[220]

Barwâr.—A sept of Râjputs of whom Mr. Carnegy writes108:—“They are said to be an offshoot of the Bais, and to have come from Dundiyakhera, about three hundred years ago, under two leaders, Baryâr Sinh, from whom they take their name, and Châhu Sinh, whence the Châhu clan. These two brothers were imprisoned by the Emperor Akbar at Delhi. The elder of the two brothers, during his incarceration, had a dream by night, in which he saw a deity who announced himself as Kariya Deota, and promised them deliverance and future greatness, and at the same time pointed out the spot where his effigy was buried in the earth. Soon after, on their release, they sought for and found the effigy and carried it off to the village of Chitâwan in Pargana Pachhimrâth, where they set it up as the object of their domestic adoration, and where it is still worshipped by both branches. Their sacred place is Râmghât at Begamganj, which was selected by their chieftain, Dilâsi Sinh, in consequence of their being excluded from Ajudhya by the enmity of the Sûrajbansi Thâkurs. Another account makes them an offshoot of the Bais who came from Mûngipâtan or Pathânpur, south-west of Jaypur, where their Râja Sâlivâhana, had a fort. Thence they came to Chitâwan Kariya and expelled the Bhars. There is a romantic legend describing how ten heroes of the clan carried off Padmani, the lovely queen of Kanauj, and made her over to the Emperor of Delhi, who in return gave them rent-free lands fourteen kos in circumference. These Barwârs were notorious for the practice of infanticide. Two daughters of the chief of the family who were permitted to live have married, one the Janwâr ex-Râja of Gonda, and the other the Raikwâr Râja of Râmnagar Dhimari, in the Bârabanki District; the Barwârs generally selected wives from the Palwâr, Kachhwâha, Kausik, and Bais septs, which is curious, as they claim Bais origin. These Barwârs are probably of equivocal aboriginal descent, and the heroic legend given above has probably been appropriated from some other clan.” The Barwârs of Ballia are reported to take brides from the Ujjaini, Haihobans, Narwâni, Kinwâr, Nikumbh, Sengar, and Khâti, and to give girls to the Haihobans, Ujjaini, Narwâni, Nikumbh, Kinwâr, Bais Bisen, and Raghubansi. Their gotra is Kasyapa.

2. They are elsewhere known under the name of Birwâr and Berwâr. In Ghâzipur they say they first came from Delhi, and [221]take their name from Bernagar, their leading village. They are said to have come under the auspices of the Narauliyas, whom they helped to expel the Cheros.109 There is a sept of them in the Chhapra District. In Azamgarh110 they are said to be both Chhatris and Bhuînhârs, and not to rank high among either. “Each set ignores the origin of, or any connection with, the others. The Bhuînhârs can only say that they came from the westward. The Chhatris say they are Tomars, and were led from Bernagar, near Delhi, to Azamgarh, by a chief, Garak Deo, who lived between 1336 and 1455 A.D. The Chhatri and Bhuînhâr branches are of the same origin, as at marriages and other feasts they refuse to take from their hosts or offer to their guests broken cakes of pulse (bara). The origin of the custom is said to have been that at a feast to which a number of the Birwârs had been invited by another clan, their treacherous hosts, on the password bara khanda chalâo (khanda means “a sword” as well as “broken”), slaughtered the Birwârs. Their name is probably connected with this custom. The Brâhman ancestor of the sept is said to have come from Kanauj; but its different branches are not unanimous as to his name or pedigree, or how they came to Azamgarh.”

[222]

