s threshing floor before it is removed. This is called anjali. For seven months, Jeth to Aghan—May to November, his services are required. For the remaining five months he works at his own business, making cots (chârpai), carts (gâri), domestic utensils, and house carpentry. For this he receives special wages.101 In the Eastern Districts it is about twelve sers per plough. In Bareilly it is seven-and-a-half to twelve large (pakka) sers per plough per harvest.102 Some city carpenters who set up workshops and employ workmen do a good business in making conveyances, furniture, etc. They eat pakki or food cooked with butter by all Brâhmans, Kshatriyas, and Vaisyas, except Kalwârs. They eat kachchi cooked by Brâhmans and castemen. All Hindus drink water from their hands. Some Brâhmans will eat pakki cooked by them. Inferior Hindus, such as the Chamâr, Nâi, or Bâri, will eat kachchi cooked by them. In the villages many hold land as tenants in addition to their hereditary trade. [195]

[200]

Barhiya.—A small sept of Râjputs. The last Census shows them only in Hamîrpur and Lalitpur. Sir H. M. Elliot103 mentions a sept called Barhiya or Barhaiya in the Sikandarpur and Badâun Parganas of the Azamgarh District, and Sayyidpur Bhitri of Ghâzipur. Dr. Buchanan104 says that they are not numerous in Gorakhpur, north of the Sarju; “but there are said to be many near Kopa in the southern part of the District. They are but a low race.”