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as. Gibbs.
NOTES
ON THE
RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
OF
EASTERN BENGAL.
BY
JAMES WISE, M.D.
NOT PUBLISHED.
LONDON:
HARRISON AND SONS, ST. MARTIN'S LANE,
Printers in Ordinary to Her Majesty.
1883.
LONDON:
HARRISON AND SONS, PRINTERS IN ORDINARY TO HER MAJESTY,
ST. MARTIN'S LANE.
301.954
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INTRODUCTION.
THE district of Dacca, and the various races now inhabiting it,
form the subject of the following pages. This tract, situated
between the river Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Meghna, is an
irregular triangle, with its apex at the junction of the there
rivers, while the base, running nearly east and west, is formed
by several insignificant streams. On the north is the Zillah,
or province, of Mymensingh, on the east Tipperah, on the south
Báqirganj, and on the west Farrídpúr.
Numerous rivers traverse the district of Dacca, the ma-
jority of which, fordable in the hot season, are navigable during
the rains. These rivers, flowing for the most part through
alluvial plains, are subject to periodic floods, which undermine
the banks and destroy the islands and "Churs." Their beds are
gradually being raised by silt, and in a single season the
physical aspect of a whole country may be changed. A fallen
tree often diverts the course of a stream, and a sunken boat has
been known to block up the channel of an important river.
The annual inundations submerge the whole country, and
during July and August boats sail from village to village with-
out difficulty. The level of the land, highest at the riverside,
gradually falls away from the banks, consequently it is here
the inhabitants build their houses.
Included in the Dacca district are two divisions differing
from one another in almost every respect, and forming distinct
geological tracts.¹ The first, embracing the Bhowál and Madhu-
púr jungles, consists of low ranges of hillocks (Tílá), running in
parallel lines, with moist valleys (Baíd) between. The ridges,
¹ By Hindi speaking races these two formations are distinguished as
Bhágnar and Khádar.
iv
INTRODUCTION.
of the red laterite formation,¹ are rich in iron ore; the valleys,
of a stiff black loam, bear luxuriant crops of rice. The "Sál"
(Shorea robusta) and date palm grow indigenously, and in its
forests the tiger, bear, wild elephant, and “ Sámbar "² still make
their home. The greater portion, an unproductive waste with
few inhabitants, is not only interesting as a debatable land
separating the Hindus of the plains from the hillmen of the
eastern frontier, but as a district in one part occupied by races
alien to the natives of Bengal, in another by a mongrel and
semi-Hinduized people disowned by all.
The second division is the alluvial, formed by the great
rivers Ganges and Brahinaputra, and conterminous with their
deltas. It is one continuous plain, without a knoll or rock to
break its uniform flatness, as well as a boundless rice garden
baked hard by a fierce sun and scorching winds in March and
April, flooded during the rains, and transformed into a swamp
by the cold drying breezes of December and January. The
villages are raised above the flood on artificial mounds, and all
communication is carried on by boats. In spite of fevers,
cholera, and smallpox, the population, though sickly, is steadily
increasing.
The annual
The maximum in the shade
September; and the minimum
The hot months are more
The climate of these two divisions differs little.
temperature averages 77.1°.
seldom rises to 90° in May or
rarely falls to 50° in January.
agreeable than in Calcutta, but the cold are less bracing.
September and October are most relaxing, but February and
March are very benign and pleasant. The average annual rain-
fall is 74.5 inches. Beginning in the first week of June the
rains cease in September, although heavy thunder showers occur
in October and November. The luxuriant vegetation indicates
the prevalence of great humidity and heat The high tempe-
1 By the people of Dacca Bhowál is usually called the "Tengar Mulk,"
probably from the Hindi "Tegrá," rising ground.
2 The "Rusa Aristotelis." In Dacca it is known as the " Ghaus," a
corruption of the Persian "Gauz," an elk or deer.
INTRODUCTION.
V
rature and moist atmosphere render the use of a vegetable diet
necessary, and favour the cultivation of rice.
In all parts
"Paddy" is grown, but the experience of ages has taught that
one soil is suited for the winter, another for the spring or
summer crop. Of late years a large area has been planted with
jute, which has become, next to rice, the principal article of
export. But Dacca also produces cotton, safflower, mustard,
chillies, tobacco, sesamum, sugar cane, and various pulses, while
indigo was formerly extensively cultivated. The successful
cultivation of these products, however, is only secured by a
perpetual warfare against the encroachments of weeds and the
attacks of insects.
A country enjoying so many advantages, and providing such
an abundant supply of food, has determined the general occupa-
tion of the inhabitants. There being no pastures, the large
majority of the population are agricultural labourers, engaged
in cultivating the rich alluvial soil. From the earliest recorded
times Bengal has been inhabited by a numerous and prosperous
people, who, satisfied with their lot, rarely took part in the civil
commotions raging around them. The large tidal rivers, again,
abounding in fish and affording every facility for the transport
of grain and other commodities, developed a race of hardy boat-
men, who are still the finest specimens of Bengali manhood.
The economic and personal wants of the inhabitants stimulated
the growth of manufactures. Cotton cloth was woven from the
earliest times, and a rude and brittle earthenware fashioned,
but it is extremely doubtful if any other productions, requiring
either delicacy of taste, or originality, ever rose above medi-
ocrity.
t
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF DACCA.
1. "Risála dar Ahwál-i-Jahángírnagar," or "Essay on the History of Dacca." This
is a Persian work, written by an unknown author during the lifetime (1788-
1822) of Nawab Naçrat Jang, of Dacca. The late Mr. Blochmann informed
me that the body of the work consisted of a general history incorrectly
copied from Muhammadan writers, and that only a few pages near the end
treated of Dacca.
2. "Antiquities of Dacca," engraved by J. Landseer from drawings by Sir
Charles D'Oyly, Bart. London, 1814-27, fol. The text gives a great deal
of information regarding the architectural remains of the city.
3.
A sketch of the Topography and Statistics of Dacca." By James Taylor,
Surgeon. Printed by order of Government. Calcutta, 1840, 8vo.
4. “A Descriptive and Historical Account of the Cotton Manufacture of Dacca,
in Bengal." By a former resident of Dacca [James Taylor]. London,
1851, 8vo.
5. "Principal Heads of the History and Statistics of the Dacca Division."
Calcutta, 1868, 4to.
SECTION I.
MUHAMMADAN.
GENERAL REMARKS, ON POPULATION AND RELIGION.
WORSHIP OF RELICS, OF PÍRS.
KHWAJAH KHIZR, ZINDAHGHÁZÍ, PIR BADR, GHÁZÍ MIYÁN.
PANCH PÍR, SHAIKH SADU.
MUHAMMADAN REVIVAL.
SHARÍA'TULLAH-DUDHU MIYAN-OTHER REFORMERS.
PRESENT STATE OF RELIGION.
MUHAMMADAN DIVISIONS AND TRADES.
Bahurúpía.
Bájunia.
Baldiya.
Beldár.
Bhatiárá.
Bidrí-Sáz.
Chamra farosh.
Chandú-wálah.
Chaunrí-wálah.
Chhapar-band.
Chhípí-gar.
Chikan-doz.
Chírá-kash.
Chúrí-wálah.
Dafa'dár.
Dáí.
Darwesh.— (a) CHISHTÍA ·
(e) MADÁRÍA.
Darzí.
Dastár-band.
Dast-farosh.
Dhárí.
(b) QÁDIRÍA — (c) NAQSHBANDÍ — (d) Rafa'í
Dhobí.
Dhuníyá.
Fálúda-wálah.
Goála.
Háfiz.
Hajjám.
Hakim.
Hakkák.
Halwáí.
Hawáí-gar.
Jild-gar.
Juláha.
Júti-walah.
Kahhál.
+
(viii)
Kághazí.
Kalwár.
Kasáí.
Kathak.
Khwánd-Kár.
Koft-gar.
Kolú.
Kundakar.
Kunjra.
Kúti.
Lakar-hára.
Lohár.
Madad-wálah.
Máhí-farosh.
Mahout.
Málí.
Míráşan.
Mísí-wálah.
Muçawwir.
Mulla.
Munshí.
Murghí-wálah.
Naicha-band.
Nál-band.
Nán-baí.
Nardiya.
Nílgar.
Djhá.
Panír-wálah.
Pankha-wálah.
Patwa.
Qaláí-gar.
Rafú-gar.
Rakhwál,
Rangrez.
Raz.
Reza.
Cábun-walah.
Çaiqal-gar.
Sang-gar.
Shál-gar.
Shíahs.
Shikárí.
Shisha-gar.
Siyahi-wálah.
Súzan-gar.
Tántí.
Tambáku-wálah.
Tár-wálah.
Tikiya-wálah.
Zar-Koft.
sect II papelly
III
347
A
kay

asGrills.
مي
.
NOTES
ON THE
RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
OF
EASTERN BENGAL.
MUHAMMADAN.
THE most interesting fact revealed by the census of 1872 was
the enormous host of Muhammadans resident in Lower Bengal-
not massed around the old capitals, but in the alluvial plains of
the Delta. In Dacca, for instance, the Muhammadans were
very slightly in excess of the Hindus; in Maldah they formed
46 per cent. of the population; in Murshídábád 45 per cent. ;
and in Patna only 12 per cent. On the other hand, in the
swampy tracts of Baqirganj, Tipperah, and Mymensingh they
comprised nearly 54 per cent. of the people. This result was
unexpected, and contrary to the conclusions arrived at from
earlier inquiries, which, though obviously defective, were gene-
rally accepted as almost correct.
The history of the spread of the Muhammadan faith in Lower
and Eastern Bengal is a subject of such vast importance at the
present day as to merit a careful and minute examination.
The farther we advance in our knowledge of the early history
of Bengal the more certain is it, that previous to the eighteenth
century the Hindu inhabitants of Bengal far exceeded the
Muhammadan in numbers, and as late as the sixteenth century
three of the five Bhúyas, or leaders, of Lower Bengal, were
Hindu chiefs commanding Hindu armies.
The enthusiastic soldiers, who, in the thirteenth and four-
teenth centuries, spread the faith of Islám among the timid
races of Bengal, made forcible conversions by the sword, and,
penetrating the dense forests of the Eastern frontier, planted the
B
2
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
crescent in the villages of Silhet. Tradition still preserves the
names of Ádam Shahíd, Sháh Jalál Mujarrad, and Kárfármá
Cáhib, as three of the most successful and most bigoted of these
enthusiasts.
As early as A.D. 1338 a Muhammadan king ruled over the
Eastern districts from Sunnárgaon, and for a century and a half
that city was the provisional residence of the rulers of Bengal.
Although situated on the borders of the Empire, and surrounded
by brave and aggressive races, Sunnárgaon attracted crowds of
holy men and fanatics, whose mouldering tombs still mark
the site of the ancient city. From it was summoned the pre-
ceptor, who trained the persecuting Jaláluddín in the doctrines of
his intolerant creed, and to its families of Khwánd-Kárs, Eastern
Bengal looked for its supply of Muhammadan instructors.
During the five centuries and a half of Muhammadan rule in
Eastern Bengal, we only hear of one wholesale persecution of the
subject Hindus, and that was waged by Jaláluddín, the apostate,
from A.D. 1414 to 1430. The only conditions he offered were
the Koran, or death, and it is said that, rather than submit to
such terms, many Hindus fled to Kámrúp, and the jungles of
Asam and Kachhár, but it is nevertheless probable that more
Muhammadans were added to Islám during these seventeen
years than in the next three hundred.
In Muhammadan histories no mention is made of any large
Muhammadan immigration from Upper India; and we know that
in the reign of Akbar the climate of Bengal was considered so
uncongenial to the Mughal invaders, that an order to proceed
thither was regarded as a sentence of banishment. The Viceroys
and nobles governing Bengal amassed wealth rapidly, and
returned to spend it in the luxurious palaces of Delhi and Agra,
while only a few officers and private soldiers, having married into
native families, remained and settled in their new homes. While,
therefore, each seat of government, and each military station,
was in early times more or less a centre of missionary agitation,
we find another agency from across the seas working towards the
same ends, uninfluenced by the policy of the Delhi Court. On
the south-eastern frontier of Bengal, a hardy and enterprising
class of Muhammadans have been settled from the earliest
historical times; and long before the first European landed at
Chittagong, Arab merchants carried on an extensive and lucrative
trade with its inhabitants, and disseminated their religious ideas
among the people. How or when the dwellers on that coast
became Mussulmán is unknown,' but when Barbosa visited
1 The people of Chittagong, however, ascribe their conversion to an invasion of
their country by Nucrat Sháh in the sixteenth century.-" J. A. S. of Calcutta,”
No. 4, 1872, p. 338.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
3
Bengal at the beginning of the sixteenth century, he found the
inhabitants of the interior, Gentiles, subject to the King of
Bengal, who was a Moor; while the seaports were inhabited by
Moors and Gentiles. He also met with many foreigners, both
Arabs, Persians, Abyssinians, and Indians, and adds, “every day
many Gentiles turn Moors, to obtain the favour of the king and
governors."
Cæsar Frederick, and Vincent Le Blanc, who
were in Bengal about 1570, also inform us that the island of
Sondip was then inhabited by Moors. In the sixteenth century,
therefore, Chittagong was a centre from which an unceasing
propagandism was carried on.
2
Wherever Muhammadan rule exists, slavery is developed,
and during the centuries of misrule and oppression, through
which Bengal passed, slavery was accepted by the Hindus as a
refuge for their troubles. Bengal has for its encouragement of
slavery always possessed an unenviable notoriety, and the Delhi
Court obtained not only its slaves, but also its eunuchs, from the
villages of Eastern Bengal. The incursions of Asamese, and
Mags, the famines, pestilences, and civil wars impoverished and
hardened the people, and drove them in sheer desperation to sell
their children as Mussulmán slaves. The treatment of these
slaves was humane, and their position comparatively a good
one, as they were allowed to marry, and their families, supported
by the master, added to the number of Islám.
Stories of forcible conversion, such as the following, are how-
ever narrated by the Muhammadans themselves, without any
feelings of shame, or astonishment. While the Muhammadan
population was still scattered, it was customary for each house-
holder to hang an earthern water-pot (badhná) from his thatched
roof, as a sign of his religious belief. One day a Maulaví, after
some years' absence, went to visit a disciple, who lived in the
centre of a Hindu village, but could not find the “badhná." On
inquiry he was told that the Mussulmán villager had renounced
his faith, and joined an outcast tribe. On his return to the city,
the circumstances being reported to the Nawáb, a detachment of
troops was ordered out, the village surrounded, and every person
in it compelled to become Muhammadan.
Another class of Hindus voluntarily turned Muhammadans,
as the only means of escaping punishment for murder, or
adultery, as this step was considered full atonement for either
crime.*
In later times this compulsory system was still farther
1 A description of the coasts of East Africa and Malabar, Hakluyt Society, 1866.
2 4 Hackluyt's Navigations," ii, 213–241.
3 "Les Voyages fameux du Sieur Vincent Le Blanc,” p. 273.
4
Bernier," vol. i, 144. 'Voyages de Le Goowz," p. 157.
B 2
4
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
extended. The tyrannical Murshid Julí Khán enforced a law
that any Amal, or Zamíndár, failing to pay the revenue that was
due, or being unable to make good the loss, should with his wife
and children be compelled to become Muhammadans.¹ Further-
more, it was the common law that any Hindu forfeiting his caste
by a breach of regulations could only be reinstated by the
Muhammadan Government, and, if it refused to interfere, the
delinquent remained an outcast, ultimately taking shelter in the
ranks of the Faithful. The same right was at first claimed by
the English Government; but in 1769 it was abandoned, "there
being no longer the necessity of publicly asserting the subor-
dination of Hindus to Muhammadans."2
+
As late as 1791, Dr. Robertson maintained that the Muham-
madans of India were "the descendants of adventurers, who have
been pouring in from Tartary, Persia, and Arabia ever since the
invasion of Mahmud of Ghazní, A.D. 1002."s
When English magistrates first came in contact with the
people of Bengal, they arrived at the conclusion that the
Muhammadans only comprise one per cent. of the population,*
and this estimate, formed on very insufficient ground, was gene-
rally assumed to be approximately correct.
5
In 1830 the first census of the city of Dacca was taken by
Mr. H. Walters, who estimated the native population at 66,667,
of whom 35,238 were Muhammadans, 31,429 Hindus. Even
as late as 1839, Mr. Taylor asserts that the population of the
district consists of Hindus and Muhammadans in nearly equal
proportions; but in the city the latter constitute the principal
portion of the inhabitants, their numbers, in 1838, exceeding that
of the Hindus to the extent of 4,309, in a population of 60,617.
The Revenue Survey, again, as the result of their inquiries,
arrived at the conclusion that the population of the Dacca district,
between 1857 and 1860, consisted of-
Hindus
Muhammadans
Christians
455,182
449,223
210
Total 904,615
1 Gladwin's Narrative, quoted in "Harington's Analysis," iii, 274.
2 Proceedings of Fort William Select Committee, dated August 16th, 1769.
3 An historical disquisition concerning Ancient India in Robertson's Works,
ii, 346.
4"Alexander Hamilton," ii, 25. "Luke Scrafton," in "Asiatic Annual
Register," ii, 20. Governor Verelst, however, asserts" that eight out of ten were
Gentoos."
5 "Asiatic Researches," vol. xvii, 536.
Topography of Dacca,” p.
p. 243.
7 " Principal heads of the History and Statistics of the Dacca Division,"
Calcutta, 1868.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
5
LO
These estimates, often wonderfully correct, indicate the
general conviction, up to the taking of the census of the whole of
Bengal in 1872, when it was discovered for the first time that,
in Lower Bengal alone, there were 17,608,730 Muhammadans,
of whom 7,948,152, or 45 per cent., resided in the nine
Eastern districts, while the total number of Hindus in the same
province was 18,100,438. The Muhammadan element was,
moreover, found to be strongest in Baqirganj (1,540,965),
Mymensingh (1,519,635), Dacca (1,050,131), and Tipperah
(993,564).
In the Dacca district, the Hindus only numbered 793,789, or
43.3 per cent. of the whole population; while in the city of
Dacca the population was 34,433 Hindus, to 34,275 Muham-
madans.
These figures all point to the conclusion that it is to a change
of religion, and not to the immigration of any Muhammadan race,
that the existing predominance of the Mussulmán element in
Eastern Bengal is due. While the proportion of Muhammadans
in Hindustan and Bihár is comparatively low, it has in Bengal
gone on increasing, until it has reached its present surprising
height, and there is no present appearance of its diminishing.
The reasons which forced many Hindus to turn renegades,
during the Muhammadan rule, have been specified; but as most
of these influences have disappeared under English law we must
look to other motives, still prompting the Hindu to change his
belief. The most potent influence undoubtedly at the present
day is the attraction of Islám itself. Bengal was never properly
an Aryan country, and the Aryans who did reside within its
borders always held an uncertain footing among the aboriginal
tribes, driven down the Gangetic valley by the conquering races
of Hindustan. The Hindu priesthood was therefore forced to
adopt the blood-stained deities of its neighbours, and to blend the
more elevated religion of the Vedas with the barbarous rites of
the indigenes. Nowhere was Hinduism so debased, and so
corrupt, and nowhere have the masses who held aloof been
treated with greater contumely and inhumanity.
When the Muhammadan armies poured into Bengal, it is
hard to believe that they were not welcomed by the hewers of
wood and drawers of water, and that many a despairing
Chandál and Kaibartta joyfully embraced a religion that
proclaimed the equality of all men, and which was the religion
of the race, keeping in subjection their former oppressors.
Hinduism had prohibited the outcast from residing in the same
village as the twice-born Bráhman, had forced him to perform
the most menial and repulsive occupations, and had virtually
treated him as an animal undeserving of any pity; but Islám
6
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
announced that the poor, as well as the rich, the slave and his
master, the peasant and the prince, were of equal value in the
eyes of God. Above all, the Bráhman held out no hopes of a
future world to the most virtuous helot, while the Mulla not
only proffered assurances of felicity in this world, but of an
indefeasible inheritance in the next.
Such appear to be the main reasons for concluding that the
Bengal Muhammadan of the present day is a converted Hindu,
and not a scion of any Mughal or Pathan stock; but farther, if
we examine a crowd of Bengali villagers at the present day one,
and only one, type of features, of complexion and of physique
pervades them all, and it is impossible for the most practised
observer, setting aside the different styles of dress, the beards,
and the hair, to distinguish between a Muhammadan and a
Hindu peasant. A careful examination of fifty Muhammadans,
and fifty Hindus, selected indiscriminately from convicts of the
Dacca jail, gives the following averages:-
Average age
Height
Weight ..
Girth of chest
•
Muhammadans.
33 years
5 feet 3 inches
7 stone 10 lbs.
31 inches..
•
Hindus.
32 years.
5 feet 4 inches.
7 stone 10 lbs.
32 inches.
Although the Muhammadan religion has spread, and is still
spreading, among the low Hindu castes of Eastern Bengal, it is
not to be inferred that the Muhammadans are an united body,
as is generally assumed, without any divisions, or internal
dissensions. It would, for instance, be impossible for the Arab
to connect the corrupt Hinduized rites he witnesses in Bengal
with those celebrated at Mecca, or to discern in the veneration
of Pírs any relation to the orthodox faith.
Until the beginning of the nineteenth century the only
great divisions of the Indian Mussulmáns were the Sunní and
Shíah, the former predominating, sustained by the royal families
of Dilhí, Haiderábád, Tonk, and Bhopal, the latter upheld by the
dynasties of Golcondah, Lucknow, Murshídábád, and the Nawábs
of Dacca.
The Shíah supremacy, lost during the anarchy of the
eighteenth century, has never been regained; but the Sunní has
gone on increasing, not as one harmonious whole, but by separa-
tion into rival, though mutually tolerant, sects. At the present
day four sects, differing in many important particulars, especially
in their sentiments regarding Christianity, disunite the Muham-
madan population of Eastern Bengal.
These sects are the following:-
1. Sábiqi, who may be called the conservatives of the
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
7
debased Hinduized religion peculiar to Muhammadan
India. The majority of the landholders, and, with
few exceptions, the descendants of the old Sunní
families, belong to it.
2. Farazí, or those following the Farz, or divine command.
Shari'atullah and his son Dudhu Miyán founded this,
the most uncompromising sect of Sunnís, who, differing
though little from the Wahábbí, repudiate that name
and refuse to pray standing behind a person belonging
to the first or third sect, or even to eat and drink with
them.
3. Ta'aiyuní-from the Arabic Ta'aiyun, establishing, or
manifesting; or Ráhí, from the Persian for a traveller-
are the followers of Maulaví Karámat 'Ali and the
Patna school, comprising the vast majority of the Dacca
cultivators, thatchers, and hide merchants.
4. Rafi'-yadain, so called from their elevating their hands.
to the ears, each time that the words Alláh Akbar are
pronounced in the course of prayer, while all the other
sects only do so at the beginning of the invocation.
They also fold their arms across the chest when
praying instead of over the navel; and at the end of
each supplication call out in a loud tone of voice
Ámín, or Amen. They are the real Wahábbís of
Eastern Bengal, and are said to be already more
numerous than the Sábiqí. Many of the most
enterprising and prosperous traders belong to this
puritanical body.
The first, or Sábiqí, sect is in some respects the most
interesting. It is the oldest, the most corrupt, and, until late
years, it represented the dominant state religion. By a study of
its heresies and superstitions we acquire a truer estimate of the
paralysis that penetrated throughout the Muhammadan faith in
Bengal, when the revival of the present day first dawned upon
the people.
In no other country have the Muhammadans embodied so
many infidel rites and customs with their own creed as in India,
and M. Garcin de Tassy, in his interesting Memoir,¹ refers this
to the too great simplicity of Islám for a country where an
idolatrous and allegorical religion, appealing to the senses and
imagination more than to the mind and heart, was prevalent.
But, perhaps, the causes that corrupted the Hindu religion,
namely, contact with alien and despised races, each having a
peculiar cultus of its own, isolation from the cradle and centre
1 (C
'Memoire sur des Particularités de la Religion Musulmane dans l'Inde,” p. 9.
8
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
of its authority, and the paucity of numbers as compared with
the millions of unbelievers around them, also tended in the case
of the Muhammadans to produce greater liberality of feeling and
more sympathy for the sentiments and religious observances of
the aboriginal races. The local gods, the gods whom men sought
after in times of trouble and sickness, were too near and dear to
the inmost heart of the Hindu convert to be abolished without
substitutes. It was much easier to give them an anthropo-
morphous form and to replace them by saints endowed with
equal powers and with spirits of as easy access to the wor-
shippers.
Whether one, or all of these causes combined, created the
tolerant spirit, there is no doubt that with a few glaring
exceptions the Muhammadan rulers of India have been, during
the last three hundred years, on the whole remarkable for their
freedom from bigotry, and for their forbearance to the other
religions of the peninsula. Sikandar Lodí (1488–1516), the last
persecutor of the Hindus, destroyed the holy shrines of Mathurá,
and strictly prohibited the Hindus from shaving their heads or
beards; from performing their regular ablutions, and from
worshipping Sítalá, the goddess of smallpox.¹ It is to the
enlightened Akbar that the tolerant policy of the Mughal
dynasty is to be referred. He paid adoration in public to the
sun and to fire in 1580; and on the full moon of Srávan
employed Brahmans to fasten the "rakhí” on his wrists. He,
and his courtiers, married Hindu wives, and the name of
Muhammad, though one of his own, was repudiated by the
emperor.
2
His son, Jahángír, was a still more indifferent Muhammadan.
During his reign the Díwalí Pújah was kept, and cows were
paraded in the royal gardens, while on the Sívarátrí, Jogis were
invited to the palace, and the emperor ate with them. Moreover,
in the eighth year of his reign, he celebrated his father's Sráddha
in the mausoleum at Sikandrah, and the Muhammadan festivals,
with the exception of the Shab-i-barát, being no longer observed,
Parsi feasts were held instead, and seven out of eight of Akbar's
grandsons received Parsí names.3
Dárá Shikoh, the eldest son of Sháh Jahán, was upbraided
by his brother Aurangzib for not having even the resemblance of
a Mussulman, and for composing a work, called Majmá-ul-
bahrain, or the meeting of the two seas, having for its object the
union of the Hindu and Muhammadan religious systems.
It is a well-known fact that most Indian Muhammadans
1 Elliot's "History of India," vol. iv, 447, 448.
2 "'Aín-i-Akbari" (Blochmann's Translation), i, 184.
3 "Calcutta Review," October, 1869.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
9
depreciate the founder of their religion, and exalt the two
martyred sons of 'Alí above him, and his immediate successors
in the Khalifate.
The annual Muhammadan fast, again, is properly a Shíah
ceremony, its observance and the preparation of Tázias, or
models of the tombs of the two martyrs, Hasan and Husain,
being prohibited by Sunní doctors. In reality there are only
two great festivals enjoined by the Koran, namely, the Id-ul-fitr
at the end of the month of Ramazán, and the Îd-ul-Qurbán, or
Baqr-îd, as it is popularly called, on the tenth of Zihiffa, the last
month of the year.
The preparation of Tázias, until late years, was carried on
in every Muhammadan village, and each strove to make a more
gaudy model than its neighbour. Hindu Zamíndárs subscribed
towards its expense as the Muhammadan landlords did to the
Durga image, and, as M. de Tassy points out, many peculiarities of
the one festival resemble those of the other. Both last ten days,
and on the 'Ashúra, or Manzil-ka-din, of the Muharram, and on
the Vijaya-dasamí of the Durga Pújah; the biers, and the images
of Durga, are thrown into a river, or tank. In some respects,
however, the procession of Tázias also resembles the Rath Ĵáttrá
of the Hindus, and at both the greatest merit is attributed to
the persons dragging the car. In Dacca there is a peculiar
similarity between the two. In former days one Níl Bahr built
a cenotaph in honour of Bíbí Fátimah, and for many generations
a paper Tázia, called Turbat Haidarí, has been deposited in it
during the Muharram. On the night of the tenth day the oldest
and most venerable man sleeps in the building. A Parí reveals
to him the exact hour that the Tázia should be removed, and as
that hour approaches it is placed on a platform, or Gaddí Níl
Bahr, and crowds of Muhammadans assemble and struggle for
the honourable post of carrier. When it has once started it
must not be put down until the tank, where it is finally cast away,
distant four miles, is reached. During the year the lower orders
are in the habit of vowing that if their wishes are fulfilled, they
will assist in carrying the Turbat ; and at the Rauza, or cenotaph,
crowds resort on the 'Ashúra day with offerings of pigeons,
sweetmeats, and solah chaplets (sihrá).
Another peculiarity of the Indian Muharram is that two
biers are represented, while in Persia only one, that of Husain,
was formerly carried in procession. Again, Bengali Muhamma-
dans believe that the two sons of 'Alí became martyrs on the
same day, and that the great fast is held in honour of them
both, although they actually died in different months at an
interval of ten years.¹
1 Hasan was poisoned at Madínah, 28th Cafar, A.H. 50 (670); Husain was
killed at Karbaláh, 10th Muharram, A.H. 61 (680).
10
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
In India the Bárah-wafát, or anniversary of the death of
Muhammad, is observed by the Sunnís, on the twelfth of Rabiá-
ul-awal; while in Turkey, Egypt, and formerly at Akbar's
Court,' that day is celebrated as the anniversary of the "Maulid,"
or birth of the prophet.2
In all parts of India, especially in the neighbourhood of
Muhammadan cities, there is generally a mosque, known as the
Qadam Rasul, where a footprint of the prophet is carefully
preserved. On the banks of the Lakhya, a few miles east of
Dacca, is a very celebrated place of pilgrimage, built on a lofty
mound, apparently the site of an old fort. At this mosque is
kept a large slab of dark slate, fashioned into the shape of a
footprint, which is exhibited to any pilgrim on the payment of a
fee to the custodian. In the same way as the Gayáwál Brahman
earns a livelihood by showing the Vishnupad, the Mutawalli
gains his by imposing upon the credulous and ignorant villager.
Equally absurd is the veneration paid to hairs, gravely stated to
have once belonged to the prophet's beard, or moustache; and
on the capture of Delhi, in 1857, not the least valuable articles
of prize were a few hairs which had been preserved as relics in
the Jama Masjid of that city.
What, however, chiefly distinguishes the Indian Muham-
madan from his brethren of other lands is his servile veneration
for Pírs, or holy men. The diptych of Indian saints is very
voluminous, and each province of India, nay, every district
and city, has its own patron saint. In Eastern Bengal they
amount to a considerable number, the most famous being the
following:-
Shah Jalál Mujarrad Yamaní of Silhet.
Pánch Pír
Munná Sháh Darwish
Khúndkár Muhammad Yusuf
Sháh 'Alí Bághdádí of Mírpúr.
Pír Badr Auliyá of Chittagong.
Shah Jalál Dakhiní of Dacca.
Ádam Shahíd of Bikrampúr.
3
of Sunnárgaon.4
The dargáhs, or shrines, of these holy men are annually visited
by hundreds of pilgrims, both Muhammadans and Hindus, who
often undergo as much exposure and fatigue in reaching them as
the strict Hindus on their pilgrimages to the sacred places of
Jagannáth, or Brindában.
1 Elliot's "History of India," v. 412.
2 Muhammadans agree that Muhammad was born and died on the same day
of the mouth.-"Calcutta Review," xxii, 366.
3 "J. A. S. of Bengal." part i, No. 3, 1873.
4 "J. A. S. of Bengal," part i, No. 1, 1874.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
11
The "Qanoon-i-Islám "¹ gives
gives a list of the Muhammadan
saints of India, but only one belongs to Bengal. The names and
lives of four others are recorded in Mr. Blochmann's invaluable
"Contributions." The celebrity, however, of those of Bengal
pales before that of Faríd Shakarganj, Qutbuddín, and Nizámud-
dín of Delhi, the three most famous saints of Hindustan.
The veneration paid by the Indian Mussulmán to his Pír
equals, if it does not exceed, that paid by the Hindu to his
Guru or Gosain. The former implicitly believes in his miraculous
powers; in his ability to cure diseases, to make the sterile woman
conceive, and, as in the case of Sháh Karím 'Alí, of Jagannáthpúr,
in Tipperah, to raise from the dead, and to cause rain to fall
when and where he pleases. Muhammadans, even the most
intelligent, accept such stories without hesitation. According to
them there is no antecedent improbability in a human being
exercising powers which are generally considered to belong to
God alone. There are three kinds of Pír recognised: the
Pír tariqát, the Pír haqiqat, and Pír ma'rifat, who fulfil certain
mystical duties towards the individual; but the term has also
a wider signification, being often applied to a departed spirit,
and even to any old and venerable person. A Pír, likewise, may
be ancestral (Jaddí), or inherited (Khalafí).
In India it is customary for a disciple on approaching his
Pír to make the obeisance Sijdah, touching the ground with the
forehead, or the still more obsequious, Taslím, or Kornish, actions
censured as most culpable by the Arabs and foreign Muham-
madans generally.
From the earliest ages of Muhammad retirement from the
world, self-abstraction, and contemplation, were habitually
followed in the certain belief that by so doing complete
authority over the powers of nature would be attained. Hindu
philosophy had much to say to the creation of Muhammadan
hermits; but it is probable also, that the example of the Ráhib,
or Christian anchorites, who retired into the desert before the
army of Khalid bin Walíd, prompted men to follow in their
footsteps.
Not satisfied, however, with these innovations, the Indian
Muhammadans have superadded the worship of certain mythical
personages around whom have collected various traditions and
romances. The following list includes the most important, as
well as most popular, of these inmortals.
1
¹ Pages 432-6.
2 "J. A. S. of Bengal," part i, No. 3, 1873.
12
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
1. Khwajah Khizr.
Who this person was is still a subject of dispute among
Muhammadans. The eighteenth chapter of the Koran describes
the expedition of Moses and Joshua in search of Al Khedr,
called Zulqarnain, a title by which Alexander the Great is known
all over the East; hence it is inferred that Khwajah Khizr is no
other than Alexander. Most commentators, however, identify him
with Elias, or Elijah, who, having drunk of the water of life
(áb-i-hayát), never tasted of death, and Mr. Deutsch informs us¹
that in the Talmud Elijah appears as a kind of immortal tutelary
genius, who goes about in the garb of an Arab. Others affirm
that he was the companion, counsellor, and commander-in-chief
of the armies of Zúlqarnain, or Kaikobad; but in Asia Minor
Khizr Elias is a name of St. George of Cappadocia.2
3
Whoever he was, Kwajah Khizr is believed at the present
day to reside in the sea and rivers of India, protecting mariners
from shipwreck, and to be only visible to those who accomplish
a forty days' watch on the banks of a river. Muhammadans of
all ranks make vows to him in seasons of sickness, or trouble,
and present offerings in acknowledgment of any blessing, such
as the birth of a son, attributed to his intercession.
The festival of the Berá, or raft, is properly observed on the
last Thursday of the Muhammadan year; but in Bengal it is
held on the last Thursday of the Hindu month Bhádon (Aug.-
Sept.), which corresponds with the breaking up of the rains. The
festival is kept by Hindus, especially by boatmen and fishermen,
as well as by Muhammadans. The Berá, usually made of paper,
ornamented with tinsel, has a prow resembling a female face,
with the crest and breast of a peacock, in imitation of the figure
head on the bow of the Mor-pankhí pleasure-boat. The effigy
placed on a raft of plantain stems is set afloat at sunset, and
with its flickering lights gives a picturesque aspect to the dark
and flooded stream. At Murshídábád, where the festival was
first kept by Siráj-ud-daulah,* the Bagarathí is illuminated by
hundreds of rafts floating with the stream, while the banks are
crowded by the inhabitants. It is the custom for the person
5
1 c Quarterly Review," October, 1869.
2 The legends about Khizr are not unknown to Western literature. To them
we owe the beautiful poem of "The Hermit," by Parnell, and the tale of
"L'Ermite" in Voltaire's Zadig. It is supposed that the story of Khizr in the
Koran was brought to Europe by the Crusaders, was embalmed in the folklore
of the West, until quickened by the pen of genius, and graced with the charms of
an apologue, or moral tale.
3 The person who is favoured in this way usually adopts the trade of a
water-carrier (bihistí).
4 "Siyar-ul-Mutakherin," translated by Hájí Muçtafa, ii, 533.
5 A picture of this scene is given in Hodge's "Travels in India during the
years 1780-83." (London, 1793.)
!
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
13
!
launching a Berá to deposit on the bank a few slices of ginger, a
little rice, and two or three plantains, which are usually snatched
up by some wretched beggar.
Whether or no the modern idea of peopling the waters with
deathless spirits was derived from the ancient Persians, or
Hindus, it harmonized so well with the prepossessions of the
Muhammadans as to be adopted without hesitation as a religious
conception. It is, however, impossible with our present know-
ledge to explain why Khwajah Khizr, who is not regarded by
other Oriental people as the guardian spirit of the waters, should
have been selected as such in the Gangetic valley, more especially
as in various parts of the Muhammadan world other fabulous
persons are adopted by seafaring races. 'Abdul-Qádir Gilání and
Abú-Zulaimah¹ control portions of the Eastern seas, while a
female spirit, Máma Salmá, presides over the ocean beating
against the cliffs of Rás Mosandim, at the entrance of the Persian
gulf; and Indian mariners sailing past propitiate her by offerings
of cocoanuts, fruits, and flowers.2
3
On the Coromandel coast again Qadir Walí Çáhib is the
patron saint of sailors, as Shaikh 'Ali Haidarí was at Cambay
in the fourteenth century, and Abu Ishaq al Kázrúní at
Shíráz.
4
2. Zindah Gházi.
It is difficult to determine whether or not Zindah Ghází,
Ghází Miyán, and the Sat Pír, are the same or different
individuals, but there is a striking similarity in the fables
appertaining to each. The woodcutters in all parts of the Sunder-
buns invoke certain mythical beings to protect them from tigers
and crocodiles. In the twenty-four Pergunnahs it is Mubarrá
Ghází; in the eastern parts of the Delta it is Zindah Ghází, the
immortal warrior; while by Hindu workmen it is Kálú-ráya, or
Sív, riding on a tiger, holding in his right hand an arrow, in his
left a bow.5 Mubarrá Ghází is said to have been a faqír, who
reclaimed the jungly tracts along the left bank of the river
Huglí, and each village has an altar dedicated to him. No one
will enter the forest, and no crew will sail though the district,
without first of all making offerings at one of the shrines. The
faqírs residing in these pestilential forests, claiming to be lineally
descended from the Ghází, indicate with pieces of wood, called
Sang, the exact limits within which the forest is to be cut.
1 C
Pilgimage to El Medinah and Meccah," i, 194.
2 "A Journey through Persia," by James Morier, p. 6.
3 "Qanoon-i-Islám," p. 243.
4 "Travels of Ibn Batuta" (Lee), p. 146, 43.
5 Ward's "Hindus," iii, 186.
6
• "Statistical and Geographical Report of the twenty-four Pergunnahs
14
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
Zindah Ghází, according to the legend, came to Bengal when
Rájah Matak ruled over the Sunderbuns. He had a dispute
with the monarch, who, convinced of being in the right, vowed
to give his only daughter Shushila in marriage to him on its
being shown that his, the Rájah's, opinion was wrong. This the
Ghází did, and won his bride. As no man saw him die, he is
believed to reside in the depths of the forest, to ride about on
tigers, and to keep them so subservient to his will that they dare
not touch a human being without his express commands.
Before entering a jungle, or punting through the narrow channels,
whose shady banks are infested by tigers, boatmen and wood-
cutters, both Hindus and Muhammadans, raise little mounds of
earth and make offerings on them of rice, plantains, and sweet-
meats to Zindah Ghází, after which they fearlessly cut brushwood
and linger in the most dangerous spots.
In Dacca there is a popular band of musicians known as
Zindah Shah Ghází ká gáyan, who recite songs in honour of the
Ghází, and from whom the above particulars were obtained.
This strange myth, there cannot be any doubt, is merely the
Hindu Kálú ráya converted into a Muhammadan immortal to
suit the taste of the superstitious boatmen.
3. Pír Badr.
Besides Kwajah Khizr, Bengal supplies other animistic ideas
regarding water, and Pír Badr shares with him the dominion of
the rivers. This spirit is invoked by every sailor and fisherman,
when starting on a cruise, or when overtaken by a squall or
storm. All Muhammadans agree that he resided at Chittagong,
but his history does not disclose the reason why the attributes
of a water-demon were conferred on him. According to one
account he was a shipwrecked Portuguese sailor, named "Pas
Gual Peeris Botheilo," who reached the shore by clinging to a
piece of wreck. The guardians of his shrine, however, say that
about a hundred and fifty years ago, Pír Badr arrived at Chitta-
gong "floating on a rock," and informed the terror-stricken
inhabitants that he had come all the way from Akyab on this
novel craft! The neighbourhood of Chittagong being then
infested by Jins, or evil spirits, he exterminated them, and took
possession of the whole country. The modern Dargáh, or
cenotaph, of Pír Badr stands in the centre of Chittagong, and is
regarded as the palladium of the city. Faqírs are the custodians,
and the mosque with its rooms for pilgrims are kept scrupulously
clean. On the walls of the cenotaph are ten niches for ten oil-
District," by Major R. Smyth, 1857. Sang" is the Sanskrit for union, and the
pegs of wood signify identity with the Ghází.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
15
lamps, which are lighted every evening and burn all night.
Pilgrims from all parts of Bengal visit the Dargáh in fulfilment
of vows, or to obtain the favour and intercession of the saint,
while Hindu fishermen regard him with as much awe as the
Muhammadans. His 'Urs, or festival, is celebrated annually
on the twenty-ninth of Ramazán, the anniversary of his death.
There can, however, be little doubt that Pír Badr is no other
than Badruddin Badr-í-'Alam, for many years a resident of
Chittagong, who died A.H. 844 (1440), and was buried in the
Chhotá Dargáh of Bihár, but about whom we possess no further
particulars.¹
4. Ghází Miyán.
This much more celebrated personage is worshipped by both
Hindus and Muhammadans, and his Shádí, or wedding, is a very
popular entertainment throughout Hindustan. In the north-
western parts of India he is identified with Sálár Mas'úd, the
nephew of Mahmúd of Ghazní, who was born at Ajmír A.H. 405
(1014), and after performing prodigies of valour in battle against
the infidels, and capturing Delhi and Ayodhya, settled at Bahráich
in Oudh. Here he was attacked by the Hindus under Ráí Sahar
Deo and Har Deo, and in the battle that ensued he was killed
and his army cut to pieces. This occurred on the fourteenth
Rajab, A.H. 424 (1033). Around this warrior's name strange and
incredible stories have accumulated. It is believed in Oudh
that the bones of the hero were only discovered in the fourteenth
century, and that whilst being exhumed many miraculous
events occurred; but a native historian informs us¹ that Sikandar
Lodí in the fifteenth century abolished throughout his dominions
the annual procession of the spear of Sálár Mas'úd because of
its being contrary to orthodox belief. No legislation, however,
could stop such a popular holiday as this has always been.
3
2
It is perhaps impossible to explain the meaning of the absurd
frolics indulged in throughout India by all classes when
celebrating the Shádí of Ghází Miyán. Mr. Wilson identified
the Jhandí, or flag, of Sháh Madár with the spear of Ghází
Miyán, and regards the Persian word "Shádí," used by the vulgar,
as a corruption of the Arabic "Sháhidí," or testimony; hence
martyrdom, or the death of a Muhammadan in a war with infidels.
In corroboration of this conclusion it is remarkable that at
Gasyárí, in the Banda district, a fair is annually held in the
1 "J. A. S. of Bengal," part i, No. 3, p. 302 (1873).
2 Elliott's "History of India," vol. îì, App, 513-49; and "Supplemental
Glossary," i, 251.
3 "Asiatic Annual Register," vi (1801).
4" History of India," iv, 448.
"Asiatic Journal," iv, 75.
16
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
month of Baisákh in honour of Ghází Miyán, at which Daffálí
faqírs wrap coloured rags and horse-hair at the end of a long
bamboo, round which they sing and often burn incense.¹
In some parts of India the Ghází is spoken of as the son of
a famous General serving the King of Delhi, who adopted the garb
of a faqír, retired from the world, and shortly afterwards died, on
which the son, Madár, joined the troops of a Pathán leader, and
distinguished himself by his bravery and hatred of the Hindus.
Hence his name has come to be regarded as the symbol of daring
courage, and at the present day is used as a battle-cry by Hindus-
tani troopers. While his nuptial ceremonies were being cele-
brated the enemy appeared, and in an attempt to drive them back
he was slain. His death and the removal of the nuptial banners
and emblems are supposed to be represented at the popular
festival, but Mr. Wilson also sees a resemblance to the marriage
ceremonies of the Súdras.
At Bahráich, on the first Sunday of Jeth (May-June), a great
fair is held at the tomb of Sálár Mas'úd, when crowds of pilgrims
present votive offerings at the shrine. At Munír, near the
junction of the Son and Ganges, the anniversary of the death of
Ghází Miyán is celebrated. The history of this fair is interesting
as showing how legends pass from one holy man to another.
<<
2
Van Graaf, sailing up the Ganges in 1669 stopped at
Monera." The inhabitants were poor cultivators, and the
country was formerly a desert until a very holy man, "Hia
Monera," struck by the aspect of the place, fixed his abode
there, exterminating the wild beasts, and erecting a small chapel
where he performed many miracles. At his death he left much
money, with which "his valet" built a mosque and a tank, resorted
to by faqírs, who pretended to work miracles. The mosque still
stands, but the faqírs, finding the worship of Ghází Miyán more
profitable, have established a fair in his honour instead.
The festival of Ghází Miyán is not popular in Eastern
Bengal, but few villages are without a shrine dedicated to Ghází
Çáhib. This spot is usually a diminutive Dargáh, with a raised
mound of earth in the interior, before which every Muhammadan
and Hindu makes obeisance as he passes; and whenever sickness
attacks his family, or when the Çáhib's intercession is solicited,
the villager makes votive offerings of flowers, milk, and sweet-
meats. Along the banks of the Lakhya, on the outskirts of
villages, a mound of earth, smeared with cowdung, stands
1 "Statistical and Descriptive Account of the North-west Provinces of India,”
i, 118. (Allahabad, 1874.)
Voyages de Nikolaas Van Graaf aux Indes Orientales." (Amsterdam, 1719.)
: This was Shaikh Sharafuddin Yahya Munírí, a famous Cúfi, who wrote
the "Maktúbát Yahya Munírí," in a series of 250 letters to his disciples. He
died about A.D. 1370.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
17
!
beneath a grass thatch. This mound has generally two knobs
on the top, said to represent the tombs of Ghází Miyán and his
younger brother Kálú. On the twenty-second day after a cow
has calved the first milk drawn is poured over the mound as a
libation, and in times of sickness rice, plantains, and sweetmeats
are offered.
5. Pánch Pír.
According to Shakespeare and Forbes, Pánch Píriyá is a term
applied to any person who worships the five Pírs of the
Mussulmáns; or belongs to a caste of Halál Khors. But, who
are the Pírs of the Mussulmáns? No Muhammadan Maulaví in
Eastern Bengal can name them, or give any explanation why
they are so called. The Pánch Pír are familiar to every one,
being invoked whenever danger threatens; but among Bengali
Muhammadans there is no special ceremony, and no festival, kept
in their honour. Every Muhammadan boatman on unfurling
his sail shouts, either
(C
Alláh, Nabí, Pánch Pír, Badr, rakhiyá Karo!"
or the following doggrel verses :—
Hamáre achhe pulabán
Ghází achhe nigahbán
Sar Ganga, Pánch Pír, Badr! Badr! Badr!
The great Akbar was denounced, Mr. Blochmann informs
me, by some hostile critic for being a Pánch Píriyá, and no
Muhammadan, on account of his eclecticism and toleration.
Again, in his paper on the ballads and legends of the
Punjab, Major Abbott translates a poem in which the appearance
of the Pânch Pír to the legendary hero of the Punjáb (Rasálu)
is mentioned, and in a note these five are said to be,
Bahá-ul-haq,
Shah Rukn Álam,
Sháh Shamsuddín,
Makhdúm Jahániyán,
Faríduddín 'Aṭṭár Shakarganj.
The first three are saints peculiar to Multan; the fourth died
A.H. 785 (1383), and his tomb is at Uch Sharíf 2 while the fifth,
the most famous, died A.D. 1266, and over his remains a tomb
was erected by Nizamuddín of Dilhi, which still stands, at Pak
Patan, between the Bias and Chenab, and is a favourite place of
pilgrimage on the fifth of the Muharram.³ But, as Mr. Blochmann
1 "J. A. S. of Bengal," vol. xxiii, 159.
2 "Travels of Mohan Láll," p. 454. "J. A. S. of Bengal,” v, 796.
3 "Mohan Láll," p. 376.
C
18
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
points out, these are merely the names of the five most celebrated
Muhammadan saints of the Punjáb, and the list affords us no
insight into the meaning of the term Pánch Pír as used at the
present day.
Sir H. Elliot' mentions that Ghází Miyán and his bhánjá,
or sister's son, Hathili, are regarded by the peasantry of the
Doáb, as two of the Pánch Pír, but the names of the remaining
three are not given.
In Bengal again, no individuals are mentioned, and the
Pánch Pír are collectively invoked as guardian spirits in times
of trouble. Amid the forest that has overgrown the old city of
Sunnárgáon, is a very holy shrine, called the Pánch Pír, where
five unfinished tombs stand, to which Hindus and Muhammadans
come from long distances in fulfilment of vows; but no one can
tell who the saints were, or whence they came.
Some
It must be borne in mind that the number five has always
been regarded by Hindus as a lucky one. Five members form
the Pancháít, or native court of arbitration, and the Panchamí,
or fifth lunar day, is one of peculiarly good omen.
such idea may be the origin of this peculiar worship, and the
term five may be merely used to signify an indefinite number,
as half-a-dozen does in England.
As has been mentioned, all Muhammadans invoke the Pánch
Pír, but still more strange, Hindus follow their example. All ¦
Hindustani Kumhárs, and many Nápits, Kándús, Dhobís, and
Goálas belong to the sect called Pánch Piriyá, which has two
subdivisions, or Srení, that neither eat together nor intermarry.