Basor.111—A tribe found only in the Bundelkhand Division, and usually regarded as a sub-caste of Doms. Some of them are occasional visitors to Mirzapur and other towns, where the men work as musicians and basket-makers, and the women as midwives. The name of the tribe seems to mean “worker in the bamboo,” and to be the same as Bânsphor (q.v.). The Basors have a large number of exogamous sections, of which locally the most important are: in Hamîrpur, the Bâhmangot, Dhuneb, Gotela, Katahriya, Parauniya, Sakarwâr, Samangot, Sarmoriya, Sonach, and Sûpa or Supach Bhagat, the Dom hero; in Jhânsi the Barâr, Basgarh, Basobiya, and Dhânuk; in Jâlaun, the Baghela, Balâhar, Khangrela, and in Lalitpur, the Barâr, Morel, and Purabiya. In Mirzapur they name four exogamous sections,—Kulpariya, Katariya (named from the katâri or curved knife used in splitting the bamboo); Neoriya, which is also a section of Dharkârs (q.v.), and takes its name from newar, a young, soft bamboo; and Bamhila, who say that they are so called because they had once some connection with Brâhmans. In Jhânsi the Basors are also known as Barâr and Dhânuk. Barâr is apparently derived from the Sanskrit varataka kâra, “a maker of string.” Dhânuk is from the Sanskrit dhanushka, “a bow.” When a Basor abandons his regular occupation of working in bamboo and takes service with a land-owner as messenger or drum-beater, he becomes known in Jhânsi by the name of Barâr, and the Dhânuks seem to have been an offshoot from the original Basor stock, who took to the profession of bow-making. They now, however, work as much in bamboo as the regular Basors do; and all three—Basors, Dhânuks, and Barârs—intermarry and eat and drink together. In Jhânsi they have no traditions of their origin, but believe themselves indigenous to that part of the country. They name in Jhânsi, like so many of these menial castes, seven exogamous sections, Jhitiya, Loleri, Rasmel, Saina, Astiya, Bhardela, and Gursariya: of the origin, and explanation of these names they can give no explanation. A man must marry in Jhânsi in a section different from his own; he will not give his daughter in marriage into a section from which his own wife has come; but he can take wives for his sons, brothers, and brothers’ sons, etc., from that section. The prohibition against intermarriage lasts only for three generations. In Mirzapur the stray visitors who [223]occasionally come are said to be governed by the same rule of exogamy as in the case of the Dharkârs (q.v.). As far as religion goes the only bar to intermarriage is conversion to another creed, such as Islâm or Christianity. A man may have as many wives as he can afford to keep, and some in Jhânsi have as many as three or four. The first wife, known as Biyâhta or Jethi, manages the house, and the others are subordinate to her. Further than this the Basors admit the introduction of a woman of another tribe; but it is asserted that she is not allowed, at any rate at first, complete caste privileges, and if she comes of a caste lower than the Basor, such as the Bhangi, she is never so admitted. If she be of any superior caste, she is admitted to full tribal privileges if her husband give a feast (roti) to the clansmen.

Marriage rules. 2. Women are allowed full freedom before marriage, and fornication, if it do not become a public scandal, and particularly if the woman’s paramour be a fellow caste-man, is lightly regarded. They usually marry their girls at puberty at the age of ten or twelve; if they are orphans, they settle the marriage themselves, and in any case a considerable freedom of choice seems to be allowed. This choice, curiously enough, is always notified through a female relation, sister, mother, or aunt of the boy or girl, and she notifies it to the tribal council, who, if they agree, permit the marriage to proceed. Widows and widowers living by themselves have full freedom of choice. Some small sum of money, or some vessels, clothes, etc., are usually given by the parents of the bride as dowry, and these become the property of the husband. There is no regular divorce, but if a pair do not agree, or if the husband is dissatisfied with the conduct of his wife, they can separate at any time, and re-marry or take a partner by the sagâi form, within the caste. If the parties agree to separate, the case need not necessarily come before the tribal council unless there is some dispute about the property, or the woman protests against the charge brought against her and challenges her husband to prove it in the presence of the assembled brethren. In such case it appears to be the rule that no circumstantial evidence of adultery is accepted; if there are no actual eye-witnesses, the charge will be dismissed. Any child born by any woman or by any form of connection recognised by tribal usage is admitted as legitimate, and ranks as an heir to any property, which is seldom much, that may be left by his [224]father. If a Basor woman have a child by a man of a higher caste, such children will not be allowed to intermarry with a Basor of pure blood, but must find a husband or wife from among families which suffer from the same bar sinister. On the contrary, if a Basor keep a woman of a higher caste than his own, he has seldom any difficulty, particularly if he be a man of standing and substance in the tribe, in marrying his children in a family of pure blood.

Widow marriage. 3. As a rule all widows of marriageable age find a new partner. Such connection is fully recognised, and is known in Mirzapur as sagâi, and in Bundelkhand as dharauna or baithâna, “making her sit in the house.” There is no particular ceremony in widow marriage, except the announcement of the connection and the giving of a feast to the brethren. The levirate is recognised, but is not compulsory on the widow. In a recent case at Jhânsi the tribe excommunicated a man who formed a connection with the widow of his younger brother, and expressed extreme horror at such an act. If the children of a widow are very young she generally takes them with her to the house of her new husband, who adopts them as his own, and is held responsible for getting them married and starting them in the world. In this case they lose all rights to the property of their own father. But if the children are grown up they usually stay with the family of their late father, and are heirs to his estate. If the widow is old and does not form a new connection, she is entitled to a life maintenance in the house of her late husband. If a widow forms a connection with the younger brother of her late husband, he takes all the property and adopts his nephew or nieces as his own. In Mirzapur there is a regular bride-price fixed by tribal custom: this is nine and a half rupees in cash, liquor to the value of three rupees, two sheets, three sers of coarse sugar, and two sers of sweetmeats. More or less than this cannot be given without leave of the council. An outsider marrying a virgin widow has to pay twenty-two rupees, and it is a peculiarity among them that the man, as in other castes, does not go to fetch his wife, but her relatives bring her, realise the marriage fee, and then make her over to her new partner.

Birth customs. 4. A woman during delivery is attended by a woman of the tribe. With the umbilical cord a few pice are buried, and at the door of the delivery room a broken shoe or the horn of some animal is burnt to ward off evil from [225]mother and child; the foul smelling smoke thus produced is supposed to be particularly offensive to evil spirits. They have the usual sixth (chhathi) and twelfth day (barahi) ceremony, and on the latter a young pig is sacrificed in the name of some godling, about whom they are most reluctant to give any information or even to mention him by name. After her purification the mother worships the family well by rubbing red lead on the platform and pouring some water and a few grains of rice near it. Children have their ears bored and are ceremonially shaved at the age of five or six.

Marriage ceremonies. 5. In Mirzapur the betrothal is arranged by the husband of the father’s sister of the boy, possibly a survival of the matriarchate. The betrothal (mangni) is concluded by sending a skirt (ghaghri) and a sheet (orhni) with some liquor and treacle for the bride, after which the clansmen are feasted on pork and liquor. Some time after is a second ceremony in which the two fathers exchange leaf-platters filled with water or spirits, into one of which the boy’s father drops a rupee or two. In Jhânsi the marriage is first arranged by the women, and then a day is fixed on which the friends of the bride send a turban and a rupee for the bridegroom. This is received in the presence of the brethren, who are entertained with tobacco and spirits, which last in the case of poor people is replaced by sharbat. When the present has once been accepted, the engagement is held final, and either party repudiating it is suitably dealt with by the tribal council. Then follows the matmangara ceremony common to all low castes in the Eastern Districts. Among the Basors the earth, on this occasion, is dug by the brother-in-law of the boy’s father and the father of the bride, in which, again, we seem to find a survival of the matriarchate. In the centre of the marriage shed is a bamboo, and some wooden images of parrots are fixed up, with a jar full of water covered with a saucer filled with rice. Then one of the senior men of the tribe makes a fire offering (hom) in honour of the deceased ancestors, and the clothes of the pair are knotted together, and they are made to walk seven times round the sacred fire. In Jhânsi an old man says this prayer: “Ye godlings (deota), stand witness that this pair are joined by the knot. Keep them as closely joined in love as the knot which ties their raiment.” On the fourth day is the chauthi chhorna, when the marriage pitchers (kalsa) are thrown into water by the mother of the bridegroom. The binding part of [226]the ceremony is the giving away of the bride (kanyâdân) by the bridegroom.

Death ceremonies. 6. When they can afford it, they burn the dead in the usual way; poor people simply fling the corpse into running water; if no river be convenient, it is buried. Some sacrifice a hog in the name of the dead man; some do not. After six months the brethren are feasted. Some kill a pig, cut off its legs, and bury the trunk (thûnth, thûthan) in the court-yard, in the belief that this prevents the ghost of the dead from giving annoyance to the survivors. In Mirzapur it appears that, as among the Doms, the sister’s son of the dead man acts as priest at his obsequies; but this is denied at Jhânsi. At any rate it is quite certain that no Brâhman officiates, and that all the ceremonies are performed by some old man of the tribe. The death impurity lasts only three days, and is then removed by bathing.