The one eats flesh that has been legalised according to Muham-
madan (zabh), or Hindu (balí), law, drinks spirits, and follows
the Sákta ritual on Hindu, the Pánch Piriyá on Muhammadan
festivals. The other, the more modern, are followers of Vishnu,
eating no animal food, touching no spirits, and never making
pilgrimages to Muhammadan Dargáhs, as the first do.
In Bihár the Pánch Piriyá belonging to the low castes engage
a Daffálí faqír to officiate at their religious ceremonies, which
consist in the sacrifice of a cock, and the repetition of several
prayers. When a disciple is initiated a cock is always sacrificed,
and the neophyte must bake bannocks of wheaten flower and
distribute them among the company to avert the wrath of the
Pánch Pír.
In other respects the worshippers of these saints are Hindus,
their Purohit being often a Kanaujiya Brahman, while the Guru
is always the Mahant of the Nának Sháhí Akhárá. This
connection with the Nának Shahí sect seems to indicate the
1 46 Supplemental Glossary," i, 251-70.
୮
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
19
origin of the Pánch Piriyá. Nának Shah taught universal
toleration, and insisted that not only were the essential doctrines
of Hinduism and Muhammadanism analogous, but that one
Supreme Being, adored as either Harí, or Alláh, was sought
after by the devout of both creeds. It was natural that in such
a tolerant sect eclectic teachers should spring up, selecting from
the ritual of each religion whatever was likely to recommend
itself to the vacillation of either party. If this be the true
origin of the Pánch Piriyá belief, or not, it is beyond a doubt
that very many of the lower and least stable classes of native
society profess it, although it has failed to make any impression
on the higher ranks whose position is secured, and whose
spiritual welfare is confided to the Brahmans.
A well-known resident of Eastern Bengal is popularly called
the Pánch Píriyá Çáhib, it being said that his parents, losing one
child after another, were advised by a favourite servant to
consecrate the next to the Pánch Pír, and by so doing preserve
him. They followed this advice, and were gratified to find their
son grow up strong and healthy. Hindus always quote this
as an instance of the benefits accruing to those who believe in
the Pánch Pír.
6. Shaikh Sadu.
The worship of Shaikh Sadu, or Míran Jí, is peculiar to
India, and, in Bengal, is almost exclusively confined to Muham-
madan courtezans.
At Amrohah, a celebrated Sayyid Jagír in Rohilcund, there
is a mosque, said to have been built by one 'Ambar in the reign
of Kai Kobád, and restored by Sayyid Muhammad, Mír 'Adl,
in the sixteenth century. In the thirteenth century Shaikh
Çadruddin, whose name has been shortened to Sadu, was
Maulaví of this mosque, and famous for the amulets and chains
(ganda) he bestowed. To this shrine crowds of Hindu and
Muhammadan pilgrims resort every Thursday, in the certain
belief that by presenting gifts to the custodians, and by hanging
on to a chain, the " Chain of Desire," all the dearest wishes of
their hearts will be attained. Adjoining the shrine are the
tombs of his mother 'Aishah, and of a familiar, Zain Khán.
While
The following story explains the reason why Shaikh Sadu
is worshipped by the impure and dissolute native.
ploughing one day this saintly personage turned up a lamp,
designed by a great magician, which as soon as it was lighted
caused four genii to appear. The Shaikh, a very immoral man,
employed these genii as pimps, but having debauched a girl,
they put him to death. After death he became a jin, but he
still revisits this world and reveals to men, more often to
C 2
20
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
women, a knowledge of futurity, conferring also certain super-
natural powers.
Other spirits exercising similar powers are regarded by the
superstitious classes as of inferior rank, hence the Hindustani
proverb, "Ae Mír, bhage Pír."
The behaviour of a person inspired by Míran Jí resembles.
the possession counterfeited by the low caste Hindu, or the
Shaman. Intimating beforehand that at a certain time he will
become inspired, and that "Shaikh Sadu Ka Karáhi" will be
observed, musicians are engaged, and a crowd of sympathising
friends collected. At the appointed time the performer ges-
ticulates, and dances, uttering unintelligible words and dis-
connected sentences, which are eagerly caught up and interpreted
in accordance with the wishes of the audience.
Educated Muhammadans having no faith in this exhibition,
denounce it as immoral and unholy, but the uneducated still
regard the gibberish of the possessed person with the same awe
as they do the unmeaning jabber of the demented.2
The Muhammadan revival of the nineteenth century is one
of the most momentous events in the modern history of India,
not only from its uniting under the banner of a common faith
millions of the population, but from its threatening to become a
political movement, having for its object the overthrow of the
Christian government by a Muhammadan one, with the Koran
and the sword as the leading agents of civilisation. The seed
sown by a few earnest untitled men, has borne abundant fruit,
and at the present day overshadows the whole of Eastern Bengal.
To understand how it happened that a movement unsupported
by the landlords, or the richer classes, and discouraged by the
State, spread far and wide, embracing the large majority of the
agricultural and manufacturing classes, it is necessary to go
back to the days of the Muhammadan rule and ascertain the
state of religion at that time, and the means which were adopted
to preserve and promote the faith of Islám.
The rulers of India were generally Sunnís, and a Shíah was
an abomination in the eyes of the bigoted Alamgír. Sunní
Nawabs ruled at Dacca from A.D. 1612 to 1702, when the
anarchy following the death of Aurangzíb, raised the Shías
into positions of influence, and made them lieutenants of the
different Bengal provinces. From 1702 to 1843, Shíah Nawábs
resided at Dacca, but, though Shíah in creed, they were obliged
to worship in the Sunní mosques, on the two great Îds, and join
1 This entertainment is also known as Baithak.
2 For additional particulars regarding Shaikh Sadu, see Qanoon-i-Islám,"
p. 278; "Mrs. Mír Hasan 'Alí," ii, 324; "Roebuck," pt. ii, 26; and "Calcutta
Review," No. lxvi, p. 295.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
21
Like the
in the Khutba, or prayer for the Sunní emperor.
Nawabs of Murshídábád, they had no scruples against employing
Sunní servants, or in enlisting Sunní soldiers. The Muhamma-
dan population of Eastern Bengal has always been Sunní, and
their spiritual leader or Qází, appointed by the Nawab, was also
of the same creed. He administered the law as expounded by
the Mufti; superintended the education of children, being
responsible for the orthodoxy of the religion taught them; and
decided all disputes connected with religion, or public worship.
Over him was the Qázíyul-qúsát, the supreme ecclesiastical
judge of appeal, who resided at Delhi.
Again, scattered throughout the country were Naíb, or
Deputy Qázís, who watched over the spiritual welfare of the
masses, instructed them in the faith, and suppressed dissent, or
any expression of independent thought. The power of these
officers was great, and equally dreaded by the monarch and
people, while their treatment of backsliders, or renegades, was
most summary. The culprit, summoned into their presence, was
admonished, and three days given him to recant. If at the end
of that time his heart remained hardened, the Náwáb was
appealed to, and in most instances death was inflicted. Such
cases, by all accounts, were rare, but the fact that this was the
law must have had a most wholesome effect in preventing the
promulgation of any new doctrines, and in keeping all united in
the bonds of a common faith. The Sunní, however, was no bigot.
His religion sat lightly on him, and he participated with the
Shiáh in his fast and lamentations during the Muharram, as well
as with the Hindus in the frolic and license of the Dasahrá and
Holí.
}
In 1765, when the Díwání passed into the hands of the East
India Company, a great change took place. The Qázís still
survived deprived of power; but no longer a terror to evil-doers.
They became judicial officers without any authority as reli-
gious instructors, or arbitrators. Pírs, faqírs, and Khúndkárs,
abounded; but their influence was confined within a limited
circle of disciples, and did not extend to the densely populated
villages of the interior. For three generations, or fifty-five years,
the Mussulmáns of Eastern Bengal, being without a shepherd,
receded more and more from their national faith, and conformed,
as has been seen, to many superstitious rites of the Hindus.
But one of those movements which seem to occur in the history
of all religions, causing the thoughtful to examine the grounds
of the popular belief, was about to dawn on the Muhammadans
of Eastern Bengal, and evoke a spirit which is not as yet
quiescent. The first person who stirred his countrymen, by
resuscitating the dormant spirit of their faith, was Hájí Sharía’-

22
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
tullah, born of obscure parents, probably Juláhas, or weavers,
who resided in a village of Parganah Bandarkhola, zila Farrídpúr.
When eighteen years of age he made the pilgrimage to Meccah,
but instead of returning, as was usual, he remained a disciple of
the Wahábbí leaders then ruling the sacred city. About 1820,
after an absence of twenty years, he came back to India a skilful
disputer, and a good Arabic scholar. On his way to his home he
fell among Dakáíts, who plundered him of everything, including
many memorials of his residence in Arabia, and finding life
insupportable without books or relics, he joined himself to the
gang, and shared their many wanderings. The simplicity of his
character and the sincerity of his religious convictions awakened
the consciences of these wicked men, who ultimately became his
most zealous followers. Such is the story told at the present
day of the first step taken by this remarkable man. For several
years Sharía'tullah quietly disseminated his new doctrines in
the villages of his native district, encountering much opposition
and abuse, but, attracting a band of devoted adherents, he by
degrees acquired the reputation of a holy man.
The chief Wahábbí innovations introduced by him were the
non-observance of the Friday prayers, of the two great Îds, and
of the Muharram, and he ordered that the titles of Ustád and
Shagird, terms which did not suggest complete submission,
should in future be used in the place of Pír and Muríd, which
had for ages been the respective designations of the master and
his pupil. He also prohibited the laying on of hands, which
was customary at the initiation of a disciple, but required from
all "taubá," or penitence, for past sins, and a resolution to lead
a more righteous, and godly, life for the future. It is a curious.
fact that none of these new ideas excited much opposition, but
on his promulgating the dogma that it was a deadly sin, and one
derived from the Hindus, to allow a midwife to cut the navel
cord when it was the obvious duty of the father to do so, he
roused a spirit of revolt which caused many to fall away. The
Zamíndárs were alarmed at the spread of the new creed, which
bound the Muhammadan peasantry together as one man.
Disputes and quarrels soon arose, and Sharía'tullah was driven
from Nayábárí, in the Dacca district, where he had settled, and
returned to his birthplace. There he resumed his ministry, and
in a short time enlisted the vast majority of the uneducated
and most excitable classes of the Muhammadan population.
His influence became unbounded, and no one hesitated to carry
out his orders. He acted with great prudence and caution,
rarely assuming any other character than that of a religious
reformer. The movement originated by this man attracted little
attention during his lifetime, and his name is rarely met with
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
23
in the annals of that day. On looking back, however, at his
career, there is much to repay inquiry. That he, born of poor
Muhammadan weavers, amid the swamps of Eastern Bengal,
should have been the first preacher to denounce the superstitions
and corruptions, which a long contact with Hindu polytheism
had developed, is sufficiently remarkable; but that the apathetic
and careless Bengali peasant should have been roused into
enthusiasm is still more extraordinary. To effect this required
a sincere and sympathetic preacher; and no one ever appealed
more strongly to the sympathies of a people than Sharía'tullah.
Springing from one of their lowest and most despised classes, his
blameless and exemplary life was admired by his countrymen,
who venerated him as a father able to advise them in seasons
of adversity, and give consolation in times of affliction.
He is described as a man of middle height, of fair complexion,
and with a long handsome beard. He usually had his head
covered with a voluminous turban, and his waist-cloth, worn
like a petticoat, was not triced up as it is by Hindus and
Muhammadans generally.
A very different person was his son, Muhammad Muhsin,
better known as Dudhu Miyán, who, though of ordinary
abilities, exerted an influence far surpassing that of his father.
His name is a household word throughout the districts of
Farrídpúr, Pubna, Báqirganj, Dacca, and Noacolly, and the
number of his followers at the present day testifies to the
thoroughness of the work that he and his father accomplished.
Dudhu Miyán was born in 1819, and, while still young,
visited Mecca, where his followers were taught to believe that
visions and revelations of a nature tending to his future
exaltation, were vouchsafed to him. On his return he devoted
himself to the spread of his father's doctrines, and to others
which he introduced. For instance, he insisted upon his
disciples eating the common grasshopper (phangá) which they
abhorred, because the locust (tiḍda) was used as food in Arabia;
and vigorously contended that there was no greater difference
between the two insects than between the goat of their villages
and one from the banks of the Jumna.
The most remarkable advance made during Dudhu Miyán's
lifetime was the organisation of the society. Following the
example of the Vaishnavas, he partitioned Eastern Bengal into
circles, and appointed a Khalífa, or agent, to each, whose duties
were to keep the sect together, make proselytes, and collect
contributions for the furtherance of the objects of the association.
They furthur kept Dudhu Miyán, who was usually styled the
Pír, or simply Maulaví, acquainted with everything occurring
within their jurisdiction, and whenever a Zamíndár tried to
ļ
24
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
enforce his legal rights against one of the sect, funds were
provided to sue him in the courts, or, if it could be safely done,
clubmen were sent to destroy his property and thrash his
servants. During his father's lifetime the sect had never
opposed, or come in contact with, the law of the land; but the
high-handed actions of the son united Zamíndárs and indigo-
planters against him. He tried to compel all Muhammadan
ryots to join his sect, and on refusal caused them to be beaten,
excommunicated from the society of the faithful, and their crops
destroyed. The Zamíndárs again endeavoured to prevent their
tenants joining, and, it is said, often punished and tortured the
disobedient. A mode of torture, intensely painful, but which
left no marks to implicate any one, is said to have been adopted
on both sides. The beards of recalcitrant ryots were tied
together and red chilli powder given as snuff. Coercion, how-
ever, failed, and the landholders did little to check the onward
spread of the revival.
It was among the cultivators and village workmen that
Dudhu Miyán gained the largest number of converts. He
asserted the equality of mankind, and taught that the welfare of
the lowest and poorest was as much an object of interest as that
of the highest and richest. When a brother fell into distress it
was, he taught, the duty of his neighbours to assist him,
and nothing, he affirmed, was criminal, or unjustifiable, which
had this object in view. Enemies in consequence alleged,
that witnesses were suborned, and paid for by the funds of the
association.
Dudhu Miyán and the Hájís, as his followers were originally
called, became objects of dread to the Hindu, old Muhammadan,
and European landlords. Evidence to convict a prisoner could
not be got, and outrages were committed with perfect impunity.
It was, however, against the levying of illegal cesses by land-
lords that Dudhu Miyán made his most determined stand.
That a Muhammadan ryot should be obliged to contribute
towards the decoration of the image of Durgá, or towards the
support of any of the idolatrous rites of his Hindu landlord,
were intolerable acts of oppression. In this he was certainly
right, as the only apology for their continuance is their antiquity,
and adaptation to the feelings of the people. But, he advanced
a step farther when he proclaimed that the earth is God's, and
that no one has a right to occupy it as an inheritance, or levy
taxes upon it. The peasantry were therefore persuaded to
settle on Kháç Mahal lands, managed directly by the Govern-
ment, and thus escape the payment of any taxes, but that of
the land revenue, claimed by the State.
Dudhu Miyán was constantly compromising himself by the
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
25
lawlessness of his conduct. In 1838 he was charged with
instigating the plunder of several houses; in 1841 he was
committed to the sessions on a charge of murder, but was
acquitted; in 1844 he was tried for trespass and illegal
assembly; and in 1846 for abduction and plunder. The riot of
1838 assumed at one time a very threatening aspect, and a
detachment of Sepoys was sent from Dacca to quell any
disturbance. It was, however, found impossible to induce
witnesses to give evidence, and on each occasion he was
acquitted. At Bahadurpúr, where he generally resided, every
Mussulmán stranger was fed, while Eastern Bengal was overrun
by his spies, and the interests of the whole neighbourhood were
in his keeping. He settled disputes, administered summary
justice, and punished any Hindu, Muhammadan, or Farangi, who
dared to bring a suit for recovery of debt in the adjoining Munçif's
court, instead of referring the case to his decision. Emissaries
carried his orders to distant villages, and his letters, signed
"Ahmad nám ma'lúm," often had the ordinary Hindu super-
scription to allay suspicion. He taught that there was no sin in
persecuting those who refused to embrace his doctrines, or who
appealed against the orders of the society and its constituted
leaders.
Having broken the law with impunity, Dudhu Miyán took a
bolder step. Mr. A. Dunlop, an indigo-planter of Panch Chur
factory in Farídpúr, had for many years been an uncompro-
mising opponent, and several times succeeded in causing the
Miyán to be arrested, and tried for illegal actions. The Miyán,
bent upon revenge, easily found willing agents to execute his
orders. On the 5th of December, 1846, a large body of armed
men attacked and burned to the ground the factory of Panch
Chur. After pillaging the adjoining village, they departed, taking
with them the Bráhman Gomastha, who was afterwards cruelly
murdered in the Baqirganj district. Dudhu Miyán and sixty-
two of his followers were tried by the Sessions Judge of
Farrídpúr, in July, 1847, and convicted, but on appeal to the
Çadr-Adalat they were acquitted.
In 1857 Dudhu Miyán was thrown into prison, and the
story goes, that he would have been released, if he had not
boasted that fifty thousand men would answer to his summons,
and march whithersoever he ordered them.
Several actions of their Pír must have been disapproved of by
many of his followers, as for instance when he forcibly carried off
a Brahmani girl and made her his "nikah" wife; but even this
violent act did not cause them to desert him. On the contrary,
they believed in him to the last, and liberally spent their hard
earned savings in promoting the interests of the sect. At one
C
26
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
time a few disciples seceded. They had been to Meccah and
ascertained that the teaching of Maulaví Karámat 'Alí was
orthodox, while that of their own spiritual chief was Wahábbí in
tendency and heterodox. This secession exasperated Dudhu
Miyán to such a pitch that he instructed his people to kill the
renegades wherever, and whenever, found.
Dudhu Miyán is described as having been a tall handsome.
man, with a dark flowing beard, and a large turban wound round
his head. He died at Bahadurpúr 24th September, 1860, and
was buried there, but the Arial Khán river has, within the last
few years, washed 'away every trace of his house and tomb. His
wealth, at one time considerable, being expended on lawsuits
and intrigues, his family was left poor. Three sons survive, of
whom none have as yet exhibited any of the energy, or abilities,
of their father. The sect is consequently diminishing in
numbers, and many families are yearly joining the next, or
Ta'aiyuní, divisions.
At the present day the term Farazí is indiscriminately used
when speaking either of the sect founded by Sharía'tullah or
that established by Karámat 'Alí; but the Muhammadans of
Dacca call the followers of Dudhu Miyán, Farazís, while those
obeying the teaching of the Patna school are styled Ta'aiyuní.
While Dudhu Miyán was enrolling disciples in Eastern
Bengal, other reformers were stirring up the dormant fanaticism
of their brethren in other districts, and the wave passing over
the plains of Farrídpúr received a fresh impulse from other
sources. In 1831 the ex-dakáít Mír Naçr 'Álí, better known as
Titu Miyán, presided over a band of credulous followers in the
neighbourhood of Baraset. Having accompanied Sayyid Ahmad
to Meccah, he returned to preach a new creed to the weavers,
and other despised classes, in Jessore and Nadiyá, among whom
he established the sect known as Maulavís. The chief object
of this movement was the rejection of all Hindu rites, and the
exclusion of all Muhammadans who refused to embrace the new
creed. The Hindu landlords had no sympathy with the new
organisation. Complaints against the Maulavís being lodged in
the Zamíndárí courts, fines were inflicted and generally levied;
but on a landlord carrying into effect the sentence of his court, a
tumult arose, and the Maulavís rushed to arms. These fanatics,
taught to believe that Titu Miyán was invulnerable, and that he
could give the same charm to his followers, were attacked on
the 18th November, 1831, in a stockaded village, their leader
shot, and two hundred and fifty prisoners lodged in 'Alípúr
Jail. This local disturbance being effectually put down, no-
thing more was heard of the sect.
Far more important, however, than the revival begun by
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
27
Sharía'tullah and Titu Miyán, was that initiated by Sayyid
Ahmad at Patna, in 1820. At first this new association claimed
to be identical with that started by Sharía'tullah; but it was
soon apparent that their aims were different and antagonistic
Both concurred in repudiating the numerous superstitions
observed by all classes of Muhammadans, but the Ta'aiyuní, or
Patna sect, introduced many innovations unknown to the
followers of Sharía'tullah and Dudhu Miyán. By the Arabs, as
well as the Ta'aiyuní, the Farazís are known as Wahábbís, a
name, however, repudiated by all but the extreme party, called
Kafi'-yadain.
The first preacher (wá'iz) of the Patna school, who visited
Eastern Bengal, was Muhammad 'Alí, a Khalífa appointed by
Sayyid Ahmad, whose censures were chiefly directed against the
practice of Hindu superstitions. He forbade the reading of the
"fátiha," or prayer for the dead; the offering of "shírní," or
sweetmeats, at the tombs of holy men; and the use of music at
weddings. The next was Wiláyat 'Ali, one of the four original
Khalífas chosen by Sayyid Ahmad at Patna, in 1820. His
opinions were still more pronounced, and more deeply tinged
with Wahábbí formalism. For example, he enjoined the frequent
raising of the hands, and the utterance in a loud tone of voice of
the word Ámín at the end of each prayer. He also maintained
that the Hadís, or traditionary sayings and doings of Muhammad,
contained authoritative instruction on many points, being only
second to the Koran in value.
The most successful and celebrated missionaries, however,
were Maulavís Karámat 'Ali, Zain-ul-abadín, and an Arab,
Sayyid Muhammad Jamál-ul-lail, whose preaching among the
villages of Eastern Bengal has had the most momentous effects,
not only by uniting under one banner the vast majority of the
middle and working classes, but also by arousing the intole-
rant spirit of Muhammadanism, which had lain dormant for
nearly a century.
Little is known regarding the history of Zain-ul-abadín, but
of Maulaví Karámat 'Alí, who died in 1874, full particulars are
available. He was son of the Sarishtadár of the Jaunpúr Col-
lectorate. When sixteen years of age, he studied under
Maulánáh 'Abd-ul-'Aziz of Delhi, and afterwards under Ahma-
dullah, a famous teacher of Jaunpúr. Excited by the preaching
of Sayyid Ahmad, he followed that remarkable man to Calcutta,
became his disciple, and accompanied him to Meccah. On his
return he proved himself one of the most valuable deputies of
the Patna mission.
Sayyid Muhammad Jamál-ul-lail fled from Madínah because
his father insisted on his marrying an Arab damsel. He came

28
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
to Dacca about 1843, and joined with Karámat 'Ali in dissemi-
nating the new doctrines. Although ignorant of Bengali, and
hardly acquainted with Hindustani, his commanding figure,
luxuriant beard, and voluminous turban were, in the eyes of the
ignorant villagers, credentials of his sincerity and capacity, and
soon attracted to him a numerous circle of disciples. He
married Bengali wives, one of whom, a resident of Dhámráí,
possessed a considerable property. In 1854, incensed by the
peculations of the Amlah, he decided, contrary to the wishes-of-
the other shareholders, to collect the rents himself. His
opponents assembled clubmen and tried to capture him, but,
boiling with anger, he rushed within doors, seized a gun, and
wounded several of the assailants. For this offence he was tried,
and sentenced to seven years' imprisonment in the Rájsháhí
Jail. On the expiry of his term he returned to Dacca an
altered man, much broken in spirit. He died in August, 1872,
and was buried in the village of Naichabandtolá, opposite
Dacca. His cousin, Sayyid Muhammad Hásham, or Arab Cáhib,
as he is familiarly called, still trains disciples, and propagates
the same religious creed as his predecessor.
The doctrines taught by these later Khalífas differed mate-
ally from those of Muhammad 'Alí and Wilayat 'Alí. The for-
mer held that the Hadís, a human compilation, and therefore
full of errors, could not be considered an infallible guide; but
admitted that the teachings of the Imáms, as contained in the
Fiqh, or practical jurisprudence, were binding, although con-
tradictory passages, and a diversity of doctrines, could be found
in them. These defects were not, they argued, so vital, nor the
tenets grounded on the various readings so absolute, as to justify
Muhammadans in breaking asunder the bonds uniting the world
of Islám.
1
Futhermore, these reformers denounced the employment of
music at weddings, as being a sensual and discomposing pleasure;
the offering up of the fátiha at the grave of deceased relatives;
and the worship of Pírs, and other saintly personages.
These opinions regarding the Hadís and Fiqh had always
been held by the Muhammadans of Bengal, but the assertion
that music was immoral, and that the fatiha, as well as the
becoming veneration of Pírs, were sinful, roused much opposition
and gave rise to a learned, though idle, discussion.
In later years Karámat 'Alí made the important admission,
that India under the English rule was not Dár-ul-harb, a
country where the infidels were legitimate objects of attack, as
had been maintained by Dudhu Miyán and Wilayat 'Alí.
The principal doctrines of these reformers being founded on
the fundamental truths of Islám, excited at first no little sur-
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
29
prise, as they had been lost sight of by the Hinduized Mussul-
máns of Bengal.
According to them, man, by nature feeble and prone to evil,
cannot without assistance learn to know God or obey His com-
mands. Muhammad is the only true mediator between God
and His rebellious children; but the holy men of past ages
possess a certain limited power of obtaining pardon for the
penitent. It is therefore regarded by the Ta'aiyuní as a meri-
torious act to make offerings, or Li'llahí, at the graves of saints
in the name of God, as they believe that the supplicant, being
moved by the associations of the place, prays with greater
sincerity and fervour.
The custom, however, observed in Bengal for ages, of present-
ing bread to the manes of ancestors on the Shab-i-barát, and of
making offerings at the tombs of deceased relatives and friends
on the fourth, tenth, twentieth, and fortieth days after death,
were denounced as deadly sins. In their stead the relatives
were instructed to employ a Maulaví to visit, twenty-one days
after the funeral, the house of mourning and perform the service
called Niyázullah, or thanksgiving to God, consisting of a few
passages from the Koran, or Khatm-ul-Ambiya, in a chamber
fumigated with sandal-wood and frankincense.
Although the lamentations and singing, the Taʼzias and the
noisy pageantry of the Muharram, are reprehensible, the Maul-
avís recommend their disciples to fast and spend the tenth, or
Shahádat ka roz, in religious exercises, as a devotional act.
The Shab-gashtí procession, with its discordant music, its
frolics and license, no longer traverses the streets, having been
put down by these puritanical teachers; and Muhammadan
marriages (Shar'í ul Shádi) are now dull and uninteresting cere-
monies. No music, or dancing, is allowed, and only a few
relatives witness the marriage. The bride is no longer adorned
with garlands of flowers; the Kandúrí ceremony is omitted; and
the "Marocha" not constructed. The marriage service is per-
formed by a Qází or Maulaví, and a Kábín, or marriage settle-
ment, is drawn up.
The only festivity allowed is a feast, or Walíma, given on
the marriage day, or on one of the two following days, and to
which the relatives, the headmen of the village, and of the trade,
are invited.
The superstitions connected with the birth of a child have
also been pronounced sinful. On the fortieth day, when the
mother becomes ceremonially clean, the husband makes ready
the thanksgiving feast, called 'Aqiqa. Two he-goats (Khací)
are offered for a male child, one for a female, which, like the
sacrificial goat of the Îd-ul-qurbán, must be without spot, or
1
30
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
blemish. This offering being regarded by some as a propitia-
tory one (çadqa), the flesh is distributed to faqirs; but the
majority look upon the occasion as a social feast at which rela-
tives, and friends meet to enjoy themselves. The victim is
slaughtered by a Mullá, the bones and offal being buried, while
the skin is given to any beggar. The father, mother, grandfather,
and grandmother of the child are strictly forbidden to taste the
flesh of the sacrifice.
The Ta'aiyuní observe the five daily prayers, and before each
they clean their teeth with a piece of stick (miswák), rinse their
mouths, and wash their hands. They strictly observe the Jum'a
namáz, or Friday prayer, in the public mosque, which the Farazís
and Wahábbís dispense with; and before leaving their homes it
is customary to shave, bathe, and put on clean garments. The
stricter members also observe the "tahajjud," or prayer, at
3 a.m.
The Ta'aiyuní, furthermore, dresses differently from any other
Muhammadan. His loins are ungirded in expectation of the
advent of the long-looked for Imám Mahdí, and, instead of the
ordinary waist-string, or Kardhaní, he wears a leather strap
(tasma). He is also enjoined to allow his beard to grow, and to
wear his hair long, or, better still, to shave it entirely off; and is
forbidden to eat food off a golden or silver dish, or to touch with
his lips the mouthpiece of a tobacco pipe mounted with silver.
Further, he must not pray in silken garments, as was often the
custom formerly, but in cotton or woollen attire.
1
Women are as punctilious as men, especially in attending to
the regular prayers. Of late years they have laid aside the
graceful Sárí, and adopted a jacket with long sleeves, which does
not add to their comeliness, and, still more important, is not
admired by females of other classes. They also object to
staining their feet and nails with henna, or "menhdí," as is
done throughout most parts of Muhammadan Asia.
Another usage has had a most important bearing on the busi-
ness habits of this class of Muhammadans. Interest (súd) is
denounced by the Maulavís, but as large profits (manáfi) are
legitimate, among them are found great traders in jute, hides,
rice, and country produce generally, who never join with pro-
fessional bankers, or money-lenders, unless they agree to a division
of profits instead of a certain rate of interest. When giving an
advance of money it is usually stipulated that the sum shall be
repaid within a certain period, and that an eighth, or fourth, of
the net profit shall be paid to the lender, in addition to the
principal.
¹ The cloth, called Mashrú', made of silk and cotton, in which a Muhamma-
dan may lawfully pray, is not worn in Bengal.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
31
1
By this arrangement the lender often receives more than the
market rate of interest, but if the payment be delayed nothing
additional is gained. This system of profits, however, is virtually
interest under another name.
Strange to say, the reformed Muhammadans of Dacca still
cling to many Hindu superstitions in spite of the denunciations
of the Maulavís. They wear amulets (ta'wíz) containing a
sentence from the Koran, and place implicit trust in earthern
platters, inscribed with holy texts, and hung up over their doors,
or around their villages, believing such objects to be more
efficacious against epidemics than the sanitary skill of the
Yunání, or European, physicians. Again, when smallpox attacks
their families, Sítala is worshipped with as much faith as is
shown by the Hindu Málákárs, and in 1874, when the disease
was present in their villages, a "ghat," daubed with red lead, on
which a cocoanut and plantains were placed, stood in every
house. They are determined opponents of vaccination, but
occasionally have their children inoculated with all the mum-
mery of the Sítala Pújáh.
Under pretence of greater sanctity and stricter orthodoxy they
unconsciously practice many other Hindu usages; thus, on
touching a Christian they bathe, and on his entering their houses,
throw away all cooked food or drinking water. Their immacu-
lateness, however, is not soiled by contact with a Hindu of the
vilest class, or by his presence within doors. It is the Wahábbí
who with perfect consistency treats Hindus and Christians with
equal repugnance.
It would not be unreasonable to infer that the promulgation
of these new puritanical doctrines would produce a corresponding
improvement in the character of the members; but, according to
the best authorities, the Maulavís, no change is as yet visible.
On being asked if the Muhammadans of his sect oftener speak
the truth than those of the old school, a Maulaví replied, that the
latter lied being ignorant of the moral turpitude thereby incurred,
but that the former, who were able to distinguish between what
was right and what was wrong, uttered falsehoods more circum-
stantially and glibly. There can be no doubt that the Ta'aiyuní
inhabitants of Dacca are more addicted to drink than the old
Muhammadans. An amusing scene was witnessed in 1874 at
the Pancháít of one of the most bigoted quarters of the city
which had been summoned to try a young man for drunkenness
and creating a scandal. The evidence was overwhelming, and
the culprit was sentenced to receive twenty-five blows with a
shoe. He claimed the right of replying, and, without attempting
to extenuate his crime, pointed out that if consistent and
impartial the meeting should inflict the same punishment on
32
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
!
his boon companions. This was admitted, but when he enu-
merated the sons of all the leading members present, and stated
that he was prepared to prove their complicity in drinking
spirits, the assembly was hurriedly dissolved, and the young
man escaped the punishment he so richly merited.
The Ta'aiyuní differ in many important respects from the
Farazí and Wahábbí. They not only regard the Friday prayer
with peculiar reverence, but often make it like Sunday in Europe,
a day for popular demonstrations and for forming combinations
against the Zamíndárs. The Patna Khalifas have always
pretended that this movement was identical with the Farazí, and
on the strength of this identity extracted money from the
ignorant peasantry, who were also induced to leave their
homes and join the Sitána colony. But, from time to time
a few returned, and having confessed that the subscriptions
went to support a delusive cause, the enthusiasm gradually
died away.
There can be no doubt, however, that much secret disaffec-
tion, fostered by fanatical Khalífas and Maulavís, still exists in
the ranks of the sect; but it is generally said that subscriptions
are now unwillingly paid, and fewer recruits drafted to the
north-west frontier than was the case ten years ago.
The foregoing is a simple but correct sketch of the Muham-
madan religion as found in Eastern Bengal at the present day.
Islám is there passing through a period of trial, and seems in
danger of being split up into rival creeds, unless injudicious
interference on the part of the Government causes it to unite
against a common enemy. But, in absence of any provocation,
it is likely that jealousy will increase, and the two most
important divisions, the Sábiqí and Ta'aiyuní, learn to hate each
other as brethren of different beliefs always do. As the new
school is of a more progressive tendency it will probably assume
the offensive, and, owing to its numbers, silence dissent as well
as all expression of independent opinion. The Sábiqí are
disunited, without any organisation, but the Ta'aiyuní, under the
guidance of able leaders, are bound together by the ties of a
widely diffused and powerful society. The former, again, are
friendly to the English Government; the latter, at heart
estranged, do not dare to show themselves hostile.
As the religion of the Muhammadans of Bengal has become
corrupted by the adoption of many Hindu superstitions, so it
will be found, on further inquiry, that the professional and
labouring classes have also introduced many innovations derived
from the same source.
In each Mussulmán "qaum," or class, there is a Pancháít of
elders, by whom matters affecting the interests of the trade, or
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
33
company, are discussed, and all offenders against their unwritten
laws summarily dealt with.
In every Muhammadan village, or quarter of a town, there
is another, and equally efficient, court of arbitration. In Dacca
there are twenty-two of these Pancháíts, each consisting of from
five to fifty members, and often including Hindus of respectability,
and liberal views. A Pancháít is presided over by a Sardár, or
Mír Mahalla, under whom there is at least one Náib-Sardár, or
deputy; a Sákhí-dár, literally one who gives evidence; and a
Gorait, or messenger.
The post of a Sardár is hereditary, and when old, or disabled
by sickness, he must vacate in favour of his son. The position
is no sinecure, as his duties are multifarious, for all deaths, births,
and purposes of marriage, are reported to him. He summons
the Pancháít, gives directions about funerals, arranges the
marriage ceremony, and settles what subjects are or are not, to
be laid before the court. In all domestic and private quarrels
he is consulted, and in charges of assault, or crime generally,
full details are submitted for his decision. His orders being
absolute, the fines are always paid. When the court assembles,
he submits to it the business for which it was summoned, points.
out the proper course of action, and if a conclusion cannot be
arrived at he appeals to another Pancháít, which reconsiders the
matter and records its decision, which must be accepted. The
Pancháít always meets in the evening, and when the court is
dissolved a feast is given at which the Sardár receives two shares
of the food, one of which he eats, the other he sends to his
family.
In cases of notorious drunkenness, or great immorality,
remonstrance having failed, a very severe punishment, called
Nal-pání-bándhna," is inflicted, by which the delinquent is
ostracised, and no one will eat or smoke with him, or even
permit him to enter or sit down in their houses. Relatives must
banish him from their society, and if he die impenitent no one
dares to bury him. Life under such circumstances becomes.
insupportable, as the punishment is greater than can be borne.
In most instances the offender acknowledges his transgression
and, after paying a heavy fine, is re-admitted into social
communion.
The Sákhí-dár is the servant of the Sardár, and receives at
feasts a double allowance of food. When a death occurs in the
quarter information is given to him, and a fee of four anas paid,
and when a marriage is contemplated he receives four auas, and
a handkerchief in which a betel-nut is tied. A piece of the nut
he delivers to each member of the Pancháít, as an invitation to
the marriage feast.
D
34
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
The Gorait, again, is merely the messenger of the Sákhí-dár,
and he receives as pay one-half of the fees collected.
When a girl is married nothing is given to the Pancháít of
her quarter, or village; but when a boy goes to another quarter,
or village, he pays one rupee to the Pancháít, one rupee to the
mosque, and one to the Zamíndár of the land on which the
bride's house stands.
Such is the autonomy of Muhammadan citizens. Though
a copy of the Pancháíts and Dals of Hindu castes, it is far more
liberal, being established not so much for selfish, or sordid,
advantages as for the common welfare of the citizens. The
court is thoroughly secular and republican, the opinion of each
member carrying equal weight, although that held by the
president is generally followed. These Pancháíts possess great
influence among the people, and in Farazí villages, as they take
cognizance of all offences, it is exceedingly rare that any case of
violence, or assault, committed within them finds its way into
the regular courts.
The Muhammadans of Bengal have followed in many respects
the system of caste as practised by the Hindus, although the
principle that a son must carry on the trade or occupation of a
father has never been reduced to a formula. Still, they have
placed many honest and useful handicrafts under a ban, while
others of a more objectionable nature are reckoned honourable.
The most respectable occupations are those of the Darzí,
Jildgar, Jútí-wálah, Nánbáí, Naichaband, Patwá, Rangrez, and
Rafúgar; the most dishonouring those of Bájunia, Beldár,
Chamṛafarosh, Dhobí, Dhuniyá, Juláha, Kalwár, Kolu, Kútí,
Mahífarosh, and Nílgar.
The learned professions, such as the Hakím, Háfiz, Khwánd-
kár, Muçawwir, Mulla, and Munshí, are respected by all classes,
and few deserving students, or scholars, ever want for patronage
or encouragement. The chief reason why one trade is accounted
less reputable than another is, that the most honoured were
originally Muhammadan, the despised ones Hindu.
The eight
trades mentioned as honourable provide for wants which were
secondary in the eyes of the Hindus. The trade of the tailor,
bookbinder, shoemaker, baker, and darner, unknown in Bengal
when Muhammadans first settled there, was necessarily followed
by their own countrymen from Upper India, and therefore did
not entail any disgrace or degradation. A position being thus
secured for these tradesmen, it was in vain that those engaged in
new occupations strove to acquire rank and privileges disallowed
by the older conservative bodies. This struggle of exclusion on
the one hand, and of admission to equal rights on the other, is
still eagerly contested by the various parties.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
35
The avocations of the musician, delver, washerman, fish-
monger, and indigo-dyer, formerly pursued by outcast Hindus,
were subsequently adopted by poor Mussulmáns, or by converts
to that faith, and have consequently remained inferior ones.
The hide merchant, cotton-carder, Jamadání weaver, distiller,
oilman, and Kútí, who follow occupations new to the Hindus,
are for the same reasons outcast. The bigotry and intolerance of
the Chamṛafarosh and Kútí are so remarkable as at once to
excite suspicion of their recent conversion, while the low
estimation in which they are held by other Muhammadans can
only be accounted for by this fact.
The different stages through which converted Hindus pass
before they gain a position of thorough equality with the old
Muhammadans can be traced at the present day. The Bediyás
were outcast Hindus thirty years ago, but a Mulla now ministers
to them, circumcision is practised, the Ramazán fast is kept, and
the regular prayers offered up; but they cannot enter the public
mosque, or find a resting-place in the public graveyard. In a
social point of view they are still aliens, with whom no gentle-
man will associate or eat. The treatment of the Chandál by
the Súdra is in no respect more rigorous, or harsh, than that of
the Bediyás by the upper ranks of Muhammadans.
The Kútí, again, have advanced a stage farther, being not only
the most dogmatic, but also the most sanctimonious of their
faith. The mosques, only opened to them within the last few
years, are now held and managed by their leaders, who decide
what persons are, or are not, entitled to worship in them.
Beyond this, however, the division has not made any stride.
No Muhammadan of good family will intermarry with them,
or eat from their dishes; but the ordinary burial service is
performed at the Masjid, and the dead are permitted to lie in
the public cemetery.
The previous sketch has shown us that the religion, customs,
and social divisions of the Bengali Muhammadans are deeply
tinged with Hindu superstition. It remains to be proved that
the Muhammadans as individuals bear much resemblance to
their Hindu fellow-countrymen.
The educated Muhammadan, being of liberal ideas, respects
all religions, despising none, and sympathises with the sincere
worshipper of God, wherever found, although convinced that he
is the heir of the latest and best revelation. The Arabic and
Persian classics, containing as he thinks all that is worth
knowing, are his daily study; but he neither reads modern
literature nor sends his sons to the public school, as both are
considered to favour infidelity and scepticism. Science is a
sealed book which he has no desire to open, while English and
ր 2
36
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
Bengali are foreign languages to him. He attends to his
religious duties, observes the fast of Ramazán, and dispenses
charity freely and unostentatiously. His anxiety to preserve
the family name untarnished is a ruling passion, often carried
to extremes. Not only does he scorn to tell a lie, or perform a
mean action, but he will rather lose a lawsuit than appear before
a magistrate of low birth. Inferior to the Hindu in chicanery, he
can, if driven to it, wield the same weapon, and make a deter-
mined, if not always successful defence. To the poor he is kind
and considerate, many charitable actions being done in private
for which he gets no credit. He visits the sick servant in his
hovel, sending him food and sherbet prepared in the zanánah,
and helps poor students by providing lodgings as well as paying
a Munshi to instruct them. In the society of strangers he is
polite and lavish of praise; but he seldom visits, sits at the
table, or partakes of food with Christians, as was the invariable
custom a century ago. It is melancholy to contemplate the
present state of the better classes of Muhammadans, for with
many excellent traits of character, they have no energy or
ambition left. Instead of adapting themselves to the changes
of modern civilisation, they listen to tales of ignorant Faqírs,
or to sedition taught by fanatical Maulavís, and lament that
the days of 'Alamgir, and of Mussulmán supremacy, have passed
away. The young are growing up in idleness and ignorance;
the old wasting their lives by debauchery, intemperance, and
opium. The establishment of a Madrasah, or school, managed
by Muhammadan gentlemen, will in time exert a beneficial
effect, but the fear that the rising generation will resemble
Young Bengal keeps many from sending their sons to it.
The vast majority of Bengali Muhammadans are ignorant
and simple peasants, who of late years have been casting off the
Hindu tinsel which has so long disfigured their religion. They
are now taught that to be good Mussulmáns nothing more is
necessary than the repetition, at stated intervals, of certain
prayers in a language they cannot pronounce, still less under-
stand. In many places it is difficult for the ryots to find a
person capable of conducting the services of the congregation.
In 1874 the inhabitants of several villages assembled on the
banks of the Lakhya to celebrate the Baqr-'Id, but there being
no one present who could lead the worship, a Dacca youth,
aged twenty, who was passing in a boat, had to land and recite
the usual prayers.
Formerly the peasants respected Brahmins, and attended
many Hindu ceremonials now prohibited; but the Farazí
Maulavís have denounced the contribution of anything to the
annual festivals, although unable to stop the payment of extra
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
37
rent in place of the Párvana, or impost, levied to defray the cost
of religious ceremonies.
The peasant is not only litigious and very unreasonable when
his interests are touched, but easily persuaded to join in combina-
tions against his landlord, and in so doing often falls into the
snare set by designing men. Industry and frugality are
common virtues, and though the wife is treated as a slave, she
is never ill-used, while towards his children much affection and
indulgence are shown. Strangers being regarded with suspicion,
a simple question rarely receives a straightforward answer.
The most attractive feature in the character of the ryot is his
hospitality and charity. The beggar always receives a copper,
or if the meal be ready the poorest wretch is invited to partake
of it, and on leaving dismissed with a blessing. The house may
be small, but the vagrant finds shelter therein.
It is to this national weakness that Bengal owes the exist-
ence of so many sturdy mendicants, who, wandering from one
hamlet to another, find some kind hand to feed and shelter
them.
The Mussulmán is less sociable than the Hindu, and now
that music has a ban laid upon it, he can no longer join in
parties given by his Hindu neighbours. Boys of both creeds
play together, and when grown up often become attached
friends. It is not uncommon for the Muhammadan to share
the joys and sorrows of his Hindu friend, and pay the compli-
ment of naming a son after him.
One of the most characteristic foibles of the Bengali peasant
is vanity, leading him to wear embroidered garments and caps,
and carry what in his eyes is the modern emblem of gentility-
a cotton umbrella !
On the whole the peasant is a happy and contented man,
unless the plausible theories of the Maulavís induce him to join
in agrarian disputes and combinations so common at the present
day. Nothing will make him leave the home round which his
affections cling, unless injustice and a long course of illegal
exactions, by rendering life intolerable, forces him to seek for
peace under a less extortionate landlord. The Churs, or alluvial
islands, along the Ganges and Meghna, are the favourite retreats
of Farazí ryots, and the lands being managed directly by
Government, and not by any Zamíndár, or middleman, the
arbitrary taxes sanctioned by the ancient custom of the country
are no longer collected.
38
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
BAHURÚPIÁ.
The Bahurúpiá, or mimic, of Bengal is usually a Muham-
madan, but any one possessing the talent acquires the name.
The Bahurúpia is properly a low caste Hindu, allied to the
Bhánd, who, in most instances, has become a Muhammadan,
tracing his descent from the great actor 'Umar-i-yár, the court
jester of Noshírwán the Just.
The Bahurúpiás dance and sing in character, but only to
the accompaniment of the drum (dhol) and cymbals (manjírá).
By means of Gáb juice they pucker their faces, and, putting on
a beard and moustaches, mimic the childish treble of extreme
old age. A popular exhibition with Bengalís is called "Siv-
Gaurí," for which the Bahurúpiá gets himself up with one side
attired as Siv, the other as Gaurí, and imitates the different
tones of voice, gait, and gestures of the two sexes with so much
art as to deceive many of the audience.
The Bahurúpia is not degraded, but eats and intermarries
with the old Muhammadans, although he is an abomination in
the eyes of the puritanical Farázís.
BÁJUNIA.
Musicians are regarded all over India as a debased race, and
in Eastern Bengal Muhammadan musicians are either barbers
(hajjám), or the husbands of midwives (dáí), classes ranked
among the vilest of the population.
Bands (táifá, da'fa) are composed of a varying number of
players, the instruments being selected according to native ideas
of harmony. The ordinary bands are—
1. Roshan-Chaukí, consisting of three "surnáe," or clarion
players, a performer on the drum (dholak), and a fifth who
makes a discordant noise with the jhánjh, or brass cymbals.
This band is maintained by rich families to play at sunrise and
sunset.
2. Naqarah. This company plays at each "pahar," or watch
of the day. It is composed of seven musicians: three playing
on the naqarah, or kettledrum, two on the clarion, one on a
"karná," or snake-shaped trumpet, and one on a "damámá," or
large-sized brass drum. The privilege of having the naqarah
played before them was one of the highest ambition to the
Amirs of the Mughal Court, being only granted to princes of the
blood royal, and to a few of the highest dignitaries of the empire.
At the present day only Nawabs and feudatories have the right
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
39
to possess a naqárah band; but rich Muhammadan householders.
not unfrequently keep one, and assume an honour for which they
have no sanction.
3. Táifa-dár. This is the musical party which attends nautch
girls, who are always Muhammadans. It consists of two players
on the violin (sárangí), two men who beat drums (tablá), and a
player on the cymbals (manjírá). These men, the most respectable
class of musicians, are called by the Sanskrit name Sapardá.
A band of Muhammadan musicians still popular in Dacca,
where formerly several existed, is known as Zindah Sháh
Ghází-ka-gáyan, who sing Hindustani and Bengali songs, in
honour of Zindah Sháh, of interminable length, for which they
receive two rupees each section, or canto.
At a performance the chief, Múl, or Díwán Çahib, plants an
'aça, or staff with a crescentic iron head, on a mound, while four
players seat themselves around. The leader begins by strutting
about waving a yák's tail, clashing the "manjírá," or cymbals,
and singing of the redoubtable deeds "of the immortal warrior
of the faith," while the players augment the discord by beating
drums and clanging the "jhánjh," or Hindu cymbals.
The most despicable class of Muhammadan players, however,
are the Hirjá, who personate women in their dress, and are
generally believed, as their name imports, to be hermaphrodites.
Their obscene songs, and lascivious movements, are regulated by
the beating of a " dholak," by morris-bells (ghungrú) attached to
the ankles of one of the performers, by cymbals, and by clapping
of the hands (tálí).
Formerly the naqárah players were Chamárs, but of late
years the lower grades of Muhammadans, always very bigoted
Farázís, are exclusively employed, and are known as Bájunia.
They are regarded so low in rank that no respectable man will
marry into their families, or even eat with them.
BALDIYÁ.
In Bhagalpúr the Baldiyá is known as Ládú-bepárí.
The Baldiyás are Mussulmáns who keep pack-bullocks
(balad) for the carriage of bricks, grain, and mortar, from those
parts of the country where there are no cart roads. Bullocks,
or bulls, are employed, and the Desh bullock being smaller, and
more easily laden, is preferred. Ponies are never used by
Muhammadans in Eastern Bengal; but Hindu Baldiyás, either
Sáha, or Telí by caste, are found occasionally using them.
40
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
The pack-saddle is called Palán, a Persian word; the saddle-
bags Goņi, the Sanskrit for a coarse cloth bag.
The Baldiya will not castrate bulls, but engages the Gáí-ka-
hajjám, generally an Áhír, to do so.
Owing to the increased number of carts wherever there are
roads, the Baldiyá has much less work to do in cities than
formerly; but still there are about forty families in Dacca. In
the jungly tract of Bhowal their services are indispensable,
cultivators, or agents, engaging them to transport grain from the
inland villages where there are no roads to the nearest river.
They charge from two or three rupees the hundred mans; but,
if the village is difficult of access, four rupees. A tradition
current in Dacca is, that the ancestors of the Baldiyás were
Banjárás, brought there by the Muhammadan governors. This
tradition receives confirmation from the fact that villagers still
call the Baldiyá, Banjárá, although they have entirely relin-
quished the nomade habits of these wandering traders, and in
physique have little in common with the lithe gipsy-like figures
of the Central India Banjárá. In complexion, features, and
muscular development, they are indistinguishable from the
Mussulmáns around them.
The inland trade of Bengal was carried on last century by
three classes of travelling merchants, the Bepárí, the Banjára,
and the Lambádí, or Lambaries, as they were usually called,
who transported merchandise on bullocks, and pursued their
trade even in districts devastated by contending armies.
The Banjárá and Lambádí, being Hindus, regarded each other
as kinsmen, and while traversing the country were under
Government protection; but for greater security each band was
accompanied by an old Bhát, or Cháran, woman. If plundered,
or ill-treated, the guardian Bhát wounded herself in presence of
the aggressors, a deed supposed to be followed by awful retribu-
tion. Their ranks were generally swollen by bands of conjurers,
jugglers, and other vagrants, who sought protection with these
privileged traders.
The Bepárí, again, was quite distinct. He was the trader of
Bengal, engaged in transporting salt, corn, sugar, and other
bulky goods from one part of the country to another.
BELDÁR.
In Hindustan this is a Hindu profession, but in Eastern
Bengal it is exclusively a Muhammadan. In other parts of
India menial work is performed by outcast Hindus; but in
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
41
Bengal any repulsive or, offensive occupation devolves on the
Muhammadan. The Beldár is to the Muhammadan village
what the Bhúinmálí is to the Hindu, and it is not improbable
that his ancestors belonged to this vile caste.
The Beldár acts as a scavenger in his own village, removing
carcasses or cutting brushwood, and he is the torchbearer
(Mash'alchí) at Hindu and Mussulman weddings, his only
competitor in this occupation being the Bhúinmálí.
BHATIÁRÁ.
The Bhațiárá is either an eating-house keeper, or an inn-
keeper; in the former capacity selling bread, eggs, rice, and
"kabáb," or balls of meat roasted on skewers, and contracting
to feed strangers for a certain period, and at a fixed rate, usually
three anas (41d.) for two meals daily; while in the latter he
is a far more important individual. He keeps a Musáfir-khánah,
(lit., traveller's abode), or Bhațiár-khánah, where travellers are
housed and fed. There are no Saráes in Eastern Bengal at the
present day, and the Katras, originally built for the accommoda-
tion of travellers, have been converted to other uses. These inn-
keepers feed travellers for three anas a day, and on paying one
paisa additional they receive a mat and are allowed to sleep on
the ground in a corner of a thatched hut. The bill of fare
provided by the Bhațiárá is limited to rice, bread, fish, or meat,
curried (sálan), and a richly-seasoned stew, known as "do-piyáza.
These inns are shunned by many because, in case of sudden
death, the bodies of travellers are handed over to the police and
buried by the Dôms. Should the wayfarer, therefore, be poor and
friendless, he prefers going to one of the charitable Musáfir-
khánas, supported by rich Muhammadans, where he will be
housed and fed gratis for three days, and in the event of death
his body will receive decent burial.
""
Under native rule the cook of the Saráe was also the porter,
being known as Baqqál, a term now applied to a pedlar.
Of late years enterprising Hindus have opened hotels for
their countrymen, but the poorer classes are still entertained in
the Modi's, or grocer's, shop.
42
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
BIDRÍ-SÁZ.
The name Bidrí is derived from Bídar, the ancient capital of
the Bálimaní Sultáns of the Dakhin, formerly noted for its
manufactories of this metal. Dr. B. Heyne visited Bídar early
this century, and has given the following description of its
preparation. The ware, he says, contains twenty-four parts of
tin and one of copper, joined together by fusion. Its distinctive
colour was given by taking and rubbing the metal with equal
parts of muriate of ammonia and nitre earth, when a lasting
black colour was instantaneously impressed, which, becoming
tarnished, could be restored by friction with oil or butter.
The preparation and subsequent staining of this alloy in
Dacca materially differ from the above, and from that given by
Buchanan in his account of Purániya."
The Dacca workman takes one sér of Jastá (zinc), three
chhatáks of copper and of lead, one and a half, chhaṭáks
of tin, and one kachchá of cast-iron, puts them into a mud
crucible (ghariyá). He introduces this into the centre of a
charcoal fire kept in a bright glow, and when the outside of the
crucible cracks, he is warned that the metals are fused. The
liquid mass is then poured into a mould of the desired shape,
the surface being smoothed with a file, while with a sharp-
pointed burin, or style, the pattern is engraved. Silver is often
inlaid on Bidrí in the following clumsy way. Thin silver foil
being hammered into the grooves, it is firmly imbedded with a
blunt iron implement. The surface is then polished with lamb's
wool and oil, any excess of oil being got rid of with the ashes of
cowdung.
Bidrí is blackened with a preparation composed of one Tola
(180 grs.) of muriate of ammonia, one-quarter Tola of alum and
of iron, and one-third Tola of sulphate of copper. A solution
is applied to the heated Bidrí, and on drying the metal is rubbed
with a rag.
The Bidrí-Sáz of Dacca preserve a tradition that they
originally came from Purneah. They are always Muhammadans,
manufacturing at the present day, huqqá-stands, bedposts, basins,
vessels to contain pân, and water-goglets (çuráhí).
CHAMRA-FAROSH.
The trade in hides is one of the most flourishing of the
present day, the traders belonging to the strictest sect of
1
¹ An account of the Biddery ware in India, in "Annals of Philosophy" for
October, 1813, vol. ii, 260.
2 Vol. iii, 320, 321.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
43
Muhammadanism, and generally to the Kútí subdivision, which
is either Farazí or Wahábbí in religion. When work is slack
the hide dealer is found working as a mason, or water-carrier.
It is alleged that no Hindu capitalist will advance money
for such an unhallowed trade, but the Chamra-farosh finds no
difficulty in obtaining money from the Sáha banker, with whom
he generally arranges to divide the profit in equal proportions.
The term interest (súd) is an abomination to the Farazí; but he
dearly loves it when called "Manáfi'," or profit. Confidence in
each other's probity is a surprising trait in the character of the
natives of Eastern Bengal, who, without any security, and merely
on the promissory note of the borrower, lend money, and very
rarely indeed are they defrauded.
((
\
Having received his advance, the hide merchant sends agents
into the country to buy old and diseased cattle for slaughter, as
well as the hides of animals skinned and dried by the village
Rishí. The Chamra-farosh soaks hides in water, scrubbing them
with Jháma," or burnt brick, and rubbing in a little impure
alkali (Kharí-namak), when they are ready for the market.
The skin of a slaughtered animal (halálí) is more valuable than
that of one which has died of disease (murdárí), the former
fetching about forty-four anas in the villages, and from forty-
eight to fifty-two anas in Dacca, while the latter is bought for
forty to forty-two anas in the country, and for forty-eight in the
town. The "halálí" is recognised by its having no bare patches
ou the back. The carcasses of animals dying in villages are
always dragged to the outskirts: hence it happens that the
"murdárí" bears along the spine patches where the hair is
rubbed off, and which lessen the value of the skin.
Last century Dacca was a celebrated mart for the sale of
otter skins, agents being met with in most villages along the
foot of the hills which bound the north-eastern frontier of
Bengal; but at present the trade is extinct, although otters are
still numerous in all the rivers that issue from the hills. The
demand for these furs in China and Tibet has ceased, owing
probably to the introduction of cotton and woollen goods, or to
some change of fashion in these countries.
CHANDU-WÁLAH.
The infamy of having introduced this demoralising vice into
Eastern Bengal attaches to one Sonáullah of Ruknpúr, in the
city of Dacca, who, about 1830, brought a Chinaman from
Calcutta and opened an opium shop in the city. The vice at
44
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
once captivated the sensual Muhammadans, and within twenty
years as many as twenty-two shops were opened, but at present,
owing to the heavy licensing tax, the number is reduced to
eleven.
The Chandú-wálah is always a Mussulmán, but the shop
is often leased by a Hindu Sáha whose respectability would
suffer if he personally superintended the smoking. Throughout
the Eastern districts of Mymensingh, Tipperah, and Baqirganj,
the vice is slowly but steadily spreading; while in Silhet,
where opium-eating is as much indulged in as in Assam, Chandú-
smoking has been adopted in earnest, and is now more general
than in any of the other districts.
Chandú-smoking is the same as the opium-smoking of China,
and the word Chandú¹ is the one in common use in the Malay
Archipelago.
Crude opium cannot be smoked on account of its irritating
quality and nauseous flavour: consequently at Singapore the
extract is prepared with extreme care, but in Bengal less trouble
is taken.
To prepare Chandú the Dacca manufacturer takes opium and
mixes it with the refuse-"mail" or "inchí"-which collects in
the opium pipe, in the proportion of one" bharí," or a rupee weight,
of the former to twelve anas of the latter. Water is added, and
heat being gradually applied, the mixture is kept constantly
stirred. As soon as the infusion is ready it is strained through
a piece of fine muslin, then put a second time into a pan, and
evaporated, until the mass becomes of the consistence of glue, or
treacle. The Chandú-wálah places different quantities of this
prepared opium in little cups made of palm-leaves, and arranges
them against the arrival of his customers.
When the smoker enters the dark and dirty hut, he lies down
on a mat, resting his head on a very greasy pillow; and, as it is
essential that all distracting noises be shut out, and the smoker
allowed to enjoy the "khiyál," or ecstasy, so much valued by the
habitué, the hut is situated in a narrow and unsavoury lane,
where individuals can enter unobserved. The interior of the
room is usually darkened, and the prostrate figures are indis-
tinctly seen by the light of several shaded oil-lamps placed on
the floor.
Having bought his opium, the smoker takes an iron wire,
called “thuk,” and fixes on it the Chandú pellet (chíta), then
drawing one of the lamps towards him, heats the opium in the
flame and kneads it in the palin-leaf cup held in his left hand.
After heating and kneading the opium several times it is ready
1 Chandú, prepared opium for smoking.-Crawford, "Malay Dictionary."
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
45
for use, and is put into a china bowl fixed on the side of a
Bamboo tube, a little over a foot in length, which is imported
from China, being identical with the opium pipe of that country.
The contents are then applied to the flame, and the smoker
rapidly inhales the fumes, never drawing breath until all the
opium is consumed, when, like the Gánjha smoker, he expels the
smoke slowly and reluctantly. Three "chítás," costing one
paisa, will intoxicate a beginner, but habitués will finish five,
or even more, without any effect beyond flushing the face,
brightening the eyes, and causing a pleasing ecstacy. Unless
the pipe is kept constantly clean by means of a pricker, called
gilli," the refuse accumulates and produces dryness and burning
of the throat.
((
1
According to Mr. Little, Chandú-smoking causes at first
nervous excitement, sleeplessness, and increase of the sexual
passion; but when indulged in to excess is followed by dyspepsia,
bowel-complaints, functional derangements of the heart, dysuria,
often ending in albuminuria, carbuncles, and intractable ulcera-
tions. Among the Chinese, whose vital power has been reduced
by constant intoxication, remittent fevers are very common, and
very obstinate. The Bengali smoker, however, alleges that no
injurious effects are produced as long as he lives on milk, butter,
and sweetmeats. Muhammadan physicians, on the other hand,
consider opium a "damágh-ka-nashá," or brain stimulant, and
récommend it as an invigorating and tonic medicine in suitable
doses.
Chandú is said to be an aphrodisiac, but when indulged in to
excess, or when nutritious food is not taken at the same time,
impotency often ensues. If regularly smoked it is a preser-
vative against malarious fevers and colds; but when deprived
of his daily allowance, the smoker becomes irritable, hypo-
chondriacal, and very subject to diarrhoea.
Chandú-smoking among Chinese women tends to cause
sterility, or miscarriages. In Bengal Chandú is smoked by
prostitutes for its aphrodisiac properties, and of late years they
have become such inveterate smokers that it is notorious no
woman who has once tasted the delights of opium ever gives
it up.
Gánjha-smoking is as peculiarly a Hindu vice as Chandú-
smoking is a Muhammadan. Hindus of the lower castes occasion-
ally visit the opium shop, but form a very small proportion of
the smokers. The idle and dissolute Mussulmáns of old and
embarrassed families, brought up in the midst of a licentious
population, without any education or healthy incentive to
¹ On Chandú-smoking at Singapore, see an exhaustive paper by Mr. R. Little,
in vol. ii, No. 1, of the "Journal of the Indian Archipelago " for 1848.
46
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
exertion, are the chief smokers; and it is of daily occurrence to
find the head of a house an inveterate smoker, miserable until
his spirits have been elevated by his favourite drug. It is not
unusual for Muhammadans to excuse their intemperate habits
on the ground of prolonging their lives. Throughout the East it
is a popular belief that on the birth of each human being the angel
Jabra'il writes on the forehead the number of inspirations allotted
to him. By diminishing their frequency (habs-i-dam), which can
be most effectually done by opium, life will be prolonged, and
they instance Shah Madár, who was an adept at holding his
breath, and lived to the patriarchal age of three hundred and
ninety-five years.
CHAUNRÍ-WÁLAH
Is a Muhammadan who makes fly-flaps and besoms with
strips of Date palm-leaves, the former used by syces, the latter
by domestic servants. Bráhmans, however, dust the ground
before their idols with the tail of a Ban-gáe, or Yak, and a
Chaunrí of this is also borne at the Muharram by the boy
called Imám-ka-Páik.
1
CHHAPAR-BAND.
CHAYÁL.
In Dacca the trade of making bamboo frameworks for
thatched roofs is carried on by Muhammadans of the most
advanced Farází persuasion; but in villages Chandáls, or any
person skilled in the work, follow it.
Bamboos before being used are always steeped in water to
harden them against the attacks of white ants, and several
varieties are selected according to the particular requirement.
"Tulda " bamboo (Bambusa tulda) is good for Ja'farí, or lattice-
work; "Ora" for the framework of the roof; and "Barák" for
uprights. Houses in Bengal of the ordinary curvilinear form
are covered with two chhapars, and the hut is called an "Alang.
A four-sided pointed roof is known as "Chau-chála," in Bihár
"Chautarká; one with four verandahs in addition an "Ath-
chála;" while two chhapars with an extension in front, covering
a verandah, a "tai-chála."
""
"
1 Vana-gava, Bos Gavaeus, or wild ox.
""
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
47
The chhapar-band is often, though not necessarily, a
thatcher, or gharámí." Thatching grass is bought from
Chandáls, and in May, when it is in season, the annual fires
occur, causing much loss to the citizens, but improving the
sanitary state of the bazárs and villages, which are usually
referred to thatchers discontented with the dull trade, and, if
correct, verifying the description given of them fifty-eight years
ago. Mr. Walter Hamilton, writing in 1820 of the Dacca
workmen, says: "The thatched houses being of very combustible
materials are generally burned down once, if not twice, per
annum, and are viewed while burning by their owners with an
apathy truly Asiatic. Into large earthen pots, sunk in the
ground, they throw the few valuables they possess, and mats,
thatch, and bamboos being plenty, the expenditure of a few
rupees restores their edifice to all its original splendour. These
fires generally originate with the owners of house-building
materials (chhapar-bands and gharámís), and when a fleet of
boats loaded with them arrives, a conflagration may be expected
to ensure a ready sale."¹
CHHÍPÍ-GAR
Is a cotton-printer, who stamps patterns on embroidered
muslins, known in the trade as "kashída,” and “chikan.”
<<
The dye used in stamping is called "pachá-pathar," or Deo-
matí," a red-ochre earth from Upper India.
Paste, or glue, is
Leí-chhapa employs other workmen.
heated and smeared over the stamp with which the design is
impressed on the cloth.
The men who follow these occupations would consider
themselves degraded if they traced patterns on silk, which is
exclusively the work of women.
CHIKAN-DOZ.
They are Muhammadan embroiderers of muslin, who work
with gold, or silver, thread (Kalábattun), as well as with cotton
and silk, and make the beautifully ornamented caps worn by
rich Mussulmáns. The Chikan-doz is usually a workman, but
1 "A Geographical, Statistical, and Historical Description of Hindostan,”
vol. i, 186.
48
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
;
a few, having saved money, are wholesale dealers. Not having
the same scruples as the Rafúgar about instructing their daugh-
ters' children, they freely teach all desirous of learning the art.
Ustágar is the polite term by which to address a member of
this class. Ustágarní is the title of the female, not necessarily
the wife of an embroiderer, who gives out kashída cloth to be
worked in private houses, there being few Muhammadan families
of respectability the females of which do not spend much of
their leisure in embroidering handkerchiefs for export to Arabia
and the Persian Gulf.¹
CHÍRÁ-KASH.
Individuals belonging to the Káyasth, Sonár, Tántí, and
Sáha castes, but chiefly Muhammadans, earn a livelihood by
engraving on gold, silver, or copper in the following manner.
A plate, or salver, being fixed to a bench with wax, the pattern
is traced with a sharp style and afterwards cut out with a chisel.
The Chírá-Kash also make patterns in relief by the crude
method of placing wooden blocks underneath, and beating the
thin metal on them.
CHÚRÍWÁLA H.
This Muhammadan trade is quite distinct from that of the
Hindu Kácharu, the former manufacturing glass bracelets of
different colours, and ornamenting them with tinfoil, while the
latter only works in lac.
Glass in crude lumps (thakká) is imported from Cawnpore,
and is either of a dull white or of a pale green colour. Various
tints are given to it by the Chúrí-wálah. By mixing lead and
tin a yellow colour is obtained; with a salt of copper, called
"chhíp," imported from Nepaul, a sky blue (ásmání) is formed;
with sulphate of copper a deep green; with a mixture of lead
and zinc, or pewter (jastá), and tin, a deep red.
Glass bracelets are made in the following way. The furnace
(bhaṭhí), partially sunk in the ground with a wood fire under-
neath, contains a large crucible which, being of smaller diameter
"The finest filigrane
1 Mrs. Kindersley, writing from Allahabad in 1768, says:
(an old name for this embroidery) is made at Dacca. This is work which re-
quires great delicacy and patience; it is not perforated like the filigrane made
in Europe, but the gold or silver thread is cut into long pieces like fine threads."
Letters, &c., p. 241. (London, 1777.)
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
49
1
than the furnace, allows the flame to ascend and heat the trays
arranged around. There are six openings into the furnace, and
opposite each a workman sits, while the implements at hand are
a
saláka,” or iron-pointed rod, with which the molten material
is extracted, and a spear-shaped piece of iron, called “málá,”
with which the glass is fashioned into a circular band. At this
stage the material is again heated, and, with a thin iron rod
(patkar), the band is transformed into a narrow ring, which,
being placed on an earthen cone (sarkandí, or sánchá), the
proper size is given to the bracelet.
These artizans know nothing of the art of annealing, con-
sequently when the bracelet is finished it is placed on the
ground at the side of the furnace and allowed to cool gradually.
A skilful workman will turn out a thousand bracelets a day;
but an unskilful about half that number only. In Dacca these
bracelets are in great demand, the market price being two anas
(3d.) a hundred; but in Hindustan eight hundred are bought for
that sum.
Another branch of this trade is ornamenting the bracelets
with tin-foil. Lac is smeared along the circumference of the
glass circle, and the foil, often of a golden colour, is stuck on.
Bracelets ornamented in this manner and sold for five anas a
hundred, are generally worn by Muhammadan females of the
lower ranks, as shell-bracelets, the correct wrist decoration of
Hindu females, cannot be put on by them.
DAFA'DÁR.
This name, properly given to a sergeant of police, is in
Eastern Bengal the designation of a low class of Mussulmáns
who, chiefly found along the banks of the Hilsámárí river, are
also known as Nalwah" from using the Nal grass in the
manufacture of baskets.
They are undoubtedly an offshoot from the Hajjám division,
and having adopted a new occupation, as a natural consequence,
claim a higher position than the parent stock. The Hajjáms
eat with the Dafa'dárs, but the Dafa'dárs decline to deal with the
Hajjáms on a footing of equality.
The men and women make rice bins and coarse mats, called
chațáí," with Nal grass, brought from the Sunderbuns by
themselves, or by traders.
Though a despised community they do not permit their
women to appear in public, and still cling, uninfluenced by the
E
50
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
preaching of the modern doctors, to their old ancestral beliefs
and customs.
Their headman is styled Mu'tabar, but he does not receive,
as is usual, a present of a turban at weddings. Furthermore,
an annual subscription to the Pancháít is not levied, but the
Mullá gets a fee at weddings and funerals.
DÁÍ.
This word is often counfounded with the Sanskrit “Dháí,” a
wet nurse.
In Eastern Bengal, Dháí is a midwife, the "dudh-
piláí" being a wet nurse.
Midwives are generally Muhammadans, but if Hindus they
belong to the Chamár caste. No respectable Hindu will cut the
navel-cord, and a common term of abuse applied to a midwife
is "Nár-Káṭa,” or one who cuts the cord.
The male relatives of these women are usually tailors or
musicians; while in villages they often work as weavers. There
is always great jealousy between them and the barbers and
professional musicians, as, though equally degraded, each claims
a superiority over the other.
În Dacca the midwives are invariably ignorant and generally
consequential, while, being few in number, they are very inde-
pendent, extorting money in proportion to the anxieties of their
patients. A midwife forms an important part of a household,
and no family of note is without one. Like the Purohit and
barber, the Dáí is a privileged person, and has freedom of access
to the female apartments at any hour. Her post is usually
hereditary, but, if childless, the Dáí adopts a young woman and
educates her in the mysteries of the profession. Muhammadan
ladies have no objection to be attended by a Hindu or Christian
woman, but one of their own creed is preferred. The poorer
classes attend on each other, and only in cases of difficulty is
the European doctor, or the professional accoucheuse, called in.
Parturition is in most instances easy, and the poor have seldom
any need of skilled attendance; but among the listless inmates.
of Zanánas, who never lead a healthy or invigorating life, labour
is often tedious and exhausting.
When a woman, either Hindu or Muhammadan, approaches
the term of her pregnancy, an outhouse, or detached room, is
prepared for her to which, when labour begins, she retires with
the Dáí and a servant. This den, to which the highest, as well
as the lowest, is condemned, is known as the Asaucha-ghar, or
Chhathi-ghar. The duty of the midwife is to rub and roll about
OF EASTERN RENGAL.
51
the patient so as to increase the pains, and when the child is
born to cut the cord with a piece of bamboo (tarlá-ka-chhalti),
and to give immediate warning for the "Azán," or call to
prayers.
Of the mechanism of parturition, of the dangers to be
avoided and provided against, midwives are profoundly ignorant;
a woman being satisfied if she is attended by the family Dáí, or
by the pupil of the Dáí, who aided her mother, or sister, under
similar circumstances. Being obliged to observe many customs,
without the due performance of which her own, and her child's
life, would be endangered, the mother resigns herself to the
hands of the midwife assured that all will go well.
The midwife is expected to pay frequent visits until all
danger has passed; but should the lady be rich, she is not allowed
to leave the house for days. It devolves on her to anoint the
infant daily, for in India babies are never bathed. Lampblack
must be smeared along the eyelashes, and a mash of warm
aromatics (ghutti) given daily. For two days after birth the
mother is only allowed to take turmeric, molasses, and infusion
of Ajwain, while on the third, and up to the fortieth day, she
may eat pulse (masúr) and rice.
After the birth of a child many strange rites are performed.
A bonfire (aláwa) is kept smouldering at the door of the
Chhathi-ghar for six days in the hot, for twenty-one in the cold,
season, and an oil lamp, placed within the room, must never be
permitted to go out, an attendant being always on the watch to
trim it, as darkness favours the entrance of evil spirits. A
horse-shoe is placed beneath the bedding, as iron is most
distasteful to all kinds of devils; and an earthen vessel, on
which the name of God is written, is hung over the door. No
one can leave the room before midday, and on no account must
the baby's clothes be washed, or dried, anywhere but inside the
If the husband, or doctor, has to visit the mother his
clothes are fumigated with the smoke of mustard seed thrown
on the fire, and when the visitor leaves, any food, milk, or
drinking water, standing in the room must be flung away. For
six days the Hindu mother is confined in this den, her Muham-
madan sister remaining for ten.
room.
The evil spirit, "Umm-us-sibiyán," literally the mother of
children, is chiefly feared by the Mussulmáns, being believed
to cause convulsions, for the cure of which the "Ojhá,” or
wizard, is summoned, and should recovery ensue he is credited
with effecting it. Up to the age of eighteen months this terrible
demon has to be kept at bay, after which she is considered to be
powerless.
On the sixth, or Chhathí day, the barber and washerman are
E 2
52
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
sent for; the former cutting the hair, and paring the nails, of the
infant; the latter taking away the puerperal garments. It is
from performing this menial work that the Dhobí belongs to a
very unclean class.
On the twenty-first, or ikkísí day, the barber and washerman
again attend, when similar duties are discharged.
On the fortieth day after the birth of a boy, impurity ceases,
as among the Jews, but several rites must be first of all per-
formed. There is the "Kua-Jhánkna," or peeping into the
well, which is identical with the worship of Subháchaní among
Hindus, after which the mother resumes her household duties.
If a child be stillborn the mother is given an infusion of
Bamboo leaves in which a copper coin has been soaked. The
draught is believed to decompose the poison which caused the
death of the child. Should a woman give birth to several stillborn
children in succession, the popular belief is, that the same child
reappears on each occasion, when, to frustrate the designs of the
evil spirit that has taken possession of the child, the nose, or a
portion of an ear, is cut off, and the body is cast away on a
dunghill.
Dáís have many secret remedies which they puff with
unblushing assurance. Several are innocuous, a few useful, but
in all cases they consist of so many and such heterogeneous
substances that their action must be extremely doubtful. Their
favorite remedy is called Mastúrí, or Battísá, from its being
composed of thirty two ingredients. Among other things it
contains syrup, galls, litharge, sandal-wood, rock salt, and
gokhrú (Tribulus lanuginosus), and is applied on balls of cotton
soaked in Champá oil in all diseases peculiar to women.
DARWESH.
The foundation of the various Darwesh orders is referred
to the early days after Muhammad, and, if tradition is to be
believed, earnest men united by a common tie, and worshipping
God according to certain formulæ, were countenanced by Abú
Bakr and 'Alí. Before the birth of Muhammad, however, the
mystical doctrines of the Cufís, tinged by the philosophy of the
Hindus, penetrated the religious ranks of the East, and inspired
Uwais Karaní, in the thirty-seventh year of the Hijra (A.D. 657),
to withdraw from the world, and found the first fraternity of
mendicants. Imitating his example Abú Bakr and 'Alí organised
two similar orders, and entrusted their management to Khalifas,
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
53
1
or successors. From these congregations have sprung all the
Darwesh orders of the present day; the Bistámís, Naqshbandís,
and Biktashis being offshoots from the parent society of Abú
Bakr, and the remaining houses from that of 'Alí. Hammer
fixes the number of Darwesh orders at thirty-six, and mentions
that only twelve existed before the foundation of the Ottoman
Empire in 1298, while the rest were established between the
beginning of the fourteenth and the middle of the eighteenth
century.
In Southern India Faqírs belong to one or other of fourteen
households (Khánawádas); but several of the largest, and most
popular, orders of Persia and Turkey are unrepresented. In
Hindustan, however, various lists are given. Wilson in his
Glossary enumerates ten classes :—
Qádiría.
Chishtía.
Shattaría.
Madáría.
Rafáí.
Jalálía.
Sohágía.
Naqshbandía.
Malang.
Báwá pyárí Ka faqírán.
Mr. Blochmann, again, divides the Indian Darwesh orders
into four greater and six inferior, as follows:-
Qádiría.
Chishtía.
Naqshbandía.
Suhrawardía.
Shiblía.
Madária.
Shaṭṭaría.
Zindah fili.
Kashmírí Rishís.
Majzúbí.
In Eastern Bengal, however, only representatives of the
Qádiría, Chishtía, Rafáí, Madáría, and Naqshbandía are met
with; while of late years no Sohágia has appeared.
The ordinary distinction between one class of Faqir and
another is popularly made to depend on the observance, or
otherwise, of the Shara', or precepts of the Muhammadan
religion. The Bá-Shara', or Sálik, by far the most respected,
regulate their lives in accordance with the rules of Muham-
madanism, while the Be-Shara', or Majzúb, follow their own
appetites and passions, eating and drinking whatever they fancy,
and leading disreputable and scandalous lives. Many of them
are poor demented creatures, like the Abdáls of Syria, who
wander about nearly naked, justifying their indecency by the
text of the Koran, "the clothing of piety is better than apparel
and fine garments.”
The Sálik are usually married men of settled habits; the
Majzúb are homeless beggars, who wander all over India
54
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
dependent on the charity of the benevolent, and universally
credited with supernatural powers. The former initiate disciples
(muríd); the latter rarely do so.
The Darwesh orders resemble in many obvious respects the
fraternities of the Roman Catholic Church, the main difference
between them and the rest of the people consisting in a strict
observance of certain religious rites peculiar to themselves, and
not in any cardinal diversity of belief. Taçawwuf, or the
mysticism of the Cufís, does not embody any philosophical or
religious system, but is identical with the rule of a monastic
order. Each Darwesh society has a rule of its own, comprising
some simple, and many obscure, formulæ ; while all acknowledge
Muhammad as the prophet, and the Koran as the handwriting
of God. Contrary to the opinion of the 'Ullamá, Darweshes
believe that many texts of the Koran have a mystical as well
as an obvious meaning, and maintain that the distinctive tenets
of the various orders are based on texts only understood by a
privileged few. The Hadís, or traditionary precepts of Muham-
mad, and the commentaries of the four great Doctors, are also
admitted to be unerring, and binding on all believers. The
peculiar religious doctrines of Cufís are still hidden from us,
and the minute shades of difference separating one from the
other have not been determined. Darweshes, however, concur
in believing that God is the only object of contemplation, and
that the highest truths can only be mastered by rapturous
abstraction, or by falling into a trance, when the outer world of
perception passes away and the soul enters into the unseen and
spiritual world. The Eastern mystics derived many of their
peculiar conceptions from the Greek Plotinus, the Egyptian
Aristotle, as they call him, who asserted that being and know-
ledge were identical. Cufís, therefore, maintain that to know
the Divine Intelligence it is necessary to become that Divine
Intelligence; and as the soul is an emanation from God, a ray
of His ineffable brightness, it must lose its personality, becoming
absorbed, during the ecstatic state, into the Divine Essence.
The Spanish Quietists asserted that the soul became purified,
and prepared for reabsorption, by prolonged austerity; but the
Çufís regard the soul as the slave of the will, being at pleasure
constrained to unite with the Great Spirit. By constant medita-
tion, therefore, on the attributes and beneficence of God, and by
renunciation of the world and its temptations, the Darwesh
acquires Ma'rifat, or knowledge of Him.
It is the privilege of only a very few to gain this knowledge,
but, through the mercy of God, holy men have from time to
time appeared to guide mankind towards salvation by pointing
out the path (Tariq) leading to perfect knowledge. Each
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
55
messenger has indicated a new route; but all tend towards the
same goal. According to some authorities there are always
forty saints (Chhihal tanán) with one chief, or Qutb, living,
round whom the whole Muhammadan world revolves. Several
of these Qutbs have established orders; but others have merely
revived and reformed those already existing.
(a) CHISHTÍA.
The founder of this Indian Darwesh order, Khwajah
Mu'inuddín, son of Ghiyásuddín, a Sayyid of the house of
Husain, was born at Chisht, a village of Sístán, in A.H. 537
(1142). When fifteen years old his father died, but his educa-
tion was directed by Ibrahim Kandozí, a celebrated doctor, by
Khwajah 'Usman,and finally by the great 'Abd-ul-Qádir Gílání.
According to the author of the Qánoon-i-Islám, it was a certain
Shaikh Abú Ishaq Chishtí who organised the fraternity; but it
is generally admitted that Mu'inuddín followed Shahabuddín
Ghorí in his invasion of India, A.D. 1193, and settled at Ajmír
in a ruined temple sacred to Mahádeo. It is popularly believed
that the saint was in the daily habit of filling a water-skin
(mashk) and hanging it on a bough. The water drops fell upon
a "lingam" hidden beneath leaves and rubbish, and this,
although quite accidental, so pleased Mahádeo that he conferred
on the saint many miraculous powers. Hence it is that Hindus,
as well as Muhammadans, make votive offerings at his tomb,
especially in the month of October. Mu'inuddín died on Satur-
day, the 6th of Rajab, A.H. 636 (1238), and ever since Ajmír
has been known as Dár-ul-Khair, the abode of goodness.
The Ajmír shrine has always been greatly favoured by the
Muhammadan rulers of India, and Mu'inuddín became the
patron saint of the Mughal dynasty. In 1544 it was visited by
Sher Shah. In 1570, five months after the birth of Jahángír,
Akbar walked to Ajmír on foot from Agra, a distance of two
hundred miles, in fulfilment of a vow. In 1613, Jahángír
caused a brass kettle to be made at the shrine for cooking food
for five thousand pilgrims. In 1614, he attributed his recovery
from a violent fever to the intercession of the saint, and, as a
token of gratitude and humility, had his ears bored. In 1616,
when at Ajmír, he enclosed the tomb with a gold railing of
pierced work, costing 1,12,000 rupees. In 1628, Sháh Jahán, on
his way to Agra, prostrated himself before it.
In the wars
which followed on the death of Aurangzíb, the shrine was
pillaged and destroyed, but Madhají and Daulat Ráo Scindiah
erected the present plain building over the tomb.
The next celebrated member of this order was Makhdúm
56
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
Sayyid Muhammad Banda-nawáz, Gesu-daraz, or the long-haired,
who resided at the courts of Fíruz and Ahmad I, of the Bahmaní
dynasty, towards the end of the fourteenth, and beginning of the
fifteenth centuries. His tomb is at Gulbarga in the Dakhin,
and his 'Urs is held on the 16th of the month Zí-qa'da.
Before the reign of Akbar, Shaikh Músá, a descendant of
Shaikh Farid-i-Shakarganj, resided at Sikri, where his wife bore
several sons, the second being Shaikh Salím Chishtí, whose life
is so intimately connected with that of Akbar's family. The
date of his birth is not given, but he was at the height of his
fame about 1569, when he foretold the birth of Prince Salím,
the future Jahángír. The Shaikh was married, and of several
sons distinguished as soldiers, the most famous was Shaikh
Ahmad, who became a Mançubdár of five hundred at the court
of Akbar.¹ Shaikh Salím died A.H. 979 (1571), and was buried
at Fathpúr Sikri in a tomb which has been described "as a per-
fect gem of art, elaborately executed in white marble of the
purest hue, and the most delicate sculpture." At the present
day it is resorted to by thousands; and barren women, both
Hindus and Muhammadans, tie pieces of string on the marble
lattice work, in confident hope that they will conceive through
the intercession of the saint.
Other followers of this order have earned lasting renown. At
Agra is the tomb of Shaikh Ishmáíl Chishtí Akbarábádí, who
died A.D. 1655, leaving a great name for sanctity. Sayyid Sháh
Zuhúr, who built a small earthen monastery at Allahábád, which
still exists, is also renowned for the miraculous cures effected
during his lifetime, and vows paid at his tomb are rewarded at
the present day by restoration to health.
A few members of this Darwesh order are always to be found
in Eastern Bengal, and one of them has resided for many years
in the tomb of Sháb Jalál Dakhiní at Dacca; but the head of
the fraternity, known as Sar-guroh, or Sajjáda-nishín, always
resides at Ajmír.
The Chishtía Faqírs, generally Shías, are very illiterate, and
unable to read Arabic or Persian.
As a rule they are married men, who freely indulge in opium
eating, but do not use Bháng, or other intoxicating drugs. Like
many religious mendicants, Hindu and Muhammadan, they carry
a large sea cocoa-nut (Lodoicea Sechellarum), called a Kishtí, into
which they receive alms of food and money. Around the neck
are hung three necklaces of glass beads known as Kanṭhá,
Zanár, and Tasbih, the last the rosary, consisting of a hundred
1 For further particulars of the family, see Blochmann's "Ain-i-Akbarí.”
2 Roberts (E.) "Hindostan," ii, 5.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
57
and one beads. It is incumbent on each Faqir to recite the
confession of faith (Kalmá) five times daily for each bead, and
during the first watch of the night ('ishá-namáz), he must spend
several hours in repeating texts of the Koran, and in counting
his beads. On the right arm an amulet is bound, within which
is contained a slip of paper on which is written the Súra Yá
Sin,¹ or heart of the Koran, as Muhammad called it.
Music, either instrumental or vocal, forms an essential part
of their religious services, it having been observed by Mu'inuddín
that singing was the food and support of the soul. When in a
state of abstraction, or animated by religious fervour, the
Chishtía Faqírs break forth into loud and excited singing, and
throw themselves into strange attitudes, hanging by their feet
from trees, or arching their bodies backwards till the head
touches the ground, and mistaking, as Gibbon has it, "the giddi-
ness of the head for the illumination of the spirit."
These Faqirs eat and drink in any respectable house, and
partake as readily of food cooked by a Hindu, or Christian, as
by a Muhammadan.
(b) QÁDIRÍA.
Throughout the Muhammadan world, from the shores of the
Atlantic to the confines of China, the great Darwesh 'Abd-ul-
Qádir Gílání is venerated as the first of spiritual teachers, and
invoked in all seasons of danger, or tribulation. The following
are a few among many titles indicating his superiority over all
other saints, Píran-i-Pír, Pír-i-dastgír, Ghaus-ul-'Azím, and
Ghaus-ul-Çamadání.
Sayyid Abd-ul-Qadir was born in Gílán, a province of Irán,
in A.H. 471 (1078), and while still an infant, by refusing to
taste milk during the fast of Ramazán, he foretold his sacred
mission. When seventeen years of age he went to Bághdad, and
in A.H. 521 (1127) began public lectures. He was appointed
guardian of the tomb of the Imán 'Azam abú Hanífah, who died
in prison A.H. 150 (767). The date of his death is uncertain,
but most authorities fix it in A.H. 561 (1165). His body was
interred in a suburb of the city, and around it so many saints
have been entombed that Baghdad has acquired the name of
Burj-al-auliyá, or citadel of saints. The tomb of 'Abd-ul-Qádir
is one of the most handsome buildings in modern Baghdad, being
surmounted by a lofty dome, and enclosed in a garden watered
by means of an aqueduct leading from the Tigris. The court is
divided into a vast number of small cells, tenanted by Faqírs,
1 So named from the thirty-sixth Súra, which begins with these two letters.
This chapter is so highly valued, that Muhammadans learn it by heart, and have
it read to dying persons when in articulo.
58
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
1
1
and the shrine is so richly endowed that about three hundred
mendicants are fed daily. The inhabitants of Baghdad regard
'Abd-ul-Qádir as their patron saint, and call upon him on all
occasions of peril, or affliction, by land or water.
1
Qádiría Faqirs are met with in all parts of the East, and in
Egypt often earn a livelihood as fishermen. Their banners and
turbans are properly white, but in India their dress is either
green or white, while many prefer the red ochre dye, distinctive of
Hindu Bairágís, for staining their coarse sleeveless tunic, known as
"Ázád-be-nawá." In Bengal Qádiría Faqírs are always married,
their sons being initiated as soon as they come of age. The
Urs, or annual festival, of the saint, is observed on the eleventh
Rabiâ-us-sání.
The rites attending the admission of a disciple are symbolical
of those observed after the death of a Muhammadan. The pupil
being stripped and shaved, seven jars of water are poured over
him, and as each jar is emptied the Kalmá, or confession of faith,
is repeated four times. A Kafan, or " Allah Nabí ka dalq," the
peculiar dress of mendicants, and a red, black, or blue collar
(girebán) of a singular pattern are put on him. A real Qádiría
is recognised by this collar, which is worked by the Faqírs
themselves, and composed of a certain number of stitches sewn in
squares, never in curves. Should the stitches be too few, or too
many, the impostor is unmasked, and is liable to have it snatched
away by the true Faqír.
The novice finally receives a necklace (kanṭhá) as well as a
rosary (tasbih), and in return is expected, but not obliged, to pay
a fee varying from four to ten rupees.
Qadiría Faqirs accept money and uncooked food from Hindus,
and eat with most classes of Muhammadans, although they
despise and ill-treat the Bediyá and other Muhammadans of
doubtful orthodoxy.
They never sell amulets to ward off disease, as other mendi-
cants do, nor claim the possession of power to exorcise spirits;
yet the public credit them as well as all religious mendicants
with this faculty.
The wives of the Bengal Qádiría never join their husbands in
perambulating the city, but, attending to their household duties,
earn a little by embroidering muslins.
(c) NAQSHBANDÍ.
This is one of the most widely dispersed, and most
respectable, of Indian Darwesh orders. Followers of this "path"
are very common in Hindustan, while in Bukhárá and Central
1 "Geographical Memoir of the Persian Empire," by J. M. Kinneir, p. 250.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
59
Asia they are so numerous that all pilgrims to Mecca from
these distant countries are known by the Arabs as Naqshbandí.
The original founder of this religious order was one
Ubaidullah, but Baháuddín by his writings defined the prin-
ciples of the sect, and established it on a secure basis. Pír
Muhammad Baháuddín Naqshband, a contemporary of Timour,
died A.H. 791 (1388).¹ He is the patron saint of Bukhárá, and
when Vambery arrived in that city, the inhabitants at once con-
cluded that his long and perilous journey was only taken for the
purpose of visiting the tomb of the saint. The shrine of Baháud-
dín stands a few miles out of Bukhárá, on the Samarkand road, the
tomb being in a small garden, exposed to the weather, as every
roof built over it has been thrown down by supernatural agency.
On one side is a mosque, in front of which is the famous Sang-i-
murád, or stone of desire, worn and polished by the foreheads of
generations of devotees, and adjoining is a large college. Over
the tomb hang several rams' horns, a banner, and a broom
formerly used in sweeping the sanctuary at Mecca.2 Pilgrimages
are made to this shrine from the most distant parts of the
Muhammadan world, and it is customary for each Bukhariot to
visit it every week, three pilgrimages being looked upon as
equivalent to one paid to the distant Ka'ba. The inhabitants
think that by merely uttering "Bahauddín balá-gardán!"
“Bahauddín, thou averter of evil!" they will be saved from all
misfortunes.
According to D'Herbelot, Baháuddín wrote a work called
"Maqámat," or discourses on various subjects connected with
eloquence and academic studies, which is the guide book of the
sect. The title of Naqshband was bestowed on Baháuddín
because he "drew incomparable pictures (naqsh-bandí) of the
Divine science, and painted figures of the Eternal Invention,
which are not imperceptible.
In Bengal, the Naqshbandí Faqírs, usually called "Mushkil-
Ásán," a designation implying power to avert evil, are generally
married men, and Bá-shara'. On Thursday evenings they
perambulate the streets carrying a lighted lamp (Shama'), and
proclaiming that there is only One who can alleviate sorrow, and
whose ear is always open to the cry of the penitent. They never
ask for alms, but accept whatever is given and in return imprint
a "tilak," or mark, on the forehead of the alms giver.
There are two ceremonies observed by Muhammadan women
closely connected with the peculiar doctrines of this fraternity.
The first is a fast called Muskil-Asán, observed on each Thursday
¹ D'Ohsson places his death in A.H. 719 (1319).
2 "Travels into Bukhárá," by Sir A. Burnes, ii, 271. Travels in Central
Asia," by Arminius Vambery, 194.
60
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
in November. What its original signification was is now diffi-
cult to ascertain, but it was probably kept in seasons of adversity
as at present, when after fasting for a day the celebrants eat
Halwah, and another sweatmeat called Chitwáh.
CC
The other, known as Mushkil-Kushá," or dispeller of
difficulties, is celebrated on the seventh, seventeenth, and twenty-
seventh of the moon in each month, when a goglet-(Kúza), and
a salt-cellar, are arranged for the service, after which the fast is
broken by eating millet and the sweetmeats Jalebi and Núkal.
(d) RAFÁ'Í.
The Rafá'í, or Gurzmár, Faqirs are less frequently met with
in Bengal than any of the other Darwesh orders; but occasionally
they wander into Eastern Bengal seeking disciples and soliciting
alms.
The founder of this fraternity was Sayyid Ahmad ibn
Abúal Hasan al Rafá'í, called Al Kabír and Al Wálí al 'Arif.
He was nephew (bhánjá) of 'Abdul Qádir Gilání, and descendant
of an Arab called Rifa'a. His abode was in the Bața'ih, or
marshes, forming the delta of the Euphrates, and he died in the
village of Om 'Obaidah A.H. 578 (1182), aged over seventy.¹
Leaving no issue, the family of his brother succeeded, and still
preside over the order. Tradition has preserved a favourite
saying of this haughty saint, "This foot of mine is over the
necks of all the saints of Allah;" but is silent regarding his
life.
The Rafá'í Faqírs are the same as the Howling Darweshes
of Constantinople, who, although rare in India, are very numerous
and popular in Turkey and Egypt.
Like the priests of Baal, the Rafá'í practise the most astonish-
ing feats of self-torture, cutting themselves with knives, till the
blood gushes out upon them, and pretending to thrust spikes
into their eyes, to break large stone blocks placed on their
chests, to eat live charcoal, to swallow swords, and to perform
many other tricks of legerdemain.
An opportunity presented itself in 1874 of observing one of
these Faqírs, a very ignorant, disreputable looking, middle-aged
man, whose intellect was blunted by excessive indulgence in
Indian hemp. He wore long matted locks, hanging down to his
shoulders, a short beard, and small moustache, while his dress
consisted of a long, very dirty, and ragged blouse, a piece of
cotton cloth wrapped round his loins like a petticoat, and a
woollen blanket thrown over his left arm. On his head was a
¹ His tomb was seen by Ibn Batúta in the fourteenth century. Lee's Trans-
lation, p. 33.
OF EASTERN BENGAL,
61
greasy cap with ear flaps, known as a "Kán-dhapa;" on his left
wrist were five silver bracelets, and on his right leg an anklet,
presented by a Nawab of Murshídábád and covered with leather
to deceive bad characters. In his hand he carried an iron mace
with a sharp pointed handle, and square crown hung over with
rings, called a "gurz," from which the order derives one of its
Indian names. With this formidable weapon the Rafá'í Faqírs
are in the habit of enforcing their demands for charity by
slashing their tongues, and beating their heads, till blood comes.
The tongue of the man referred to was a horrible sight, seamed
as it was with deep scars, the result of former violence, while
on the top of his head was a large depressed cicatrix, produced
by the same means.
Around his neck hung three necklaces; one, called a "tasbih,"
was composed of onyx, quartz, and carnelian beads; a second,
or Kanthí, had a hundred and one beads of olive wood (zaitún),
while the third, of the same name, had a similar number of
beads made of clay (Khák shifá) from the sacred tomb of
Karbaláh.
Such was the repulsive figure perambulating the streets of
Dacca in 1874, and claiming to be a Sayyid. The Murshid, or
spiritual guide, of this man resided at Kulpahár in the Hamírpúr
district of Bundelkhand.
Rafá'í Faqirs are Be-shara', freely indulging in intoxicating
drugs. They are usually married men who neglect the regular
prayers, and rarely, if ever, visit a mosque. By the Muham-
madans of Bengal they are regarded with abhorrence and
disgust.
(e) MADÁRÍA.
The founder of this Darwesh order was Sayyid Badí'-ud-dín,
Qutb ul-Madár, born at Aleppo A.D. 1050, and according to the
Mirát-i-Madáría his parents were Jews. Many legends are
related of him. At the age of one hundred years he made the
pilgrimage to Mecca, where he received from Muhammad per-
mission to hold his breath, Habs-i-dam. Subsequently, he was
directed to proceed to India and deliver it from an evil genius,
Muckna Dev, which was destroying the people. Having
confined the demon, he induced the inhabitants to return and
settle with him in the town, still called Makanpúr in the Doab,
where he performed many miracles, and at his death on the
seventeenth Rajab, A.H. 837 (1433), in the three hundred and
ninety-sixth year of his age, he left 1,442 sons, or disciples.
Sultán Ibrahim Sharqí, of Jaunpúr, carried his coffin, and
erected a mausoleum over his remains.
62
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
The seventeenth of Rajab is observed as his festival ('urs')
throughout India; and at Makanpúr thousands of pilgrims,
Hindu and Muhammadan, assemble when the water of the
Ikshunadi, flowing past the tomb, is said for that one day to run
in seven streams of milk, and food cooked with it is believed to
be of ineffable virtue. The tomb at Makanpúr stands in the
centre of a square, the interior being lighted by four latticed
windows. Above the grave hangs a canopy of cloth of gold,
and a similar covering, highly perfumed, is laid on the tomb;
close by is a Mosque before which a fountain plays, and two
prodigious boilers stand, in which a constant miracle is being
performed, for if unholy rice be put into them, they still remain
empty.
No woman dare enter the mausoleum, and if foolhardy
enough to try, she is seized with excruciating pains which last
a long time.2
Around the name of this saint many superstitions have
collected, and he is often confounded with Ghází Miyán, whose
flagstaff bears much resemblance to his. According to a great
authority, Badruddín was a Çufí of a particular order, whose
chief rites consist in the production of beatific visions by
intoxication with Bháng. The sect originated in Persia, its
peculiarities, modified by the influence of Hindu ascetics, being
introduced into India by this Badí'uddín. In several respects
the Madáría Faqírs resemble the Hindu Sannyasís in going
about almost naked, braiding their hair, and smearing their
bodies with ashes, as well as in fastening iron chains around
their waists and necks. The Banjára vagrants of Oudh, accord-
ing to Mr. Carnegy, regard Sháh Madár as their patron deity.
Madáría Faqírs are also called Dafálí, from the small
tambourine (daf) carried by them; and Dhammálí, from running
through and dancing in the midst of a fire on the great annual
festival.
On the seventeenth of Rajab these Faqírs erect a lofty pole
('alam), enveloped in black, or red, cloth, from the top of which
flutters a small black pennon, or the tail of a Yák. The principal
spectacle is the exciting "dhammál," at which the Faqírs, worked
into a state of enthusiasm, keep shouting "Dam Madár! Dam
Madár!" and dancing barefooted in the midst of the fire of red
hot charcoal, sustain no injury, owing, they say, to the direct
interposition of the saint; but the Bhagat, or priest, of the
1 The festival is known as Chharí, Mední, Chirághán, and Badí', when the
Dhammál Khelná, or Gae luțáná, takes place. Elliot, "Supplemental Glossary,"
vol. i, 247.