Religion. 7. The tribal deities are Kâli-Bhawâni and Ganga Mâi, or Mother Ganges. To the east of the Province they offer sacrifices of pigs to Vindhyabâsini Devi, at Bindhâchal. In Jhânsi they offer to Kâli or Jagadamba Devi, during the Naurâtra of Chait and Kuâr, or in other months, on a Monday or Friday, cocoanuts, sweets, spirits, betel leaves, and sometimes a goat. In Jhânsi they also worship various deified persons who are called Bâba. Thus there is Gusâîn Bâba, who has a platform under a pîpal tree near Moth Tahsîl, in the Jhânsi District. He is said to roam about in his ascetic costume in the neighbourhood, and sometimes speaks to people. Nat Bâba has no special shrine; but his platform is to be seen in many villages with a little niche for holding a light, which is occasionally lighted in his honour. Many curious tales of this worthy are told, one being that after his death he attended the marriage of his grand-daughter, and made all the arrangements for the reception of the guests. Mahton Bâba is the ghost of some celebrated village headman of the olden time, of whom little is known except that he is now a guardian of villages, and wards off famine and pestilence from men and cattle if he be duly propitiated with some sweets and cocoanuts. The Sayyid, or Shahîd Mard, is some Muhammadan martyr, whom they greatly reverence, and another worthy of the same class, Jîwan Shâh Bâba, is also much respected. In no part of this worship are the services of Brâhmans required; but the Joshi or village astrologer is occasionally consulted to [227]select lucky days for weddings and the like. Their holidays are the Phagua or Holi, the Kajari, the Panchaiyân, Naumi, and Dasmi, at all of which they get drunk, if they can afford to do so. They are much afraid of the ghosts of those who die a violent death by drowning or some other accident. Such ghosts haunt the scene of the accident, and need careful propitiation. They have a very vague idea of the other world. They believe in a sort of hell into which evil-doers are flung and fall into a pit full of human ordure and urine.112 This place they call Narak, of which Manu enumerates twenty-one varieties. Some of them who are becoming more enlightened have now begun to perform some rude kind of srâddha. Women who are tattooed on the arms, wrists, breast, and below the knee, become holy, and the door-keepers of Bhagwân admit them into his paradise.

Social customs. 8. The women wear nose-rings (nathya, phurhur), ear-rings (bâli), ear ornaments (karanphûl), bangles (chûri, kara), ankle ornaments (pairi, sânkar). They swear by the Ganges, Kâli-Bhawâni, and on their sons’ heads. They will eat almost any meat, including beef and pork, and all kinds of fish, but not monkeys, vermin, and the like. They will not eat other people’s leavings, nor food touched by a Musahar, Dom, Chamâr, Dhobi, Halâlkhor, or Dharkâr. Like all of the Dom race, they have a hatred for Dhobis, and consider them the vilest of all castes. They have the usual taboos. They will not touch their younger brother’s wife, their child’s mother-in-law (samdhin), nor will they mention their wives by name. The elder brother’s wife can eat out of the same dish as her husband’s younger brother; but no wife or younger brother’s wife will eat with a husband or his elder brother or father. Their salutation is Râm! Râm! and the juniors touch the feet of their elders. Women seem, on the whole, to be fairly well treated; but they are soundly beaten if they misbehave themselves. No one, not even a Dom or Mehtar, will drink water from their hands. They will eat food cooked by a Nâi or any higher caste.

Occupation. 9. They live by making baskets and other articles manufactured out of bamboo, and playing on the flute (bânsuli), or the tambourine (dafla), at marriages. Their women are midwives. [228]

Bâwariya.113—A hunting and criminal tribe practically found only in Muzaffarnagar and Mirzapur. Various explanations have been given of the name. Colonel Dalton would connect it with the Sanskrit barbara, varvara, which appears to be the Greek barbaros, and applied to any outcaste who cannot speak Sanskrit. Others take it to be another form of the Hindi bâola, bâora (Sanskrit, vâtûla, “inflamed with wind”). It is most probably derived from the Hindi banwar, “a creeper” (Sanskrit bhramara), in the sense of a noose made originally from some fibrous plant and used for trapping animals, which is one of the primary occupations of the tribe. The Bâwariyas in these provinces seem to fall into two branches—those resident in the Upper Duâb, who still retain some of their original customs and manners, and those to the east, who assert a more respectable origin, and have abandoned their original predatory life.