2 For further particulars regarding this shrine, see "Lord Valentia's
Travels,” vol. i, 202; "Observations on the Mussulmáns of India," vol. ii, 321;
and Shore's "Notes on Indian Affairs," ii, 489.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
63
Dosádhs performs similar antics without the slightest damage.
May it not be reasonably inferred that this meaningless pageant
is a survival of some aboriginal worship preserved by the
Dosádhs, and copied by the followers of Madár.
In the festival the Faqírs prepare cakes, or Madár Ka-roț,
consisting of flour and minced meat, which are eagerly bought
and eaten by the spectators.
By respectable and peace-loving people these Faqírs are
regarded as great nuisances. They wander about the city with
the tambourine to which cymbals (jhánjh) are attached, and,
like the hurdy-gurdy player of England, drive nervous people
distracted by their unreasonable noise. A rich shopkeeper
busily engaged in striking a bargain, or a fat Muhammadan
gentleman about to take his siesta, is no sooner espied than the
Faqir begins to beat and jangle his instrument, and to create
such a disturbance that the victims are only too glad to get rid
of him by paying a small sum of money.
In Dacca Madáría Faqírs dress in white with a black turban,
and hanging on the chest is a "tasbih," or rosary of wooden
beads. Besides extorting money from their townsmen, these
Faqírs manufacture amulets, and "baddhís," or sashes, for those
who put trust in them.
DARZÍ.
The tailor is one of the most honoured workmen, Khalifa, or
Kárígar being the usual titles by which he is addressed. There
is especial disgrace in abusing a tailor, for Edris (Enoch), one of
the first "payambars," or prophets, of Islám, was the father of
such as ply the needle. Further, the Darzí, like the Rafúgar,
sits cross-legged, and was in consequence not expected to stand up
even when a Nawab entered his workshop.
Almost every Muhammadan adult can sew, and whenever a
poor man is in want of work he takes service as a tailor. There
are, however, several sorts of tailors; for example, the Bazárí
Darzí, or hawker of ready made clothes, the Topí wálah, or cap-
maker, and the common Darzí, or clothier. From four to eight
anas is the average day's pay, but as a rule the workmen
receive monthly wages, and often accept piecework to be done
at home. Widows and poor women, again, earn a livelihood by
sewing garments furnished by the master tailors.
A boy is taught to handle a needle in the following curious
way: Two thin pieces of wood, or two stalks of grass, are given
him, and with these he is made to go through all the actions
of stitching, called "tánkna." Having progressed thus far, a
'64
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
piece of cloth, or sampler, is put in his hands and he has to
imitate the patterns traced on it, a task known as
"'álam-
Kháná." Until an exact copy is made he advances no further.
Although the Darzí is a slavish imitator, showing little
originality, he is thoroughly acquainted with the different
stitches used by the seamster and seamstress of Europe. The
hemming stitch he calls turpan; the net, jali; the herring-bone,
zanjíra-bandhí; the running, lapki or pasujna; the buttonhole,
káj; basting, kok-dená; and the ornamental stitch by which
pieces of cloth are united, ormá, or sultáni.
The needle is said to have been unknown to the ancient
Hindus, but now-a-days Hindu tailors, generally Ghulám
Kayasths, are to be met with sewing in the shops of cloth-
merchants and making bedding, quilts, and mosquito-curtains,
but declining to make body clothes, although they are low
Șúdras, and natives of Silhet, where caste is of little account.
DASTÁR-BAND.
This is a Muhammadan trade never engaged in by Hindus.
The Dastár-band is also known as Pagri-band, and although
frequently obliged to stitch rolls of cloth, he would be offended
if called Darzí, or tailor
Various shaped turbans, or head-dresses, are worn by natives
of Bengal and arranged by these seamsters, but if the wife or
sister is expert at needlework, the turban of the husband, or
brother, is made at home. Every profession has its own distinc-
tive head-dress, and not to wear it when visiting, or on cere-
monial occasions, is considered discourteous.
Turbans are usually fashioned on a block (golá), made of jute
cuttings, the nucleus (batáná) being formed of pith, or old rags,
around which white, variegated, or striped muslins are twisted,
but "pagrís" of very gaudy colours are fancied by dandies.
The following turbans are daily to be seen in Dacca:
Shor-bor, worn by Muhammadan table attendants.
Laṭṭú-dar, by Mahájans, Banias, and Amla.
Ghaira, by noblemen at Darbárs.
Khirki-dar, by Hindustani Lálás and bankers.
'Amáma, Mughalia, and Katlí, the two former by Mughals
and their descendants, the latter by young Bengal.
Marhátta, and Mughalia-Marhátta by natives of the
Dakhin.
Shamlá by Wakíls.
Júla-dar by Amla, Peshkárs, and Sarishtadárs.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
65
DAST-FAROSH.
PURÁNA KAPRÁ FAROSH.
The occupation of an old clothesman is followed by any poor
person. He either begs for, or buys, old clothes and rags, which
he sells to the Naicha-band for making his snakes; to the
Mash'alchí for his torch; and to the Jildgar for binding books.
DHARI. DHÁRHÍ. DHÁRHIN.
1
The Dhárí in Oude, and the north-west provinces, are
allied to the Nats and Kanjars, being musicians and sellers of
dairy produce. In Bengal, however, this is the name of a class
of Muhammadan musicians, generally women, who play, sing,
and dance, being regarded by connoisseurs as more talented
performers than the Mírásan. They are taught by masters in
the large towns of Hindustán, and are engaged for a limited
period by rich families in Dacca.
DHOBÍ
The Mussulmán washerman is also known as the Sufaid-gar,
Mistarí, and Istrí-wáláh, and when abused, is designated "Narak
ka dhoná wáláh."
These men assume as many airs as their Hindu brethren,
refusing to wash clothes belonging to the Chamár, Mihtar, Dôm,
or Patní, and giving over to the Hindustaní or Khonța washer-
man the cleansing of the Chhathí, or puerperal, garments, and
declining to touch bedding on which any one has died.
Formerly, the Dhobí observed many Hindu practices, and
worshipped the beetle and plank used in washing. In days of
yore they were also notorious drunkards; of late years, however,
they have become strict Farazís, and relinquished all such
customs as deadly sins. In Dacca there are not more than
twenty houses occupied by them. They have a "Sardár," and
generally intermarry among themselves; but if rich enough a
bride is bought from a poor Muhammadan, or Hindu family.
In Bengal there are several superstitions connected with the
¹ Carnegy's Notes, &c., p. 18.
:
F
66
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
washerman. No Muhammadan will give out clothes to wash,
or receive them back, on Thursdays, or after dark; while the
Hindu objects to do so on Tuesdays or Saturdays, and at the
new or full moon.
Like the Hindu Dhobí, the Muhammadan calenders cloth, and
the calenderers' is no longer a distinct trade. The mangle being
unknown in the East, clothes are beaten with a heavy mallet, or
beetle (Kundí).
DHUNIYÁ.
This is the Sanskrit name for a carder of cotton, the
followers of which trade are known in various parts of India by
different names. In Bombay a carder is called Naddáf, or Pinji-
yára; in Hindustan Bihná; in Gayá Dhuniyá; south of the
Sona, Mançur; and in Bengal Dhuniyá, or Tula-wáláh. The
class is undoubtedly of Hindu origin, and are still regarded by
Muhammadans as out-castes, the reason usually given for this
exclusion being that they eat flesh in a raw condition, which,
however, is a baseless calumny.
In former days, before they were imbued with new religious
ideas, the Dhuniyás worshipped their bow on the full moon of
Srávan (July, August); and a feast was held at which cakes and
goats' flesh were eaten, and large quantities of toddy drunk.
Even now they worship the carding implements before com-
mencing the season's work. Of late years they have been told by
their teachers that they are descended from Mançúr-al-Hallaj,² a
1 Sanskrit, Pinjana, a bow for cleaning cotton.
2 Abú Mugh, al Husain ibn Mançúr al Hallaj, was a native of Al-Baida, in
Fárs. Having attained to Wáçiláh, the last stage of Cúfism, he went to
Baghdad during the reign of the Khalífa Al-Muqtadir. The following marvel-
lous stories are told of him while there: He could produce summer fruits in
winter, winter fruits in summer; he knew the secrets of families and the inmost
thoughts of all he met; and having tasted a few drops of celestial nectar obtained
from the heavenly Húrís, he could no longer restrain himself, but went about
shouting "Án-al-haq! Án-al-haq! I am God!" For this impiety he was put to
death at the Báb-at-táq of Bághdad, on the 23rd Zíqa'dah, A.H. 309 (April, 922).
His followers, however, assert that when taken to the place of execution the
soldiers could not seize hin, as his body eluded their grasp, and appeared com-
posedly sitting at a distance. His soul was then in heaven, where it was accosted
by Muhammad, who admitted that he was quite justified in proclaiming him-
self God; but that for the sake of practical religion, and for the welfare of
mankind, it would be expedient to allow himself to be put to death. The soul
accordingly returned to earth, reanimated his body, and he endured the cruel
death to which he had been condemned. Muhammadans are still divided in
opinion about him, one half repudiating him as an impostor, while his followers
say that his likeness was given to one of his enemies, who suffered in his stead.
Malcolm's " History of Persia," ii, 400; D'Herbelot sub Hallage, "Ibn-
Khallikan," vol. i, 423.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
67
famous Cúfi, the first person who taught mankind the use of the
carding bow. The name Al-Hallaj was derived from the follow-
ing story: Mançúr, who used to sit at the door of a cotton
carder's shop, one day asked the man to go on an errand.
"But I
myself am busy carding," answered the other. "Do my
business," said Mançúr, “and I will card for you." The man
went as he was bid, and on his return found all his cotton
carded. Such is the strange pedigree of these credulous
converts.
Several families of Dhuniyás, now domiciled in Dacca,
originally came from Tirhút and Bihár, and, as the Bengali
Mussulmán never follows this occupation, every year, towards
the beginning of November, skilled workmen wend their way
from Patna, Gayá, and other towns to Eastern Bengal.
Women of low Súdra castes card cotton with the "Phutkí;"
but it is only the professional Muhammadan carder who uses the
Dhunwí.
The Dhuniya, who resides permanently in Bengal, turns his
hands to any trade during the hot, or slack season, often acting
as a Bihistí, or water-carrier, or as a Pankhá coolie.
The bow used in carding is known as the Dhunwí, or Rám
Dhánuk, a name also given to the rainbow; the dumb-bell
shaped instrument, made of the heart of a tamarind tree, with
which the bowstring is made to vibrate, being called "dasta."
The cotton-grower extracts the seeds (binaulá), and feeds his
cattle with them, while he sells the cotton to the carder. A
skilful Dhuniyá will prepare eight sérs (16 lbs.) of the best
cotton, and from ten to twelve sérs of the common, in a day.
For a good day's work he earns at least eight anas. For carding
the cotton of the Semal tree (Bombax heptaphylla), which is an
excellent stuffing for pillows, half an ana for each sér is
charged.
FÁLÚDA-WÁLAH.
In his shop various kinds of sherbet are prepared, as well as
triangular doughy masses of rice, wheat flour, and sago, coloured
with different substances. The sherbet usually sold consists of
sugar and water, into which one of these masses is put, while
the favourite colouring matters are sappan-wood (baqam),
saffron, and the petals of the Nyctanthes arbor tristis.
1
Strange superstitions are attached to this bow. A Natní, or gipsy woman,
ill with fever, earnestly besought to be allowed to crawl through one and be
cured. Unfortunately, one could not be procured at the time, and she had to
recover by ordinary treatment.
F 2
68
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
Divers sorts of syrups (Shírah), made with pomegranate or
lemon juice, flavoured with rose-water, "Keorá " (Pandanus), or
Kus-kus, are also to be bought, but mucilaginous drinks made
with the seeds of basil (Tukhmí-raihán), or Ispaghúl (Plantago
Ispaghula), are preferred by some.
GOÁLA.
Indian Muhammadans have no prejudice against selling milk,
and the name milk-seller carries with it no disgrace as in Arabia,
where the Bedouin will not sell milk, but permits the despised
Egyptian to do so.
((
Mussulmáns, generally styled Bepárís, who keep milch cows,
make neither butter nor ghí," but sell milk, and prepare to
order “má-ul-joban," or whey. Whey is a remedy of the greatest
reputation in all diseases due to excess of heat, and in Muham-
madan families is the favourite domestic aperient.
Bráhmans and Hindus of the higher Súdra castes allege that
they will not touch milk sold by a Muhammadan unless it has
been milked into a vessel held by themselves; but at village fairs
the Bráhman is often seen receiving into his brass pot milk
from the earthern pitcher. When discovered, he defends his
conduct on the plea that milk, the product of the sacred animal,
cannot be polluted even by standing in the vessel of the
unbeliever; but no excuse such as this would exonerate him from .
loss of caste if the pan belonged to the Farangí.
HÁFIZ.
A Háfiz, or one who can repeat the Koran by heart, is
employed in the public mosques to recite it during the Ramazán.
Throughout the month of fasting, the congregation assembles
every evening in the mosque at 8 p.m., for the 'Ishá-namáz, or
night prayers, and, at the conclusion, the "Khatm-taráwí
consisting of twenty supplementary prayers and genuflexions,
being gone through, the Háfiz recites one or more of the thirty
sections (Sipára) of the Koran. Two men are generally
engaged in each mosque, one officiating during the first fifteen
days, the other during the remainder of the month, and on the
Îd-ul-fitr each member of the congregation subscribes something
towards their remuneration. A Háfiz may belong to any trade
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
69
or profession, but the most respected are usually teachers, or
Munshís.
All classes of Muhammadans look up to a Háfiz, although it
is not unusual for him to yield to the temptations of a town life,
drinking spirits, and leading a life in no respect better than that
of individuals less conversant with the Koran.
According to the Sunnís, no Shíah can become a Háfiz, and
one of the ordinary arguments in favour of their Mazhab, or
creed, is grounded on this allegation.
HAJJÁM.
The Muhammadan barber belongs to one of the lowest ranks,
and no respectable family will associate, or intermarry, with his:
The Bájunia and Hajjám were formerly the same person, but of
late years they have been gradually separating.
<<
The Hajjám, like his namesake in other countries, dabbles in
medicine and surgery, consequently he is often styled Bhedi‚¹
from his skill in extracting worms from decayed teeth, and
Más-Káta," from circumcising boys. In many parts of the
country he is also the Ábdál, who gelds bulls; but any Mussul-
mán peasant will castrate kids. When not otherwise employed,
the Hajjám is found cultivating the soil.
Their women sell "mantras," or magical formulæ, against
⚫toothache, earache, and neuralgic pains; and prepare liniments
to cure colic and other internal disorders.
The Hajjám is not the important personage that the Hindu
Nápit is, being less independent and wayward, as his services are
not indispensable.
HAKÍM.
Muhammadan, or, as it is usually called, Yunání, or Greek,
medicine has never flourished in Hindostan, as its study was
neither fostered by State endowments nor patronized by royalty.
For the last three centuries the most celebrated physicians in
India have been Shíah graduates from the colleges of Shíráz,
Samarkand, and Bukhára. During the reigns of Akbar, Ja-
hángír, and Shah Jahán, the court physicians were Persian
Shías, but Sunní doctors were favoured by the bigot Aurangzíb.
1 From Sanskrit, Bheda, piercing.
70
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
After his death the Shías again predominated, holding all the
official posts in the Empire; but to the Sunní physicians the
credit is due of having written many of the most practical, as
well as popular, medical works in the Persian language, while
the salaried court doctors did little towards advancing their
profession. The Hakim of the Mughal period was not only a
physician, learned in philosophy, metaphysics, and science
generally, but a politician who was consulted in important affairs
of State. As often happened, the Hakím, being the friend and
confidant of the monarch, was permitted greater license of speech
than other courtiers. When any difficulty with a neighbouring
nation arose, and great tact and ability were required, the court
physician was often sent as a special envoy to settle it.
It was
for the political part he played, and not for any professional
services, that he retained his dignified position at the imperial
court.
A lower and less respected grade of physician was the Jarráh,
or surgeon, whose skill, like that of the barber-surgeons of
Europe, was limited to the opening of boils and abscesses, and
rarely extended to the amputation of limbs, or to any major opera-
tion. The frequency of sword cuts, punctured and lacerated
wounds, must, however, have accustomed him to treat such
injuries.
The general practitioner, as we would style him, was the
Tabib, whose daily life brought him in contact with all classes of
society, and whose experience of diseases, of idiosyncracies, and
of treatment, secured for him much popularity and respect.
The oculist (Kahhál) was occasionally met with, but his skill
was uncertain, and his ignorance undeniable.
The lowest in rank, the Baitár, or veterinary surgeon, looked
after the royal elephants and stud, but for these services he only
received the pay of an Ahadí, or trooper.
Under the Muhammadan rulers, there being no medical
schools, students were apprenticed to Hakíms, who daily devoted
a few hours, in the intervals of practice, to the instruction of
their pupils. The size of the class varied according to the repu-
tation of the master who endeavoured, for his own credit, to
encourage the youths in their studies. He granted certificates
of proficiency only to those considered worthy, otherwise he
would have forfeited the right to what the Eastern nations set
the highest value upon, the leaving a good name behind him.
In India, no official like the Hakim-bashi of Turkey conferred
diplomas, so the medical profession was open to all; but the
pupil of any famous doctor was sure of obtaining practice in
cities where his master was known, and of at once gaining a
position which less favoured rivals took years to reach. The
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
71
result of this system has been that many amateurs from reading
medical works fancy themselves able to express an opinion on
any subject connected with the structure and temperaments of
the human body, or the properties of plants and qualities of
articles of food. Problems which still puzzle wiser heads are
solved by these pretenders to medical skill without hesitation,
and to their own satisfaction. Where there was no encourage-
ment held out for the advancement of learning, and where a
widespread and remunerative system of quackery prevailed, a
high standard of professional knowledge was not to be expected.
The Hakim practising in the towns of Bengal is generally
familiar with the text-books of Yunání medicine, but very
ignorant regarding the type of modern disease. When sum-
moned to see a patient he never commits himself to any
expression of opinion; but after feeling the pulse, noting its
volume, tone, and rapidity, leaves with a few words of comfort
and strict injunctions regarding diet and cooling drinks. After
several visits, and not until the urine has been examined, and
his text-books consulted, is his diagnosis formed. This being
done, he unpacks his stores and attacks the enemy with his
most powerful drugs. Bleeding is gradually being laid aside;
but in pleurisy venesection from the side affected is still recom-
mended,' and in the delirium of fever leeches or cupping glasses
are applied. The particular vein to be opened often causes
much anxiety, for it has been authoritatively laid down that
certain veins are to be opened in special disorders. In leprosy
and other blood diseases, the "haft-andám," or median vein, is
the proper vessel to cut; in pneumonia and pleurisy, the
"básalík," and in delirium, the "qífal," or cephalic vein.
It is on the examination of the urine that the Hakím chiefly
relies when forming his diagnosis. He has no urinometer and
no reagents. The sample being poured into a thin glass bottle
(qárúra), he carefully determines its colour, surface (zubd),
sediment (rusúb), and density (qawání).
Ι Early in the sixteenth century the medical schools of Europe were ranged
in rival factions on the question which was the proper arm to bleed from in
pleurisy. Pierre Brissot, in 1502, taught that bleeding from the affected side,
though commended by Rhasis, Avicenna, and Mesue, was contrary to the opinion
of Hippocrates and Galen. He was opposed by Denys, a Portuguese physician,
and the decision was left to the Academy of Salamanca. After much discussion
the council gave the oracular reply that Brissot taught as Hippocrates and
Galen had done. This only added fuel to the fire. The adherents of Denys
were dissatisfied, so the question was referred to the Emperor Charles V., it
being urged that the teaching of Brissot was impious and pernicious, as detri-
mental to the body as the schism of Luther was to the soul. This memorable
controversy was renewed at the death of Charles III. of Savoy, in 1553, who was
attacked with pleurisy, bled according to Brissot's system, and died. The
question was left unsettled by the Emperor; but the medical schools throughout
Europe continued to squabble over the subject for several generations.
72
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
The anatomical knowledge possessed by the Hakíms is quite
rudimentary and very antiquated. The Muhammadan belief
that a corpse feels pain when violence is inflicted has always
prevented the study of human anatomy, while the resection of
animals has been prosecuted with only partial success. The
tendons, nerves, and blood-vessels are only known to the modern
Hakims by the indefinite term "Rag;" while the muscles, un-
distinguished the one from the other, are spoken of as "gosht,"
or flesh; and the intestines, with all the abdominal organs, as
"Antrí." According to Muhammadan anatomists, the human
body is composed of seven elements, namely, chyle, blood,
muscles, fat, bones, brain, marrow, and semen. The only text-
book of anatomy is the Tasrihí Mançúrí,¹ of the fourteenth
century, a most creditable work for that age, being illustrated
with rough drawings of the arteries, veins, intestines, and
skeleton.
The Hakims know little or nothing of physiology. The
liver is still regarded, as it was by Europeans until the days of
Harvey, as the root and fountain head of the venous system;
while the spleen is held to be the organ where the blood is
formed and purified. It was the Hindoo physicians who first
taught that this was the function of the spleen, but the Yunání
doctors advanced a step farther, by pointing out that when the
spleen was inflamed, or congested, emaciation and bloodlessness
ensued, for which the actual cautery was the proper remedial
treatment. Accordingly Hakims either cauterize, or apply
blisters and issues in all cases of enlarged spleen. On the
mysterious subject of impregnation, Hakims are content to
follow the precept of the Koran, and to rest satisfied with a
notion of the seventh century.
2
Pathology has not made any advance for many centuries;
and all diseases are, as Avicenna wrote, due either to excess,
deficiency, or faulty combination of one or more of the funda-
mental humours (mawádd) of the human body.
Although Yunání physicians have written much on hygiene,
greater attention was always paid to fanciful descriptions of
disease, and to Materia Medica. The careful accumulation and
comparison of clinical observations were generally omitted, and
every faculty was bent on discovering specifics, or a panacea
for every ailment. Each physician boasts of having a secret
nostrum, which is vaunted as an infallible remedy; but instead
¹ The author is Mançúr ibn Muhammad ibn Yúsuf ibn Ilyas Herátí, who
dedicated it to Pír Muhammad, grandson of Tímur. The date of the work is
A.H. 799 (1396).
2 Ch. xxiii. This text bears a most striking resemblance to that of Job x,
9-11, both being probably founded on ideas current among the Semitic races.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
73
•
of having it tested by independent observations he only employs
it as a valuable source of profit.
In their study of Nosology the Indian Hakims have devoted
much labour to the varieties of type exhibited by disease, to the
effects produced by peculiarities of temperament, climate, or
age; but have entirely neglected the investigation of the excit-
ing and predisposing causes of disease, as well as the laws
regulating its origin and dissemination.
On the therapeutic treatment of disease Hakíms entertain
many fanciful ideas. According to them, all medicines possess
one of the four following degrees of virtue :-
a. Those which do not manifest their usual effects in ordinary
doses.
b. Such medicines as produce inconsiderable, though sensible,
effects.
c. Those powerful drugs, which must be cautiously given,
although certain in their action.
d. Poisons and other drugs which excite deleterious con-
sequences.
Drugs, vegetables, and all articles of diet, they assert, have
either sweet, bitter, acid, salt, pungent, or astringent ('áfis) quali-
ties, producing peculiar effects on the different humours; and are
hot, cool, heavy, light, aphrodisiac, lithontriptic, demulcent, or
emollient. Should the proper medicine not be procurable, its
succedaneum (badal) may be prescribed, and if its action is
thought to be too powerful, it may be lessened by a corrector
(muçlah) in the same may as the English apothecary combines
sulphate of potash with scammony to counteract its irritating
effects.
Cephalic (sa'út) medicines are extensively used by Hakíms
in the treatment of common colds and headaches, it being the
received opinion that there is direct communication between the
nostrils and the brain. Equally absurd is the notion that the
shape of a fruit often indicates its use as a medicine, and because
the Mango bears a slight resemblance to a kidney, it is held to
be useful in renal diseases.¹ Indian Hakims have adopted
many drugs of the Hindu pharmacopoeia, and make use of
Yunání remedies in diseases for which they have been declared
unfit by Arab and Persian physicians.
1 The superstition that the shape, or look, of a plant indicates its officinal use,
is one of the very oldest known. Thus in Genesis it is mentioned that mandrakes
promote conception, because its bifid roots bear a fancied resemblance to a man.
So the modest little eyebright (Euphrasia officinalis) of English meadows got
its reputation for curing ophthalmia, because its small white flower, with a dark
dot in the centre, was fancied to be like an eye; and the Pulmonaria, or Lung-
wort, was given to cure coughs, because its spotted leaves resembled the human
lungs.
74
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
In Bengal the following, being the most valued authorities,
are the text-books given to students :-
Mízán-i-tibb, the first book given to the student, was
published, A.H. 1125 (1713).
Tibb-ul-akbar, with the date A.H. 1112 (1700).
Qárabádín Qádirí, written A.H. 1126 (1714).
The author of these three works was Muhammad Akbar,
Shah Arzání,¹ a physician of the Delhi Court. The first treats of
medicine generally; the second, a translation of an early Arabic
work, the Sharḥ-al-asbáb, of the causes, symptoms, and treat-
ment of diseases; while the third is a work on Materia Medica.
Other standard works generally consulted are the Jami'ul-
Jami', an encyclopedia of medicine, consisting of three
sections:
2
1. Makhzan-ul-adwiya, on Materia Medica, of the date A.H.
1187 (1773).
2. Qarábádín Kabír.
3. 'Iláj amrází mukhtaç aur ghair mukhtaç, on the practice
of medicine.
This great work is highly esteemed, and the Hakims boast
that if it were preserved, and all other Yunání books of medicine
destroyed, nothing of value would be lost. In compiling this
encyclopedia, the author was assisted by his uncle, 'Ulwí Khán,
the first physician of his age.³
The above mentioned text-books are ordinarily used by the
Hakims of Dacca, and it is remarkable that they were all
written by physicians settled at the Nawábí court of Murshídá-
bád, the only place suited for study at the middle of the
eighteenth century. Even at the present day the Qánun of
Avicenna, or its abridgment, the Qánunchah, is read, and
followed by many Hakíms; but as their knowledge of Arabic is
slight, Persian or Hindustani translations are usually preferred.
Even in the brightest days of the Mughal rule implicit
confidence was not placed in the skill of the court Hakims, and
very rarely did any one occupy the position of the trusted family
doctor. When European physicians appeared in India they were
¹ His father was Hájí Mír Muhammad Muqím, a Sunní by religion. Other
well-known works by the son are Mufarríh ul-qulúb, written in 1712, and
Hádad-ul-amráz.
2 The author was Hakim Sayyid Muhammad Husain Khán, son of Hakím
Muhammad Hádí 'Aqili-al-'Alawí, a Shíah from Shíráz. His elder brother was
the famous Díwán of Bengal, Muhammad Reza Khán.
3 Sayyid Muhammad Háshim Shírází was born A.D. 1669. When thirty
years old he came to Delhi, and settled there. When Nádir Sháh retired from
Delhi in 1739, he carried off the Hakim with him, but in 1743 he returned. In
1747 he died. Sháh 'Alam I conferred on him the title of Mu'tadil-ul-mulk,
'Ulwí Khán, and gave him land worth Rs. 3,000 a year,
1
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
75
consulted in urgent cases, and, not infrequently, occupied state
appointments.
The first European physician resident at the Delhí court was
a Frenchman, M. Bernard, a boon companion of the Emperor
Jahángír, and who had the credit of being "an excellent
physician and skilful surgeon." Bernier mentions¹ that his pay
was ten crowns a day, but this was greatly increased by his
attendance on the high ladies of the Seraglio, and on the Omrahs,
who seemed to vie with each other in making him the most
liberal presents, not only because of the cures he effected, but on
account of his influence at Court.
A few years later the Venetian Manouchi arrived at Delhí,
where he remained forty-eight years (1649-1697). He was
body physician to Dárá Shikoh, eldest son of Sháh Jahán, until
his death in 1659. From 1659 to 1667 François Bernier was
doctor to Aurangzíb.
Tavernier met with European doctors practising in different
parts of India. In 1652 he resided with Peter de Lan, a
Dutchman from Batavia, who was attached to the court of
Golcondah. He had attained that position through the stupidity
of the native doctors. The King was ordered to be bled from
the sublingual veins to cure a headache, but no one would
undertake to do it. De Lan performed the simple operation,
and was richly rewarded. In 1665 Tavernier reached Allahabad,
where he found the governor in bad health, attended by ten
Persian physicians, and "Claudius Maille of Bourges, who
practises both Chyrurgery and physick both together."
In Bengal, Schouten states that the Mogols never send an
army into the field without applying to the Company (Dutch)
for surgeons "Qu'on y considere assez, et à qui les principaux
Seigneurs se confient volontiers."
The services of English physicians were also sought for, and
appreciated. In 1636, when Jahánárá, the second daughter of
Shah Jahan, was severely burned in the Dakhin, a messenger
was dispatched to Surat, and Gabriel Boughton, surgeon of the
Company's ship "Hopewell" was sent, under whose skilful
treatment the Princess was restored to health. In 1675 John
Fryer attended the family of the Mughal general at Jeneah.
The most important service, however, conferrred by an English
doctor, was when William Hamilton cured the Emperor
Farrukhsiyar, in 1715, of a carbuncle, and acquired for his
country the settlement of Calcutta. In 1742 Mr. Forth,
surgeon
1 Bernier, i, 309.
3
2 "Voyage de Wouter Schouten aux Indes Orientales," ii, 298.
4 Hamilton died of a putrid fever in 1717, and at the present day no
memorial of his disinterestedness exists.
76
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
of the English factory, treated 'Alí Vardí Khán in his last illness;
and in 1763, when the English were massacred at Ráj-mahal, the
only officer spared was Dr. Fullarton, who had been of great
service to several Muhammadan chiefs.
HAKKÁK.
Workmen employed in manufacturing glass beads call them-
selves by this name, but the real lapidary is rare, while the
Muhammadan Sang-tarash, or stone-cutter, is unknown in Dacca.
The Hakkák makes spectacles of rock crystal (Sang-billaur),
cuts glass in imitation of diamonds, and gives the desired shape
to gems. His implements are a wheel driven backwards and
forwards with the left hand, a wire bow, and emery powder
(Kúranj-pathar).
Muhammadans engaged in making glass beads obtain their
material from the Shisha-gar. It is stained with various colours,
and beads for necklaces, ornaments for nose rings, and counterfeit
stones for armlets and rings, are made with it. The following
five kinds of wheels are used in a manufactory for grinding and
polishing glass: the first, called "Karan," is made of slate; the
second of bell-metal (Kánsá); the third of teak wood; the fourth
of tin, and the fifth of flint (Chakmak). A bamboo bow strung
with an iron wire, and rubbed with moistened emery powder,
is employed for cutting glass.
HALWÁÍ.
The art of preserving fruits in sugar, or vinegar, being
unknown to the Hindus, all the preserves procurable in the
Bazárs of the East are made by the Mussulmán Halwáí, who,
however, destroys, by too many spices and by excess of sugar, the
natural flavour of the fruit. It is astonishing how fond the
lower classes of Muhammadans are of sweets, consuming heaps
of the common confectionery without hesitation and without
injury, whilst a surfeit of them never makes the least difference
in the quantity of food afterwards taken. The Halwáí is an
especial favourite with youths, who are as fond of spending a
few coppers on a holiday in his shop as any English schoolboy.
Halwa," the sweetmeat from which the confectioner derives
his name, is made of flour, clarified butter, and sugar, coloured
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
77
with saffron, and flavoured with almonds, raisins, and pistachio
nuts, being much inferior, however, to the Halwá brought from
Kábul by Afghán traders, and said to be made with camels'
milk.
The Halwáí prepares jams of mangoe, cocoanut, ginger, and
"bel;" and candies oranges, citrons, and bel fruit. The pickles
(áchár), consumed in large quantities by all Muhammadans, are
of three kinds, prepared with vinegar, mustard-oil, or salt. The
Halwáí likewise makes his own vinegar with sugar, molasses, and
water, and with it preserves vegetables and fruits of all kinds.
Mangoes and limes are, however, often preserved in mustard-oil
to which pounded mustard seed has been added. Járaka, or fruit
in brine, is highly recommended as an aid to digestion when
eaten as dessert. Arab pedlars bring the best to Bengal, but in
Dacca the aromatic lime known as "Kághazí," from the fineness
of its rind, is usually preserved in this way.
HAWÁÍ-GAR.
The maker of fireworks, always a Muhammadan, is often
called "Gol-sáz," but the Persian title of Átash-báz" is no
longer in use. The Hindu Málákár does make a few simple
fireworks for weddings, but this is never his exclusive trade.
In Dacca six or seven men are always employed in making
fireworks, the most skilful having learned the art in Calcutta.
The chief chemicals used by the native pyrotechnist are sulphur,
chlorate of potash, nitrate of silver, saltpetre, sulphate of copper,
nitrate of strontia, nitrate of baryta, and charcoal. The Hawáí-
gar is an adept in preparing blue, yellow, red, and green lights;
but native crowds prefer seeing the noisy, and more dangerous,
fireworks such as the sky-rocket (hawáí), squib (murrá), cracker
(páṭáká), Catherine-wheel (charki), Kabutarí, Tonta, do-damba,
and Mahtábí.
JILD-GAR.
The Jild-gar is the Mujallid of the Arabs, the bookbinder of
Europe.
The art of binding books, unknown either to the Muham-
madans or Hindus, has been acquired within the last century,
and at present is one of the most thriving trades.
78
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
The Jild-gar, taking "Chhímí-haldí," a species of turmeric,
"Methí" (foenum Græcum), "nim" leaves, and water, boils
them together. Into this decoction the sheets are dipped, then
pressed, dried, and hung on a rope in the shade. When dry
they are rubbed with a stone, which glazes the paper and fixes
the ink.
The book chiefly sold is of course the Koran, although not
five per cent. of the Muhammadan population can read, or
understand it when read. The Koran is never written now-
adays in Eastern Bengal, and an old illuminated copy will fetch
´a thousand rupees, or even more. Lithographed editions from
Meerut, Lucknow, and Bombay are much preferred to those
printed in Calcutta. An unbound Koran can be bought for
sixteen anas, a bound one for twenty-four anas. Although the
Koran is not printed by authority it is accepted as correct if
issued by a native press, no Muhammadan even seeming to
entertain the suspicion that the sacred volume could be tampered
with by any printer, which is the more surprising as the printers,
usually illiterate, may not unnaturally be supposed careless in
the selection and arrangement of their letters. The explanation
probably lies in the fact that few Arabic scholars in India ever
make the Koran a critical study, and the large majority of
persons who daily read it are too ignorant of Arabic to be able
to form any opinion regarding its correctness.
During the Muhammadan rule, the Jild-gars prepared the
thick tough paper on which Sanads, and other official documents,
were written, but this art is fast dying out.
JULAHÁ.
This name is repudiated by all classes of Muhammadan
weavers, being considered as an abusive one, and synonymous
with the Arabic " Ahmaq," a fool.
Various humorous stories are told of the stupidity of the
Juláhas, one of the favourite in Dacca being the tale of how a
party of them tried to escape from Dhemra, a celebrated weaving
village. They jumped on board a boat at night, forgetting, how-
ever, to unfasten the painter, and after rowing with might and
main all night, at daybreak, much to their astonishment, the boat
was still at the ghát of Dhemra. After puzzling their brains for
some time they came to the sage conclusion that, though desirous
of leaving Dhemra, Dhemra was unwilling to part with them,
and had followed in the wake of their boat. When general
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
79
stupidity is imputed to a body of men in India, we may surely
infer that they have become converts to a new religion, or belong
to a servile aboriginal tribe. The Juláhas, there is every reason
for believing, belonged to a despised Hindu caste, who in a body
became converts to Muhammadanism. Their customs, observed
with that punctiliousness peculiar to converts, are essentially
Shíah. During the month of Muharram they do not comb their
hair, chew betle, or eat from vessels in which fish have been
dressed. Besides, on the fifth, sixth, and seventh days of that
month they wear the "Baddhí" and "Kafní," badges of the two
Martyrs.
Their headman is called Mu'tabar, and the honorary titles
among them are Málik, Mundle, Kárígar, and Shiqdár.
In former days the Juláhas were peculiar among Muham-
madans in never having the " Kábín," or marriage settlement,
drawn up in the presence of the Qází; but of late years the
practice has been introduced, and in addition a "Mahr-námah,"
or deed of settlement, is executed.
JÚTÍ-WÁLÁH.
Shoes are made by the Chamár and Rishí, but are sold by all
Súdras, and even by degraded Brahmans. The real shoe-seller,
however, is the Muhammadan, and the traders who supply the
country at large with shoes belong to this creed. Jútí-wálás
follow a respectable trade, being regarded as the equals of the
best families. They are very strict Farázís, never opening their
shops, or selling a pair of shoes, on a Friday. Shoe-selling is a
modern business, and a pair of shoes is nowadays considered by
the thrifty peasant as indispensable as a cheap and fragile cotton
umbrella. It is supposed that, owing to its recent development,
the Farází Maulavís have had sufficient influence to stop the
sale of shoes on the Muhammadan Sunday, although their
admonitions have failed to close other shops on that day.
In describing the Hindus of Bengal, in 1770, Stavorinus
mentions that they "wear a kind of shoes which are put on slip-
shod, and are turned up before like the Turkish slippers (pápost)."
About thirty years ago the "Nágauráh" was the fashionable
style, but at the present day both kinds have given place to shoes
of English design. During the Muhammadan rule shoes were
generally named after the city where they were made, as Dihlawí
and Peshaurí.
80
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
KAHHÁL.
The cities of Benares and Lucknow are famous for their
oculists, who are either Muhammadans or Hindu Khattrís.
During the cold season individuals belonging to these families
travel about Bengal, operating in the villages and towns.
At Sholághar, Pargannah Bikrampúr, resides a Muhammadan
family which has practised ophthalmic surgery for many genera-
tions. They possess no text books, but the art is transmitted
from father to son, and the young men are carefully instructed
by the elders.
These native oculists recognize two varieties of cataract, Nil-
bind, the hard, and Motiyá-bind, the soft. The former they can-
not cure, but the latter they often successfully treat. The
operation¹ that they practise is very like that formerly advocated
by Sir James Earle and Mr. B. Bell, which is known as "extrac-
tion through the sclerotic."
The operation is performed in the following manner :-An
incision parallel to the lower and outer edge of the cornea is
made with a lancet-shaped knife (báns-pattá), held between the
thumb and forefinger so that only about the fourth of an inch
can penetrate the globe. On its withdrawal a blunt pointed
triangular probe² being introduced the cataract is broken up, and
on the probe being suddenly drawn out the milky lens escapes.
cr
After the operation the eyelids are smeared with an oint-
ment consisting of opium, nux-vomica, "tulasí," black pepper,
Paṭhání lodh," and pulse (masúr), over which cotton wool is
bound. Every day the eye is steamed with the fumes of heated
"Ber," charcoal, and for seven days the diet is limited to clarified
butter, sugar, wheat flour, pulse, and the sweetmeat batásá,
while, should inflammation threaten, the actual cautery is applied
to the temple. On the seventh day after the operation the
patient is permitted to eat the head of a Rohú fish, but until
the expiration of a month he is not allowed to resume his usual
diet.
The head of this family, Shaikh Lakhú, is very successful
in operating, and several well-known residents of Dacca, besides
members of the Rájah of Tipperah's family, owe the almost
perfect eyesight, which they now enjoy, to his skill.
The only other disease operated on by these oculists is
Pterygium (nákhuna), a very common affection in Eastern
¹ This operation was practised in Madras last century. See Forbes' “Oriental
Memoirs," vol. ii, 379.
2 It must be made of equal parts of copper, brass, and iron.
OF EASTERN BENGAL
81
Bengal. They raise the web with a curved needle, and snip it
across with a pair of scissors.
Six or eight Muhammadan youths, learning to become.
oculists, are always to be found at Sholághar, who are taught in
the following curious manner: First of all, they are trained to
make straight cuts in a leaf with a lancet, and are then obliged
to practise on the eyes of dead goats, and of the Rohú fish, the
only animals procurable for this purpose in a Bengali village.
KÁGHÁZÍ.
There is a tradition current that the papermakers of Eastern
Bengal were brought from Upper India in Nawábí days, and
made to settle in the villages which they now occupy. Paper-
making is éxclusively a Mussulmán trade, carried on in the low-
lying tracts of country where the plant used in the manufacture
grows. Along the northern border of Bikrampúr papermakers
are very numerous, and in a village called Arial Khán, between
four and five hundred houses are occupied by these craftsmen.
The only plant in general use for the manufacture of paper
is the white sorrel, or Sufaid Mesta (Hibiscus sabdariffa). Rags,
or old paper, are never employed, but jute is occasionally,
although its fibre is considered hard and brittle.
Mesta is usually planted as a hedge around plots of sugar-
cane, or rice. Its growth is rapid, and it acts as a protection
against wind and water. After being cut it is treated exactly
like the jute plant, namely, steeped in water until the fibres
separate easily. In the manufacture of paper the fibres are first
of all immersed in shell lime dissolved in water, and after a few
hours are taken out, dried, and placed under a "dhenkí," or
pounder, where they are beaten into a pulp, the mass being then
washed to get rid of any excess of lime. The paper being made is
dried, and starch of Arwá rice, never" Kái,” and often arsenic,
are added, the latter to preserve it from the depredations of
insects.
The market price of a man of Mesta fibre varies from forty-
four to forty-eight anas, and from that about two hundred quires
of paper can be made, but the quantity depends on the size of
the paper. Three sizes are usually made, which sell for sixteen,
twenty-four, and thirty-two anas the twenty quires.
In former days the "Dhenkí" was worshipped, and the iron-
shod pestle was constantly smeared with red lead; but now such
mummeries are regarded as impious. Karámat 'Alí having
G
82
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
preached among them, the papermakers are now most bigoted
Farazís. The Dhenki-shed being generally erected outside the
mat walls of the dwelling-house, the females of the family do not
work it, but stay within doors attending to household duties, and
embroidering muslins.
KALWÁR.
Although often notorious drunkards themselves, each of the
Mughal emperors issued on his accession an edict forbidding
any person to make, or sell, wine or any intoxicating liquor.
No Muhammadan could then personally retail spirits, but at
present in Dacca six or seven men, natives of Mymensingh, are
employed by Hindu Sahas as distillers. They are outcasts, and
are not allowed by other classes of Muhammadans to eat, drink,
or intermarry with them. If addressed as Kalwár, or “Sharáb-
wálah," they are offended; but are satisfied if called Kárígar or
Mistarí.
(C
There are five licensed stills working daily in the city of
Dacca, where the common "Bengala Sharáb" is manufactured
as follows: Rice and water are boiled, and a ferment, called
Bákhar,"¹ imported from hill Tipperah, is added. After stand-
ing three days water and molasses are poured in, and the liquid,
being placed in a covered jar (Matká), is put aside for twenty-
five or thirty days. Afterwards it is heated in a copper still
(Bhaṭhí), leading from which are two pipes, or worms, kept cool
by the frequent application of cold water. The cost of manu-
facture is small, and no capital is required for carrying on a
distillery of this primitive character. Bákhar, sold in round
white balls, only costs a rupee a thousand. Wholesale dealers
charge fourteen anas for a quart of this spirit, but the retailer,
by dilution with water, can afford to sell it for twelve.
It is not by the rich that this spirit is consumed, but by the
dissipated idlers so numerous in old Muhammadan cities, and
by the dissolute Dosádh and Chamár. The higher class of
Muhammadans, who do indulge in the forbidden luxury, prefer
English beer, brandy, or cne of the strong liqueurs. Young
Bengal fancies champagne, port wine, or brandy, much of which
is undoubtedly manufactured by enterprising Babús in the back
slums of Calcutta.
¹ Bákhar is prepared with Atub rice steeped in water and strained. To this
is added ginger, pepper, and the leaves of divers jungle plants, which grow on
the hills of Tipperah. It is than made like the spongy cake Batásá and dried in
the sun. See Buchanan's "Eastern India," vol. iii, ch. 2.
• OF EASTERN BENGAL.
83
Natives point to the existence of these licensed distillers as
the cause of the increased indulgence in spirits of the present
day, but they overlook the fact that there are causes at work,
throughout the length and breadth of the land, such as education
and facility of locomotion, which are revolutionising the faiths,
thoughts, and habits of the people, and which must be regarded
as the temporary causes of the moral decadence of their country-
men generally, and of residents of towns in particular. Under
the Muhammadan Government a special officer, the "Muhtasib,"
was employed to take cognizance of drunkenness, and of the
vending of spirituous liquors and intoxicating drugs, but he
never succeeded in putting a stop to drinking, which was always
a venial offence in the eyes of the Mughals.
KASÁÍ.
Muhammad butchers are subdivided into Bakrí-Kasáí, or
goat killers, and Goru-Kasáí, or cow killers. The latter were
formerly regarded as a degraded race, but of late years the two
classes have united and freely intermarry. They are all
followers of Maulaví Karámat 'Alí, and are very bigoted, eating
with the Kútí, but refusing to sit down with the sweeper,
Kichak, or Bediya. Their only title is Mihtar; and their head-
man, or Sardár, has under him a Náib or A'mín.
Before slaughtering an animal the butcher repeats three times
"Bismillah Allah Akbar," and, if uttered with proper reverence,
he is exonerated from the guilt of shedding blood. The Kasáí
will not skin an animal which has died from natural causes,
this he leaves to the Rishí; and in inland villages he trades
in skins, there being little demand for animal food. In towns.
they cure skins, and sell them to the Chamra-farosh; fat they
clean and give to the soap-makers; horn to the comb-makers;
and sinews (parhí) to the Rishí and Dhuniyá for strings of
musical instruments and carding machines.
The female members of Kasáí families not being allowed out
of doors are famous needle women, and earn money by em-
broidering muslin.
G 2
84
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
*
KATHAK, KATHAKA.
This, the Sanskrit name for a singer or reader, of the
Puránas, is usually applied to a musician, of any creed or caste,
who plays on the violin (Sárangí). A Chhetrí Kathak of Dacca
goes about with a band of Muhammadan dancing boys (Bhagtiyá),
but none of his class will condescend to play an accompaniment
to Muhammadan dancing girls (Báí).
KHWÁND-KÁR.
The Khwánd-Kár is a teacher, or reader, in the Persian
language, but in Eastern Bengal he performs for the lower
classes divers abnormal duties, originating in the corrupt and
Hinduized Muhammadanism of India. He is often styled the
Murshid, or religious guide, and Akhúnd, or tutor. As a rule
he is very illiterate and only able to read Arabic with difficulty,
but he makes much of this smattering of knowledge. Thirty
years ago they were important individuals, their services being
in great demand, but the reformed teaching of modern times
has been gradually rndermining this influence, and they are
now little respected, and seldom consulted. During the early
years of this century, when Islám in Bengal was still paralyzed
by the revolution that had occurred, the Khwánd-Kárs educated
boys, instructing them in the rudiments of their religion. At
the present day, however, Munshís generally teach children,
although a Khwánd-Kár is often preferred by strict Muhamma-
dans to instruct their children in the doctrines of the faith, and
teach them the "Kalma," or confession of faith
This preceptor, moreover, makes Muríds, or disciples,
exorcises persons possessed of devils, and cures diseases by
preparing charms (ta'wíz); while many families consult him on
all occasions of sickness; and his ability to relieve suffering is
never for a moment questioned by women. Should a child be
attacked by a fever, or convulsions, the father goes to the
Khwánd-Kár and obtains a charm, usually consisting of a
sentence of the Korán scribbled on a piece of paper, which is
fastened to the child's hair, or arm, or the Khwánd-Kár
mumbling a few sentences from the same book, blows into a
cup of water and gives it to the father as a medicinal draught.
Parents put implicit faith in the efficacy of these charms, and
every Muhammadan can relate wonderful cures effected by
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
85
them. It is said that if an adult, disabled by a neuralgic or
rheumatic pain, drinks water in which the written charm of a
Khwánd-Kár has been dipped, immediate relief is procured, and
no native will deny the possibility of this occurring.
Of old, in the city of Sunárgaon resided a celebrated family
of Khwánd-Kárs who were often Faqírs, and whose power
('Amal) over spirits and París was unequalled, but nowadays
their descendants have fallen into deserved contempt, because
when summoned, the spirits no longer appear.
KOFT-GAR.
The art of inlaying gold, or silver, on iron is gradually
becoming extinct, and instead of twenty houses as formerly, the
city of Dacca at the present day only possesses two or three
families, all of whom are natives of Laskarpúr in Silhet. In
former days their ornamented shields and sword-hilts were
greatly admired; but now, with an amalgam of silver and
mercury they inlay pipes, perfume-boxes ('Atardán), and
Pándáns which are commended by natives.
KOLÚ.
This is a very prosperous trade in Eastern Bengal, and in
parts of the country the Kolús form large village communities.
The Kolú is the Muhammadan, Telí the Hindu, oilman. Of
late years, however, Kolús who have become affluent, and able
to keep servants to work for them, have assumed the name of Telí,
and are gradually withdrawing from their brethren who labour
with their own hands. The Kolú belongs to a very low class,
being unable to marry out of his own set. He is narrow-minded,
a bigoted Farazí, and a despiser of all classes who follow the
practices of their forefathers. In the city of Dacca their
headman is called Parámánik, and the only honorary titles
among them are Chaudharí and Bepárí.
In Mymensingh there is a class of Kolús known as "Búk-
Kolús," who, instead of employing cattle, turn the mill them-
selves, and are popularly believed to harness their shrewish
wives to the mill, whenever they turn restive.
The Kolú manufactures oil from all kinds of seed, but will
only express it in the " Kolhu," or oil mill. He feeds his cattle
86
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
with the refuse, but the refuse of mustard seed (Khali) is sold
to the Baráí for manure, while that of Til (Sesamum) is valuable
for sugar-cane fields.
The Kolú also prepares cocoa-nut oil with the kernels
purchased from the Chutkí.
KUNDAKAR.
This is the Bengali term for a turner, and is used in Dacca
instead of the Arabic "Kharrát" to designate workers in horn,
or horners, who are always Muhammadans, though not forming
a separate qaum or class. They despise and will not intermarry
with the Kasáí, or Kútí subdivision.