The Western Bâwariyas. 2. The best account of the western branch is that given by Mr. J. Wilson114:—“The Bâwariyas of Sirsa are divided into four sections—(1) the Bidâwati from Bikâner territory, claiming connection with the Bidâwat Râjputs, giving Chithor as their place of origin; (2) the Deswâli, living in the country about Sirsa; (3) the Kapriya to the west about Delhi; (4) the Kâlkamaliya, or “black blanket people,” who (especially the women) wear black blankets, and are found chiefly among the Sikhs of the jungle and Mâlwa country. These four sections do not eat together or intermarry; but say they all came originally from the country about Bikâner. They are most numerous in Râjputâna and the districts bordering upon it, but extend up the Satlaj to Fîrozpur and Lahore. The name of the [229]tribe seems to be derived from the banwar or snare with which they catch wild animals, but many of them despise this their hereditary occupation; and, indeed, it seems now to be practised only by the Kâlkamaliya or Panjâbi section. The Bâwariyas are seemingly an aboriginal tribe, being of a dark complexion and inferior physique, though resembling the Bâgri Jâts. Many of them are fond of a wandering life, living in wretched huts, and feeding upon lizards, foxes, and other jungle animals, but they say they will not eat fish. In other districts they are known as a criminal tribe, but here many of them are fairly respectable cultivators, some are employed as village watchmen, and many of them are skilled in tracking. They are divided into clans (got, nak) with Râjput names, such as Chauhân, Panwâr, Bhâti. The Bâwariyas who live among the Sikhs (Kâlkamaliya) wear the hair long (kes), and some of them have become regular Sikhs, and have received the pahul. The black blanket Bâwariyas speak Panjâbi, and the Bidâwati Bâgri; but they have besides a dialect peculiar to themselves, and not understood by the ordinary peasants. Bâwariyas consider themselves good Hindus, and say that regular Brâhmans officiate at their marriage ceremonies—the same Brâhmans as officiate for Jâts and Banyas. They hold the cow sacred and will not eat beef; they burn their dead and send their ashes to the Ganges. They are said sometimes to admit men of other tribes to their fraternity, and an instance is given in which a Banya for love of a Bâwariya woman became a Bâwariya himself.”

Manner of hunting practised by the Western Bâwariyas. 3. “Whole families of Bâwariyas come South in the rains for a lizard hunt, and may be seen returning with baskets full of their game, which live for days without food, and thus supply them with a succession of fresh meat. The lizard has a soft fat body and a broad tail with spikes along each side. He lives on grass, cannot bite severely, and is sluggish in his movements, so that he is easily caught. He digs a hole for himself of no great depth, and the easiest way to catch him is to look out for the scarcely perceptible air-hole and dig him out; but there are various ways of saving oneself this trouble. One, which I have seen, takes advantage of a habit the lizard has in cold weather (when he never comes out of his hole) of coming to the mouth for air and warmth. The Chûhra or other sportsman puts off his shoes and steals along the prairie till he sees signs of a lizard’s hole. This he approaches on tiptoe, raising over [230]his head with both hands a mallet with a round, sharp point, and fixing his eyes intently upon the hole. When close enough, he brings down his mallet with all his might on the ground just behind the mouth of the hole, and is often successful in breaking the lizard’s back before he awakens to a sense of his danger. Another plan, which I have not seen, is to tie a wisp of grass to a long stick and move it over the hole, so as to make a rustling noise. The lizard within thinks “Oh here’s a snake! I may as well give in,” and comes to the mouth of the hole, putting out his tail first that he may not see his executioner. The sportsman seizes his tail and snatches him out before he has time to learn his mistake.

4. “Again, a body of them, men, women, and children, go out into the prairie in search of game. When they have sighted a herd of antelope in the distance, they choose a favourable piece of ground and arrange their banwars, which are a series of many running nooses of raw hide tied together and fastened loosely to the ground by pegs; from the banwars they rapidly make two lines of bogies by sticking bits of straw with black rags tied to them into the ground at distances of a foot or two apart. These lines widen away from the snares so as to enclose a V-shaped piece of ground with sides perhaps a mile in length, the unsuspecting herd of antelope being enclosed within the V, at the pointed end of which are the snares. All this is arranged in a wonderfully short space of time, and when it is all ready, the main body of hunters, who have meanwhile gone round the herd of antelope and formed a line across the open mouth of the V, suddenly start up, and by unearthly yells drive the herd inwards towards the point. The first impulse of the antelopes is to rush directly away from their tormentors, but they soon come to the long lines of fluttering bits of rag which forms one line of the V. They are thus directed into the place occupied by the snares. It is interesting as one of the methods by which an ignorant tribe with the simplest means can by their superior cunning circumvent the swift antelope on his native prairies.”