These workmen soften the horns of cattle and buffaloes by
fire, and then flatten them beneath heavy weights; but ivory
and deers' horns are sawn into the requisite shape without any
preparation. The Kundakar manufactures combs, which in
Hindustan is the trade of the Mochí, pegs for pattens, small
boxes (Dibiyás) for storing medicines, and nicknacks of various
kinds.
KUNJRÁ.
This is the correct name for a Muhammadan fruiterer, but
in Dacca it is used as a term of abuse, and the fruit sellers call
themselves Mewá-farosh, Sabzí-farosh, or simply Bepárí. They
import fruits from other districts, oranges from Silhet, mangoes
from Maldah, and sell citrons, limes, and plantains, but never
vegetables. The Hindu Kunjṛá, who may belong to any low
Súdra caste, deals in vegetables and fruits grown in the suburbs
of the city.
The real Mewá-farosh, however, is the wandering Kábulí
trader, who penetrates into the most remote corners of Bengal,
and offers for sale grapes, apples, pomegranates, pistachio nuts,
and occasionally the luscious musk melon (Sardá).
Fruit grown in Eastern Bengal is very inferior to that of
Hindustan. The plantains, especially the richly flavoured
"Amrita ságar," are, however, unsurpassed by those of any
other country. Mangoes still suffer from the curse of a holy
man, and no one is able to prevent their being tunnelled through
and through by a small weevil.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
87
1
The insipid Makhánna (Euryale ferox), dry, tasteless melons,
and sour plums, are eaten in enormous quantities by the lower
classes.
KÚTÍ.
This subdivision of Muhammadans derive their name from
the Hindustani verb "Kútna," to pound, or beat. They are
regarded as a most degraded class, it being the popular belief
that a few generations ago they seceded and joined the ranks of
Islám, while, like all new converts, they are most intolerant,
assuming to be stricter and more orthodox than their neighbours,
and, regarding the European with suspicion, if not hatred, they
rarely salaam as he passes. They are either followers of Dúdhú
Míyán, or of Maulaví Karámat 'Alí, and, although punctilious in
their religious duties out of doors, cling to many Hindu super-
stitions. In October they worship the Dhenkí used for husking
grain, at the same time making offerings to Lakshmí, the goddess
of plenty, and every morning bowing thrice before it; while
nothing, according to them, is more ominous of evil than for a
stranger to sit down, or rest his foot on it. When smallpox
attacks their families the Sítala pújah is observed, the same
offerings being made to the goddess as among Hindus.
This large subdivision has separated into three classes, who
intermarry and hold social intercourse with each other, being
named:
Pánw Kútí.
Háth Kútí.
Chutkí Kútí.
The Pánw Kútí, by far the most numerous, work at any trade,
discharging in villages even the menial duty of scavengering.
They are masons, thatchers, goldsmiths, boatmen, water-carriers,
but their principal occupation is husking rice. Bepárí is their
ordinary title, while those who are expert at weighing grain are
called "Kayyál," a name identical with the Dándí-dár, or
weighman, of the Commissariat department.
The wives of the Kútí alone among Mussulmán women
appear unveiled in public, making purchases in the Bazár,
fetching water from the river, and boiling and husking rice in
the open air. Among the richer families the women are
expert workers of Kashída cloth, and often take service as
wet nurses.
No respectable Muhammadan will marry, eat, or associate
with the Kútí, although they are admitted into the public
Mosques, and buried in the public graveyard.
88
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
The Pánw Kútí have a Pancháít of their own, like any Hindu
caste, and a headman called Sardár.
The Háth Kútí, again, pounds bricks for road metal with an
iron pestle or mallet, and makes "Surkhí" for mortar. This
subdivision is a small one, and is being gradually absorbed by
the first.
According to Buchanan, the Chutkí probably derived the
name from carrying about samples, or a pinch (chuṭkí), of
rice to show the quality of the whole, and as all Kútís deal in
rice the designation was applied to them collectively. At the
present day, however, the usual occupation of the Chutki is
extracting the kernel of the cocoa-nut for the manufacture of
oil, and polishing the shells for smoking purposes. Cocoa-nuts
arrive in Dacca without their husks, which are exported by the
growers to Calcutta for making coir ropes and mats. The
cominon varieties of the nut are Jahází, the most highly prized,
imported into Calcutta from the south of India; Kanchanpária
from Noacolly; and Desí, or Bháṭhiyári from Baqirganj. In
the jungles of Bhowál a peculiar nut of a reddish colour, known
as Sharmaniya, highly valued for its shape, is found.
A cocoa-nut tapering like a flower bud, hence called Kalí, is
preferred by all natives for smoking through, and one symmetri-
cally formed will often fetch as much as sixteen rupees. The
Chutki are, however, very cunning workmen, and by judicious
paring often transform an ill-shapen nut into a shapely one,
but the thinness of the shell can be easily detected by the
experienced buyer.
It is not improbable that the great Kútí subdivision of
to-day is an offshoot of the Chandál race, and it is a remarkable
fact that Kútís and Chandáls annually compete in boat races
on the popular Shashṭhí Pújal, a circumstance which would
account for their low rank among Muhammadans.
LAKAR-HÁRA. LAKRI-WÁLÁH.
The men engaged in this trade are usually Kútí Muham-
madans, who advance money to woodcutters, generally Chandáls,
for the supply of firewood, which is brought into Dacca from the
jungles of Bhowál. Timber dealers, or Mahájans, are quite
distinct, being traders who engage men to proceed to the
Morang, or Taráí, for logs of wood, and on its arrival sell it to
carpenters and boat builders.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
89
LOHÁR.
The Muhammadan blacksmith combines the trade of the
carpenter and gunsmith, making gun stocks and locks, but
importing the barrels from Mungír, the Birmingham of Eastern
India.
He is generally licensed to sell powder and shot, the latter
being made by himself in a very primitive manner. Lead is
beaten into a rod of the requisite thickness, pieces are then cut
off and rolled on a stone, until they assume a spherical form.
MADAD-WÁLAH.
Madad was prepared and sold by Muhammadans long before
Chandú was known; but at the present day the Chandú-Wálah,
who is expert in preparing opium in all forms, is the only
person who makes and retails it.
Madad is prepared as follows. Crude opium is boiled in a
pan into which one end of a hempen wisp is put, while the
other is dropped into an empty pot. The boiling liquid is then
gradually strained off, the hemp retaining all sedimentary
matters. It is afterwards allowed to cool, and reboiled, when
Pân leaves moistened and made crisp by a dry heat are thrown
in fine pieces into the decoction. By means of two sticks the
chopped leaves are thoroughly mixed with the opium, and as
the liquid congeals each fragment of leaf has a small quantity
of opium adherring to it, which being removed and made into
balls the size of small bullets, are wrapped in fine paper and
sold for one paisa each.
The method of smoking Madad is quite different from that
of Chandú. The smoker puts a ball into a broken pipe bowl,
and with a pair of bamboo pincers applies live charcoal, while,
as the opium burns, he rapidly inhales the smoke. To prevent
his losing any of the effects, the inveterate smoker keeps in his
mouth a sweetmeat, or a pith drop soaked in syrup. After
taking two or three pipes of Madad the seasoned smoker
indulges in a pipe of tobacco, by so doing heightening and
prolonging the reverie.
Shops for the sale and smoking of Madad are to be met with
in all the villages of the interior; but in the city of Dacca its
use is confined to private houses.
90
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
MÁHÍ-FAROSH.
Muhammadan fishmongers are also calied Nikarí, a word of
doubtful origin.'
1
Excepting in Silhet, no Mussulmán of Eastern Bengal earns
a livelihood as a fisherman. This prejudice appears to be
general throughout the Muhammadan world. Burckhardt does
mention Bedouin fishermen on the coast of the Red Sea, but at
Constantinople the fishermen are poor Bulgarians, while the
farmer of the fishery is always a Turk. In Sindh, the Mohana,
a fisher tribe, though now Muhammadan, was formerly a vile
Hindu one.
In Hindustan, a Mussulmán may often be seen angling, or
throwing a casting net, but the fish caught are for home use,
and are never sold. This objection, in India at least, seems to
be of Buddhist origin, and all fisher castes are still regarded
as belonging to one of the lowest grades of humanity, being
generally remnants of aboriginal, or outcast, tribes who lived
separate from, and stranger to, the Aryan population around
them. There is, therefore, little doubt that the Máhí-farosh of
to-day represents a Hindu fisher caste converted to Islám.
The Máhí-farosh division is a very exclusive one, and in the
city of Dacca includes only about eighty families, who inter-
marry among themselves, and shut out from social intercourse
any member who marries into another class. This in-breeding
probably explains the fact that they are yearly decreasing, and
now number only an eighth of what they formerly did. The
name Nikarí, regarded as an opprobrious one, is generally applied
to the Kaibartta fishmonger. Of old, the Máhí-farosh farmed
the river fisheries, but this being found unremunerative, they,
nowadays, occasionally make advances to the fishermen, but
the rule is to pay for large fish when brought to market, and for
small ones every ten or fifteen days, at so much a basket.
The Máhí-farosh have no objections to pray with, to eat or
drink in the houses of all other Muhammadan citizens, but they
are seldom given an opportunity. In each quarter of the city
where they reside, a headman or Mu'tabar governs, and an
Union or dal, presided over by a Parámánik, is established.
The Máhí-farosh, moreover, is often a fish curer. During the
cold weather, traders of this name from Húglí visit Eastern
Bengal, and lease a piece of land on the bank of a river, where
they dry fish in the sun. Fish, generally the "Potí" (Cyprinus
Chyssoparcius), are bought from the Tiyars at the rate of two
1 Perhaps Sanskrit Nikara, a heap or pile.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
91
and a half creels a rupee. The fish are spread on the bank,
protected by nets from the kites and crows, and after being
exposed from ten to fifteen days "until the oil disappears," are
shipped on board boats, and considered fit for use. In private
houses, the sukhtí, or dried fish, as it is called, is either sprinkled
with salt, or packed in an earthen vessel, and during the rains,
when fish are dear, this unsavoury mess, after being roasted and
pounded, is mixed with onions, chillies, pepper and oil, and
called bartá, a favourite relish when eaten with curry.
The large kinds of fish, such as "bhikṭhí," "rohú" and "hilsa,"
after being cleaned and sliced are salted and dried under pressure.
i
MAHOUT, MAHÁWAT.
The Mahout, or elephant keeper, also known by the Persian
name Fíl-bán, is in most instances a Muhammadan. During
the wars of Sabuktigín in the tenth century of our era, Mahouts
were always Hindus; and at the present day a few borne on the
establishments of Hindu Zamíndárs are Chandáls. It is stated
by a great authority,' that Mahouts are now almost invariably
Sayyids, or if not Sayyids are addressed as such. At Dacca,
however, where the government Khedáh establishment has been
stationed for many years, Mahouts never claim to have Sayyid
blood, and are never accosetd by that honoured title. On the
contrary, they are of low plebeian families, and their hard and
venturesome lives are passed in reckless dissipation and in ex-
cessive indulgence in opium, Gánjha, and spirits. The ordinary
titles among them are Jamádár and Sardár.
“certain .
Dacca Mahouts never heard of giving elephants
drugs mixed up with the wax of the human ear "2 to make them
quarrelsome and pugnacious; but they state that if an issue be
made over each temple and a clove inserted, this effect is
produced.
MÁLÍ.
Muhammadan gardeners are numerous in Dacca, being en-
gaged in cultivating flowering plants and selling them in the
markets. They look down on kitchen gardeners, and would fall
in social estimation if they adopted that occupation. These
History of India," Sir H. Elliot, vol. ii, 143.
1
2 "Mrs. Mír Hasan 'Alí," vol. ii, 30.
92
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
florists confine their attention to growing various kinds of Jas-
mine (júhí, chambelí and belá); cockscombs (jatá-dharí); marigolds
(genda), and roses. The Hibiscus, regarded by Hindus as an
unlucky flower, is, according to Muhammadans, enchanted, and
if placed in a room, or offered to any one, the offence is resented
as an attempt to bewitch and injure the individual.
The Málí prepare the different kinds of garlands (sihrá) and
chaplets worn by Mussulmán ladies, who may be seen in the
recesses of the Zanánah with their arms, necks, bodies, and even
ankles bedecked with wreaths of fragrant flowers; while gentle-
men usually have a nosegay of Jasmine encircling the mouthpiece
and stem of their pipes.
Like the Hindu Málákárs, the Málí manufactures pith pen-
dants (jara), with which, at certain seasons, houses, shops, boats,
and the tombs of holy men are adorned.
MÍRÁSAN.
These women occupy in Bengal the same position as the
Domní do in Hindustan. They are generally poor Muhammadan
widows, who sing in Zanánas to the accompaniment of a drum
and cymbals, and often dress in character, but never dance.
They are said to be respectable in their lives, and are in great
request among the higher ranks of native society.
In Eastern Bengal the husbands and male relatives of these
women are never met with. In different parts of India, Mirásí
is used as a synonym for Dôm, and it is probable that these
Muhammadan women are representatives of one of the sweeper,
or helot, races converted to Islám.
MÍSÍ-WÁLÁH.
This Muhammadan shopkeeper makes and sells dentifrices
and dyes for the teeth. To stain the teeth being considered by
Bengali men an effeminate habit, is as provocative of banter as
dyeing the hair is among middle-aged men in Europe; but
Hindu and Muhammadan women generally practise it, as in
their eyes well blackened teeth add a beauty to the expression.
The ordinary dye is prepared with gall-nut, iron filings, sulphate
of iron, myrobalan (harrá) and sappan wood (táí), magenta
powder being generally added instead of red ochre as formerly.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
93
D
The Mísí-wálí, who sells dyes in Zanánas and private houses,
has the reputation, like the Chúrí wálí, of being a great in-
triguante, and many marriages and illicit loves are traced to her.
Dentifrices (manjan) are also retailed by the Mísí-wálah,
those in common use consisting of charred almond shells,
camphor, and aromatics; while by others charred betle nut, or
the powdered charcoal that forms in the interior of the tobacco
pipe, is preferred.
In the shop is also sold the collyrium (surma) made from
an ore of lead in universal use throughout the East for tingeing
the eyelids. Muhammadan females invariably apply it, while
Muhammadan as well as Hindu males use it to strengthen the
eyes. In every house there is a Surma-dán made of china, stone,
or wood, in which the collyrium is stored, resembling in shape
an air-tight capped bottle for gum, and containing instead of a
brush a leaden probe (siláí) for smearing the eye salve along the
edges of the eyelids.
Hindu females, however, prefer "Kajjal," or`lamp black, each
house having its Kajlautí, or iron snuffers-shaped vessel for
preparing it. A wick of Ajwain (Ligusticum Ajowan) put into a
vessel of oil is lighted, while the Kajlautí being held above
the flame, soot is deposited, and being collected is applied to the
eyelids with the finger.
MUÇAWWIR.
Portrait painting has never reached even a tolerable state
of excellence in India. By strict Muhammadans it is considered
sinful to sit for, or portray, a likeness. Copyists, who have
acquired a wonderful skill in transferring to ivory the lineaments
of a photograph, or an oil painting, are to be found in Delhi and
other cities, but to paint from life is a talent rarely met with.
In Dacca there is a Muhammadan family, who by birth are
painters, but their pictures, wanting in animation and indivi-
duality, bear nevertheless a fair but formal likeness of the person
delineated.
MULLÁ.
The Mullá, more generally known by the less pretentious
title of Tálib-ul-'ilm, or the searcher after knowledge, either
resides in a Mosque supported by the inhabitants around, or
94
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
lodges in the house of some respectable Muhammadan. He
teaches boys the Arabic alphabet, and, when this is mastered, the
Âm-sipára, or last of the thirty sections of the Korán; the pupil
having advanced thus far has the Korán recited, but seldom
explained, as the teacher's knowledge of Arabic is superficial,
and for doing this the Mullá receives from four to eight anas a
month from each pupil. When he resides in a Mosque the
Mullá proclaims the Azán, or summons to prayer; and
occasionally leads the public service in the absence of the Farazí
Maulaví, who usually officiates. In former times the Mullá was
engaged as the Qárí, or reader of the Fátiha over the graves of
deceased relatives; but of late this practice has been dying out.
When a Mullá is a man of ability, and has mastered Muham-
madan science and philosophy, he is known as "Maulánáh."
In the city of Dacca there are two celebrated philosophers who
instruct youths gratis, receiving, however, presents at the great
yearly festivals. The one, Mauláná-ud-din Muhammad, resides
in a Mosque and is deeply read in logic and philosophy; the
other, Mauláná Na'man, is a bookseller distinguished for his
profound knowledge of sciences.
MUNSHÍ.
The Munshi is a teacher of languages instructing boys in
Arabic, Persian, and Hindustaní. When a boy has completed
his studies with a Mullá, he joins a class taught by a Munshí,
and pays from one to two rupees a month.
The works ordinarily read in the vernacular classes of
Eastern Bengal are the following:-
Sháh-námah of Firdausí.
Pandnámah or Karímá
Gulistán
of Sa'di.
Bostán
Mahábat-námah of Jámí.
Sikandar-námah of Nizámí Ganjarwání.
Bahár-dánish of Munshí Inayatullah of Dilhi.
Anwár-i-Suhailí (Pilpay's fables) by Husain Vaiz Káshifí.
Maktúbát-i-'Allámí, or 'Allámí of Abúlfazl.
Riq'at Alamgírí.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
95
MURGHÍ-WÁLÁH, MURGH-BÁN.
All Muhammadans keep domestic fowls, but no Hindu, unless
of the very lowest caste, will do so. The Murghí-wálah buys
fowls, geese, and ducks at village fairs, and, when fattened, sells
them in the towns. Muhammadans, again, are the only natives
who make capons (Khaçiyá), hence the Hindus nickname such
persons Más-Káta, flesh-cutters, a name also applied to the
Hajjám.
NAICHA-BAND.
The makers of huqqá snakes carry on one of the busiest and
most paying occupations of the present day, there being about a
hundred houses of them in the city of Dacca alone.
The common "naicha" used by four-fifths of the population
comes ready made from Silhet, whence most of the Naicha-bands
also come. The woods used in their manufacture are Sisú, Jám,
Járral, and Semal. The wood is hollowed by means of a long
iron borer, then fixed in a lathe and turned. The rich often
have pipe stems made of ebony (Ábnús).
Naichas, or snakes, are of different shapes. The most
common are the Pechwán, or twisted; the Derh-kham with one
and a-half turns, the Sattar-kham with many coils; and the
Kohní-dár with a joint in the middle.
A naicha is made as follows: Where the bends are a spiral,
zinc wire is introduced and strengthened by iron bands, or by
splinters of bamboo. If the snake is for a rich person, fine
birch bark, Bhúrja-pattra (Betula bhurja), is bound over this;
if for a poor man, a leaf known as "Kínaj-pattá," imported from
Silhet, is used instead. Common red cloth (sálú), or variegated
strips of cloth, are wound round the tube according to the fancy
of the buyer.
Naichas often get names from the materials of which they
are made, some smokers fancying "Kus-kus" on the outside of
the tube, which, being moistened, cools the smoke as it is inhaled.
Others have the snake ornamented with beads, silver wire, or
precious stones.
The common wooden naicha costs from two to three anas,
while that bound with kus-kus fetches from two to three rupees,
and those with gold or silver from ten to twenty rupees.
In Eastern Bengal the different parts of the Huqqá are the
Gurguri or Fárşiya, made of silver, Bidrí, or glass, for holding the
rosewater; the Suráhí, which passes into the rosewater and has
96
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
its end cut slantingly; and the gaṭṭá, or knob, where the naicha,
or khama, joins. At this joint a plate of zinc with two holes
in it is so fastened as to prevent the issue of smoke. The
Munh-nál, or mouthpiece, is as a rule made of silver.¹ On the
top of the Suráhí is placed the "'Araq-dán" to catch the tobacco
juice; while above this is the Chilam, or pipe bowl, with its
ornamented filagree cover, or sarposh.
The profession of a Naicha-band is a most respected one, and
is esteemed as equal to that of the Rangrez, and it often happens
that one member of a family is a dyer, while another is a huqqá
snake maker.
NÁL-BAND
The Hindu Kamár is the maker of horse shoes, the Muham-
madan Nál-band is the farrier, paring the horse's hoofs, and
fastening on the shoes.
Nál-bands know nothing of the veterinary art, and the only
persons, who pretend to any skill in treating diseases of horses,
are superannuated coachmen and syces. The Sálotar, or Baitar,
was a recognized member of the military establishment under
the Muhammadan kings, and several works, famous in their day,
were written on veterinary medicine, but none are in use at
present in Bengal.
NÁN-BAÍ, ROȚI-WÁLAH.
These are different descriptions of Muhammadan bakers; the
former being also a pastry-cook.
The Nán-báí uses leaven (máya) prepared with Tayir,2
acidulated milk, to which cocoa-nut milk, wheat flour, and spices
are added. These ingredients being well kneaded are wrapped
in a cloth, and kept in a warm place till required. He bakes
several kinds of bread, such as Báqir-Khání, Shír-mál, Panja-
Kash, and Nán-Khatáí; and makes Kulícha, or scones, Parátha,
an indigestible piecrust, and, of late years, English biscuits.
The Nán-bái is also a cook providing for dinner parties at
1 In Upper India the mouthpiece is often made of jade or bloodstone.
2 Tayir is Tamil for curds, and, according to Dr. Caldwell, belongs to the
West Indo-European family of words. How comes it to be in general use in
Eastern Bengal? Was it like Tope, a grove of trees, and Topas, a native Christian,
introduced from Madras by the English?
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
97
&
his shop, or house, and his bill of fare includes a delicious,
richly-flavoured curry, Kofta, or pounded meat, roasts, and
puláos. Afgháns, and other travellers, obtain their meals at his
shop for so much a head; but the dinner is à la carte. He
often, too, lets lodgings to those who prefer a quiet room to a
noisy, dirty inn.
Taking him for all in all there is no more jovial and enter-
taining character than the baker, the barber being his only
rival. The former naturally finds it easier to secure popularity
by ministering to the creature comforts of his customers than the
latter, who only has to depend on his ready wit, and conver-
sational talent, for causing his clients to forget the blunt edge of
his razor.
The Rotí-wálah, again, makes bread according to the English
method, his ferment being todd (Tári), and from using this
unholy liquor his bread is not in so much request as the badly
baked and doughy article prepared by the Nán-báí. The oven
of the Roti-wálah is always above ground, while that of the Nán-
báí is either sunk beneath the surface or covered over with mud.
English bread is known as Páo-rotí, as each loaf weighs half a
pound, or a quarter (páo) of a Sér.
The Rotí-wálah also makes Samosa, a three-cornered pâté, or
pasty, of minced meat, as well as the piecrust seen on many
European tables.
With the exception of pork and the flesh of turtles, Muham-
madans eat all manner of meat, properly killed. It is cooked
by the Nán-báí in the following ways:-
Kabábi-plain roast.
Kofta-hashed or pounded, and fried in Ghí.
Qaliyá—broiled, and served up with curry (Sálan) and
vegetables.
Qormá-soaked in curds, and cooked with Ghí and hot
spices.
Do-piyáza-a stew or curry, made with Ghí, onions, and rich
spices.
NARDIYÁ
When
In Bihár this workman is known as " Párcha-Kash."
muslin has been washed and calendered by the Kundígar, it is
sent to the Muhammadan Nardiyá, who, with a comb made of
rattan thorns, arranges and disentangles the threads. He then
winds the web on a bamboo reel (Nard), and subsequently
unrolling and folding the cloth despatches it to the Sankha-
wálah, also a Muhammadan, and generally a Kútí, who places it
on a flat board and glazes it by friction with a chank shell.
H
98
i
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
NÍLGAR.
This profession, quite distinct from that of the Rangrez,
is followed by a low class of Muhammadans, and in Dacca
only three or four families of them are to be met with.
Indigo is the only dye they use, and after pounding the colour
very fine, it is dissolved in water in a large earthen vessel (Matká)
half sunk in the ground. Lime, fuller's earth, and the seeds of
a leguminous plant, called "Chokar," bought from the Chamáín
women, are added. This lye, on standing, ferments, and the dye
is then ready for use. The Nilgar dyes cloth and thread, and
so long as any colour remains in the vat, goes on using the liquid,
regardless of the shade of blue imparted.
There is a well known proverb in India, employed to express
the fickleness of fortune which is derived from this trade: "Nil
ka máth bigar giya," literally, "The Indigo vat has been spoiled."
The Nilgar believes that when dye has been accidentally dam-
aged, he has only to tell some miraculous, or incredible, story
and it will be rectified. So, whenever a Munchausen tells a
story, this proverb is repeated by the listener to politely express
doubts of its truth.
OJHÁ.
As the Roman haruspex was named from his examining the
entrails of the victim, so the Indian diviner is called from his
inspecting the "Ojh" or entrails of his sacrifice. At the present
day, however, they have discontinued this art, and each man
adopts that system which is most likely to gull the populace.
If a Muhammadan, he is known as Dú atí; if a Hindu, as
Ojhá, Rojhá, or Gúnin.
No two wizards follow the same tactics. One possesses a root
by which he can fascinate snakes, or protect from snake bites;
another has a secret spell or charm to cure ophthalmia or head-
ache; a third has a philter; while a fourth has an amulet of
universal virtue.
The most celebrated wizard in Dacca at the present day is a
Dôm, who has become a Muhammadan, called Bábú Khán. An
Ojhá may belong to any caste, and he will not be less valued if
he is a Dôm, or a sweeper.
This Bábú Khán derived his knowledge from a Faqír. He
has met with so much success, and has acquired so great a
name, that he has educated several pupils in his art. Being
able to read and write a little Arabic, he has the reputation of
being a profound scholar in all that concerns the black art.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
99
He is chiefly employed in exorcising devils who have taken
possession of any person. He invariably carries with him a
copy of the Qúrán, and when he enters the room where the
possessed person is confined, he begins by reciting a few appro-
priate texts. At the sound of these words the devil usually
steals away; but if he is a powerful one, and disregards the
words of the sacred volume, the book itself is exhibited, and he
is warned to leave. If this too fails, a few sentences are scribbled
on a piece of paper, and this is burned beneath the patient's
nose. This, the Ojhá asserts, is an infallible cure.
A demoniac is known by the following signs: The eyeballs are
bloodshot, the tongue protrudes, pain is not felt; if the person
is weak unusual strength is displayed, and several men are
required to hold him. He amuses himself in wandering about,
muttering, and breaking all articles within his reach.
The belief in persons possessed by evil spirits is universal,
and even educated Muhammadans do not dispute the possibility
of such an occurrence. The delirium which often accompanies
the hot stage of ague, especially in the case of girls, is always
referred by the women of the Zanánah to the presence of a
demon, and it is often difficult for a doctor to prevent their
summoning a wizard to exorcise the sufferer. Hysteria, with its
sudden seizure and strange involuntary convulsions, is a disorder
in treating which the Ojhá acquires undeserved credit; but as
long as the belief in demoniac possession lasts, the race of
wizards will flourish.
When demons of ordinary power are in possession of a per-
son, a favourite remedy is burning turmeric, mustard seeds, and
chillies, and making the fumes be inhaled.
Whatever method be adopted to expel the devil, his return is
easily prevented if a particular sentence of the Qúrán be worn
as a talisman around the neck.
Other wizards draw magic circles around the demoniac,
while incantations are read.
Most of these men pretend to have "Mantras," or spells to
ward off or cure diseases. During difficult labour, a sentence of
the Qúrán bound on the woman, or a draught of water into
which an incantation has been blown, are certain to hasten the
birth of the child. Another belief prevalent among all classes
in Bengal, is the disastrous effect of the evil eye. Every
mother spits on her child, or smears a little lamp-black on the
child's face before allowing her darling to go out of doors. The
wizards however, claim, by means of charms, to permanently
protect children.
An Ojhá never marries, and he cannot allow anyone to cook
his food. A person so familiar with the power of darkness must
H 2
100
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
always be on his guard, lest some mischievous imp take posses-
sion of him.
Allied to the Ojhá is the Jhára-wáláh, or Jhárná-phúnkná-
wáláh. Hindustánís are greater proficients in this imposture
than the inhabitants of Bengal. Like the mesmerist, the Jháṛa-
wáláh chiefly practices passes, or gentle shampooing, and while
doing so he must not breathe. A deep inspiration is taken, and,
while the rubbing lasts, he repeats an incantation to Kálí, the
patroness of these wizards, and then blows on the limb that is
under manipulation. A twig of the sacred Ním tree is often
used in making passes. This order of wizards are chiefly em-
ployed in curing rheumatic or neuralgic pains; but, in 1872,
they were in great demand to cure the obstinate muscular pains
following an attack of Dengue fever.
At the end of the seventeeth century the miraculous cures
performed by Mr. Greatrix,' the stroker, created much sensation
in England. By stroking the seat of pain he could remove it at
once, and effect a permanent cure. His practice was identical
with that of the strokers of India of the present day.
Į
PANÍR-WÁLAH.
Dacca has long been famous for its cheeses, although none
are made in its neighbourhood. In the city, however, reside all
the export traders, or Kárígars, who are either Hindus or Mu-
hammadans.
The finest cheeses come from Sarrail in Silhet, and from
Joan-Sháhí and Susang-Durgápúr, in Mymensingh, the pure
water of the rivers in these districts being believed to bestow a
peculiar richness on the milk.
Two kinds of cheese are made, the first, called "Dalama," or
Gáea," is prepared with cows' milk, and must be eaten when
fresh; the other, "Panír," or "Bhainsa," is made of buffaloes'
milk.
Hindus will not manufacture or eat cheese, because it is a
heinous offence to add salt to milk; while to mix rennet with it
is a deadly sin. Cheese making is therefore a Mussulmán trade,
the maker proceeding as follows: he takes milk, curdles it with
rennet (Máya), and, after allowing it to stand for some time,
pours off the water. The curd being then cut into pieces, is
placed in small baskets, and left to dry. During the first day
the baskets are turned several times, and, after twenty-four hours,
"Philosophical Transactions," vol. xxi, page 429.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
101
three or four holes are made in the cheese, into which salt is
put, and the outside rubbed with brine. On the third day the
cheese is turned over; on the fourth more salt is added, and it
is then considered fit for use.
PANKHÁ-WÁLÁH.
Fans are always manufactured by Muhammadans residing
in outlying suburbs of the city, who are generally cultivators.
They make the large hand fan (Arání) with the leaves of the
Palmyra palm, a smaller sort being made with the same leaf,
and either left plain (sáda), or ornamented with gaudy colours
and talc, hence its name of "Abraqí.'
"
Occasionally Hindu Bairágís, who earn an uncertain liveli-
hood by hawking execrable pictures of their gods, also make
hand pankhás for sale.
PATWA.
This is the common name in Eastern Bengal for the Muhan-
madan who makes tapes and braids. In Hindustan, however,
he is called by the Arabic names, Iláqaband, or Bisátí.
The Patwas are intelligent workmen and skilful dyers, who,
in the days of the English factories, were famous for the manu-
facture of a lac dye, known as "Jhúrí." The lac was first
washed, mixed in a solution with Sajjí-matí, an impure alkali,
then heated, powdered Lodh bark (Symplocos racemosa) being
added, and after boiling a short time poured into a copper vessel
and allowed to cool.
At the present day they impart a fixed golden colour to silk
by straining lime and fuller's earth, and boiling them with
"Kamilá" (Rottleria tinctoria); silk steeped in this, then washed
and dried, acquires the above colour. Silk dipped in a solution
of alum, and macerated in water in which chips of Jack-tree
bark have been boiled, becomes yellow, and if afterwards im-
mersed in indigo water, prepared by the Nilgar, it changes to a
green colour.
The Paṭwa makes the Kardhaní, or waist string, worn by
natives of all ranks and religions, which consists of coloured
cotton string. He also manufactures tassels (Jhabbá) for caps,
1 "Indian Repertory," vol. ii, 579.
102
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
paijáma strings, nets, fringes, and silken purses;
and
stringing beads he makes silk borders for bracelets, armlets,
and charms. In his shop are also procured the " Baddhí," or
sash, worn during the Muharram, and the " Shamsa," or silken
rosette, that adorns the gaudy wrappers of rich Muhammadans.
The skilled Patwas, who are generally addressed as Kárígar,
form a small community, occupying not more than twenty-five
houses in the city of Dacca.
QALA'Í-GAR.
Muhammadans are the only natives who use copper vessels
requiring tinning, the Hindus using either iron, brass, stone, or
earthern cooking vessels. The furbishing trade is a busy one,
there being at least twenty-five families in Dacca living by it.
The Qala'ígar prepares at his home a paste consisting of sal
ammoniac boiled in water, in the proportion of one part to three.
The copper vessel being first scoured with Jháma, or burnt
brick, the paste is applied with a scrap of cotton, while with a
heated iron the tin (qala'í) is coated over the inside and again
rubbed with the paste.
Villagers usually bring their vessels with them to the city,
but in the cold season the Qala'ígar makes a circuit through the
interior, finding plenty of work.
RAFU-GAR
Last century, it is said, that from five to six hundred Rafú-
gars, or darners, found employment in the different European
factories in and around Dacca, but now their number does not
exceed a hundred and fifty. They have always been esteemed
one of the most respectable classes of Muhammadans, their chief
bearing the honorary title of "Mihtar Ji." Formerly, they never
intermarried out of their own circle, but now, through poverty,
are obliged to be less particular. The following curious custom
is observed:―They instruct only the sons and grandsons of the
male line in the mysteries of their handicraft, declining to teach
their daughters' children; but so long as marriages were confined
to their own clique this practice could have had little meaning.
In former days an expert Rafú-gar earned from ten to twelve
rupees a month; the less expert about eight. Their occupation.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
103
was to examine the webs of muslin, and extract any threads
that were broken, replacing them by new ones. This operation
was called "Chunna," to pick, or choose. The Rafú-gar was a
confirmed opium smoker, his skill being most striking when
under the influence of that drug. The female Rafú-gar is often
as dexterous as her husband, but she generally works at em-
broidery. Formerly the hemmer (Maghzí) was distinct from the
darner, but now the Rafú-gar is reduced to hem as well as darn.
Closely connected with the darner was the "Purza-gar,"
generally a woman, who cut the threads connecting the flowers
on Jamadání muslins, and arranged them on the reverse side of
the cloth.
RAKHWAL
Is a Muhammadan cowherd hired by citizens, who keep milch
cows, to take the cattle to the jungle daily, and bring them
back in the evening. He receives two anas a month for each
animal. In the villages Chandáls are the usual cowherds ;
but in families where there is either an old man, or an aged
widow, unable to earn anything by labour, the cows are com-
mitted to their charge.
RANGREZ.
Dyeing is considered one of the most respectable trades in
Dacca, the dyer being usually called Çáfí, pure, or clean, while
Khalifa and Ustád are honorary titles among them. The Ran-
grez rarely marries out of his own class, and will have nothing
to do with the Kútí, Chamra-farosh, or other low grades of his
co-religionists.
Dyeing is still in its infancy in Bengal, and the colours given
to cloth are most unstable. The chief dye is safflower, from
which are derived two colours, "Gulábí," or damask, and "Gul-
nár," or scarlet, tints in great demand for colouring bridal
dresses and turbans. By mixing safflower
By mixing safflower and turmeric,
"Basantí," a colour worn by Krishna, is produced. With
indigo and Gulábí, a colour known as " Kásní" is made, and
with indigo and turmeric a green dye, called " Sabzí." A purple
1
Hence the common epithet Pítámbara, clad in yellow, in the same way as
Balaráma is called Nílámbara, from wearing blue garments.
#
104
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
dye, Baiganí, obtained from Sappan wood, is a favourite colour
for dyeing silk garments much fancied by young Brahmans, and
others. As these defective dyes disappear in a shower of rain,
clothes have to be frequently returned to the Rangrez, who, in
consequence, is one of the busiest of workmen.
In former days each season had its particular coloured
turbans, and the rich vied with one another in the showiness of
their head-dresses. Basanti was, of course, the fashionable tint
for spring, green being the orthodox colour for Muhammadans
during the month of Muharram, as yellow is for the strict Hindus
on the Janmashtami, or birthday of Krishna.
In dyeing portions of a pattern, or imitating in colours the
outlines of plants and animals, the Rangrez sews on different
shaped pieces of cloth, but when a wavy stripe on a coloured
ground is required he merely stitches the cloth into folds. This
mode of dyeing is called "Chunrí."
RAZ.
In Bengal, the mason, bricklayer, and plasterer are names of
the same person, who generally belongs to the Kúțí division,
and though low in the social scale he will neither prepare
mortar, nor act as hodman. The man or boy who prepares
mortar, usually an apprentice, is called " Jogária," while the hod-
man is known as the "Tagháríya," from the hod which he carries.
A woman occasionally takes the place of the latter, being
designated the "Mihtarání." Ustádgar is the ordinary title of
masons, a class of workmen who will put their hands to almost
anything. As occasion offers, they become traders, day labourers,
or brickmakers; but this last occupation is usually left to the
Kumhárs and Chandáls. Moulds for making bricks were for-
merly unknown, but of late years have been universally adopted.
By the older method, the bricklayer merely flattened the clay to
the proper thickness, drew lines according to the size wanted,
and then cut off the pieces of clay. Ornamental bricks, and
small sized tiles, called, "Ja'farí" or "Mirzá Ja'farí," are also
manufactured by the Ráz, and are employed in making cornices
and eaves.
Traders in lime (Chúná-wáláh) belong to any caste or race,
slaked lime being imported by them from Silhet.
At the present day skilled masons earn from nine to fifteen
rupees à month; the hodman about six, and the "Jogária" about
four,
>
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
105
REZA.1
This is the name of children employed in beating concrete
roofs and verandahs with a wooden mallet, "Pítní" or "Reza."
They are always Muhammadans, usually belonging to Kútí
families. These children are supervised by the mason, while
their beating is regulated by a woman called Shariyárí in Bengal,
Kamín in Hindustan. She recites indecent songs while the
Reza beat time with their mallets.
ÇÁBUN-WÁLAH.
2
Soap was unknown to the ancient Hindus, who used as
detergents Sarjiká or Sajji-mați, an impure carbonate of soda,
and Besán or peasemeal. Soap is one of the chief exports from
Dacca, and it is highly esteemed throughout Bengal, at Penang,
and the Malay Archipelago.
Soap is manufactured as follows: Eighty pounds of flat
(Pattá) and forty of broken (Chúr) Sajji-mați are mixed in water
with sixty pounds of shell lime, and as the solution is poured off
water is added until all the salts are dissolved. Animal suet
and Til oil are then mixed in varying quantities in a large vat,
and slowly heated, the weaker lye being gradually added until
an uniform mass is obtained. The fire is then extinguished, and
the soap within a few days solidifies. The strained sediment is
removed to another vat, where it is mixed with the stronger lye,
called Tezí. After a second boiling, the common soap is fit for
the market, but if an article of prime quality is wanted, three
or even four boilings are necessary. The manufacture of good
soap takes from fifteen to thirty days.
SÁDA-KÁR
Is a Muhammadan silversmith, who manufactures silver rings,
gold ones not being usually worn by the lower classes.
The onyx (Sulaimání), the salmon-tinted ('Aqíq), and yellow
1 Reza in Persian signifies a bit, or portion; and as children only receive a
part of a man's pay, the word is used to designate workmen receiving less than
an adult's pay.
2 Other vegetable detergents were also in use, such as Arishța, Phenila, or
Soap-nut (Sapindus detergens), Ríțhá (Sapindus saponaria), and Khalí, oilcake.
106
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
(Sharbatí) carnelian are the favourite stones with Muhammadan
men; and the Sádakár fixes these in rings with lac, and then
turns in the bevelled edge of the setting.
Within the last few years several of the Kútí class, known
as Muhammadan Sonárs, have become expert goldsmiths, com-
peting on equal terms with the Hindu in the finest filagree
work.
ÇAIQAL-GAR
Is a Muhammadan who polishes iron weapons and brass utensils
with emery, or pumice stone (Jháma); he furbishes swords,
pistols, guns, knives, and scissors, and scours brass vessels and
ornaments. In the cold season he visits the inland villages,
while the Muhammadan villagers bring with them any articles
requiring polishing whenever they come to the city. The
Çaiqal-gar also paints or gilds chairs and boxes, and he is often
expert at lacquering chairs and tables.
SANG-GAR.
This is a Muhammadan trade distinct from the Sang-tarásh,
or stonecutter of Bihár, and the Çaiqalgar of Bengal. He is
a cutler who sharpens agricultural implements, knives, and
hatchets.
Cutlers manufacture their own grindstones in the following
way. A red sand, brought from the Assam and Cachar hills by
Ganṛar boatmen, being mixed with lac (Chapṛá), is thoroughly
heated over a fire, and, while still plastic, fashioned into the form
of a wheel, and allowed to cool. Water is never used in sharp-
ening iron instruments, a little fine sand being placed in the
trough to lessen the heat, while the cutler holds the point of the
knife with a piece of bamboo. A pedal is not required, as a
servant drives the wheel backwards and forwards. Cutlers
never work with a revolving wheel, and it is only when driven
towards them that the edge of the instrument is applied. When
the grindstone is worn out, it is sold to the village barbers, who
manage with it to sharpen razors, and put an edge on spades,
hoes, and "daos" for their fellow-villagers.
1
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
107
SHÁL-GAR.
Muhammadans who follow the profession of shawl cleaners,
generally come from Hindustan, being invariably addressed as
Pathán.
They wash Kashmirí, and other, shawls with soap or with the
soap-nut (Ríthá)¹, darn holes, and then fumigate them with
sulphur. Many Shálgars act as agents of the great Punjábí
shawl merchants.
SHÍAHS.
The Shíahs, formerly large landholders in Eastern Bengal,
have been steadily decreasing in numbers and influence during
the last fifty years. At the present day they constitute a small
proportion of the Muhammadan community, and in the city of
Dacca do not possess above a hundred houses, although one
fourth claim to be Sayyids. The majority are poor, a few only
holding property which has been transmitted from father to son
for three or four generations. When the English Government
acquired possession of the Díwání of Bengal, many of the oldest
and most respected families emigrated to Lucknow or Murshid-
ábád, and those who remained had local ties which prevented
them following the example of their neighbours.
By the Sunní the Shíah is styled Ráfizí (heretic), Tashaiyu',
Irání, or Mughal; while he designates the Sunní Chár-yárí,
Sunní Jam'at, or Tasannun.
In Dacca, the Shíahs having no Imám-dár, or priest, to lead
the congregation at their devotions, the duty devolves on the
most learned, or most honoured, among them. Although many
of the old mosques in the city were built by Shíah nobles, the
Sunnís will not permit any of that sect to enter them unless at
hours when the service is not going on. A few years ago, quarrels
arose between the rival sects, and, nowadays, the hatred of the
Farazí is with such difficulty suppressed, that the Shíah rarely
claims the right of worshipping in the public mosque, and very
seldom resorts to it. Many Shíals have turned Sunnís, marry-
ing Sunní wives: but no Sunní will give his daughter to a Shíah.
Since the death of the last Nawab of Dacca, in 1843, there
has been no leader to keep the Shíahs united, or to prevent their
absorption by the masses of Muhammadans around, while the
disreputable life of the last Nawáb, and the absence of all
restraint, have hastened the downfall of the old families. Many
1 Sanskrit, Rishta, Sapindus detergens.
108
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
have become drunkards and libertines, and opium eating or
smoking is very generally practised. Among them, however, a
few gentlemen with literary tastes are to be found, and their
knowledge of the world, more especially of Persia and other
Muhammadan countries, is more intimate than generally obtains
among Sunnís. At their homes Persian is still spoken, Hindu-
stani being only used out of doors and to servants, while Bengali
is an unknown language.
Although by long residence in Bengal the Shíah race has
degenerated like the Armenian, the occasional importation of
pure Persian blood has preserved a few families, among whom
tall muscular men with characteristic Mughal physiognomy and
pale olive complexion are to be found. The women are of a pale
brown, or sallow complexion, often pretty, and with finely shaped
figures. Both men and women are grossly superstitious, being
more thoroughly imbued than the Sunní with Muhammadan
legends and traditions.
The Shíah, again, is more reserved, exclusive, and dignified
than the Sunní. The latter is beginning to attend school, and
to advance with the onward movement of his contrymen, but
the former rarely exhibits any energy or ambition to get on in
life. Like the descendants of the early Portuguese, they dwell on
the past, lamenting the decadence of their power, and differing
in no material respect from their forefathers of a century ago.
They cherish old customs and repudiate new ones, allowing the
different races around to adopt modern ideas, and to progress
towards a happier civilisation, while they alone remain un-
changed.
The Shiahs are charitable to the poor, a few even paying
"Zakát" at the rate of a fortieth of their income, and "Khams,
or one-fifth of their profits, to the Sayyids. Although the Zakát
is only distributed among Muhammadans, they inculcate and
bestow charity on the destitute of all creeds.
The Muharram is the great Shíah fast, during which they do
nothing but mourn and weep, eschewing fish for thirteen days,
chewing no pân, and leaving the hands and feet unstained.
The Husainí Dalán is still crowded with the "Marsiya," singers,
and with spectators, but the number of Shíahs joining in the most
solemn services do not exceed thirty. The number is decreasing
yearly, and there is every prospect of the building being soon
closed for want of worshippers.
The Shíah still preserves many superstitions regarding food.
He will not touch the flesh of hares, peacocks, wading-birds,
birds without gizzards, and fish without scales.
The 'Aqiqa, or thanksgiving festival on the birth of a child,
though adopted by the Farazí, is peculiarly a Shíah custom, and
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
109
consequently rejected by the Sunní. Like the Farazí the Shíah
does not consider it meritorious to visit or make votive offerings
at the tombs of Indian saints, a point in which they differ from
the Persian Shíah.
The Dacca Shíahs still observe the Múnḍná ceremony on
the seventh day after birth, but they are too poor to comply
with all the requirements, such as weighing the child's hair with
gold coins, and distributing the amount in charity.
During the palmy days of Muhammadan rule, the Shíahs
were the merchants, the Hindus the agents, brokers, and carriers
of the inland commerce. At the present day the Shíah still
trades, purchasing goods cheap in Calcutta and selling them at a
profit in the villages of the interior. The ordinary name for a
miscellaneous store, where mirrors, pictures, glass shades, and
candelabra are sold, is "Mughaliya dukan," although the pro-
prietor is not a Shíah.
It need hardly be added that the religion of the Shíahs is the
same as that of the Persians, and has remained unaffected by the
Farazí movement around.
SHIKÁRÍ.
Few Hindus in Eastern Bengal take any pleasure in sport,
and only a few low caste men ever fire a gun. The Muham-
madan, on the other hand, is often a keen sportsman, shooting
deer and stalking paddy birds, rails, and other water birds.
Rich families, again, often keep one or two Shikárís to supply
their tables with all the common marsh birds and with an
occasional deer or hare. The Mír-shikárí Bediyás and the
Binds are, however, the only classes in Eastern Bengal who live
by the game they kill.
In the cold season Muhammadans from Chittagong visit the
Dacca district and capture the "Machh-rangá," or large blue
kingfisher (Todiramphus collaris), in the following manner: On
the bank of a pool or running stream, two nets hanging on rings
are fixed at an acute angle, within which a tame kingfisher is
placed as a decoy. The birds are most pugnacious, and as soon
as a wild one sees the stranger it swoops down, but striking the
upright net it becomes entangled, and all attempts to get free are
unavailing. The concealed sportsmen make their appearance,
and capturing the helpless bird, kill and skin it. The flesh is
eaten, while the skin is pinned on a thick jungle leaf and dried.
When sold to the Burmese, four anas are got for each skin.
110
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
The Mags, who occasionally visit the Eastern districts for the
same purpose, by using nooses of string, and placing them in a
circle around the decoy bird, are equally successful.
SHÍSHA-GAR.
The Shisha-gar is a glass blower, not a manufacturer of
glass. He buys old broken tumblers and lamp shades, and in
a very simple and expeditious manner fashions lamp-shades,
phials, pipe stands and mouthpieces, and bottles (Qárúra) indis-
pensable in the practice of Hakíms.
The articles manufactured are very brittle and full of air
bubbles. With copper a green tint is given to glass; but the
Shisha-gar is ignorant how to impart any other, and he cannot
mould vessels.
The workman makes the various articles by fixing a mass of
molten glass on the point of an iron tube, and by alternate
blowing and rolling fashions it as he wishes. The size of the
vessel is regulated by a pair of iron pincers held in the right
hand, while the iron tube is being twirled in the left.
During the Durga-pújah the Shisha-gar is very busy, but at
other seasons he depends on orders. Even the rude articles he
makes are in great demand, and his small phials filled with
perfumes, as well as lamp-shades, are to be seen in every respect-
able house. It is a matter of regret that men, so expert with
clumsy tools, and so anxious to learn, should not be instructed
in the modern art of glass blowing.
SIYAHÍ-WÁLAH.
Ink manufacturers are always Muhammadans, there being
in Dacca about twenty families of them.
There are three kinds of ink :-
1. Mushkí, made with charred rice soaked in water, to
which lampblack is added.
2. Kitábí, made like the first, but gum acacia is an ad-
ditional ingredient.
3. Qurání is a mixture of lampblack, gum, and vinegar,
thoroughly boiled together.
Red ink (Shangarf), only made to order, is composed of red-
lead disolved in garlic juice.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
111
SÚZAN-GAR.
The artizans of this name manufacture with brass wire, pins,
linked chains, finger-rings with bead setting, earrings, nose-rings,
and tethers for tame parrots. Formerly they also made needles,
but English ones are so vastly superior that no others are now
used. They repair broken china and glass with gluten, sugar,
and bands of wire.
The Súzan-gars have learned the art of plating in Calcutta,
and gild in the following manner: A pot containing a solution
of potash is warmed over a fire, and a brass ring tied to a piece
of gold with a copper wire is immersed in it for five or six
minutes, when it is removed, washed, and placed in the sun, and
the gilding is complete.
The Súzan-gar often keeps a "Manihárí," or huckster's shop,
where miscellaneous stores are sold.
1
TAMBÁKU-WÁLAH.