Dialect of the Western Bâwariyas. 5. “The Bâwariyas have a dialect of their own, which has sometimes been considered a sort of thieves’ slang kept up to facilitate their combination for purposes of crime; but the great mass of the Bâwariyas in this district are not at all given to crime, and have no desire to conceal their dialect; moreover it is spoken most generally by the women and children, while the men, at all events in their intercourse with [231]their neighbours, speak in ordinary Bâgri or Panjâbi. It seems probable that it is simply the dialect of the country of their origin, kept up by them in their wanderings. I had not much time to make much enquiry about it, but was given the following as their names for the numbers by their leading men—ek, bai, tren, châr, pânch, chhau, hât, âth, nau, daukh, vik, (20) and the following words—khakhra for susra (father-in-law), khakhu for sâsu (mother-in-law), hândo for sândo (lizard), manukh (man), châro (antelope), haru (snake), laukra (fox), nauri (jackal), jamna (right hand), dava (left hand). Some of these words may be Bâgri, and they are not much to go upon, but the use of h, for s, and the peculiar kh for the Sanskrit palatal sibilant should afford some clue to the origin of the dialect; for this kh sound, like the Arabic kh in khâwind, is not found in any dialect indigenous in this part of India.” The numerals are obviously of Sanskrit origin, and so are most of the words—châro, harina; haru, sarpa; laukra, lomasa; nauri, nakula; jamna is the direction of the river Yamuna, Jumna; dava, dakshina.

The Bâwariyas of the North-Western Provinces. 6. A body of Bauriyas or Bâwariyas who were, many years ago, interrogated as to their customs and kindred, gave the following account of themselves115:—“The Mugîns and Baguras who reside in Mâlwa and on the Chambal river commit dacoity, burglary, and theft; they stick at nothing. They go in large parties (kâfila), sometimes as carriers of Ganges water, sometimes as Brâhmans, with the sacred string round their necks. The Hâbûras commit theft. The Gûjars call us Gidiyas, and the Jâts call us Bauris. Gidiya is merely a local name of our tribe; there is no distinct class of people of that name. The Sânsiyas are not of our tribe; they are a distinct class; they are thieves, but seldom ascend to dacoity—(this is certainly incorrect). The Kanjars are all thieves; they cut grass and make thatches, and bivouac in suburbs under huts of long grass (sirki), but always thieve. Our caste was originally Râjput, and our ancestors came from Mârwâr. We have seven clans (got)—Punwâr, Soharki, Dabas, alias Dâbi, Chauhân, Tunwar, Dhandara, alias Dhandal or Koli, and Gordhi, with the Châmi, making eight in all. Two or three centuries ago, when the Emperor of Delhi [232]attacked the fortress of Chithor and besieged it for twelve years for the sake of the Princess Padmani, the country became desolate, and we were obliged to emigrate in search of employment, and disperse. Those that came into the Delhi territory were called Bauris; those that went into the Gwâlior territory were called Mugîns and Bagûras. To the eastward they were called Baddhiks, and in Mâlwa Hâbûras. We are not people of yesterday; we are of ancient and illustrious descent. When Râvana took away the wife of the god Râma, and Râma wanted to recover her, men of all castes went to fight for him in the holy cause. Among the rest was a leader of the Bauris called Pardhi. When Râma vanquished his enemy and recovered Sîta he asked Pardhi what he could do for him. ‘Grant,’ said Pardhi, ‘that I may attend your Majesty, mount guard, and hunt in the intervals of leisure, and I shall have all that my heart wishes.’ The god granted him his request, and his occupation has come down to us. If any Prince happens to have an enemy that he wishes to have made away with, he sends for some of our tribe and says,—‘Go and bring so and so’s head.’ We go, steal into his sleeping apartments, and take off the person’s head without any other person knowing anything about it. If a Prince wanted, not the head of his enemy, but the gold tassels of the bed on which he lay asleep, we brought them to him. In consequence of our skill in those matters we were held everywhere in high esteem, and we served Princes and had never occasion to labour at tillage. This was before the emigration and dispersion of the tribe. We, who have come to the Delhi territory and are called Bauris, took to the trade of thieving. Princes still employed us to take off the heads of their enemies and rob them of their valuables. At present the Bauris confine themselves almost exclusively to robbing tents; they do not steal cattle or break into houses, but they will rob a cart on the highway occasionally; any other trade than robbery they never take to. They reside in or near villages under the protection of landlords, and while out for a long period at their vocation, they leave their wives and children under their care. They give them the means of subsistence, and for these advances we are often indebted to them three hundred or four hundred rupees by the time we return. When we are about to set out on our expeditions we get a loan of twenty or thirty rupees from the landholders or merchants of the place, and two days before starting we sacrifice a goat and make burnt offerings to the goddess Devi, sometimes to [233]her of the fiery furnace of Jawâla, in the Himâlaya, and sometimes to our old tutelary god of Chithor. We present sweetmeats and vow unwearied devotions if we are successful. After this we take our auspices thus:—We go in the evening into the jungle, and there in silence expect the call. If the partridge or jackal call on the left we set out without further ceremony; the bark of a fox even will do. If any of them call on the right, we return home and try again the day following. As soon as we get a good omen we set out. If we take it in the morning it must be before sunrise, and the fox, partridge, or jackal, must cry on the right to be good. If a deer cross from the left to the right it is a good omen. We have a couplet on this subject signifying that if the crow and the deer cross from the left to the right and the blue jay from left to right, even the wealth that has gone from us will come back.”