The use of tobacco spread with wonderful rapidity through-
the East. In 1565, Sir John Hawkins first brought it to
England; in 1601, the Portuguese introduced it into Java; and
the same year Asad Beg procured some at Bíjapúr, which he
presented to Akbar. It was then supposed to have come from
China, but the leaf was already in use at Mecca and Madinah.2
According to the author of the Dárá Shikohi, the plant was first
cultivated in India, by order of Akbar, in 1605. In 1617, the
smoking of tobacco "having taken very bad effect upon the
health and minds of many persons," Jahangir ordered that no
one should practice the habit, but the Khán-i-'Alam was so
addicted to it that he could not abstain.³
The use of tobacco extended, notwithstanding a prohibitory
edict of Shah 'Abbás (1582-1627), and in 1637, Mandelslo*
found both rich and poor in Teheran smoking it, and drinking
"Cahwa." The plant was grown near Baghdad, and in Kurdistán,
but its preparation being defective, "Inglis tambáku" was pre-
ferred. ~ The Persians smoked it through a cocoa nut, a dried
pumpkin, or a glass vessel half filled with scented water.
1 Crawford's "Dictionary."
2 Elliot's "History of India," vi, 165.
3 Op. cit., vi, 351.
4 I, 576.
112
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
Chardin,¹ who lived in Persia from 1664 to 1670, mentions
that the English first introduced "Tabac de Brezil" about 1630,
but finding it too strong, the Persians took to cultivating the
plant for themselves, the finest quality being grown at Hamadán
and towards the Gulf. To increase its stimulating effects, Indian
hemp was usually mixed with it.
It was probably owing to a spirit of opposition to what was
then a Hindu and Muhammadan custom, that Guru Govind
(1675-1708) forbad the use of snuff by his followers, and at the
present day the Sikhs abstain from tobacco in all forms.
In India a name for tobacco is Súratí, from Súrat, where it
was first imported; but physicians pronounce this sort to be
possessed of very drying properties, and only fit for use when
washed in rose-water, or "Bed-mushk."
According to the Hakíms, tobacco is hot and dry, being good
for cold and lymphatic temperaments, but prejudicial to thin,
spare habits, as it tends to consume, and still further emaciate
the body. Its corrector (Muçlih) is milk, and when mixed
with molasses the injurious effects of the weed are counteracted.
In Eastern Bengal, tobacco from Kochh Bihár is considered
the finest; but that grown at Lucknow, Benares, or Patna is
preferred by some, while tobacco grown locally is generally
wanting in pungency; but a variety called "Wilayati," evidently
introduced by the English, and remarkable for its small leaves,
is highly commended for its strength.
With very few exceptions all men smoke in Bengal, and
boys scarcely able to walk may be seen inhaling the fragrant
weed. Muhammadan women smoke and many chew, while, on
the other hand, Hindu women only chew, and no high caste
female will smoke.
Tobacco leaf is sold by Hindus of different castes, but Mu-
hammadans alone will sell it ready made for smoking. Tobacco
in towns is prepared for use by mixing the cut leaf with molasses,
and then pounding them together in a mass, but in villages the
leaf is merely cut up, mixed with molasses and kneaded with the
hands. Nine-tenths of the native population smoke tobacco in
one or other of these forms, but connoisseurs object to the pun-
gency of the weed thus prepared, and prefer spiced tobacco
(Maçálah ka tambákú), consisting of various ingredients, kept
ready mixed, and sold by the tobacconists to customers of known
tastes. Camphor, foenu-greek, bay-leaves, and grated sandal wood
are ordinarily used in Bengal; but by Hindustánís, conserve of
roses, Jack-fruit juice, or that of the pineapple "Keorá " (pan-
¹ III, 15. George Sandys, in his travels of 1610, is the first Englishman
who describes tobacco-smoking among the Turks. In Russell's" Aleppo,” i, 373,
further particulars regarding the introduction of tobacco in the East are given.
OF EASTERN BENGAL
113
danus) or "Kus-kus" are fancied. Among the higher classes of
Muhammadans the white part of the Harsingár (Nyctanthes)
flower is dried in the sun, and the expressed juice, mixed with
tobacco, is said to impart the most delicious flavour to the weed.
Strong tobacco is, as a rule, chewed, the mild smoked. In
Upper India tobacco leaf mixed with lime is generally chewed;
but in Bengal, women, who are the most inveterate chewers, mix
it with pân. The saliva is always expectorated, and there is no
more repulsive sight in the Zanánas than that of walls, mats, and
floors disfigured by the stains of the tobacco chewer.
When tobacco leaf is torn into small pieces, and the pipe-
bowl filled, it is called "Sulfá," and again, when a plate of zinc or
copper is put between the tobacco and the lighted charcoal, it is
designated “Táwá.”
Snuff (Nás), which is generally retailed by Muhammadans
who keep miscellaneous stores, is rarely used except medicinally,
being said to cure headaches by eliminating morbid humours
from the brain. Two sorts of snuff are sold, the Benares and
Masulipatam.
As a cure for a cold in the head, a very popular remedy is
tobacco-leaf, which has been broken and dried before a fire. A
pinch or two of this snuffed up, is said to cure the most obstinate
cold.
:
TÁNTÍ.
The Muhammadan weaver belongs to a different "qaum," or
division, to the Juláha, the former weaving fine Jámadání, or
embroidered cloth, the latter only coarse muslins. These two
classes eat and drink together, but never intermarry. The Tántí,
moreover, resents being called Juláha, and is usually addressed
as Kárígar, or Jámadání Tántí.
Mussulmán weavers are very numerous in Dacca, especially
at Dhemra, Nabíganj, and other villages along the banks of the
Lakhya, where they cultivate the soil whenever trade is dull.
Their women never weave, working instead at " Chikan" em-
broidery, and looking down on the females of the Juláha class
because they clean, card, and spin cotton.
Many Muhammadan weavers accept orders from the Hindu
Tántí, who rarely manufactures Jámadání muslins. Hindu
Mahajans, or Sardárs, as capitalists are called, or the Mussulmán
Sháot,"¹ advance money for certain sorts of work, which is
allotted among different families, who agree to finish the piece
1 Said to be a corruption of the Sanskrit Sádhú, a merchant.
1
114
ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
within a fixed time. The great market for Jámadání cloth is
Dhemra, on the Lakhya, and every Friday a fair is held there,
at which large quantities of cloth are bought and sold.
The loom of the Tántí differs from that of the Juláha in
having two "reeds" (Shánah), and two pedals (Jokhia), with
which a web of from three to three and a half feet can be
woven. The weaver, with whom a boy generally works, having
no pattern to guide him, learns off by heart the number of
threads he has to miss or pick up. Boys are taught the trade
by having to join broken threads, and it is surprising at what
an early age they become expert weavers.
It is a curious fact, and one very difficult to account for, that
the modern Farazí doctrines have gained no footing among these
weavers, the few who have been perverted invariably relinquisn
the occupation of Tántís, being excommunicated by the com-
munity. The only other Muhammadan classes among which
Farazí preachers have failed to make any impression are the
Hajjám and Dhobá, who observe in all its old perfection the
Hinduized Muhammadanism of India. The weavers make
pilgrimages to the tombs of saints, construct "Ta'ziyas" at the
Muharram, invoke Zindah Ghází, the Panch Pír, and other
Indian worthies, and participate in the license of the Holí.
Jámadání muslins are named from the pattern on them, and
are usually worn by women, although fast men occasionally
assume a Jámadání dhotí, or waist-cloth. The Sárí, or female
wrapper, with an embroidered end, is known as "Achla," without
one, but with four Koní, or Pankhí, ""Tethí."
Muslin is, as a rule, ornamented with flowers (Bútá), spots of
various figures, stripes, cheques, or the pear-shaped designs so
familiar on Kashmir shawls; and sometimes the piece is dyed
of an ashen colour with charcoal and Káí, or starch.
TÁR-WÁLÁH.
This is the offensive trade of the Boyaudier, or gut-spinner,
who prepares gut from the entrails of goats and sheep¹ for the
strings of pellet bows (Ghulel), and musical instruments, such
as the Behlá and Sárangí.
The fresh intestine being scraped and cut into lengths,
according to size, is rolled in the palms of the hands, and dried.
In former days, the entrails of all goats and sheep slaughtered
in Dacca became the perquisite of the trade, but of late years
they are bought as required.
¹ Tánt in Dacca, is gut made from the intestines of cattle.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
115
The Tár-wálahs intermarry with other Muhammadans, as their
ancestor is said to have been the Khádim, or custodian, of a
private mosque, the property of Nawab Sháistah Khán, from
which post he was arbitrarily driven out.
TIKIYÁ-WÁLÁH.
The makers of charcoal balls for tobacco-pipes are always
Muhammadans, and there are about twenty-five houses occupied
by them in Dacca. Boot sellers and Tikiyá manufacturers
never sell their goods on Friday, the Muhammadan Sunday, a
custom for which they can assign no reason.
Charcoal is prepared in huts erected on the borders of jungly
tracts, thorny underwood producing the best. As the wood
becomes charred, it is sprinkled with water and pounded in a
"Dhenkí," after which the powder is sifted, and mixed with Congee
water until a soft paste is formed. Women manipulate this into
flattish cakes, which are arranged on mats and placed in the
Common "Guls," as they are called, sell for six or seven
paisa a thousand; when bought wholesale by brokers they are
sold at so much a mat, or so much for three mats, equal one
Gasht," or day's sale, and costing from five to six anas.
sun.
((
Guls again are either "Kachcha," soft, or "Pakka," hard; the
former being made like the "Tikiyá," with the addition of rice
paste (Leí), and the juice of the "Gáb” (Embryopteris glutinifera);
the latter being prepared in a similar way, but, after adding the
Gáb, the mass is again pounded, put into a vessel in which it is
trodden with the feet, "Methí" (Trigonella), coriander, and
syrup (Ráb), being mixed with it.
The "Kachchá" gul blackens cloth, and is rapidly consumed
when once a-glow; the "Pakka" does not soil the fingers or
cloth, it burns slowly, and when properly made will be found
burning at the centre for some time after immersion in water.
The Kachchá sell at from five to six anas a hundred, while the
Pakka fetch sixteen to twenty-four anas.
ZAR-KOFT.
In accordance with the minute subdivision of labour in the
East, the maker of gold and silver foil is distinct from the
116
ON THE RACES, ETC., OF EASTERN BENGAL.
Koft-gar, or inlayer of metals, the latter being regarded as the
more respectable calling.
Silver or gold foil is prepared as follows: A rupee-weight of
silver is drawn into a wire a yard long; it is then beaten flat,
cut into lengths, and put between the folds of a skin,¹ and
with an iron mallet, weighing about four pounds, the metal is
hammered into as fine a leaf as possible. Gold-leaf thus
prepared is sold to Kabírájs for medical purposes, and to the
Koft-gar for his particular trade.
¹ The skin, brought from Umritsur, is probably that of the hare, or musk-deer.
( 117
SECTION II.
RELIGIOUS SECTS OF THE HINDUS.
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.
RITES AND CUSTOMS COPIED FROM ABORIGINAL RACES.
SECTS:-
Vaishnava.-RÁMÁNUJA-Rámávat—NÍMÁVAT-VAISHNAVAS OF BENGAL
BAYAN-KAUPÍNA
- Báyan-KaupÍNA - KIŞORÍ-BHAJANA - JAGAT MOHANÍ-SPASHȚA-
Dáyaka-Kaví-INDRA-PARIVÁRA-BÁOLA-DARWESH-FAQÍR.
Şaiva.-KÁNPháta-Jogí—BRAHMÁCHÁRÍ.
Various.—ŞRÍ-NárávaṆA — SUTHRA SHÁHÍ - Nának SHá¤í— TRINÁTH
PÚJAH.
( 119 )
HINDU.
THE Hindus of Bengal deny that they have any Dravidian, or
Kolarian, blood in their veins, and disown any connection with
these two aboriginal races; yet Colonel Dalton¹ has arrived at
the conclusion that aboriginal blood does form an important
element in the constitution of the modern Bengali. It was
most natural for the non-Aryan tribes to seek amalgamation
with the civilised and enterprising foreigners, and this desire
has always been encouraged by the Patita, or fallen, Bráhmans.
The stages through which the mixed races passed before
becoming Hindus can be ascertained by observing what is
occurring at the present day. The Hill Garos, entering the
plains, and intermarrying with Hindus, gave rise to the Hajong,
a mongrel people, who, again, are kinsmen of the Doí, a caste
having Brahmans as Purohits. The same gradation is also
observable in the case of the Ráj-vansí Kochh, the Kochh
Mandáí, and the Súrya-vansí.
It is therefore reasonable to conclude that intermarriages
between the early Hindus of the plains and the Dravidian
Bhuiyas of the hills gave birth to similar mixed tribes, which,
in the course of time, have been absorbed into the ranks of the
Hindus, and are now reckoned pure Aryans. How far the
aboriginal strain has impressed itself on the habits and customs
of the people is a subject worthy of inquiry, as throwing a
strong light on the real origin of the present inhabitants of
Bengal. Many religious rites and usages have undoubtedly
been adopted from the forest tribes, while others as certainly
are survivals of particular tribal ceremonies, antecedent to the
ordinances of the Sástras. Bráhmans, and high-caste Hindus,
assert that there is no resemblance between their ceremonies
and those of the aborigines, and if any similarity be detected
it arises from the latter copying them. But not only is the
appearance of the typical Bengali distinct from that of the
typical Aryan, but the habits, religious rites, and gods of the two
races differ materially. If any inference is to be drawn from these
1 c Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal," pp. 305-309. Professor Max Müller,
in the 17th Report of the British Association, London, 1818, says: "In Northern
India the lower classes of the Hindus consist of aboriginal inhabitants, and
some continue still outcasts in forests, and as servants in villages."
K 2
120
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
facts, it surely is that the Aryan settlers in Bengal, being either
too few in numbers, or too weak, to eradicate aboriginal ideas,
finally yielded, and adopted the superstitious rites of their
neighbours. Other points are worthy of notice. These traces
of aboriginal influence are chiefly found among the outcast
tribes, presenting a remarkable diminution in the higher; and
Bengali Brahmans are still found practising ceremonials not
enjoined by the Sástras, and clearly indigenous.
So many of the rites and usages of the people in Eastern
Bengal are contrary to Hindu conceptions, and closely resemble
the rites and usages of the Dravidian and Kolarian races, that
we may reasonably conclude that they have been derived from
the pre-Aryan tribes, more especially as the Sastras, and Puránas,
are silent regarding them. It is, however, absurd to suppose
that superstitious rites of aboriginal origin will be found as
common among the high castes, as they undoubtedly are among
the low, for within the memory of men still living many out-
cast tribes have discarded characteristic ceremonies, because
they were at variance with Hindu orthodoxy, while many
singular customs formerly observed by the Brahmanical order
have fallen into disuse, and are now repudiated by it. Still
there remains so much that is not Hindu, but aboriginal, that
we can only ascertain its prevalence by examining those customs
peculiar to Bengali Hindus, but unknown to the purer Aryan
of Upper India.
1. Wearing the hair long and twisted into a knot, fixed
behind, at one side, or on the top of the head, is characteristic
of Dravidian tribes. When unwound the hair hangs in dark
tresses over the neck, and to prevent inconvenience the wearer
ties it with a silken or grass thread. Even among the semi-
Hinduized races of Bengal, the Tiyar, Rishi, Berua, Chandál,
and Ganṛár, this fashion still survives, and the young men
adorn the top-knot with a "Champá," or other fragrant, flower.
A reddish colour towards the point, very characteristic of all
semi-Hinduized peoples wearing long hair, is usually attributed
to neglect of oil, but no such change of colour is seen among
Vairágis of high caste, who are the only Hindus who never shave
the head.¹
Dr. Caldwell affirms that wearing the hair long, and twisted
into a knot, is peculiar to Dravidian races, being the badge of
non-Aryan tribes, and that shaving the head, except the Sikhá,
or Chotí, is the distinguishing mark of an Aryan, or pseudo-
Aryan, race. The Vishnu Purána, again, states that the Páradas
1 Jogis are often seen with red matted locks, but this is due to their smearing
the hair with Alkaline earth.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
121
wore long hair, and Menu includes them among the Dásyus,
who are undoubtedly non-Aryan, being distinguished by their
long hair.
By the higher classes of Hindus long hair is, even at the
present day, considered the proper coiffure for the Nícha, and
when any of them appear with shaven pate, and cue, they have
to bear much chaff at their pretensions. Most of the lower
castes, however, are vain of their dark tresses, and spend much
time in arranging them. It is amusing to watch a young Chandál
boatman with his mirror, comb, and pot of mustard oil, intent
on dressing his hair in what he regards the most taking style,
and when he steps ashore there is no diffidence apparent in his
walk, and no misgiving as he struts among the shaveling
Hindus. It will be long before fashion changes with him, or
induces him to give up so much personal gratification.
Whenever any of the long-haired castes appear before
Hindus, as the Rishi is often required to do, they either hide
the locks beneath the folds of a turban, or wind them so as to
be invisible. For this reason, few notice the prevalence of the
custom in Bengal-a custom, moreover, chiefly found among
castes rarely brought into contact with Europeans.
It is a remarkable fact that Nicolo de Conti, describing the
dwellers of the Delta, early in the fifteenth century, says: "The
Indians along the Ganges have no beards, but very long hair,
which some tie at the back of their head with a cord, and let
it flow over their shoulders." No traveller at the present day
would represent the inhabitants of Bengal as a long-haired
people, but De Conti wrote before the advent of Chaitanya, and
before Vaishnavism obliged its followers to shave the head. It
is probable, however, that the Venetian traveller is speaking of
the fisher and agricultural races, who even now wear the hair
in the style he describes.
Wavy or frizzled hair, as distinguished from woolly, is
occasionally seen among the lower castes. One member of a
family may have it, while the others have the usual long silken
locks, and when it occurs the beard and moustache are large
and bushy. Three of a Berua family from the banks of the
Padma exhibited this peculiarity of hair in a remarkable
manner. The eldest, aged 30, paternal uncle of the other two,
had the hair frizzled, but fine and glossy, and whiskers large;
the second, aged 26, had coarse curly hair; and the third,
aged 19, had luxuriant red-tipped locks hanging in clusters
over the shoulders.
Long hair is deemed by all Hindus an attraction, and one of
the numerous epithets of Krishna is Kesava, the long-haired.
Loose unkempt hair (Jata), rolled in a knot above the head, is
122
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
characteristic of Jogis, and Saiva mendicants, and an epithet of
Şiv is Jața-dhara, wearing matted hair.
2. Individuals with blue eyes and red hair are less common
than in Hindustan; but among the Sánkhárís of Dacca a few
families are remarkable for this singularity. Their skin is either
colourless,¹ or brown in patches, the hair coarse and red; but
there is no defect of vision. This hereditary peculiarity has
descended through several generations, and is not considered a
bar, or even an objection, to marriage.
2
Natives with blue (kanjá), grey, or cat's eyes (viḍála
chakra), although common in Bengal are perhaps less so than
among Rajputs, Kurmís, and the Kolítas of Asam. This
anomaly, generally accounted a blemish, is either inherited, or,
like a mother mark, congenital. The blue iris is always crossed
by white, or grey, radii, while the pupil is surrounded by a pale
yellowish areola. The hair of the head is black, but soon turns
grey; that of the body and eyebrows is pale brown. Examples
of this defect were noticed among individuals of the Ghatak,
Gop, and Chandál castes.
3. When Europeans first visited Bengal they were struck
with the pale colour of the people. The Cingalese, and residents
of Southern India, who were best known, being of dark hue,
the travellers were not prepared to find races paler than those
left behind.³ Manrique, who resided at Dacca about 1640, and
traversed Eastern Bengal, speaks of the people as being either
of a yellowish-brown colour (color bázo), or black like the
Cingalese. At the present day all shades of yellowish-brown
are met with, and colour is no longer a test of purity of race. As
a people the inhabitants of Bengal are darker than Hindustání
tribes; but even among Bráhmans the colour of the skin is
often as swarthy as among Dravidians. The Chamár is prover-
bially dark, but many Srotriyá Bráhmans are darker. Exposure
to the sun, wind, and rain tends to blacken the skin. Members
of a caste residing in the country are darker than their town
brethren, and those engaged in agricultural pursuits than seden-
tary traders. Comparing the different strata of the population
in Bengal, it will be found, as a general rule, that the higher the
caste the fairer the complexion, and the lower in social grade
the darker. But to this rule there are many exceptions, and it
cannot be predicated from the hue of the skin what is the social
position of the individual. The natives regard dark men as
belonging to low, and fair ones to high castes; but experience
'Leucoderma, or Leucopathia.
2 Dalton's "Descriptive Ethnology," pp. 79, 320.
3 Linschoten writes, "Incolae colore similes sunt insulanis in Seylon, nisi
quod plusculum albicent quam Cingalas."
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
123
proves that this test is most fallacious. The Aryan blood has,
as in other parts of India, prevailed over the aboriginal, and in
physiognomy, build, and complexion, the native of Bengal
generally shows more resemblance to the former than to the
latter. The figure of the average Bengali is that of a short,
slim, well made, but physically weak man, with ample forehead
and an intellectual cast of countenance, differing in every
respect from the typical flat-featured, broad-nosed, squat and
dumpy figure of the Dravidian. It is, however, rash to argue
from physique, or colour, for among the present inhabitants of
Bengal, and even in the ranks of the most distinguished, indi-
viduals are found who resemble in every respect the race with
whom they have the least manifest connection.
This
4. Tattooing is a style of personal decoration fashionable
among all classes of women. Bráhman, Chaṇḍál, and even
Muhammadan, females think their charms are enhanced by
permanently staining the face. In some parts of Bengal it is
forbidden to a Brahman, or a clean caste man, to drink water
from the hands of any woman without a spot or stain.
prejudice, although formerly deeply rooted, is now dying out
fast. There is no doubt, however, that staining the skin was
originally an aboriginal, not an Aryan custom, and neither in
Sanskrit nor Bengali are there words for tattooing.¹ The terms
Godná and Pachhná, common to most of the Indian languages,
are Hindi. Moreover, the most expert tattooers in Hindustan
are the Natní, in Bengal the Bediyání and Chanḍální; and the
Chamáín women have recourse to it more than the females of
any other class.
Tattooing is practised by most Kolarian and Dravidian
tribes. The Anka Miris are so called by the Asamese, on
account of their stained faces. No Naga can be tattooed until
he has brought home a head, and marriage is then permitted, if
he makes himself as hideous as possible by tattooing. The
Kyeng girls of Arakan are tattooed at an early age, and so
disfigured that they are saved from being kidnapped by neigh-
bouring tribes. Other races have adopted distinguishing stain
marks. The Bírhor women stain their chests, arms, and ankles,
but never the face; the Oráon the brow and temples only; the
Ho paint on the skin an arrow, the national emblem; but any
Kisan female getting tattooed is summarily expelled from the
tribe.
Among semi-Hinduized races this decoration is greatly
admired. The Ágareah tattoo the hands and feet, not the face;
¹ Painting the face with sandal, saffron, and other fragrant substances was
practised, and Pattra is the usual Sanskrit term for this decoration.
* Dalton's "Descriptive Ethnology," pp. 132, 191.
+
124
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
1
and the Chamár stain all the exposed parts of the body. Hindus
in Eastern Bengal are usually satisfied with a stellate spot
(ullikhi) stained on the forehead above the base of the nose,
but often fancy having the helix of the ear tattooed, and
ornamented with filigree studs. Buchanan informs us that
tattooing was more fashionable in Bihár than Bhagalpur, and
that the strict Hindus of Gorakhpúr were not prevented
drinking from the hands of a maiden of unstained face.
2
5. Several customs connected with marriage, and the rights
of property, though prohibited by Hindu legislation, are still
practised by the semi-Hinduized tribes, but considerably modi-
fied in the course of ages. The most important of these tribal
usages is widow marriage. Menu¹ denounces the practice as
fit only for cattle, but admits it was allowed in the days of the
impious Vena. In one passage, however, the legality of a
childless widow marrying a kinsman is conceded. At the
present day neither Bráhmans nor'clean Sudras practise it, but
in 1756 the famous Rájah Ráj Bullabh, a Vaidyá of Dacca,
wishing to get his widowed daughter re-married, consulted the
Pandits, who decided that women are at liberty to re-marry, if
their husbands be not heard of, if they die, become ascetics,
-impotent, or degraded. This decision, more favourable than
could have been expected, was never, it is said, acted upon. In
Buchanan's time three-fourths of the Hindus of Dinájpúr
recognised widow marriages as lawful, but did not reckon it so
honourable as Viváha or proper matrimony. Whenever observed
the contract is voluntary, the usual ceremonies are curtailed,
turmeric is not used, and divorce is prohibited except for
adultery. Sagái¹ is the usual term in Bengal, Nikáh in Upper
India.
5
3
In Eastern Bengal at the present day widow marriage,
though less common than formerly, is still solemnized by the
Chandáls, Mahisha Goálas, Gaḍariyá, Kochh Mandái, Kándho,
Kewat, Jaiswara Kurmís, Muriárí, Rishi, and Súraj-vanși. In
Kamrup the Vaidika Bráhman, and Ráj-vanşi, widows re-marry;
the children of the latter however, cannot marry in their father's
class, but must be satisfied to wed with inferior clean tribes.
Among the Mahrattas, Pát, as it is called, is common with all
Súdra castes, and the ceremony is always performed at the
Krishná-paksha, or dark half of the month. Banjára widows
¹ Menu, ix, 64-66
2 Ibid., ix, 190.
3 Calcutta Review," xxv, 358.
4 Sa-gotra of the same family.
5 Buchanan, iii, 519.
t
6" J. A. S. of Bengal," xiii, 4.
6
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
125
re-marry, the ceremony consisting in the gift of a new cloth, and
the selection of a fortunate hour in which to conduct the bride
to her new home. Among the Mallialies of Madras,¹ a widow
must marry any man proposing to her, and the ceremony
generally takes place fifteen days after the husband's death.
2
Any Muhammadan widow in Bengal can re-marry four
months and ten days after the death of her husband, but she
can only become a Nikáh wife. These instances are enough to
prove that widow marriage, though denounced by the Brahmans,
is still practised throughout India. The two castes which
observe it most frequently are the Kurmí and Koeri; but of
late years the Ayodhya Kurmís, apeing the usages of their
superiors, have relinquished it altogether. Widow marriage is
not universal among Kolarian and Dravidian tribes, but Colonel
Dalton mentions it as existing among the Mikirs, Márs, and
Pání-Kochh, and it is probable that when rich no widow
belonging to these or kindred tribes ever pines for a second
husband.
In former days, when a Hindu died before consummation,
his widow was marriageable to his brother, he and she both
consenting; but a certain blemish attached to her from having
been previously affianced to another. This union was quite
distinct from the proper Levirate marriage, which recognises a
brother, or near kinsman, as the person to raise up seed
(kshetriya) to a deceased and childless brother. Even Menu
says, if a widow, her lord being dead, have no sons, she is
to be dependent on the near kinsman of her husband; and
again, the son by a kinsman inherits the collected estate of the
deceased. On the other hand, such a commission to a brother,
or other near kinsman, is denounced by the same legislator," as
being nowhere mentioned in the nuptial texts of the Vedas.
3
4
6
6. Among many Hindu tribes, the Levirate marriage custom
is still observed. The Ját men assert the right of marrying
their deceased brother's wife; but the women vehemently dis-
pute the claim. With the Koerí' the usage is still common.
Within the last few years the Rishi, Chandál, Patní, and
Gaṇrár have relinquished this usage, which is repugnant to the
feelings of all Bengali Hindus. The Hindustáni Tántí, Chamár,
Dosád, and Gaḍariyá still practise it, and are not ashamed to
1
1 Shortt, part ii, 43.
2 "Koran" (Sale), chap. ii, p. 28.
3 Menu, v, 148.
4 Ibid., ix, 190.
5 Ibid., ix, 65.
6 "J. A. S. of Bengal," xxxv, 135.
* ( Descriptive Etlinology," p. 321.
1
126
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
confess that they do so. Dalton states¹ that the polygamous
Málers observe the Levirate marriage, and when a man dies his
numerous widows are distributed among the brothers and
cousins, but only one to each. The Márs of Sirguja, too, always
take to wife their sisters-in-law. Dr. Shortt mentions that in
Vizagapatam Bráhmans, Chhatrís, and Súdras do not allow
their widows to marry, but they are taken in concubinage by
the younger brothers. In Bengal the union is never obligatory,
and, if either objects, the widow returns to her father's house,
and may re-marry with the man of her own choice. No com-
pensation is paid to the widow's family should the objection
have come from the brother-in-law. It is only in the case of a
deceased elder brother's wife that this Jewish custom is observed.
A very remarkable instance of the Levirate marriage is pre-
served in the Puránas, and goes to prove that the usage was
not so abhorrent then as it is now. In the Vishnu Purána
Vyása, by command of his mother Satyavatí, marries the two
widows of his eldest half-brother Vichitravírya, and begets,
besides others, the famous Pánḍu. In this legend there are two
peculiarities-the command of the mother to the son, and the
relationship of the heir, who is half-brother of the deceased.
By Hindu law seven kinds of second marriage are recognised,
which are, however, in practice restricted to the Súdra castes.
The Levirate marriage is designated Punar-bhú, being born again;
while Para-púrvá is any woman who has had a previous
husband.
2
The Levirate marriage is really a right of succession, or a
counterpart of that right, and is closely connected with the
descent through females, a more archaic system of kinship than
that through males. According to McLennan, both procedures
can only be explained by the practice of polyandry. In the
ruder form, namely, that in which the husbands are not
brothers, the descent in the female line is always observed.
3
4
7. Polyandry is still a recognised institution among the
Butias, the Kametis, and Botis of Ladák, and the Kasias of
Eastern Bengal, and with these tribes female descent is the
rule. Kasia children inherit through the mother, and are
buried beside her, while the father lies among his kindred.
Polyandry is extinct among the Garo and Kochh, but Garo
sons do not inherit, and the widowed mother remains head of
the house. The Kochh husband, again, transferring all his pro-
1 Op. cit., p. 273.
2 "Primitive Marriage," p. 200.
3 Dalton, p. 98.
* Cunningham's "Ladak," p. 295.
5 "J. A. S. of Bengal," ix, 834; xiii, 625.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
127
perty to his wife, goes and lives with her mother, and when she
dies, her daughters are the heirs.
Vestiges of these primitive customs are still found among
the Hindus of the plains, although polyandry has been obsolete
for centuries. That these vestiges are survivals of systems
older than the Aryans is most probable, for they exist among
the Todas, the most ancient inhabitants of the peninsula, but no
Hindu will admit they were ever practised by his ancestors.
Nevertheless, these usages are met with at the present day
ainong the aboriginal tribes of Central India, and the lowest
agricultural races of Bihár, who, Colonel Dalton considers,¹ are
descended from Kols. It is a remarkable fact that Mithila and
Sarvária Bráhmans still recognise the bhánjá, or sister's son, as
the family priest; and the Mungírya Tántís style him Bráhman,
investing him with the presidency at all domestic and party
gatherings.
8. Demonolatry, or Shamanism,2 is a system of religious
worship peculiar to Dravidian and other non-Aryan races; but
it is still practised in Bengal by Chaṇḍáls, and more frequently
by Chamárs and other low Hindustání castes. By Shamanism
is understood an ecstatic state into which the devotee throws
himself by abstraction, drugs, and the excitement of the giddy
dance, quickened by the din of musical instruments. As Sir
J. Lubbock points out, Shamanism is no definite system of
theology, but a stage of belief in advance of that in which
animals and trees are worshipped. It expresses a yearning
after a closer communion with a higher intelligence, and when
in ecstasy the worshipper is believed to have soared above the
world, and become united with a loftier and holier nature.
While in this condition he is able, or supposed to be able, to
foretell futurity, and, inspired by a demon, to answer questions
beyond the ken of other men. In Hindustan the common term
for this divine fury is "Deo chaṛhána," to make the god mount
up; in Bengal" Biál paran." The beings worshipped are not of
this world, but connected in some mysterious way with the
deity. They are usually regarded as devils, wicked, vindictive,
and fitful, whose enmity is averted by timely sacrifices. It
is unusual to pay adoration to any particular demon, but the
Chamárs call upon Deví, with all the superstitious formalities of
Shamanism.
Tribes practising this form of worship have no regular priest-
hood, although in Southern India the Shaman is a recognised
profession; consequently any one, who feels himself fitted, can
1 "Descriptive Ethnology," p. 63.
2 Shaman, in Persian, signifies an idolater, being derived from the Sanskrit
Sramaņa, a Buddhist mendicant.
128
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
assume the character, and whenever trouble or calamity threatens
it is easy to hire a competent actor.
The priests of the Kolarian Santál are the most expert
Shamans, and after prolonged fasting, prayer, and mental
abstraction, throw themselves into a frenzy by the beating of
drums.¹ In Eastern Bengal the Shaman is popularly called the
"Matwálah," or the intoxicated, as it is customary for him to
prepare for the performance by fasting a whole day, drinking
Bháng, or smoking Gánjhá, and quaffing the freshly drawn
blood of a goat, sheep, or buffalo. In Dacca the Charak Pújah
and the Dashara are the favourite seasons for demonolatry, but
whenever the future is to be interrogated a Shaman is hired.
It is a curious instance of the corruption prevailing among
Bengali Muhammadans that individuals are found performing
at the "Shaikh Sadú-ka-Karáhí," exactly similar antics to those
of the Hindu Matwálah.
2
9. Partiality for pork is an infirmity shared by Kolarian,
Dravidian, and low castes in Bengal. The Oráons prefer pork
to everything, and their villages swarm with pigs. Even in
Menu's days the pig was a domestic animal in India, and a
Brahman was degraded immediately by touching its flesh.3
Breeding pigs is an occupation only followed by the very
lowest tribes in Bengal; but fondness for its flesh remains long
after Hindu influences have taught them to discard other
aboriginal customs. The Patní, outcast Bhúinmálí, Dôm, Chamár,
and Rishi, not only breed pigs, but eat them. The Bind,
Chandál, Dosád, Kahár of Hindustání connections, Kándho,
and Kochh Mandái, are still fond of pork; but the Súraj-Vanși,
Bengali Kahárs, Karrál, and Baqqál, having assumed the airs of
clean Súdras, renounce any taste for the unclean animal.
The pig being the usual victim sacrificed to Grám-devatas,
the eating of its flesh was originally a Kolarian or Dravidian
custom, which has been preserved by the semi-Hinduized tribes
now found in Bengal.
10. The drinking of rice spirit, Surá, was countenanced by
the Vedic Hindus, and the Rámáyana describes several
Bacchanalian scenes in which Ráma, and even the gentle Șítá,
joined. Krishna denounced intoxication among his Yádava
brethren, but the credit of having first enacted a law against it
is due to Sukráchárya, preceptor of the Daityas. Menu prohibits
¹ On demonolatry, devil-dancing, and demonical possession, see "Contem-
porary Review" for February, 1876. In Southern India the Peyadi"
eschews Bháng and other drugs, and is often a woman. In "Lettres
Edifiantes," xi, 45, a Jesuit father confesses his belief in the possession.
2 Dalton, p. 251.
3 Menu, v, 19.
4 Ibia., xi, 91, 96.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
129
Brahmans from tasting Surá, which is made from the Mala, or
filthy refuse, of the grain, or drinking any other inebriating
liquor, and mentions eight different kinds of spirits, including
Ásava, the most pernicious of all.
Intemperance is not general among Bengali Hindus at the
present day, but the consumption of spirituous liquors among
certain classes is excessive. In Eastern Bengal many of the
three highest castes follow the Tantric ritual, and observe the
secret Kaula orgies, which require the drinking of large
quantities of coarse spirit. A whole bottle of bázár brandy is
often quaffed at a draught on such occasions, and it is reasonable
to infer that individuals who can stand such a quantity must
prepare themselves by solitary drinking. Intoxication, however,
is denounced by the strictest Kaula worshipper, and the effects
of their orgies are rarely discovered.¹ It is among the low and
semi-Hunduized, tribes that drinking to the extent of insensi-
bility is practised, and to ensure this desirable result, they add
Dhatúrá or Bháng, to the spirit. In Bengal all the low castes
drink spirits, and at festivals in honour of Grám-devatas intoxica-
tion is the usual termination. Low Hindustání castes are more con-
firmed drunkards than their Bengali fellows, and are not ashamed
at being detected in liquor. No Hindu of intemperate habits is
excluded from caste privileges as long as he does not cause a
scandal; otherwise the Pancháít is obliged to pass sentence on
his conduct. With all low Hindu castes the liquor of the Tál
palm, or Trina-rájah, the king, of grasses, is the favourite
stimulant; but when intoxication is desired, bázár, or raw rice,
spirit, is preferred.
11. Fetichism. The believer in this superstition fancies that
the possession of a fetich of any spirit enables him to make a
servant of that spirit; but it must be recollected, as Sir J.
Lubbock points out, that an object regarded as a fetich by one
person may be an idol to another.
In Bengal Fetichism has become modified, often disguised by
contact with the higher Hindu religion, and few will admit that
the thing worshipped resembles in any respect the fetich of the
African negro. Yet in what other light are we to regard the
reversed Sankh shell, bought for its weight in gold, and confided
in to secure wealth and happiness; or the scarlet seeds of the
Rakta-chandana," employed by the Kíchaka to ensure success,
and much plunder; or the hollow siliceous concretions, said to
1 Further details of the drinking habits of Hindus are to be found in the
"J. A. S. of Bengal," xlii, 2.
2 Sir W. Jones says: "The juice of the Tál is the most seducing and per-
nicious of vegetable liquors: when just drawn, it is as pleasant as Pouhon water
(at Spa), fresh from the spring, and almost equal to the best mild champagne
"Asiatic Res.," iv, 311).
130
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
be petrified grains of rice offered to Vishnu, aud extolled by
Bráhmans as the safeguard of their holy shrines; or the "Vana-
linga" of the Nerbudda? Still more in point is the Sála-
gráma,¹ or Ammonite, which has been deified, and is worshipped
as the special deity of the Brahmanical order, fetching enormous
prices according to the fictitious power and virtue ascribed to
its varying shapes.
Whatever may be the ideas of the higher ranks, respecting
marine curiosities, rare fossils, or strange seeds, there can be no
doubt that the care and veneration bestowed on them by the
owners tend to support the belief of the lower classes, that
they are emblems of the deity embodied in them, and who acts
through, or by, them. That any intelligent Bráhman would
allow that the Sálagráma is more than an idol is not to be ex-
pected, but the Kíchaka admits that he addresses his petitions to
the seeds as he would to any sentient being. In fact, the
Kíchaka remains in the lower stage of Fetichism, while the
Bráhman has risen to a higher belief-that of idolatry and
anthropomorphism.
12. In every Hindu village of Eastern Bengal there is a țola,
or quarter, consecrated, either to Kálí, Chandí,2 Shashthí, or
Siddheṣvarí, to which the villagers repair, either collectively or
singly, to present offerings, and propitiate the deity supposed to
inflict disease or calamity. Any large stone, or slab, beneath a
Pipal, Bat, or Seorhá tree, smeared with red-lead, and moistened
with Ghí, or milk, is conceived to represent the guardian deity.
The villagers never analyse the motives of this strange wor-
ship, but few believe that the god is embodied in the stone. The
block is merely regarded by the multitude as the medium
through which the god acts, or communicates his will, and
for this reason it is always approached, and spoken of, with
reverence.
This conception of a guardian deity has been adopted by the
Bráhmans. The. city of Dacca has an idol, carefully preserved
in a holy shrine, called the Dhákeṣvarí, which, like the Trojan
Palladium, is revered as a pledge of the safety of the city and
its inhabitants. At Patna, again, the tutelary deity is Pataneṣvarí,
and in both instances the attendant Bráhmans identify the god
with Durgá, or Kálí.
The most popular deity of all low Bengali castes is Deví,
Jalka Deví, Bandí, Bana-Durgá, Champa-batí, Mahámáyá, or
Parameşvarí, undoubtedly a goddess of the aboriginal races.
1
Regarding the varieties of this fossil and the fables grounded on its
singular structure, see Ward's "Hindus," iii, 222, and "Lettres Edifiantes'
(Edition 1781), xiv, 107-115.
2 "The Artemis, or immortal huntress, of the Oráons" (Dalton, p. 258).
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
131
She is invoked with bloody sacrifices and libations of blood, and
spirits, under shady trees, or at night in the silence and solitude
of the forest. A Bráhman never officiates, but one of the com-
pany stabs the victim, usually a pig, with a knife, or bamboo
spit, and catching the blood in a cup offers it to the dreaded
goddess. No doubts are ever entertained regarding the accept-
ance of the sacrifice, or fears expressed that Deví is dissatisfied
with receiving only the spiritual part of the animal, for the
victim is at once cut up, roasted, and eaten by the assembled
worshippers, while the skin, hoofs, and offal are buried. It is
strictly forbidden to leave any of the flesh uneaten, or to carry
home a morsel of it. The feast always ends in a liberal con-
sumption of fiery spirits.
Deví is usually invoked in the month of Srávan (July and
August), and by many her worship is called the Srávania Pújáh.
It is obvious that this rite, bearing no resemblance to any
Bráhmanical ceremony, is a survival of an aboriginal cultus
pertaining to those unclean castes which are most unlike the
Hindus. By the Ráwats, for instance, Deví is the goddess of
the tribe, and to her sacrifices are offered whenever sickness or
sorrow overtakes their families.
13. A large and ubiquitous class of beings, included under
the generic name of Bhúta, or Bhúta-devatás, identical with
the ghosts, banshees, bogeys, and goblins of Western credulity,
are worshipped by the superstitious classes of Bengal. They
are most numerous in jungly tracts where lofty trees afford shade
and silence, or in the sombre valleys of hilly districts. Around
Dacca, and in Bikrampúr, where old "Pipal" and "Bat" trees
of dense foliage abound, Bhúts are very numerous and very
powerful. Others dwell in cities, in ruined temples, in grave-
yards, in burning gháts, and even in dry wells. They are met
with on the arid treeless plain, the flooded river, and the lonely
forest glade. The timid recognise their cry in the hooting of
the owl, the howling of the jackal, the yelp of the village cur,
and the whistle of the plover. One kind of demon, sedentary
in its habits, attaches itself to a village, another to a household;
some inflict plagues, others blight the opening bud, or convulse
the new-born babe. The Bengali sees in every accident the
work of evil spirits, and his longing desire is to obtain some
means of counteracting their influence. The women are
naturally the chief adherents of this superstition, and while
engaged in the most commonplace work are ever watchful
against the entrance of a devil.
The length that these simple people go in their belief of
Bhúts is almost incredible. The mildewed ear of rice, the
appearance of wild rice, or of weeds, in the paddy fields, the
3
132
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
murrain among the cattle, the hail smiting the green crops,
the weevil spoiling the mangoes, the shrivelled yellow leaves of
the pân garden, are one and all the work of malevolent spirits.
Many persons turn this credulity to profit. Mantras, or magical
formulæ, are bought from the Ganak Bráhman; copper amulets,
containing sentences of the Koran, from the Khwándkár; and
charms of various kinds, such as a vertebra, tooth, or scale of a
fish, a segment of a bone, a seed, or a bit of wood from the
Vairágí. Fields and gardens are protected from the evil eye
by a black pot painted with a white cross, having the limbs bent
at right angles, and raised on a mound.¹ If hail should threaten
to beat down his spring crop the Silarí is summoned to avert
the danger.
The peasant, however, is not the only class enslaved by this
marvellous belief, for even educated gentlemen, acting under
female dictation, call in the aid of magicians to cast out the devil
haunting his house, or tormenting his child. Infants and
pregnant women are especially subject to the malign influence
of a Bhúta; but all convulsive diseases, the delirium of fever,
and raving madness, are referred to possession by an evil spirit.
In such cases, the Kabíráj, confessing his want of power, makes
way for the exorcist, or Ojhá, and magic is substituted for
medicine. The Bráhmans, profiting by this grievous superstition,
have set apart one day in the year for the worship of the whole
host of devils, and have craftily selected a moonless night near
the autumnal equinox. The Bhúta-chaturdasí, as this festival is
called, falls on the fourteenth of the dark half of Aswin (Septem-
ber and October).
14. By far the more important Grám-devata in Eastern
Bengal is Bura-Burí, literally old man and old woman. In
some places this deity is identified with Bura-Thákuráin, Bana-
Durga, or Siddheṣvari, or Vriddheṣvari, other personifications of
that goddess; but according to the Bráhmans Bura-Burí is
Mahadeva and Durga.
The annual festival of this rustic divinity is the Paush
Sankrant, or last day of that month, corresponding to December
and January; but on any occasion of sickness, or trouble, its
favour may be invoked. There are several shrines in the Dacca
district² sacred to Bura-Burí, but whenever Bat and Pipal trees
are entwined, or married, as the Hindus say, there is the
favourite haunt of the god. The worship ought properly to be
1 This is the Svastika or mystical cross, of the Buddhists.
2 "The most ancient and holy spot in Upper Assam is a shrine of Bura-
Buri. The most esteemed offering is a white buffalo. (“J. A. S. of Bengal,”
xvii, 467.)
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
133
held beneath a "Seorhá" tree (Trophis aspera¹), but if not
available a branch of it will answer.
At Golá-Kandha, near Sunnárgáon, a very celebrated fair in
honour of Bura-Buri is annually held in Paush, at which crowds
of Chandáls, as well as representatives of all Ṣúdra castes,
assemble. At Cháchar-tolá, on the banks of the Padma, is a very
old shrine, dedicated to this deity, and tended by Srotriyá
Brahmans from Chakra-Șála in Chittagong. The sanctuary is a
ruined brick building, in which is placed the idol represented by
a ghat, or waterpot, on which stands a cocoanut daubed with
red-lead. The eyes are of brass, while the protruding tongue is
a partially detached portion of the shell. The dense grove
around consists of Pipal, Tamarind, and Vakula trees, while
over the ruined building hang the branches of Pipal and Bat
trees, whose roots, penetrating through the masonry, are steadily
disintegrating the walls. Each morning the idol is ornamented
with garlands of flowers, while leaves of the Bel tree are heaped
on its top, and those falling to the ground are presented to the
credulous worshipper, in token of the god's satisfaction. Male
goats and buffaloes are the ordinary victims. The Bráhman,
or his assistant, decapitates the animal with one sweeping cut of
a " dáo," and pours out the blood in front of the sanctuary.
The trees of the grove are then sprinkled with the blood, and
red-lead daubed on the roots and branches. This horrid
practice not only disfigures the trees, but the odour round
about is that of the shambles.
All castes from the Bráhman downwards present votive
offerings to Bura-Buri, and even Muhammadans occasionally
resort thither. Vaishnavas, who cannot take life, bring a kid,
which is afterwards set free, as the Bráhman is forbidden to sell
it. By Chandáls, and other low castes, ducks' eggs are offered,
and a pig being killed, its blood is caught up, and poured out
as a libation before the idol. In Bhowal they afterwards eat the
flesh; but in other parts of Bengal, having given up this unholy
custom, they allow any one to remove the carcass. When
Bráhmans, or Káyaths, sacrifice an animal to Bura-Buri, where
there is no established shrine, a servant usually gives the coup-de-
grâce.
At Shuja'atpúr, on the outskirts of Dacca, a "Pipal” and
"Bat" tree intertwined has for generations been a favourite
spot at which to make offerings to Bura-Buri, especially after
the recovery of children from illness, when the parent dedicates
the child's cue, or top-knot, and offers milk, sweetmeats, plan-
tains, and sometimes a cock, to the divinity. Muhammadans
1 Sanskrit. Şákhoța. It is also known as Pisácha-dru, Piṣácha-vṛiksha, or
Bhúta-vṛiksha, the tree of the goblins.
L
134
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
on similar occasions make pilgrimages to the spot, and present
offerings.
There can be no doubt that this androgynous deity, worshipped
throughout the valley of Assam, and along the banks of the
Brahmaputra, has been derived from the aboriginal tribes, and
identified by the Brahmans with Hindu gods. But, not content
with this recognition, they even deign to officiate at its shrines.
15. Another tutelary village god is Pancha-nanda, to whom
a "Sthán," or shrine, served by Srotriyá Bráhmans, is conse-
crated at Dacca. It is situated in a quarter of the city called
Káyath-tolí, and consists of a brick platform with a square
pillar at one end from which an iron rod projects, having an
oval mass of concrete, stained red, fixed at its point. When a
child is six years old, a lock of its hair is offered to the deity,
along with rice, sweetmeats, and plantains. The Bráhman
being fed, mumbles a short prayer, and the ceremony ends.
The object of this worship is the preservation of children from
sickness. As thus described, the homage paid to Páncha-nanda
differs materially from that observed in former days¹ in Central
Bengal, when the blood of sacrifices was required to propitiate
the god.
16. Aranya, or Jamáí, Shashțhí is the most popular goddess
of Bengali women, for her favour is supposed to ensure the
health of children, and prevent barrenness. By the Bráhmans.
she is regarded as an Ansa, or portion, of Durga, or Kálí. Her
festival is held on the sixth of the waxing moon of Jait (May
and June). On this day a hole is dug, and a branch of the Bat
tree, with its twigs sprinkled with red-lead, curds, and pounded
turmeric, is inserted. Around the hole bamboo leaves, tufts of
Dúb grass, and flowers, are thickly strewn. A Bráhman then
performs the service with oblations of fruits and confections, and
expatiates on the benefits to be derived from the adoration of
Shashthí. Before leaving the spot every woman present
sprinkles curds and tumeric on the hallowed branch. At this
festival a great fruit fair is held, when large quantities of
Makhánna (Anneslea Spinosa), mangoes, jack-fruit, cucumbers,
berries of the Paniyálá, and drupes of the Palmyra palm, are
sold, and many Hindus make it a rule not to eat a mangoe until
the Bráhman has been given one on the morning of this day.
Shashthí is properly worshipped under a Bat tree, and most
villages have one consecrated to her, but the populace do not
believe that she is born, lives, and dies, with the tree, like the
Dryad of Greek mythology. Each villager as he passes makes
obeisance, and refuses to pluck the smallest leaf or twig, for fear
of offending the divinity.
1 Ward's "Hindus," iii, 183.
;
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
135
1
The most important ceremony, however, in honour of
Shashthi is the Chhathí, observed on the sixth day after birth,
when Vidhátá, or Brahmá, enters the house, and writes its
destiny on the child's forehead. On this occasion two lumps of
cowdung are placed at each side of the nursery door, and for
fifteen days red-lead is coated over them, and Dúb grass, well
moistened, laid on the top.
17. Siddheṣvarí and Vriddheṣvarí, regarded by Bráhmans as
Ansas of Durga, are popular village deities, being worshipped
whenever vows are realized, unexpected good fortune occurs, or
calamity befalls the village, or a family in it. A monolith, or
rudimentary rock, is so very rare in the plains of Bengal, that
when met with it inspires both awe and veneration among the
superstitious classes, who readily connect it with some god they
worship. At Mirzápúr, in Bhowál, an upright slab, called
Siddhí Mádhava, is worshipped by all the inhabitants, Muham-
madans sacrificing cocks, and Hindus swine. At Sunnárgáon a
black basaltic slab, let into a wall, is believed to restore stolen
property, if whitewashed, and a few prayers mumbled after-
wards. Hindus, however, do not restrict their veneration to big
stones, but worship any object remarkable for its size or
antiquity. Thus the monster Muhammadan cannon standing
in the chauk of Dacca, is supplicated as a male spirit whose
consort, another similar piece of ordnance, lies sunk in the river.
Any person anxious to obtain a favour has only to stain the
muzzle and breech with red-lead, and his wish will be fulfilled.
It is as the village guardians, and family benefactors, that
these deities are usually worshipped; but when epidemic
diseases break out, causing sickness and mortality in their
homes, it is to them that supplication is made. Kálí, at first a
Grám-devata of the aboriginal races, has become the Rákhya,
or Bhadra Kálí, the protectrix of every Bengali village, to
whom prayers and sacrifices are offered on the outbreak of any
pestilence. The following incident was witnessed in 1874. At
the great Váruní fair, cholera appeared, causing many traders
and buyers to leave. The zamíndárs, bankers, and other
interested parties, accordingly agreed to celebrate a special
worship in honour of Kálí, not only to propitiate her, but also
in hope of restoring confidence, and of bringing back the
deserters. Money being freely subscribed, and professional
singers hired, an image of the goddess was paraded throughout
the fair, after which an operatic entertainment was given at
which crowds of people attended. The cholera, which had been
¹ The angel Jabráíl (Gabriel) acts in the same capacity for Muhammadan
children.
L 2
136
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
only sporadic, ceased, and the stoppage was attributed to the
beneficent Kálí.
Şítala, the personification of smallpox, is held in especial
honour, for an annual festival, held on the first Chaitra, about
the middle of March, is assigned to her, and the Málákárs, who
officiate on this day, also worship her whenever a villager
sickens with the disease.
Chamárs, however, are singular in not worshipping either
Kálí or Sítala, in times of sickness. When any febrile disorder
appears among them, the women observe a ceremony, called
Jar-Jarí, to appease the anger of Jar Asura, who causes fever.
It is to be noticed that none of the above-mentioned
Grám-devatas have properly any temples, or special priests.
In Bengal it is the caste Bráhman, in Bihár a Chatiyá, or
Bhakht, who officiates, when required; but it is a recent inno-
vation for a sanctuary to contain the idol, and for Patit
Bráhmans to earn a livelihood by tending it. In every instance.
the stone, slab, or shrine, is placed beneath a tree, or in a grove,
consecrated to the particular Grám-devata.
18. The transition to a regular worship of individual trees
was a natural development of the same belief. Mr. Fergusson
considers that the worship of trees was derived by the Bráhmans
from the aboriginal races, and, during the Buddhist supremacy,
adopted as one of the most distinctive peculiarities of their
creed. When Buddhism was driven out of India, the worship
of trees survived, and still flourishes, forming an important part
in the daily services of the inhabitants. It is difficult to
determine the reasons for the selection of particular trees, or
shrubs, and their consecration to certain gods and spirits; but
some inherent peculiarity may have influenced the people in
their choice. Thus the vitality, beautiful foliage, and quivering
leaves of the Pipal, the branches and capillary roots of the
Banyan, the fragrant flowers of the Vakula, and the medicinal
virtues of the Bela, would naturally impress the simple forest
tribes. The Seorhá, sacred to Bura-Buri, being a dioecious
plant, would, for this reason, excite wonder and reverence.
The Gujálí, or Sál, the favourite tree of the Kochh Mandáí,
and Dravidian tribes generally, provides not only the most
valuable timber for house-building, but the most perfect shade.
The popular belief that a grove of Sál proves at certain seasons
most unhealthy by causing a deadly fever, was another reason
of its being regarded with the deepest veneration. In one
instance the Gujálí has acquired an exceptional position in the
eyes of the Hindus. At the north end of the great tank of
Rámpál stands a tall umbrageous tree, the only one of its kind
in that quarter, said to have been planted by the Bráhmans
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
137
from Kanauj. It is not a patriarchial tree, but the two stems
now growing are shoots from the parent root. Whenever a
Hindu, or Muhammadan, villager obtains his desires, he pours
oil on the root, daubs it with red-lead, and passing makes
obeisance, touching the earth with his forehead.
1
It is hard to ascertain what are the precise ideas entertained
by Hindus regarding these different trees, but the general
prejudice against cutting down, or approaching them after
nightfall, indicates the belief that good or evil spirits are
embodied there. The Vata, Pipal, and Deva-dáru are the trees
usually preferred by the male Brahma-daitya, or Bhúta, as well
as by the female Şankhiní, or fairy, and Pretní, or bogey. When
the large-horned owl is heard hooting from one of these trees it
is popularly said to be the shriek of an evil spirit.
It often happens when a pair of these ill-omened birds take
possession of a village tree that the villagers become so demo-
ralised, through terror, as not to leave their homes after dark,
while the children scream at every sound. It might be thought
that birds proving such a nuisance would be shot, but no Hindu
is so impious as to do so, and it is left to any passing European
to rid them of the birds.
It is a curious fact that one of the latest outgrowths of
corrupt Vaishnavism is the veneration for trees. The Darwesh
Faqir sect will not permit a leaf, or twig, to be plucked from the
trees growing within the Akháras, although flowers are the
ordinary offerings at the tomb of a Mahant.
19. The worship of animals is still extensively observed in
Bengal. The cow receives divine honours at least twice a year,
on the first of Baisákh, and the second of the moon in Jyeshtha.
The most severe penance is inflicted on any one killing it, even
by misadventure; but starvation, ill-treatment, and cruelty go
unpunished.
Monkeys of every species are deemed sacred, and may not be
killed; but especial honour is paid to the Langúr, or Hanumán
(Presbytis entellus), although no particular day is assigned for
this purpose. The Hanuman of Hindu mythology, represented
as a son of the wind, or an incarnation of Váyu, the wind god,
is invoked by all sailors and fishermen; and when a calm
occurs, the Manjhí, or steersman, shouts " Ai Hanumán !" instead.
of whistling as the British tar does.
¹ The following are the sacred trees of the Hindus :-
Aşvattha (Pipal) Ficus religiosa.
Vaţa..
Vakula
Harítakí
Amalaka
Ficus Indica.
Mimusops elengi.
Terminalia chebula.
Phylianthus emblica.
Nimba (Ním)..
Vilva (Bela)
Tulasí
Deva-dáru
Melia Azadiracta.
Aegle marmelos.
Ocymum sanctum.
Uvaria longifolia.
138
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
20. It is, however, to Manasa Deví, the dreaded Queen of
snakes, that the natives of Bengal pay the most marked respect.
To her the whole month of Srávan (July and August) is hallowed,
and all classes, from the Bráhman to the Chandál, adore her. If
Mr. Fergusson is correct in his supposition that tree and serpent
worship is one of the very earliest known, we have in Bengal at
the present day a most perfect and uncorrupted example of this
ancient cultus. There is perhaps no class so strict in attending
to all the minutiae of her worship as the Kulina Bráhmans of
Bikrampúr. Manasa Deví is usually represented with four
arms, grasping a cobra in each hand, with the beautiful, but
deadly, Bungarus fasciatus, twisted round her neck, and with
her feet resting on a goose. She is regarded as a daughter of
Şiv-hence one of her titles, Siva Ja-and the husband of Jarat
Káru. Two plants, common in Bengal, are sacred to her, the
Síj, or Euphorbia ligularia, and the Nág-phaní, or Cactus¹
Indicus. The acrid, milky juice of the former is employed as a
cure for snake-bites, and the fleshy joints of the latter bear a
striking resemblance to a cobra with expanded hood. The fifth
of Srávan is the Nág-panchamí; but the last day of that month,
or Sankránt, is dedicated to her. For these fête days the
Sámperia, or snake-charmers, are engaged, who make the tame
snakes crawl about, and go through the stereotyped performance,
before the spot on which the rice, milk, sugar, and fruits are
displayed. Where there is a Sthán, or shrine, with an image of
the goddess, buffaloes, pigeons, or turtle are sacrificed; but the
Chandáls are singular in proffering swine. No conscientious
Hindu ever kills a snake, and it is reckoned very meritorious to
place milk and sugar near the hole occupied by a cobra.
21. A people so prone to conceive embodied spirits in trees.
and animals, naturally endowed with divine attributes the rivers
which fertilized their fields, brought grain and firewood, and
supplied fish and turtle for their use. Throughout the Delta
the Ganga Pújah, or worship of the river Ganges, is one of the
most popular and ancient observances. The goddess is invoked
daily; but the merit of worshipping her is greately enhanced if
performed at the full moons of Baisákh, Jyeshtha, Kártik, and
Mágh, and on the thirteenth of the waning moon of Chaitra.
Her descent to earth is commemorated on the Dashará, the tenth
of the waxing moon of Jyeshtha (May and June). It is asserted
that bathing in the sacred stream has the virtue of conferring
blessings such as no imagination can conceive, while the sight,
name, or touch of Ganga cleanses from all sin. Formerly
barren women made offerings to the goddess, and vowed that
if blessed with children one would be cast into the river as a
1 The Cactus was introduced into India by the Portuguese.-Royle.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
139
thank-offering; but now-a-days, although more humane ideas
prevail, the worship has lost none of its reputed efficacy.
The Jal-palaní, or close fishing season, lasting from the first
to the tenth of Mágh, was originally a holiday in honour of
Ganga; but at present her worship is chiefly observed on the
tenth day, when a kid is thrown into the river.
The old Brahmaputra is worshipped with similar veneration,
and the great bathing day, the eighth of the waxing moon of
Chaitra, attracts many thousands from all parts of Lower Bengal.
The bathing Ghát, sanctified by a well-known Puránic myth, is
at Nángalbandh. When the moon is in a certain Nakshatra, or
lunar mansion, and the eighth of the moon falls on a Friday,
immersion at this spot cleanses from every sin.
The most famous festival, however, in Eastern Bengal is that
held in honour of Varuna, the god of waters, on the full moon of
Kártik (October and November), when devout Hindus bathe at
the Yoginí Ghát, where formerly the Dhullasari, Lakhya, and
Brahmaputra rivers united. The religious ceremony has come
to be regarded as merely the formal inauguration of the great
fair commencing on that day, to which merchants and dealers
from every part of Northern India bring wares and merchandize
for sale.
There are other rivers, for instance the Gandakí and
Karatoyá, to which Hindus resort; but the number of pilgrims
is yearly decreasing. Other devotees repair to the sacred
rivulet flowing from the hill of Sítákhund, in the Chittagong
district, or to the adjacent Balwákhund, the “Brahma's burning
founts" of Lalla Rookh, to atone for heinous sins.
Not satisfied with attributing a divine character to the rivers
of their native land, the Hindus have peopled the waters them-
selves with animistic beings, who protect, or destroy, the un-
guarded boatmen. Khwajah Khizr and Pír Badr, Muhammadan
water spirits, are objects of fear and worship to the Hindus;
but the semi-Hinduized tribes have also conceived beings like
the Lurline of German romance. The fisher races make
sacrifices to one Khala kumárí,¹ a Naiad, who, dwelling in the
deep pools and eddies, sucks in boats, and leaves none to tell the
tale. The Chamárs, again, have created another Naiad, Jalka
Deví, who not only swallows up boats, but inflicts diseases on land.
22. Besides these supernatural beings the natives have
placed each trade and profession under the care of a tutelary
deity to whom various powers are ascribed. Whenever business
is slack, or prices low, the Hindu workman worships his god
with similar ceremonies to those paid by the Roman artisan to
his divinity, or by the medieval Christian to his saint. The
¹ Sanskrit, Khala, cruel; kumárí, maiden.
140
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
Káyaths and scribes worship Sarasvati on the Șrí-panchami;
Gandha Baniks and Modís, Gandheṣvarí, a form of Durgá, on
the full moon of Baisákh; Sánkhárís, Agastya Muní, on the last
day of Bhádra; and Kumárs, Kámárs, and other mechanics,
Vişvakarma. The ceremonies observed at these trade festivals
bear a striking resemblance to one another. The day, always
kept a close holiday, is often preceded, or followed, by one or
more idle days. When the service is to be performed, the tools,
implements, and machinery, being washed and smeared with
red-lead and sandal-wood powder, are heaped in a pyramid, with
a lighted lamp in front and oblations composed of garlands and
bouquets of flowers, rice, fruit, and sweetmeats arranged on every
side. On these occasions the caste Bráhman attends, and having
invoked a blessing, receives a trifling fee. The most important
of these trade jubilees is the Dhullisari,¹ on the first of Báisákh.
It is kept by the Tánti, Dhobí, and Sutár castes, and all who
spin, weave, or make use of cotton, and lasts for three days.
The goddess is now identified with Durgá; but formerly she
was the divinity supplying the water used for bleaching purposes.
Her image (pratimána), erected by public subscription, is placed
in a quarter of the city called Sútrapúr, and samples of cotton
fabrics, as well as a selection of trade implements, being
exhibited, are ornamented with fruits and vegetables.
Besides the various ceremonies already mentioned, the
agricultural classes practise many superstitious rites to ensure a
bountiful harvest, ward off the attacks of insects, mildew,
smut, and other parasitic diseases, and protect the fields from
1 hailstones. Of all the rural festivals none is more popular than
the Vástu Pújah, on the Paush Sánkrant, when three Ansas of
Şiv, as they are now called, are worshipped, in the hope of
securing seasonable rains and luxuriant crops. On the outskirts
of the village a terrace is raised, as the "bedí," or altar, of the
officiating priest, around which plantain stems are inserted, and
fruits and flowers strewn. On this same day the Chandals keep
a ceremony peculiar to themselves, and of unknown origin.
The village "bedí," usually a permanent structure, is often
resorted to by the husbandman anxious about his crops, who,
after planting a branch of the 'Jívala (Odina Wodier), makes
offerings of milk, sugar, and rice. Bráhmans also observe a
worship called the Vastu Pújah when the foundation of a house.
is dug, or a tank excavated, which appears to be identical with
the above.2
When the fields are yellow with harvest, in November, a
1 Either from the river of that name, or from the Sanskrit Dhavala, white,
beautiful, and Işvarí, goddess.
2 For further information see "J. A. S. of Bengal," xxxix, 199.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
141
curious procession of peasants may be seen in any agricultural
hamlet, carrying a straw figure, inside of which are dead flies,
mosquitoes, and a Khalisa¹ fish, and led by a man beating a
sieve, chanting “Bhála ai, Burá jái; Mashá, Mácchi dúr jái!"
which may be translated, "Good come, Evil go; mosquitoes, flies,
depart away!"
In other districts of Bengal this revel is known as Alakshmí,
or bad luck.
2
23. In passing from the worship of animals, trees, and
rivers to that of the spirits of the dead, we are transported
from a primitive to a later belief, and from a conception of
simple races to one upon which the attention of the wisest is
still engaged. The worship of the Manes is intermediate
between that of Bhútas and idolatry. As Sir J. Lubbock points
out, in uncivilized societies, when there were no great differences
of rank, deceased spirits would indeed scarcely rise beyond the
dignity of ghosts; but under a more settled government the
ghosts of the great would tend to become gods. The worship
of ancestral spirits is one of the oldest phases of Hindu belief,
and flourished for ages before it had entered the mind of any one to
bestow divine honours on the spirits of the great. Menu regards
this worship with especial reverence. An oblation, he says,³ by
Brahmans to their ancestors transcends an oblation to the deities,
because the latter is considered as the opening and completion
of the former. Hindus are taught that the soul emancipated
from the body becomes a Preta, or ghost, remaining in charge
of Yama until the Sráddha, or obsequial ceremonies, are
performed, when it ascends to the heaven of the Pitrís, and
reanimating another body, receives the just reward, or punish-
ment, of its former deeds.
The observance of the Sráddha is incumbent on the head of
a house, and the yearning of every Hindu is to leave a son who
will perform the ceremony necessary to ensure his father's
felicity. At the obsequial rite, offerings of cakes, flesh, and
other viands, along with libations of water, must in the first
instance be presented to the ancestors, and then to the general
body of the progenitors, of mankind. On each of the ten days
after death, the nearest-of-kin offers an obsequial oblation, and
on the Ekádașí, or eleventh day, a special service is performed.
at which Brahmans are feasted. With the Brahmanical order,
this is the purificatory ceremonial; but with the Súdras, as
well as most unclean castes, it is postponed to the thirtieth day,
1 The Trichopodus Colisa.
4
Origin of Civilization," p. 339.
3 Menu, iii, 203.
4 Wilson's "Religion of the Hindus,” ii, 61.
142
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
the latest on which it can be held. The Vaisyas of Dacca,
however, keep it on the expiration of fourteen days; the
Chaṇḍáls, like the Bráhmans, after ten. But there are many
varieties of Sráddha, the most important, the Sapindana, being
celebrated on the first anniversary of the person's decease. In
the last half of Bhádra (August and September), immediately
before the Daṣahará, the Mahalaya Ṣráddha is annually observed
in honour of all the Pitrís, and many other seasons for the worship
of the Manes are fixed by certain astronomical periods and events.
The spirits of Bráhmans at once pass into the heaven of
Pitrís, while those of Súdras and vile castes go through an
innumerable series of new births, before arriving at that stage
of perfect purity when they become reunited with the world of
disembodied spirits. Púrva Janma, or Metempsychosis, is
universally accepted without producing any moral restraint on
the lives or morals of the people. The two great sects
worshipping Siv and Vishnu, or their counterparts, have pro-
mulgated the doctrines that observance of the annual festivals,
pilgrimages to sacred places, and adoration of Bráhmans, will
compensate for sins, however heinous, and release all who
practise them from any transmigrations. By this Bráhmanical
system Yama has been dethroned, and his authority usurped by
the emissaries of Harí and Siv. The uneducated classes draw
no distinction between Pretas, or ghosts, and Bhútas, or evil
spirits, although the former are properly spirits of the dead,
the latter subordinate servants of the gods. If the Sráddha
has not been properly performed, the Preta haunts the place of
death, and, lodging in a tree, or ruined building, eventually
becomes a Bhúta, without power or versatility.
The Sráddha thus becomes a solemn obligation, and the son,
or nearest-of-kin, deems it of paramount importance to discharge
all its formalities. The expense of fulfilling this religious duty
is often so heavy as to force the son to incur debt and burden
the family with liabilities requiring many years of industry to
pay off. The detailed bill, given below, was paid by a native
1 Present to Guru Thákur
"
Purohit and assistants
officiating Bráhman
Bulls borrowed for the occasion
Goála for ghí, curds, and "khír "
Modí for gur, sugar, and sweetmeats
Rice, dál, and chúrá
Fish and vegetables
To Kumár for pots
To Napít, Dhobá, Bhúinmálí..
"Dakshiná" before eating
Miscellaneous
·
1
:
:
Rs. a. p
800
31 0 0
12 8 0
17 4 0
145 0 0
38 14 9
15 0 0
7 8 0
340
4 4 0
4 14 3
5 15 9
Total
Rs. 293 8 9
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
143
doctor, earning twenty rupees a month, and who had many poor
relatives dependent on him.
24. The veneration paid to Bráhmans, and to the sacred
cord they wear, has fortunately died away; but by the masses
they are still regarded as men whose lives are passed in medi-
tation and religious exercises, whose blessing is auspicious, and
ministration indispensable at every festival and domestic
occurrence. The Kulin Bráhmans, being a very exclusive people,
generally live in villages apart, while the executive priests
reside in the midst of their flocks, and can only be distinguished
from the peasantry around by the sacred cord. The people
are always civil and obedient to the Kulin Bráhmans; but
having few interests in common, their mutual relations are
formal and lukewarm. Bráhman landlords are often considerate
and liberal to their ryots, although there is a greater gulf
between the two than in the case of Súdra landlords.
The Purohit, or domestic priest, rarely an educated man,
shares in all the joys and sorrows of his flock, and although
sanctimonious is often immoral in character. In spite of these
failings he is looked up to by the caste he serves as no other
Bráhman is, while disrespect and disobedience are unknown.
The Brahmans of Eastern Bengal, as a class, are addicted to
smoking Indian hemp, and to sensuality, vices originating from
their idle lives and polygamous laws. But however profligate
the Brahman may be, the Súdras still worship and employ him,
as they cannot sever the connection with one who is indispen-
sable.
Cringing as is the veneration of the Sudra for his
Purohit, it is independence when compared with the grovelling
self-abasement of the Vaishnavas in presence of their Gosáin,
who is regarded as infallible and incapable of doing any wrong.
Still more extravagant is the adoration of a Bráhmaní, or other
caste woman, at the impure assemblies of the Sákta, and Kişori
Bhajana sects.
Besides these different classes of Bráhmans, individuals
of the sacred order proclaiming a new gospel of salvation every
now and then rise up, and win over crowds of credulous people.
The following account of one of the best of these enthusiasts,
who caused much excitement among the lower classes, is not
only interesting but illustrative of the ignorance and gross
credulity of the masses. In this instance the character per-
sonated, or which has been given by his followers, was previously
assumed by his master.
Kálí Kumár Chakravarttí, a Srotriyá Bráhman of Pátabhog,
in Bikrampúr, was remarkable, even in his childhood, for his
devotion to the god Harí. When six years old, Padma Lochana
Thákur, a Bráhman of Farrídpúr, reputed to be an incarnation
144
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
of Harí, visited Pátabhog, and at a private interview is said to
have imparted a special mystical power to the boy. When old
enough, Kálí Kumár became a clerk in the banking house of one
Bhakta Podár, and while filling this lowly office, announced that
through the favour of Harí, he could perform miracles, such as
cooking food without fire, and transforming a ball of clay into
sugar. His fame gradually spread, and the villagers credited
him with the power of curing the sick. His success in treating
female disorders was most striking, and the credit of miracu-
lously curing the wife of a rich Talukdár was bruited through-
out the country. Shortly afterwards Kálí Kumár relinquished
his humble calling, and became manager of the Tálukdár's
property. Mádhava Nág, and his wife, treated him as their son,
lodging him in their own home. Gradually rising in reputation
he is now looked up to as the most holy person in Bikrampúr,
being worshipped by thousands as the real Harí. By the
peasantry he is known as the Bara, while his deputy is called
the Chhotá, Harí. He does not claim any special authority
over diseases, but teaches that unfaltering faith in Harí, and
continued prayers, will certainly ensure recovery from the
most desperate illness. Bathing thrice a day, and avoiding
certain heating articles of food are minor ordinances. Some-
times he varies the treatment by picking up a handful of
earth, and ordering the patient to rub his body with it before
bathing. In 1873 Kálí Kumár made the pilgrimage to
Jaganath, when nearly three hundred persons voluntarily ac-
companied him, and in turn ministered to his wants. In 1874,
on the Paush Sankránt and Srí Panchamí festivals, as many as
twenty thousand persons, chiefly women, of the lower classes,
assembled at his residence at Rájnagar to worship him; while,
during the rains, as many as a hundred and fifty boats were to
be seen moored off his ghát. The higher, as well as the lower,
castes apply to him for medical advice, the former only when
the Kabíráj and English doctor have failed to give relief. It is
said that from lack of faith in Harí, and doubts regarding the
sacred character of Kálí Kumár, the higher castes derive less.
benefit from a visit to the holy man of Rajnagar, than peasants
and artisans do. Kálí Kumár always denies that he is a god,
and rebukes those who address him as one; but the multitude
persist in their belief. Fees are never exacted from the pilgrims,
but they are recommended to evince their faith by buying
Batásá, and other sweetmeats, for the poorer brethren. When
his daughter married, he declined to accept a present of one
thousand rupees collected for her by a subscription, limited to one
rupee.
A character such as this is difficult to understand. Although
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
145
no pecuniary gain is derived from his teaching, all his wants
are anticipated, and he has found a comfortable home supplied
with every necessary. It is hard to stigmatise Kálí Kumár as
an impostor, for, however absurd his treatment of disease, the
faith in Harí that he inculcates is a great advance on the
idolatry and demonolatry of the lower castes. We may regret
the possibility of such men thriving, and being worshipped as
divine beings; but the improvement he has effected excites the
hope that others, announcing a higher creed, will soon spring up,
and sweep away men like Kálí Kumár Chakravarttí.
The list of superstitious rites practised by the inhabitants of
Bengal, and derived from aboriginal races, might be indefinitely
extended, for there are no bounds to the credulity of the
ignorant. It is remarkable, however, that neither the worship of
Grám-devatas, nor the offering of bloody sacrifices to evil spirits,
debar the worshipper from participation in the religious obser-
vances of his caste. Toleration has gone so far that even the
Purohit countenances many of these rude ceremonies, although
at others the suppliant officiates himself. Among a few of the
very lowest tribes evil spirits are the only divinities, but by the
large majority of the population they are considered subordinate
to the gods of the Hindu Pantheon. It is here that the non-
Aryan impress has been so deeply written on the religion of the
people. It was not by ignoring, but by blending the popular
belief with their own, that the Bráhmans spread their influence
and authority, and laid the foundation of that strange and
corrupt faith now professed by the Hindus of Bengal. The
village gods, the spirits of land and water, the Dryad of the
forest, and the queen of snakes, were too deeply stamped on the
inmost feelings of the aborigines to be easily effaced, and it was
a far-sighted policy to recognise a Hindu deity in every village
god, and Kálí in every guardian spirit.
It is not to be inferred, however, that the masses in Bengal
are not Hindu in religion.
The religion taught by the Bráhmans is the modern phase
of their belief, but it has not taken so deep root as to stifle all
affection for the older forms. The large majority of the Súdras
and working classes have embraced the Krishna Mantra, or
creed, which affirms that Krishna is the one omnipotent god;
but the Brahmans, Vaidyás, and Káyaths are enrolled under the
banner of Siv, or of his Sáktís.
Without entering into the controversy as to the date when
Vishnu, Şiv, and the gods of the Hindu Pantheon were intro-
duced into India, it may be stated, without arousing any
difference of opinion, that for at least eight hundred years a
perpetual warfare has been maintained between the followers of
146
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
•
Vishnu on the one hand and of Șiv on the other. Professor
Wilson was of opinion that none of the present popular
religions of India, assumed their actual state earlier than the
time of Sankara Acharya, in the eighth or ninth century, and it
is certain the great Vaishnava teachers lived in a comparatively
modern age.
Rámánuja dates from the twelfth century,
Mádhava-áchárya from the thirteenth, and Vallabha-áchárya
from the sixteenth. It is in the Puráņas which followed, or
accompanied, the teachings of these masters, that the bitter
rivalry between the followers of Vishnu and Șiv is set forth.
In the Vishnu Puráņa, Vishnu is the Param-eṣvara; in the
Linga and Șaiva Puráņas generally, Siv is the one Supreme God.
In the still more modern Brahma-Vaivartta Purána Krishna
becomes pre-eminent.
Vishnu, in one or other of his various forms, is the most
popular god in Bengal. In his Avatára, or incarnation, of Ráma,
and more frequently in that of Krishna, the divine herdsman, he
is adored by millions of Hindus. All the most popular festivals,
all the most venerated shrines, and all the most honoured
fraternities are his. In 1811, Ward¹ estimated the followers of
Vishnu in Bengal at five-sixteenths of the Hindus. In 1828,
H. H. Wilson calculated them at one-fifth, and in 1872 Dr.
Hunter³ at from one-fifth to one-third of the whole Hindu popu-
lation. No image of Vishnu is now-a-days called by his name,
but the Vishnu-pada, or footprint, is still adored at Gayá, and is
the ordinary relic in all temples of Krishna.
A carefully prepared list of 384 temples and shrines in the
Dacca district shows that-
227 were sacred to Krishna, as Harí, Giri-dhárí, Șrídhara,
Vasudeva, Dámodara, or Lakshmi Nárayana.
16 to Rádhá-Mádhava, Rádhá-Vallabha or Rádhá-Ramaṇa.
33 to Mahaprabhu Chaitanya.
6 to Vishnu as Visvambhara, Sárnga-dhara, Jagad-dhátṛi,
or Rája Rájeṣvara.
2 Ráma-Síta.
2 Balaráma.
39 to Kálí.
38 to Mahadeva, or Siv.
6 to Durga as Dașa-bhujá, or Anna-púrna.
3 to Manasa Deví.
12 to Siddheṣvari, Nityananda, Trináth, and Samádhi.
1 Ward's "Hindus," iii, 469. At p. 259 he computes them at a half of the
Hindus.
2 "Religious Sects," i, 152.
3 "Orissa," i, 114.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
147
Seventy-four per cent. belong to Krishna in one or other of
his numerous forms, and only twenty-one per cent. to Kálí,
Durga, and Siv.
It is owing to the Bhágavat Purána, compiled in the twelfth
century,¹ that Krishna has become the popular deity in Bengal.
This celebrated work, translated into every language of India, is
still one of the authorities most valued by all Vaishnavas. The
form of Krishna worship instituted by Chaitanya and his
successors is now predominant. Since his death in 1528
Chaitanya has been identified with Krishna, and this deification
has been ratified by the Charitámṛita, written thirty years after
his death. The moral and tolerant doctrines of this national
teacher penetrated the hearts of the people, and roused an
enthusiastic spirit that has unfortunately driven many into
strange and perilous wanderings. Among the pure Súdras there
is less deviation from the original creed than among the lower
mixed classes, who have always been neglected. The religious
sentiments of the latter, instead of being properly guided, have
been left to develop as fancy, or bias, disposed them. Whether
this be a satisfactory explanation or not, it is certain that the
corrupt, often immoral, sects now existing are chiefly patronised
by the lower and most ignorant classes of the community. The
equality of all men, a doctrine preached by Chaitanya, but
repudiated by the Gosáins, has been restored by most of the
later offshoots of Vaishnavism, and with them no distinction
conferred by birth, wealth, or prescription, is ever recognised.
The principal Vaishnava sects in Eastern Bengal are eleven
in number. Three are met with throughout India, namely, the
Rámánuja, Rámavat, and Nímávat, but the eight following are
peculiar to Bengal:-
1. Vaishnava.
2. Báyan-Kaupína.
3. Kişorí-Bhajana.
4. Jagat-Mohaní.
5. Spashta-Dáyaka.
6. Kaví-Indra Parivára.
7. Báo lá.
8. Darwesh-Faqir.
The Kişorí-Bhajana and Spashta-Dayaka were founded by
fallen Bráhmans, the Jagat-Mohaní by a fisherman, the Kaví-
Indra Parivára by a Șudra, the Báolá by a Chandál peasant,
and the Darwesh-Faqír by a Karmakár. It is remarkable that
the Bayan-Kaupína, Kaví-Indra Parivára, and Spashta-Dayaka
have sprung from trivial, but, in the eyes of the Vaishnavas,
1 Wilson's "Vishnu Purána,” xxxi.
148
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
significant acts of the Guru, or spiritual leader. Until more
precise information is obtained regarding the peculiar doctrines
of these Vaishnava offshoots, it is impossible to explain how
sects, originating from such trifling blunders, can survive and
attract disciples. The Kaví-Indra Parivára sect includes many
intelligent merchants who doubtless are pleased to belong to a
religious body, rejecting celibacy and seclusion from the world;
but it is not apparent what greater attraction it holds out than
the primitive Vaishnava belief. The reason assigned for the
existence of the Darwesh-Faqír order is that it admits any
outcast, even a Muhammadan, into communion. It claims to
be Vaishnava, and to follow the teaching of the Charitámṛita,
but judging by the habits of the Udásís their chief peculiarities
are love of dirt and avoidance of cleanliness, partiality for
spirits and the encouragement of that vice in others, and
refraining from shedding blood, or injuring vegetable life.
The Vaishnava orders of Hindustan repel the religious
classes of Bengal, who support but do not join them. The
Rámánuja, Rámavat, and Nímávat fraternities choose disciples
of Hindustání birth and high caste. The Rámánuja profess to
admit Bráhman, Kshatriyá, and clean Súdra tribes; the Rámavat
exclude all Bengali castes, but enroll Hindustání Súdras; and
the Nímávat, rejecting even Kulin Bráhmans, enlist any clean.
Súdra of Upper India. Mendicants belonging to these three
classes are treated everywhere with respect, and receive alms
from all ranks. The Dacca Rámavats, moreover, are entirely
supported by rich Bengali gentlemen, and their Ákháṛá is
repaired by contributions raised by the Hindu population. Yet
none of these orders have any hold on the affections of the
masses, or any influence over their spiritual lives.
RÁMÁNUJAS.
The Rámánujas, or Srí Sampradayís, are not numerous in
Bengal, and in Dacca have only one monastery, called the Urdú
Ákhárá, from the quarter of the city where it is situated, or
Sárngár Sthán, from the particular deity to whom it is conse-
crated. The Mahant, Rám Prasád Dás Pandit, is a Kanaujiya
Bráhman of Benares, who, while studying with his Guru at
Murshídábád in 1864, was deputed to supervise the Dacca
establishment. He exercises a general control over all
Rámavat Ákhárás in and around Dacca, and rightfully claims
to be the Guru of that sect.
The Urdú Ákhárá is endowed with landed property yielding
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
149
+
about four hundred rupees a year. It was founded in the seven-
teenth century by one Manasa Rám, and the sanctuary was dedi-
cated to Sárnga-dhara, or Vishnu the archer, but it now possesses
images of Baldev or Balaráma, Govinda Dev or Krishna, Rámá,
and Jagannáth. The Ákháṛá is a curious storied building,
resembling in many respects the private residence of a rich
Hindu. The sanctuary, reached by a steep staircase, forms
one side of an arcaded court, remarkable for its cleanliness and
good order. The pillars and walls, overlaid with the beautiful
cement of the Mughal period, are disfigured by hideous paint-
ings of Hanumán and his devilish crew, while the arcades are
ornamented with more refined portraits of Hindu deities from
Jaipúr in Rájputana. The whole place is pervaded by an air of
peace and tranquillity, accompaniments rarely found in a home
of Indian devotees.
The Rámánuja sect comprises three grades of disciples-the
Brahmáchárya, Upakurvvána, and Naishthika. A novice must
undergo a probation of six months before he can be initiated,
and he must either be a Bráhman, Kshatriyá, or Vaisya, no
Şúdra ever being admitted to full privileges. A religious
student beginning to read the Vedas is styled Brahmáchárya,
and prohibited from shaving, paring the nails, or taking any
thought of the body. He may continue in this probationary
stage for life, or until he masters the doctrines of the sect; but
when the period of pupilage is terminated, he may marry. The
birth of a son, however, obliges him to leave his home and
become a Vánaprastha, or dweller in the forest, passing an
austere and solitary life, only broken by an occasional visit to
his Guru. It can readily be imagined that a cheerless life like
this has scarcely any attractions for the multitude, and it is an
undoubted fact that many who have professed "to observe
through life the practice of study, poverty, and continence,"
have joined the ranks of the vagrant and disreputable bands of
mendicants roving over the length and breadth of India. Should
he wish to enter upon the higher life the Brahmáchárya either
becomes a Naishthika, one practising asceticism till death, or
an Upakurvváṇa, one who lives the cenobitical life of an Udásí
in the house of his, Guru, and continues the study of the Vedas.
At the Dacca Ákháṛá the disciple is marked at the initiatory
rite¹ with the Sankha of Vishnu on the left shoulder, and with
the Chakra on the right. The stamp is made of eight metals
(Ashta-dhátu), gold, silver, copper, brass, tin, lead, iron, and zinc
(dastá); but the Dwaraka stamp is said to be an iron one.
The Rámánujas are most punctilious about the privacy of
¹ Called Tapta-mudrá.
१
M
150
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
their meals, and should any one see or speak to them while so
engaged, the food is either thrown away or buried. At meals,
silken or woollen garments, never cotton, must be worn, and no
one can taste anything without permission of the Guru. They
will only eat food cooked by a Bráhman of their own sect, but
do not reject articles prepared with "ghí" by a Rámávat. The
Rámávat, again, takes rice cooked by any Rámánuja, or by any
other Rámávat, whether he be by caste a Bráhman, Kshatriya,
or Vaisya. A Rámánuja will not drink from the water-vessel
of a Bengali Kulina Bráhman, and, although the latter is a
member of the sect, will not touch food cooked by him. The
Rámánujas are more respectable, and more respected, than the
Rámávats, never stupefying themselves with gánjha like the
latter.
In Dacca it is computed that there are about twenty Gṛihí,
or domestic Brahmácháryas, and twenty-five vagrant ones, who
roam from one shrine of Vishnu to another, living on the alms
of the charitable.
RÁMÁVAT,¹
This is essentially a Hindustání sect, no native of Bengal
being admitted into its ranks, although its Ákhárás are wholly
supported by the contributions of rich Bengali families.
As a
rule the Rámávats are recruited from among the Kanaujiya
Bráhmans, but other castes are occasionally received into
religious communion, it remaining optional with any one to
decline eating with them. At a casual visit to a Rámávat
Ákháṛá sixteen men and one Bráhmaní woman were interrogated,
when thirteen men were found to be Hindustání Bráhmans;
one a Sannyásí, and probably a Bráhman; one an Uriya
Chhatrí, and one an Ahír. Women are sometimes inducted, and
treated as sisters, but should any glaring immorality be detected
the sinners are expelled.
The largest and most frequented Rámávat Akháṛá in Dacca,
called Lál Bihárí, after one of the names of Krishná, has for
thirty years been ruled by Har Bhojan Dás, a Kanaujiya
Bráhman from Ayodhya, the disciple of a former Mahant, who
when dying bestowed "Upadesa," or religious initiation, on
this his chosen successor. Another popular Ákháṛá, known as
"Sama Sundara," or Krishna, has as its Mahant a Kanaujiya
Bráhman, whose "chela," or disciple, is a Bráhman of Faizábád.
1
Regarding the peculiar doctrines of the Rámávats, see Wilson's "Re-
ligion of the Hindus," rol. i, 46-68.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
151
The founder of this sect was Rámánand, the disciple of the
still more famous Rámanuja, who lived towards the end of the
fourteenth century of our era. Notwithstanding that discipline is
stricter in this than in sects of Bengali origin, the Mahant is not
worshipped, but only obeyed and respected as a holy man, while
adoration is paid to Vishnu, or Rámá-Chandra, alone. He is
the patron god of the Rámávat community, but his worship has
in some instances been supplanted by that of Harí, who is
identified with Krishna.
There are different grades among Rámávats, the most austere
being the "Tapási,¹ erroneously styled Jogís; Ashmen, the
early English travellers happily called them. They wander
throughout India almost naked, smeared over with ashes, and
stupefied with gánjha, refusing to bend the knee before any
idol, or any potentate, or to accept lodgings; but residing under
a tree, in ruins, or among tombs-wherever, indeed, shelter is
afforded, and a prospect of food invites them.
The majority of the sect call themselves Rámávat Sádhu, or
ascetics, who, in Bengal at least, dress in questionable taste, at
the most wearing a rope round the waist, and a cloth of scanty
dimensions round the loins. A few shave the head and beard,
but the greatest number cherish a profusion of long tangled locks
rolled round the head like a turban, or wound in coils and tied
in a large knot over the left ear.
Celibacy is strictly enjoined, but there are no more dissolute
and licentious rogues to be met with, even in Bengal, than these
ascetics. Aspirants for admission into the society have to
undergo a period of probation, the Mahant, who alone can
initiate, first satisfying himself of their sincerity and worthiness;
but after admission the novice may allow his passions to run
riot, if he does not publicly scandalise his brethren. At initia-
tion the new convert is enrolled in a gotra, called “Aichittra,'
to which all Rámávats belong.
>> 2
Rámávats are generally very illiterate, and can seldom read
or write. Certain of them falter through a Nágarí book, but
few understand what they read. The rule of the sect is con-
tained in the pages of the Rámáyana, the Sri Bhagavat, and the
Bhagavat-gítá. Bríndában is the headquarters of Rámávats
worshipping Krishna; Ayodhya of those adoring Ráma.
The chief aim of the Rámávats is the conclusion of a pil-
grimage to all the holy shrines of India. From Dwáraká to
Sítá-Khund, in Chittagong, and from Gangútrí to Rámeṣvara,
the enthusiast wanders without fear, picking up an uncertain
meal from any random traveller. Gánjha is their chief solace,
1 From the Sanskrit Tapas, penance.
2 Perhaps Ahi-jit, a name of Krishna.
M 2
152
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
and it is surprising with what impunity they, smoke it in their
journeyings, and when stationary in their Ákhárás. If, as is
generally believed, Indian hemp induces insanity, it is strange
that a Rámávat is rarely admitted into a lunatic asylum.
Natives addicted to its use maintain that if abundance of
highly nutritious food be taken at the same time, gánjha may be
smoked with perfect safety for years. There seem to be grounds
for this assertion, and if care be taken to regulate the quantity
consumed to the daily food, no bad effects are produced. The
Rámávat is usually fuddled, but this state is regarded as
religious abstraction; and gánjha, according to him, by stimulat-
ing the imaginative faculties, and determining the ideas, fixes
them on the god he is always contemplating. As with the
Vaishnavas his highest ambition is to feel for Rámá a sensual
and emotional desire, which it is the peculiar property of gánjha
to impart. He therefore regards the smoking of the weed as an
imperative duty, enabling him to abandon the world and its
pleasures, and to live in continuous ecstatic contemplation of
the deity.
The ordinary diet of a Sádhu consists of the following
articles:
Milk, 4 lbs.
Atá (wheat flour), 1 lb.
Ghí (butter) 4 ounces.
Vegetables and fruit, ad libitum.
On this diet he can safely smoke five pipes of gánjha a day,
and five at night, the quantity taken with each depending on the
taste and nerves of the smoker, but a quarter of a tolá, or forty-
five grains, is the average portion.
The ecstatic state is by these ascetics designated "Khiyál,"
a dreamy, sensual reverie, in which the emotional affections
predominate; or “Ánanda," in which the mind is quiescent, and
the devotee enjoys enchanting peace, and perfect resignation.
As with the Vaishnavas all forms of adoration, beyond the
unceasing repetition of the name Ráma, or Harí, are deemed
useless; but in every Akháṛá there is an idol tended at regular
hours, when Sankh shells are blown, and gongs sounded, while
offerings of flowers and fruit are presented by the laity. Besides,
in the courtyard there is usually a Tulasí plant, which is care-
fully cherished, and in the sanctuary a Sálagrám, sharing equal
adoration with the idol.
The abstractions of the Sádhus are often so prolonged as to
necessitate the use of a bamboo crutch (báns-ka-kúbrí). Their
necklaces, made of Rudraksha wood (Eleaeocarpus ganitrus),
must consist of seventeen, nineteen, twenty-one, fifty-four, or a
hundred and eight beads.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
153
NÍMÁVAT.
This religious sect, one of the four primary divisions of the
Vaishnava faith, has always been unpopular in Eastern Bengal,
although it was formerly believed to be the most numerous of
the Vaishnava sects in Bengal, "with the exception of those
which may be considered the indigenous offspring of that
province."
>>
In Dacca two Ákhárás are still open; one, situated at Háthí-
ghát, is about eighty years old. The first Mahant was one
Balarám, a Hindustání Bráhman, the fourth in descent from whom
is the present Mahant, Har-dev Dás, and Adh-Gaur Bráhman
from Mírat. The other Ákhárá, in Chaudharí Bazár, was built
by one Krishná Moní Bairáganí, about twenty years ago.
This sect has few characteristics beyond its name, and the
sectarial mark consisting of a circular black patch between two
parallel yellow streaks.
In Dacca there are no Grihasthas, or secular members, and
only four Viraktas, or cenobitical. Disciples are not enrolled
from among Bengalis, the Kulin Bráhman even being rejected;
but any Hindustání Bráhman, or clean Súdra, is admitted.
The Nímávats regard Mathurá and Jaipúr as the most
sacred places of pilgrimage, and the Bhagavat as the chief
religious book. Nágarí is generally understood, but Sanskrit
is unknown. The chief occupation of the Viraktas is the
preparation of "Bhog," or food for the idols, consisting of rice
and pulse boiled together (Khichrí), which is offered four times
daily. After being presented, and prayers said, it is eaten by
the Mahant and his disciples. The idols in the Akhárás are
Jagannath, Madana Gopála, Rádhá-Krishna, Balaráma, and Sub-
hadra, the sister of Krishná.
VAISHNAVAS.
In February, 1485, during the reign of Jalaluddín Fath Sháh,
was born Nimáí, the son of Jagannáth Misra, a Vaidika Bráh
man of Silhet, and of Sachi his wife. His birth was preceded by
many marvellous signs, while his infancy and boyhood were
distinguished by events which portended his future eminence.
When twenty-four years old, he left his young wife, became
a Vairági, and assumed the name of Chaitanya. He visited the
sacred shrines of Mathurá and Brindában, where, by constant
meditation on the adorable Krishna, he became subject to
ecstatic visions, or fits of love," Prema-pralápa," which eventu-
¹ Wilson's "Religious Sects of the Hindus," vol. i, 152.
1
C
154
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
!
ally deranged his reason. From Mathurá he returned to Bengal,
and after a short stay, proceeded on a pilgrimage to Katak and
Rámeṣvara, in the south of India. He finally settled at Katak,
where he died childless at the early age of forty-three.
The most devoted and most famous of his followers were
Nityananda of Nadiya, and Advayánanda of Sántipúr on the
Hughli.
The teaching of Chaitanya marks an era in the religious
history of Bengal, and at the present day the large majority of
the artisan and agricultural classes worship him as an incarna-
tion of Vishnu under the names of Mahá-prabhu, the great
teacher, and Gaur-Harí.
The spread of the religious doctrines of this reformer was
rapid, many causes combining to favour it. Their simplicity,
their virtual agreement with the religious ideas then prevalent
in Bengal, the zeal and enthusiasm of the first missionaries, and
the boundless credulity of the people, are the chief causes
assigned by an able writer.¹ But the unsettled state of the
province, the constant wars and civil commotions excited by
rival Muhammadan races and factions, left the Hindu popula-
tion at liberty to follow their own religious aspirations. During
the forty-three years of Chaitanya's life, seven kings, of whom
four were Abyssinian slaves, sat on the throne of Bengal.
For many generations the Bráhmans had left the masses
uncared for, and without any national faith, save that of the
terrible Șiv, his hateful consort, and a host of malevolent beings,
haunting every glade, thicket, and river. Contumely and dis-
dain were the prerogatives of the priesthood; submission and
resignation of the timorous people. Under this tyranny the
land groaned for centuries, but at last a glimmer broke in upon
the thick darkness, foretelling the advent of a brighter and
happier future. Chaitanya stirred the hearts of the people by
his impassioned preaching, awakened new conceptions and
desires, and proclaimed that all men were equal in the eyes of
God; that the same One who made the Chandál made the
Brahman; and that philanthropy was the mainspring of society,
the renovator of national life. He farther taught that caste was
a fetter on social advancement, and the religion of the Brahmans
a stumbling-block to his countrymen. This blow levelled
against caste had temporary effect, and for many years after
Chaitanya's death no distinctions of race or colour were, it is
said, permitted within the Vaishnava pale. As enthusiasm,
however, declined, differences of birth and occupation were
again recognised, and now caste prejudices are almost as deeply
rooted among the Vaishnavas as with the worshippers of Șiv.
1 "Calcutta Review," vol.
vol. xv,
1851.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
155
The chief novelty in the teaching of Chaitanya was Bhakti,
or loving faith, a new element in Hinduism. The Vedantic
philosophers had taught that in the knowledge of God consisted
the only hope of deliverance from the bondage of sin; but,
according to the new truth, those who believed in Krishna, who
prayed to him without ceasing, and who reposed their whole
confidence on him, were more secure of endless felicity than the
master of all sciences and all philosophies.
Such was the gospel of the Silhet reformer. By the addition
of many mystical and sensual interpretations, later ages have
corrupted much that was ennobling and moral.
addy
""
The text book of the Vaishnavas is the "Chaitanya
Charitámṛita" of Krishna Dás,¹ written in Bengali, and inter-
spersed with quotations from the earlier works, “Şrí Bhágavat
and “Bhagavat-gíta." According to this work there are five
stages of Bhakti, the higher, as with the Cúfís, being only
attained by a few privileged individuals, after prolonged
austerities and mortifications.
The five stages are :—
1. Sánta, or quietism, in which the Vaishnava enjoys perfect
contentment and peace of mind, ever dwelling on the
happiness of his lot, and grateful to Harf for his
mercy.
2. Dásya, or the relation existing between a master and his
purchased slave. In this stage the Vaishnava practises
self-denial, dedicating his whole energies and thoughts
to the honour of his god.
3. Sákhya, or friendship. Arriving at this stage the disciple
worships Chaitanya as his bosom friend, and regards
his own soul as an emanation from and a particle of
the Paramátman, or supreme spirit.
4. Vátsalya, or affection towards offspring. In this stage
the Vaishnava looks up to God, not as the common
Father of all, but as his own father, to whom he is
united by the natural bonds of affection, as subsist
between a son and his earthly parent.
5. Mádhuriya, literally sweetness, the "efflorescence of
Bhakti," as it has been named. In this, the highest
and most exquisite condition, the disciple glows with
the same uncontrollable desire that Krishna felt for the
absent Rádha.
The introduction of this last grade of religious fervour has
destroyed the moral influence of the creed by sanctifying, as it
undoubtedly has done, immorality and gross sensuality. The
¹ Krishna Dás Kabíráj, a Baidyá by caste, wrote this synopsis A.D. 1557.