Present condition in the Upper Duâb. 7. The Census returns give the sections as Badniyâr, Banwâr, Bardhia, Barmâr, Chauhân, Dalê, Dhandin, Dyâs, Garali, Gaur, Gûjar, Kori, Madniyâriya, Pahari, Panwâr, Râjput, Solankhi, Saurangi, and Topiwâl. Those best known in the Upper Duâb are, Turai, Pachhâda or “Western,” Gola Kori, and Khâgi. These gotras, as they are called, are exogamous, but the Turai marry only with the Pachhâda and the Gola with the Khâgi. This rule of exogamy they reinforce with the rather vague formula that marriage with relatives by blood (dûdh kê nâtêdâr) is prohibited. They can marry two sisters in succession. They have now settled down and abandoned their wandering habit of life. They admit strangers into the caste. The only ceremony is that the convert has to eat and drink with his new clansmen. Some say that candidates for admission must be of high caste themselves; but they do not appear to be very particular, and these new admissions are treated at the outset with some contempt, and are not all at once admitted into full tribal privileges. Marriage usually takes place in infancy. The standard of morality is very low, because in Muzaffarnagar116 it is extremely rare for a Bâwariya woman to live with her husband. Almost invariably she lives with another man; but whoever he may be, the official husband is responsible for the children. Divorced wives and widows can marry in the clan by the karâo form, and a man can have two or three wives at a time. The marriage ceremony is [234]carried out by the brother-in-law (dhiyâna) of the bride, and he makes them walk round the marriage shed, and promise to be faithful to each other. The relative, in fact, does all their religious and quasi-religious ceremonies. Infidelity, contraction of a fatal disease, and loss of religion and caste warrant either husband or wife giving up cohabitation, and if the separation is approved of by the clansmen, the woman can re-marry by the karâo form. It is also said that a wife can be discarded when she loses her good looks.

Religion and customs of the Western Bâwariyas. 8. They are Hindu by religion and worship Kâli-Bhawâni and Zâhir Dîwân. The women in particular worship Kâli-Bhawâni. As already stated, they do not employ Brâhmans, but get their religious business done by the brother-in-law. They usually burn the adult dead, and bury those who have not been married. They are in constant fear of the ghosts of the dead, and lay out food for them in platters made of leaves. They now principally live by catching birds of all kinds. Those that are eatable, they sell; others they take to the houses of rich Jain merchants, and make an income by releasing them from their cages. They do not prostitute their married women or girls. They will eat almost any kind of meat except beef, and indulge freely in liquor. They will eat and drink from the hands of any Hindu except Nats and the regular outcaste tribes.

The Eastern Bâwariyas of the North-Western Provinces. 9. In direct contrast to this disreputable branch of the tribe are the Eastern Bâwariyas of Mirzapur. They are very possibly an offshoot of the Bauris of Western Bengal, of whom Mr. Risley writes117:—“They are a cultivating, earth-working, and palanquin-bearing race, whose features and complexion stamp them as of non-Aryan descent, although evidence is wanting to affiliate them to any particular tribe now in existence. Their meagre folk-lore throws no light on their origin. According to one story they were degraded for attempting to steal food from the banquet of the gods; another professes to trace them back to a mythical ancestor named Bâhak Rishi (the bearer of burdens), and tells how, while returning from a marriage procession, they sold the palanquin they had been hired to carry, got drunk on the proceeds, and assaulted their Guru, who cursed them for the sacrilege, and compelled them to rank thenceforward [235]among the lowest castes of the community. Another name for this ancestor is Rik Muni, the same as the eponym of the Musahars and Bhuiyas; but it would be straining conjecture to infer from this any connection between the Bauris and the Bhuiyas.” At any rate the Mirzapur Bâwariyas admit no connection with such people. According to their own account they were originally Bais Chhatris, and come from Baiswâra, a tract of country which Sir H. M. Elliot defines as lying between Cawnpur on the west, the Sâi river which, running through the Partâbgarh District, joins the Gûmti some twenty miles south-east of the town of Jaunpur; and between the Chhuâb rivulet on the south, and Dikhtân, or the land of the Dikhit Râjputs, on the north.

10. They tell their story as follows:—There were two Chhatri brothers named Sûrê and Bîrê, who left Baiswâra in search of employment, and went to Chayanpur, in the Shâhâbâd District. There they took service with a Râja who had a lovely daughter. When her suitor, a neighbouring Râja, came to woo her, the two brothers challenged his wrestlers. To show their prowess they took a well-burnt tile and crushed it into dust, with which they rubbed their bodies as athletes do before they enter the arena. Then they tore up a great tamarind tree by the roots, and the rival wrestlers ran away in fear. This so pleased their master that he gave them a village called Bâwari or Chân Bâwari, from whence they take their name. They appear now to be fully recognised as Chhatris, and marry in the Chauhân, Jethi, and Gaharwâr clans.

11. They have now no landed property, but settle as tenants wherever they can find land. They do not admit outsiders into the tribe. Their marriage rules are of the type common to the more respectable tribes, but their special worship of Dulha Deo at marriages suggests a connection with some of the non-Aryan races. This is done on the eve of the marriage. The house kitchen is plastered, and the oldest woman of the family draws a lota full of water from the well, but in doing this she must use only her right hand. A burnt offering is then made with one-and-a-quarter sers of butter, and the water is poured on the floor in honour of the godling. Widow marriage is forbidden, and a woman caught in adultery must be discarded. They are generally initiated into either the Saiva or Sâkta sect, and specially worship Dulha Deo and one Sinha Bâba, who was a Nânak Shâhi faqîr. To him is made a burnt offering of sugar and butter once a year; the butter [236]must be of the weight of one pice and the sugar one quarter pice. A goat is also sometimes offered in the house court-yard. The priests of the clan are known as the Pânres of Machhiâwan, who have come with them from their original settlement. Their death ceremonies are such as are performed by the higher castes. They abstain from spirits, and their women are kept under careful control. They eat the flesh of deer and goats, and all kinds of fish except the gûnch or Gangetic shark. Brâhmans will eat pakki from their hands, and they will eat kachchi cooked by their Brâhman spiritual guides. They smoke only with their clansmen. Lower castes, like Kahârs and Nâis, will eat both kachchi and pakki from their hands.

The criminal Bâwariyas. 12. The Western Bâwariyas of these Provinces are best known to District Officers as a criminal tribe. When they go on their predatory excursions, which extend over a large part of Northern India, they usually assume the garb of faqîrs, and the only way of finding them out is by a peculiar necklace of small wooden beads, which they all wear, and by a kind of gold pin which they wear fixed to their front teeth.118 It seems, however, doubtful whether this last test is always conclusive. In cases of doubt their mouths should be examined, for under their tongues a hollow is formed by constant pressure from their younger days, in which they can secure from fifteen to twenty silver bits. The women are believed to possess secrets for charms and medicines, and sell the roots and herbs which they collect in the jungles. They are said to be expert in making patchwork quilts, which they sell. Whenever they wander they sleep on a bed and not on the ground. One peculiarity about their thieving is that, like the Alâgiris of Madras,119 when they enter a house they take with them some dry grain, which they throw about in the dark, so as to be able by the rattle to ascertain the position of brass vessels and other metal articles. In Central India they are said to be greatly wanting in intelligence and timid in their intercourse with their fellowmen. They are there divided into five tribes—the Râthaur or Mewâra, Chauhân, Sawandiya, Korbiyâr, Kodiyâr; and each tribe has a separate hunting ground. They are governed by Chiefs called Hauliya, who attain their office by descent. [237]“Game is divided into three shares—one for the god of the wilds, one for the god of the river, and the remainder is divided among those present at the capture. At the Holi they all assemble at the Hauliya’s residence, when he collects his income, one rupee per head. For the first five years after the beard first appears, it and the hair are cut once a year; but ever after that they wear both unshorn, and their long shaggy locks add to their uncouth appearance. Few attain sixty years of age, and ten is the greatest number of children they have known one woman to bear. They call themselves a branch of the Dhângar or shepherd class.120”