156
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
pure and elevating principles of Chaitanya have been lost sight
of, and at the present day the male and female mendicants of
this popular sect are notorious for their profligacy and moral
depravity.
When Chaitanya died, his most enthusiastic disciples formed
a society, consisting, it is said, of six Gosáins,¹ eight Kabírájs,
and sixty-four Mahants, by whom the sect was organised, and
a staff of assistants established in every district and town of
Bengal. Their successors disseminated the Vaishnava creed
throughout the province, and, penetrating among the wild tribes
of the forest, converted many.
The highest rank in the hierarchy is that of the Gosáins,
who are Brahmans by caste, and claiming to be descendants of
the six original Gosáins, the immediate successors of the Mahá-
prabhu.
For many generations the three great centres of Vaishnavism
have been Khardah, between Calcutta and Barrackpúr; Sánti-
púr in Nadiyá, on the Bhágírathi; and Saidábád in the Murshí-
dábád district. The first is the residence of the Gosáins, tracing
their descent from Nityananda; the second, of the children of
Advayánanda; while the third is the home of a family who
became Gosáins at a later date, as related in the following story.
Ganga Nárayana Áchárya and Ráma Kişora Chakravarttí
were Gosáins, the former being a disciple of a Káyasth. When
the Kayasth died, the Bráhmans refused to permit the body to
be buried. The disconsolate widow prayed to the deceased
Guru, claiming his interference. His spirit appeared, and com-
manded her to summon all the recusant Bráhmans to a meeting,
at which, after a long and excited discussion, the spirit asked if
any one present could produce the four threads of gold, silver,
copper, and cotton, which were used to make the sacred cord.
No one was able, so the spirit produced them. The Brahmans,
satisfied of his identity, confessed that he was entitled, though
a Kayasth, to be venerated as a Guru, and his disciple to receive
the same funeral rites at his death as a Bráhman, the pupil of a
legitimate Gosáin.
Gosáins are hereditary leaders of the sect. They are married
men, generally wealthy, their temples having been enriched by
the munificence of the Hindu laity, and their revenue further
increased by the contributions of millions of disciples, and by
the inheritance of all property left by Bairágís. They are also
prosperous traders and money-lenders. Bráhmans view them
with contempt, a Kulin family being dishonoured by giving one
a daughter in marriage.
¹ Sanskrit, Go-svámi, a religious mendicant, an honorary title.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
157
The Vaishnavas have had it revealed that Chaitanya was
an incarnation of Vishnu, Nityananda of Balaráma, the brother
of Krishna, and Advayánanda of Mahadeva; and, futhermore,
that the first assumed the rank of a Vaidika Bráhman, the
second of a Rárhi, and the third of a Varendra.
The adoration paid to the heaven-born Gosáin, or Guru, is
regarded as the essence of Vaishnavism, and differs in no re-
spect from that offered to God Himself. The votaries, by surren-
dering themselves and all they possess, not only identify the
Gosáin with the deity, but honour him as one possessed of more
authority than Krishna himself. He is further venerated as
being inherently a pure and exalted personage, unsullied by the
vices in which he always freely indulges. Implicit faith in
him, and incessant devotion, are the arms with which the
Vaishnava has to wage war against the world and its tempta-
tions; and he is taught that, successfully overcoming all his
enemies, he will at last enter upon that stage of Mádhuriya, for
the attainment of which all true Vaishnavas maintain a life-long
struggle.
The slavish adoration of the Gosáin, however, formed no
part of Chaitanya's teaching, which inculcated that God was all
in all, while the Gosáin was only the spiritual father¹ of his
flock. The modern sentiment, copied from the Bráhmanical
system, and probably adopted when the Gosáins had secured
their hold over the people, is firmly believed in by millions at
the present day, and the influence that they wield is as strong
as that of the Jesuit priesthood.
The inferior agency that spreads and supports the peculiar
doctrines of the sect is the Adhikárí, or superintendent, who
acts as deputy, initiates disciples within a certain circle, and
collects fees. Under him are Faujdárs, whose business is the
enlistment of proselytes, and whose activity is stimulated by a
percentage of the subscriptions. Lastly, comes the Chharí-dár,
or usher of the rod, who is merely the messenger of the
Faujdár.
The Gosáin, or his deputy, bestows the Mantra,2 or sacred
word, on the laíty. Any disciple, however, can confer Bhek,
1 The Gosáin is generally styled Báp, father; the Faujdár Kuru, or uncle,
from Bengali, Khuṛá.
3
2 The Mantra is usually a monosyllable, a name, or attribute, of a god, or
goddess. It is taken by both Vaishmavas and Ṣáktas, and certain religious
ceremonies are always observed on that occasion. The Mantra must never be
divulged to any one.
3 The word Bhek is synonymous with the Sanskrit Bhek-lava and Víksha-
grahona, and is analogous to the Bhikshuka, or fourth Asrama of religious life.
Bhek is probably a corruption of Víksha, sight. In this stage of life the votary
rightly adopts the garb of a mendicant, retires from the world, and subsists on
the charity of strangers.
158
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
No
an introductory ceremony peculiar to the Vaishnavas.
member can aspire to any stage of faith, or secure salvation
after death, without the Mantra. The Bhek, on the other hand,
is taken by those who resolve to spend a life of poverty and
trial, without ties, and with few restraints, and is given to men,
women, and boys over ten years of age. At this ceremonial, a
new piece of cloth is wrapped round the waist of the neophyte,
a "Kaupína" is triced between the legs, a stick, or switch,
placed in his hands, a beggar's wallet given him to carry, and a
necklace (mála) hung round his neck.
As is the case with other Hindu sects, the Vaishnava laity
is divided into two great classes, the Grihi Vaishnavas, or
Boistubs, as they are popularly called, and Bairágís. The
former marry and live as their neighbours; the Gosáins, and the
large majority of the sect, belong to this division. The dead are
burned, but the bodies of Gosáins are always buried. Bairágís
are mendicants, usually living in celibacy, but often adopting a
Bairágan, or sister, who is in reality a concubine. The bodies of
Bairágís are either burned, buried, or cast into a river; but if
the relatives be rich, or if the deceased has attracted disciples,
the corpse is interred, and an Ákhára built over his grave. A
Bairágí may marry, but it is deemed highly meritorious to lead
a celibate life, avoiding all connection with women. On obtain-
ing permission to marry he is known as a Sam-yogí, becoming
enrolled in a caste, or community, called Ját Boistub, but
generally nicknamed " Vántáși," a term more expressive than
elegant.
Bengal is divided into circles, each circle having its own
Gosáin, within whose jurisdiction no other Gosáin can legiti-
mately act. The Gosáins of Nityananda have always been more
popular than their rivals, and claim the exclusive right of
making disciples in the districts of Dacca, Báqirganj, Farrídpúr,
and Jessore; but in each of these representatives of the three
head centres may be found. The Nityananda Gosáins were
especially favoured by the Muhammadan governors, Jasárat
Khán, the Nawab of Dacca, when the English acquired the Ráj,
granting a Sanad to Nanda Lál Gosáin, conferring on him land
in Baqirganj for the maintenance of male and female mendicants.
In 1783 the zamíndárs dispossessed the proprietors, but on
appeal the Çadr 'Adálat ordered the restitution of the property,
which is held by their descendants at the present day.
In the city of Dacca there are seven Nityananda Gosáins,
the chief, Madan Mohan Gosvámi, being eleventh in descent
from the Prabhu, while the others are the offspring of children
adopted by former Gozáins. As a natural result, there is much
covert enmity and jealousy between each household. The
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
159
chief Ákháṛa, or monastery, of these "Gentoo Bishops," as they
were styled by Holwell, is called Rám Kanháí in Islámpúr;
but in Farrídábád, a suburb of the city, and at Uthali, near
Teota, in the Ja'farganj Thánah, are two celebrated Ákháras, at
which other Gosáins reside.
The Gosáins are a comparatively pure stock, and fair speci-
mens of the higher Bengali race. As a rule they are of a
light brown, or wheaten, colour, tall and large-boned. Muscular
they ought to be, but indolence and good living stamps them
at an early age with a look of sensuality and listlessness, and
they become large fat men, fond of sleep, their chief muscular
exertion consisting in holding out the foot to be kissed by
admiring followers. Their lives are passed in sensual pleasures,
and the boundless influence they wield among thousands of the
middle classes is, unhappily, not directed to their moral elevation.
Satisfied with a blind and unquestioning adoration, they are
quite content, if it lasts during their lifetime, to disregard the
possibility of future agitation and revolution.
The Nityananda and Advayánanda Gosáins differ in several
respects. The former admit into their communion all ranks and
conditions of men and women, from the Bráhman to the Chaṇḍál,
from the Brahmaní widow to the common prostitute; but the
latter only admits Bráhmans and members of the clean Súdra
castes. The first maintain that any limitation is opposed to
the teaching of Chaitanya, and at variance with the fact that
the whispering of the Mantra in the ear of the most wicked
and dissolute often leads to repentance and conversion.
The Nityananda Gosáins have always been most popular
with the lower Bengali castes, having acquired a commanding
position among Vaishnavas. A "Panjah," or silver hand, is the
badge of the family. At Khardah is still paraded one presented
by a Nawab of Bengal, and the Janmáshṭamí procession of the
Tántís is preceded by a man carrying a "Panjah."
The Advayánanda Gosáins, as a matter of course, are highly
esteemed by the upper classes, it being exceedingly rare for a
Bráhman, or Baidya, to enroll himself in the ranks of the other.
They are numerous in Dacca, the most respected and learned
being Dinabandhu of Bosés Bazár. These Gosáins are said to
be more sincere, and less depraved, than the others, invariably
refusing to receive any woman, and thus avoiding much scandal.
Furthermore, they do not seek to increase the number of
followers in the indiscriminate way the Nityananda do, but
welcome any penitent who approaches them, if he proves by
his behaviour that he is really desirous of leading a new life.
Vaishnavas on entering the society pay a fee of twenty anas,
sixteen of which go to the Gosáin, and four to the Faujdár. It
160
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
is also asserted that the Advayánanda Gosáins pay a fee to the
Nityananda, on the grounds that only the latter can properly
initiate disciples in Eastern Bengal.
No one but a Hindu can join the Vaishnava community, and
as a rule no probation is required. Each member of a Vaishnava
family must receive the Mantra, his water-vessels being impure
until he does so, while it cannot rightly be given until the rite
Karna-vedha, or ear-boring, has been performed. The strict
Vaishnava never drinks water from the hands of a Siv
worshipper, even though he belong to the same, caste.
In each important village of Bengal an Ákháṛa, belonging
to the sect, exists, sanctifying, according to Hindu ideas, the
place and protecting the inhabitants from all evil. Ákháṛas are
often built by subscription, mendicants being invited to take
posssesion and tend the idols of Madana-Mohana or Krishna,
Rádha-Krishna, or Krishna-Balaráma, lodged in them. The
two most famous images of the Bengali Vaishnavas are those of
Vishnupur in Bankúra, now in Calcutta, and the Gopi-náth of
Agradvipa in Krishnaghar.
The religious duties (Sadhana) of the Grihi and Bairágí
Vaishnavas are sixty-four in number, the most important being
the foot-kissing (Pada-áṣraya), of the Gosáin, and the Náma
Kírtana, or invocation of the god's name.
At initiation the Vaishnava novice receives a Mála, or
rosary, which is either hung round the neck or put into a
cloth bag, having an opening for the thumb.
The rosary
consists of 108 beads, and it is incumbent on each individual to
count his beads a certain number of times daily, while no true
disciple will drink water, or touch food, until he has made a
round of the rosary, muttering as he touches each bead, one or
other of the names of Hari. The frequency with which the
beads are counted is considered a test of sincerity, and many
Vaishnavas spend the chief part of their lives repeating the
names of Harí; while in the streets, in places of public amuse-
ment, and even during conversation, they may be observed
dreamily, often unconsciously, renewing, with painful reiteration,
the bead-counting, and the monotonous burden of their prayers.
It is also considered a most meritorious act to teach a parrot, or
mainá," to speak nothing but Harí Rám.
66
Another important Sádhana is the San-Kirtana, which
consists in reciting religious songs in honour of Krishna.
Twice a day, in the forenoon, and at sunset, services are held in
all Ákháras, when oblations are made to the idols. The
favourite musical instruments are the Mridanga, an elongated
drum, tapering towards the ends, and the Kartál, or brass
cymbals. The eleventh day of the waxing moon in each month
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
161
is a fast, no food being taken till sunset; while on the Ekádasi,
the eleventh "tithi," or lunar day, following the Dashará, and
for the ensuing thirty days, Vaishnavas are engaged in prayer
and singing. Before dawn discordant music clangs from every
shrine and Ákhára in the country, and in the daytime bands of
Mahants, pupils (chela), and scholars (avadhúta) perambulate
the streets reciting—
"With earnestness repeat, Rádha, Krishna, Nitai, Chaitanya,
Advaita, the three Prabhus."
The aforesaid duties are essential to salvation, and a strict
observance of them will ensure endless felicity, even though the
other sixty Sadhana are neglected.
The Grihi Vaishnavas, who live as other Hindus, comprise
the majority of the sect. They celebrate with more or less
pomp the Dol-játrá in Phálgun (March and April), the Rath-játrá
in Ashárh (July and August), the Janmashtami, or birthday of
Krishna, in Bhadra (August and September), and the Rás-játrá
in Kártik (October and November).
The rich Súnrí bankers and merchants frequently erect
Ákháṛas adjoining their houses, liberally endowing them, and
providing food for swarms of hungry mendicants. Although
the Vaishnava creed has attracted most of the lower classes of
Bengal, it has, by recognising caste, entirely failed to elevate or
guide them towards higher aspirations.
a
The Bairagi and Bairagan Vaishnavas are of evil repute,
their ranks being recruited by those who have no relatives, by
widows, by individuals too idle or depraved to lead a steady
working life, and by prostitutes. Vaishnavi, or Boistubi
according to the vulgar pronunciation, has come to mean
courtezan. A few undoubtedly join from sincere and worthy
motives, but their numbers are too small to produce any appre-
ciable effect on the behaviour of their comrades. The habits
of these beggars are very unsettled. They wander from village
to village, and from one Akháṛa to another, fleecing the frugal
and industrious peasantry on the plea of religion, and singing
songs in praise of Harí beneath the village tree, or shrine.
Mendicants of both sexes smoke Indian hemp (gánjha), and,
although living as brothers and sisters, are notorious for
licentiousness. There is every reason for suspecting that infan-
ticide is common, as children are never seen. In the course of
their wanderings they entice away unmarried girls, widows, and
even married women, on the pretext of visiting Srí Kshetra
(Jagannath), Brindában, or Benares, for which reason they are
shunned by all respectable natives, who gladly give charity to
be rid of them.
The following account of an annual religious gathering in
162
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
Bengal discloses the true character of these disreputable mendi-
cants. Amid the ruins of ancient Gaur are large reservoirs of
water, called Rúpa and Sanátan, after the two distinguished
Muhammadans converted by Chaitanya, on the banks of which
the "Rás Mela," or "Prema tala," i.e., real love, festival is held
in the month of June. Crowds of Bairágís and Bairágans
resort to this fair from all parts of Bengal, the latter being
seated in long rows with their faces covered. Should a Bairágí
be in search of a companion, he pays the customary fee to the
Faujdár, and a selection is made. He leads the female aside,
raises her veil, and if satisfied takes her away, otherwise he
takes her back to her place. In the latter case the Faujdár
refuses to allow another choice, unless the twenty anas fee is
again paid. It is a law with these licentious Bairágís that a
man cannot put away the woman selected, even for adultery,
until the next year's gathering comes round.
BÁYÁN-KAUPÍNA.
This sect of Vaishnavas has received this strange name from
the members wearing the "Kaupína," or waist-cloth, fastened on
the left (báyán) side instead of the right, as is the invariable
custom with other Vaishnavas. The following story is told of
its origin. A Guru in the act of initiating a disciple inadver-
tently tied the Kaupína on the left side, but seeing his mistake
he was proceeding to rectify it, when the novice remonstrated
by saying that the oversight must have been predestined by
Harí, and refused to permit of any change. He accordingly
went forth in disarray, and established the Báyán-Kaupína
Vaishnavas.
There is only one Ákhárá of this sect in Dacca, situated in
Narsinghdee, a suburb of the city. The Mahant is a Ṣrotriyá
Bráhman, only twenty years of age, who succeeded his father, a
native of Northern Bengal. In Silhet there are many com-
munities of the sect, and at Haibatnagar, in Mymensingh, there
is also an establishment belonging to them.
The special object of worship of the Báyán-Kaupína
Vaishnavas is Rádhá-Krishna, but they are never charged with
the immoral practices usually attributed to sects worshipping
this union of the male and female principles. The flesh of all
manner of fish, or beast, every intoxicating substance, and
Gánjha, are strictly forbidden, and only women of moral
character are initiated, and allowed to reside in Ákhárás. The
members of the sect formerly ate with other Vaishnavas, but of
late years this toleration, being abused, has been revoked. The
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
163
Mahant makes an annual visitation throughout his circle,
instructing the laity, and collecting the yearly subscriptions for
the support of the Akhárá.
KIŞORÍ-BHAJANA.
This, one of the many outgrowths of Vaishnavism, is properly
designated Sáhuja, but in Eastern Bengal it is known as Kiṣorí-
Bhajana-Kisori being a maiden, and Bhajana the Sanskrit for
adoration. In many respects the sect resembles the Rádhá-
Vallabhís, and a tradition survives that it seceded from them.
It is related that the Guru having tasted food on a fast, or
"Ekádaşí," day, observed by all Vaishnavas, gave a portion to
his disciples, making them violate their vows, and obliging the
other members who had not tasted to separate and form a dis-
senting body. It is more probable, however, that the society is
the same as the Rádhá - Vallabhí, but acknowledging other
masters. The founder of the sect in Dacca was one Kála Chand
Vidyálankára, a poor Bráhman, who lived about ninety years ago.
He served in his Guru's house, but having accidentally struck
his mistress when pounding rice, he fled to Navadvíp, and
became the pupil of Vansá Rám, a Spashța Dáyaka. The
religious establishment created by him differed altogether from
that of his Guru. A Spashta Dáyaka will not look upon a
woman, nor accept food from her; while with the Kişorí-
Bhajana, woman occupies the chief place, and is the principal
object of worship.
This sect is peculiar in having no Udásí, or religious mendi-
cants. There is a Guru, or Pradhán, as he is called, who
initiates converts, and conducts all religious services. As
among the Chakra worshippers of the Tantras, absolute secresy
regarding the mysteries of the creed is preserved, although in
the city of Dacca many hundreds of Hindus, especially women,'
belong to it. The majority pertain to the low Súnrí caste, but
individuals of all ranks, from the Bráhman to the Chandál, are
freely admitted, equality being enforced, and no distinctions
permitted.
1
It is extremely difficult to find out the precise religious
beliefs of this sect. It is stated that members always place a
book, or an article of common use, in a conspicuous part of the
house, and worship it as a symbol of their faith, in the hope of
misleading the public and avoiding too particular inquiries.
1 Who generally shave their heads, leaving only a top-knot.
164
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
The following incomplete account has been obtained, and as
far as it goes may be accepted as correct. At the initiation of
a disciple a Mantra, consisting of the word "Hang-sha," is
whispered into his ear, and is believed to possess a certain
mystical meaning, the first syllable typifying the air breathed,
the latter the air expired. An indecent scene, in which a naked
woman sits on the knee of the neophyte, is then rehearsed, as a
crucial test of his having mortified the flesh and its lusts, and
of his having become a worthy candidate for admission.
The chief ceremony resembling the Rás Mandalis of the
Mahárájas of Bombay, which have been styled "carnal love.
meetings," is celebrated in a suitable room where a long strip of
white cloth is spread on the floor with plantain leaves laden
with fish and rice, while flesh and spirits never appear.
The feast being over, songs in honour of Rádhá-Krishná are
chanted with the effect of often causing extravagant and violent
excitement, terminating in hysterical weeping and convulsions.
The Pradhan then selects a woman, possibly the prettiest; the
pair are dusted with sandal-wood powder, crowned with flowers,
and the company make adoration to them as the personations of
Rádhá and her lover Krishna. Each man present then decorates
himself with garlands, perfect silence being observed, and is
presumed to fall into a dreamy sensuous condition, with mind
abstracted and absorbed in the contemplation of the semblance
of Rádhá at his side.
Such is the degraded and immoral product of the teaching
of Chaitanya! The secresy in which the sect flourishes, and
the reticence maintained by its members, not only favour the
worst suspicions, but explain the disgust with which all other
classes of natives regard it. The Kişorí-Bhajana holds the same
position among Vaishnava sects as the Chakra does among
Şaiva, both being the fruit of religious ecstasy carried to its
natural conclusion.
JAGAT-MOHANÍ.
This, perhaps the most excellent of all the Vaishnava sects,
derives its name from the Sanskrit Jagat, the world, and
Mohana, a title of Krishna, signifying the fascinator, or cyno-
sure.
The founder, Jagat Mohan, appeared as a teacher at
Mashulia, a village of Silhet, about two hundred years ago.
He was worshipped as an incarnation of Vishnu, and it is
believed that he never tasted of death. On his translation from
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
165
this world his mantle descended in turn on Govinda Gosvámí,
Sánta Gosvámí, and Rám Krishna Gosvámí, the greatest of them
all, whose Samádhi, or tomb, is the principal object in the large
Ákhárá at Baithalang in Silhet, where the head-quarters of the
sect are located. Of this Gosáin many wonderful stories are
told. For instance, he obtained anything he desired by merely
wishing for it, and his credulous followers believe that by pros-
trating themselves before his pattens (Kharáún), preserved at
this shrine, their wishes will be fulfilled. Facing each Ákhárá
of this sect a mat hut stands, where visitors perform Bhajana,
or adoration, every evening; while inside is a "Chaudol," or
cabinet, containing a pair of pattens. The Baithalang Ákhárá
is richly endowed, and often hundreds of pilgrims are fed at it
in a single day.
This body is very numerous in Silhet, less so in Mymensingh,
and in Dacca it is calculated, that not more than fifty families
belong to it. There is one Ákháṛá in the quarter of the city
called Farídábád, and another at Tál-tolá in Bikrampúr.
It is asserted that throughout Bengal the society possesses
three hundred and sixty Ákháṛrás, each having a Mahant, or
leader, and a Pújárí, or officiating priest. These offices may be
filled by persons of any caste, there being a tradition that Rám
Krishna Gosvámí was a fisherman. Women are not permitted
to reside within an Ákháṛá, and should any immorality be
proved against one of the brethren, he is admonished; should he
repeat the offence he is summarily expelled.
In the Ákháṛás, Kírttan, or religious songs, in praise of
Krishna, very rarely of Rádhá, are chaunted seven times a day,
and twice at night.
As with other Vaishnava sects, there are two ranks, namely
the Grihí and Vairágí, the former living at their homes, and
working as other men; the latter wandering about the country
as beggars. Women receive the Mantra, as well as the men;
but not the Bhek. Hindus of all classes join the association,
but Christians and Muhammadans are disqualified. The
Mahants are more earnest, and more watchful over the welfare
of their flocks than is usually the case, and every year make
visitations throughout their dioceses. No fixed sum is levied from
a novice, but if rich he is expected to contribute something to
the Ákhárá. In Silhet, moreover, it is customary to present a
share of the first-fruits to the nearest shrine, and bequeath
money for its support.
The Vairági is forbidden to eat fish or flesh; to smoke
Gánjha or tobacco; or to drink spirits.
After death corpses are usually cast into a river, never
burned, and it is only when a dying Mahant expresses a wish to
N
166
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
be buried, that a Samádhi is constructed. While in articulo
the body is lowered into the grave, as it is thought lucky for
him to die where he is to rest.
The bodies and faces of members of this sect are marked
with twelve or more sectarial devices. Two parallel lines are
drawn with sandal-wood paste from the crown of the head, or
from the roots of the front hair, to the tip of the nose, where
they meet and form a loop; a spot is put on the last rib on
each side, at the top of the sternum, on each arm, and on the
lobes of the ears. Their dress is noways peculiar. The
fore part of the head is closely shaven, while the back, from
which a long cue depends, is left untouched. Many also wear
round the neck a double fold of red tape received at Jagannáth.
The residents of Ákhárás are forbidden to beg, but thank-
fully accept any charity offered them. On no account can they
absent themselves unless summoned to visit a sick, or penitent,
disciple.
Very little can be ascertained regarding the tenets of the
Jagat Mohaní Vaishnanas, but even their enemies admit that
their lives are exemplary and moral. The Mahant at Dacca is
a quiet, unassuming youth, with no hypocritical pretensions to
sanctity, as is too often the case with Hindu cenobites.
SPASHȚA DÁYAKA.
This sect was founded by Rúp Kabíráj, the disciple of
Krishna Chandra Chakravarttí of Saidábád, the pupil of
Mákandah Dás, a successor of Chaitanya. It is set forth that
Krishna Chandra sojourned at Brindában acquiring great
renown as a holy teacher, and that on leaving he delivered to
Rúp Kabiraj the charge of his flock, upon whom a great scandal
had fallen owing to the crowds of women residing in the Ákhárás
with the disciples. Rúp Kabíráj, therefore, determined on casting
out all those who, by their licentious behaviour, had brought
disgrace on the community; but he encountered serious opposi-
tion. Worn out, and irritated by this factious spirit, he one day
threw the leavings of his food into the dishes of his opponents,
and thereby cast a stain on them. He then intimated that for
the future no member of the society should eat food cooked by
a woman.
Another story is sometimes told of its foundation. The wife
of Rúp Kabíráj was in the habit of distributing food to the
disciples, but some refused to accept it because she wore a shell
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
167
bracelet, the badge of low birth. The husband pointed out that
his wife, a Thákurání, could lawfully mete out the Prasáda
without causing disgrace; but the disciples, still sceptical,
seceded, and established the order of Spashta Dáyaka.¹
1
This sect has never flourished in Eastern Bengal, but it has
an establishment in the city of Dacca, known as the Inayatganj
Ákhárá, founded by Vansa Rám Gosáin. Another monastery
exists at Simalía, fourteen miles north of the city;, a third at
Dalál Bázár in Noakhally; while in Silhet many Akhárás are
supported.
A writer in the Calcutta Review, with whom Dr. Hunter
agrees, has put forth statements apt to mislead regarding the
peculiar doctrines of this body. These authorities state that
its characteristic features are the repudiation of the servile
veneration paid to the Guru, and a mystical association of the
male and female devotees. On the contrary, at Dacca, the Guru
does receive special veneration, and the spirit of a former Gosáin
Pancha Rám is still invoked, while in the Inayatganj Ákhárá
the mother of the Guru resides, although her son cannot receive
food from her hands, and no other woman is allowed to remain
within its walls. Further, it cannot be denied that Rádhá
Krishna is the principal object of worship. The Mantra is
bestowed on women, the Bhek never. Finally, celibacy is
professed by all, and any glaring immorality entails expulsion.
All castes, including Chandals, are enrolled in the sect, but
a preference is shown for the pure Súdras.
The distinctive sectarial mark is a daub of ochre (Gopí-chan-
dan) on the nose, with two narrow lines drawn upwards to the
roots of the hair. The temples, arms, chest, and shoulders are
stamped with the sacred names of Harí.
The Spashța Dayaka accept alms from any Hindus, and even
from Muhammadans, but never from Chamárs, or prostitutes.
The Vaishnava Vairágí is forbidden to eat with him, and he
declines to eat with the Vairágí. He is further prohibited from
touching flesh or fish, and from eating with any one not a
member of his association.
The Bhek is conferred on married men, even though con-
tinuing to lead a secular life. The Vairágí Spashta Dayaka
leads the same irregular vagabond existence as the Vairágí
Vaishnava, making pilgrimages to Srí Brindában, and roaming
from one shrine to another, subsisting on the charity of the
villagers. It is forbidden for him to receive money at marriages
and festivals; but on all other occasions he is at liberty to
accept it.
1 Sanskrit Spashta, true, Dáyaka, giving, or given.
N 2
168
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
Their dead are usually interred, and the grave (Samádhi) of
those who have died leaving disciples is, as with all Vaish-
navas, held in especial veneration, an Akhárá being built over it.
Every cenobite desires to be buried, and this feeling is one of
the most potent means of spreading the doctrines of the sect,
as each one strives to form a company, and to become the
founder of an Ákháṛá, where his name will be preserved, and his
memory revered,
A corpse is buried in a sitting posture, as among the mendi-
cant Jogís. A cloth (námá-bolí), stamped with the name Harí,
is wrapped round the head; the Kaupína, like that received
at initiation, round the body; while the arms are folded across
the chest, a necklace hung around the neck, and a cocoa-nut
shell (Karanka), a wallet, and a staff (dandá) placed by the
side. If the deceased were a man of unusual sanctity, religious
rites would be daily performed at his tomb, and his spirit invoked
on all occasions of affliction and misfortune.
The Ákhárá in Dacca is richly endowed, possessing
"debottar" lands yielding a revenue of four hundred and fifty
rupees a year, which is supplemented by collections made by the
Vairágís.
KAVÍ-INDRA PARIVÁRA.
This title is assumed by a small sect of Vaishnavas claiming
to be the Parivára, or attendants, of Vishnu Dás Kaví-Indra, one
of the original sixty-four Mahants who preached the doctrines
of Chaitanya after his decease. Vishnu Dás was a Șúdra, and
the Mahants have since his day been Súdras. As the story goes,
Vishnu Dás was a special favourite of Chaitanya, evincing his
humility and faith by daily partaking of the leavings of the
Mahaprabhu's meal. Unfortunately, one day he found no orts,
but looking into the spittoon he detected a grain of rice, tinged
with blood, which had been ejected by Chaitanya when rinsing
his mouth. Vishnu Dás swallowed it, but his proceeding did
not escape the watchful eye of an enemy. The Mahaprabhu
was appealed to, and decided that any disciple tasting the
blood of his Guru must be excommunicated. Chaitanya was
grieved at the loss of his devoted follower, but having once
given his decision it was irrevocable, so Vishnu Dás went forth
to organise a dissenting society of his own.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
169
The doctrines of this sect are almost identical with those of
the Chaitanya Vaishnavas, and the only differences in the
internal economy are, that the Mahant, or religious head, dis-
charges the duties of an elective, not of a hereditary, office, and
that he is always a Súdra.
The only Ákháṛá of the sect in the Dacca district is situated
at Sánara, twenty miles north of the city; and it is calculated
that the society consists of not more than forty families. Many,
however, are rich Súnrí bankers, and merchants, who contribute
liberally to its maintenance. This sect is peculiar in having no
Udásí, or Vairágí grade, the members from the Mahant down-
wards being Grihí, or married men. All castes are freely
admitted into its ranks, and it is said that even Șrotriyá Bráh-
mans are occasionally enrolled.
BÁOLA.
In Bengal various disreputable mendicant orders exist,
comprehended under the generic term Báola, or Váyula, the
Sanskrit for crazed, but used in the same sense as the Persian
"diwánah," inspired. These orders are schismatics from the
main Vaishnava body, and having been established by low caste
enthusiasts chiefly attract the fisher and peasant classes.
They are distinguished as Nitya, Chaitanya, and Harí Dás
Báolas, after the great Vaishnava doctors. The ordinary treatises,
such as the Chaitanya-Charitámrita and the Krishna Tantra,
are followed as the authoritative guides of their orders.
.
No
Báolas make pilgrimages to all the shrines deemed sacred by
the genuine Vaishnava, and look upon the Gosáins as their
spiritual leaders. Flesh and spirits are forbidden, but fish is
considered lawful food, and Gánjha is smoked to excess.
Báola dare shave, or cut his hair, and personal uncleanliness is
commended as a religious virtue. They assume greater social
tolerance than Vaishnavas generally, and while the Vairágí only
eats with Vairágís sprung from his own caste, the Báola frater-
nizes with all Báolas, even with those of the lowest and most
despised castes. Members of the order affirm that in the Dacca
district alone twenty Báola Ákhárás exist, but the only recognized
one in the neighbourhood of the city is in a village called
Mírer Bágh.
The favourite object of worship with all Báolas is Krishna as
a child, or Láḍú-Gopál; but in most Ákhárás the Charana, or
pattens, of the founder are also honoured.
170
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
At the initiation of a disciple loathsome substances are eaten,
and actions indescribably filthy are committed, as tests of
worthiness. Celibacy and morality are inculcated, but never
practised, and nowadays there is no sect so despised for its
shameless profligacy as the Báola. Young women are encouraged
to join the body on the pretence of living as sisters and help-
mates in the Akhárá; but the majority of the females in
Akhárás are prostitutes. A Báola gives a feast to the Mahant,
and pays a fee of twenty anas when he wishes to possess a help-
mate. Girls with good voices are usually selected, as the
revenue of the community is derived from playing on the Gopí-
jantra and Sarangí to the villagers, and from singing religious
hymns.
Mahants are always buried in the same position as Jogís,
and over the grave, or Samádhi, an Akhárá is built by his
disciples. The bodies of the laity are thrown into a river,
unless the individual has been distinguished for sanctity, or for
the number of his adherents.
The various Báola divisions only differ from each other in
certain ceremonial observances and social usages.
The low estimation in which all Báloas are held by the
Hindus, and the odium, shared by all, are explained in the
following account of the Sudarám Báolas.
About 1825 Sudarám, a Chandál peasant of Birkrampúr,
received "bhek" from a Vairáganí, named Tokání, a member of
the Nyaḍa-Nyaḍí society, and thereupon organised a new sect,
making Jagannáth Dás, a Kaibartta, his pupil. Sudarám
resided at 'Abdullahpúr in Bikrampúr, and there the first.
Ákhárá was constructed. Sudarám and Tokání were quite
illiterate, but this was no drawback in the eyes of the simple
villagers, who joined the new society in considerable numbers.
The Samadhi of Tokání Máya is at 'Abdullahpúr, where Gaur
Dás, the Chandál Mahant, resides; but, that of Sudarám is at
Sirájábád on the river Padma. A third Ákhárá has been lately
established at Narsinghdih, north of Old Sunnárgáon.
The doctrines taught by Sudarám were, the existence of one
God, Harí, and the perfection of the Mahaprabhu Nityananda.
Further, it was revealed to him that Víra Bhadra, a successor of
Nityánánda, observed the Sákta ritual; consequently the
abominable impurities of the Chakra worship were engrafted
upon the Vaishnava creed. Adding whatever was likely to bind
his credulous followers, and prevent separation, he further
adopted the disgusting practises of the Aghorapanthis.
In the Ákháṛá at 'Abdullahpúr an image of Krishna as a
child, called Bála Gopála, Gopála-na-bálaka, or Láḍu-Gopála, a
Șíva-linga, and a wooden Vishnupada, are worshipped. A most
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
171
sacred relic is a staff, four feet in length, with an iron hand at
the top, said to be the fac-simile of one borne by Nityanand, and
decorated with strings of shells, stone beads, and flowers.
Although Harí is the chief object of worship, Sudarám and his
"Charan" share in the adoration of the society, who also sing
hymns in honour of Suda-Tokání, the two founders, and make
offerings of rice, " Kái," starch, and native spirits.
About two hundred and fifty families, chiefly Kaibarttas and
Chandáls, have already joined this dissolute body; but all
classes, even Muhammadans, may do so. It has gained a certain
position among the uneducated masses, and villagers who, though
disagreeing with its principles, often present offerings in
fulfilment of vows.
At the initiation of a disciple a wooden huqqá of a peculiar
elongated form is given, as well as a necklace of a hundred and
eight beads, a staff, a wallet, a piece of cloth, called "Uran-
Vasana," dyed of a reddish colour with Gerú, or ochre, and a
hempen cord to fasten the Kaupína, or waist cloth. The dis-
tinctive badge of the sect, however, is a pair of brass bracelets
(Kará) of singular shape. At the thinner end elephants' heads
are roughly designed, while the trunks unite to form the circle.
The wooden beads of the common Hindu necklace have been
discarded, and the party-coloured glass heads of the Muham-
madan Faqirs adopted. Twenty anas is paid to the person
giving the Mantra; but the Mahant claims the same amount
from each novice.
Women receive Bhek, and reside with the Sádhus, or mendi-
cants, as wives. This is a late innovation, for Sudarám restricted
the association of men and women to a platonic sympathy like
that of brothers and sisters. A few professing celibates, how-
ever, are to be found, as well as some who have had the "Mála "
ceremony of regular marriage performed, but the large majority
live shamelessly.
The Sudarám Báola is a dirty and unsavoury ascetic, seldom
bathing, except when ill, and fulfilling all requirements by
smearing his face and body daily with mustard oil. He drinks
spirits to excess, and is generally stupefied with Indian hemp.
They, however, pride themselves on shaving the beard, and on
not allowing it to grow untrimmed like other Báolas. The
"Mirdang" and "Kartál" are the favourite musical instruments,
but when attending as professional musicians at the Trínath
Mela, which they often do, the "belá," and "Sárangí," varieties
of the violin are preferred.
These Báolas assume many virtues. The Mahant is very
humble, styling himself "Jhárú," or sweeper, Mahant, and
pretending to have no interest in the dissemination of his
172
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
religious belief among the villagers. Everybody who comes to
the Akhára, asking for admission, is welcomed, and no proof of
sincerity is required. Pilgrimages being supererogatory are not
favoured, as knowledge of the world is thought likely to give
rise to doubts and unbelief.
In the villages of the interior the Sudarám Báolas bear the
worst reputation for enticing away girls from their homes, and
encouraging lovers to elope, and join their society. It is a
common occurrence to meet these unclean mendicants on a
country road walking unencumbered, while a young, and often
comely girl, carrying all their property, lags behind, with a
melancholy expression of face, an index of the humiliation she
feels. Widows, it is not to be wondered at, often join the
Báolas, as they cannot receive greater indignities than at
home.
DARWESH-FAQÍR.
This compound Arabic-Persian name has been adopted by
one of the latest and most corrupt offshoots from the Vaishnava
stem, tracing its origin to Rúpa and Sanátan, two of the six
Gosáins after Chaitanya, who, if not Muhammadans themselves,
were servants of a Muhammadan king. The following history
and particulars were gleaned at visits paid to the two chief
Ákhárás in 1874.
Autal
The founder of the sect, Udaya Chánd, a Karmakár, died
about 1850, leaving three Şişu, or pupils, namely, his daughter
and immediate successor, popularly called the "Mahárání," one
Autal Chánd, a Káyath, and Bípan Chánd, a Sáha.
Chánd dying left two disciples, Sánta Chánd, a Salia, and Prem
Chánd, a Telí. The Maháráni died suddenly in November,
1874, and the succession was disputed by Bípan Chánd and
Sánta Chánd.
The Ákhárá to which these parties belonged, at Jháú
Kandhi, on the left bank of the river Padma, is a remarkably
clean and tidy place, consisting of four separate thatched houses
with raised mud floors. In the centre of the square is a
magnificent Bakul tree (Mimusops Elengi), while bounding the
enclosure is a plantation of mangoe trees and Betle palms.
Three houses serve for the accommodation of the resident
Udásís, five or six in number, while the fourth is a Baithak-
Kháná where visitors are entertained. In one corner are the
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
173
graves of Udaya Chánd and his daughter, the former within a
brick building with only one entrance, the latter beneath a
square thatched shed. Both graves are of the same pattern,
namely, a rectangular earthern mound, from the centre of which
a round flat knob rises, and on the earlier one two eyes have
been painted. Fresh flowers, chiefly marigolds and convolvuluses,
are daily strewn over them, while in front a clean white cloth is
spread on which a tumbler of water, a plate with sections of an
orange, and a huqqá primed with tobacco are placed. A strong,
and unmistakable, odour of spirits issued from the Mahárání's
resting place on this occasion.
At Kálakopa, on the Hilsámárí river, an Ákháṛá was built
over the Samadhi, or grave, of one Baláí Chánd, a Gop Goála,
and a distinguished member of the order. His favourite disciple,
a Sáha woman, now presides over it, and is everywhere known
as the “Khepárání," or mad queen, to distinguish her from the
“Mahárání" of Jháú-Kandhí. She is now about forty years of
age, and usually dresses in oily and very unsavoury garments.
She never leaves the Ákhárá, but receives food and other
necessaries from the Karmakárs and Sáhas of the neighbourhood,
although they do not belong to her sect. Anybody can enter
the shrine, as no regular service is held there, but only prayers
recited, and oblations made whenever domestic troubles happen.
The Khepárání has no Sishya, or pupil, as she deems herself
unworthy of having one.
The Darwesh-Faqirs worship Krishna, distinguishing their
creed by the term "Brahma-dharma." Their religious books,
such as the Chaitanya-Charitámṛita, are the ordinary Vaishnava
ones, but few can read, still less understand them. At the
initiation of a disciple the Mahant receives presents, and
delivers to the novice a "Kaupína," a Khirqá, or gown reaching
to the ankles, and a Kishtí, or cocoa-nut shell, which serves the
same purpose as the scrip, or wallet, of European beggars. Like
the Aghorapanthis, he must taste the most disgusting substances
to prove his indifference and contempt for the prejudices of
humanity. The Udásís never shave or cut the hair, and seldom
bathe with water, but use instead mustard oil, with which they
saturate their garments. The sect professes to lead celibate
lives, but there is in each Ákhárá at least one woman ostensibly
engaged in sweeping the enclosure and cooking the meals of the
Udásís. The wearing of necklaces and bracelets like other
Vaishnava sects is forbidden, but the members feign greater
liberality, and are glad to eat with every caste, and even with
Mussulmáns.
Intoxication is a very venial offence, and spirits are not only
openly drunk, but also form the principal accessory of their
174
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
worship. A bottle of brandy is a more welcome present than
money, and whenever the Mahárání or Khepáráni makes a tour
through the country, village women of all castes flock to the
boats with offerings of spirits, in hopes that through the inter-
cession of these personages every desire will be attained. After
being blessed, the village matrons, it is said, drink a little, and in
June, 1873, the excise officers accounted for a sudden reduction
in the consumption of spirits to the illness of the Mahárání.
This sect always apes humility, repudiating the title Váyula
a name of Nityananda, but claiming to be the most austere of
all Vaishnava societies, and professing to reject those who have
not mortified the seven lusts of the flesh. Animal life is never
taken, and it is deemed sinful to break off branches, or even
leaves, from trees. A singular form of obeisance is made before
the Samádhis, and on the receipt of a present. The individual
kneels, touches the ground with his forehead, and rising up daubs
his chest and face with dust.
Though heartily despised by, Hindus generally, for their
filthy and dissipated habits, the Ákhárá of Jháú-Kandhí stands
on Brahmottara lands, bequeathed to the founder, and low caste
Bráhmans visit the Baithak-Khána and smoke dry huqqás with
the Udásís.
This sect owns its origin to the egotism of some low caste
Bengali, ambitious of emulating the prosperous Vaishnava com-
munities, and of founding a society without any mystical beliefs,
which would be acceptable to credulous persons. Owing to that
spirit of toleration, so characteristic of the Hindus, the seed
sown took root, and still vegetates. As the characters and
influence of the leaders are estimated by the number of disciples,
there is no lack of energy in spreading the doctrines of the sect.
It will, therefore, in every probability, increase in numbers and
importance until some equally debased association arises and
displaces it.
ȘAIVAS.
The Saiva fraternities have never gained popularity in Eastern
Bengal. Their conventual establishments are few, and would
have disappeared long ago but for the charitable endowments of
former ages. The two principal sects are the Kánpháta Jogís
and the Brahmáchárí. The former possess an Ákhárá founded
above a century ago, the latter one as old as the seventeenth
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
175
century.
The Saiva cenobites, or mendicants, are notorious for
their licentious lives and dissipated habits, but notwithstanding
the scandal they cause, their Akhárás are on festival days thronged
by crowds of devotees, chiefly women.
1. KÁNPHÁTA JOGÍS.
The comparatively modern sect of Kánphátá Jogís, founded
by the great Saiva doctor Gorakhnáth, possesses an Ákháṛá
at Manikganj, endowed by the pious Mahárání Bhavání of
Nátor about A.D. 1750. The land and shrine having been
swept away by the river Dhulleṣwari, a new building was erected
inland, but has never flourished on its new site.
The history of the shrine is, that Harí Srí, an Udásí, and
Kánu Srí, a Grihí Sannyásí, came from Benares, and obtained from
the Mahárání a grant of land at Manikganj to found an Ákháṛá.
The first Mahant, Harí Ṣrí, was succeeded by a son of Kánu, and
it has ever since been the rule to elect a Mahant alternately
from these families.
Kánpháta Jogís are not necessarily Bráhmans, but the
Mahants usually belong to some Hindustání Bráhmanical tribe.
At the initiatory rite the Udásí receives a bamboo whistle three
inches long, called Sinha-náth, which is attached to a cord, and
used at the beginning of all religious ceremonies, and a rosary
consisting of fifty Rudraksha beads, which must be told at least
twice daily. The distinctive badge of the sect, however, are the
large triangular blue glass or silver earrings adopted after
initiation, and from which they derive their singular name of
“torn-ears.” The Udásís bestow the Mantra on all castes, but
no one can wear the whistle or earrings unless he becomes an
Udásí. The Kánpháta Jogís claim as their perquisite the Sánṛ,
or bull, branded with the sacred trident at Sráddhas, and at
Mánikganj this claim is admitted.
The Grihí Sannyásís, again, as with Vaishnavas, are married
men, who, although permitted to wear the ochre-dyed mendicant
garb, are generally peasants dressed like their neighbours. It is
this class of Jogís, remarkable for their large filigree earrings,
who during the cold season wander about Bengal as snake-
charmers. They are usually cultivating Goálas from the Doáb,
who leave their families at home during the annual tour in
Bengal.
The principal festival of this sect is the Sív-chaturdașí, or
fourteenth day of the waxing moon of Phálgun (Feb.-March),
when a great commercial fair is held near the Akhárá. Although
the traders aud hucksters still resort to it from all parts of
176
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
Bengal, the Udásís complain that yearly fewer pay their devo-
tions at the shrine, and, what is of greater importance in their
eyes, contribute less than formerly to its support. In only one
respect has the reputation of the shrine been preserved, and the
credulous still talk of the wonderful cures performed by the
Mahant.
By blowing a Mantra over a cup of water, the Mahant cures
one class of disease; by mixing the ashes of his Gánjha pipe in
water the ordinary diseases are got rid of; and by making an
amulet of the withered flowers which have stood in the sanctuary
of the idol, a certain preservative against a third class of ail-
ments is provided. Should the sick person be able to visit the
Şiválí, or temple, in person, he is made to crawl on his belly to
the sanctuary, and there lick the dust of the floor, and smear his
face with it.
The Kánpháta Jogís are Sakta worshippers, consuming
enormous quantities of spirits at all religious rites, and in the
intervals stupefying themselves with Indian hemp. The drink-
ing vessel is the skull of a Chandál, which is supported on the
points of the thumb, forefinger, and little finger of the right
hand, while spirits are quaffed from it. An Üdásí can drink
from the skull with all castes, without it only with Bráhmans;
but the offer of a bottle of brandy overcomes all scruples,
and it is incredible the impunity with which a toper drinks
off the whole undiluted.
Although confirmed drunkards, the common people excuse
their delinquencies, and are satisfied that they must be holy
men because they live in an Ákháṛá, wear the mendicant dress,
and affect indifference to worldly feelings and interests.'
:
2. BRAHMÁCHÁRÍ.
This is a term applied to a mendicant who professes to have
prolonged the period of studentship, and to observe through life
the practice of study, poverty, and continence; but in Bengal it
signifies a Șaiva ascetic. Under this name are usually included
four classes, the Suddháchárí, Brahmáchárí, Paṣuáchárí, and
Dvidháchárí, which are alike in admitting only Bráhmans into
their ranks.
The Suddha, or stainless Áchárí, is a celibate, who lives on
Atapa rice, milk, and vegetables, and is obliged to use Ghí in
cooking instead of oil. Tobacco is allowed, and sweetmeats if
1 For further particulars of the sect consult Wilson's "Religious Sects of
the Hindus," i, 213, and "J. R. A. S.," vol. v, 268.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
177
prepared by an ascetic, but only one cooking pot can be used
for preparing a meal. He wears the sacred cord, and the hair is
left uncut and unkempt. The sectarial mark, or Tilaka, is a
perpendicular streak made with dark clay from the Ganges.
The four classes are distinguished from other orders by gar-
ments, stained of red ochre colour, called Gairiká (Geru) Vasana,
or Bhagavan Vastra. The principal shrine of the Suddháchárís
is in Nadiyá, at Bela-Pokharia, on the Hughli.
The Brahmáchárí often reside in Akhárás without any
pretensions to sanctity, eating flesh, drinking spirits and Bháng,
and leading a life of sensuality without any fear of losing their
hold on the consciences of the credulous multitude.
The Pașuáchárí correspond with the Gṛihí Vaishnavas living
secular lives, and only distinguished from other villagers by
their unshaven chins and ochre-dyed clothes. The Dvidháchárí
is the same as the Vánaprastha, who leaves his home, assuming
the garb of a hermit, as soon as his wife bears a son.
All Saiva mendicants regard Sankaráchárya, who lived in
the eighth or ninth century, as their founder. His four disciples,
prabhus" they are usually called, Padmapáda, Hastámalaka,
Sureșvara, and Troṭaka, settled on different sides of India, at
Jagannath, Haridvara, Dváraká, and Rámeṣvara, which are
still visited by all Saiva pilgrims. The "prabhus" left ten
disciples, after whom the ten orders of Saiva ascetics (Dasņámí)
are named. Of these the Girí, or Gír, is the only one found in
Eastern Bengal.
In the centre of the Ramná, or park of Dacca, rises the
pyramidal spire of a famous Ákhárá, founded by Uttama Gír, a
renowned saint, who could even transmute metals. When the
Muhammadans first came to Dacca the Nawáb built a summer
house in this park, but his rest was disturbed by the constant
blowing of chank shells. A peremptory order was issued to
stop the unseasonable noise; but the same night the Nawab was
taken ill, and did not recover until the ascetics had been
granted full permission to perform their religious ceremonies
according to custom. In acknowledgment of his wonderful
recovery, the Nawab gave the garden house to the Saiva mendi-
cants, who built on the site an Ákhárá, called the Prakása
Datta, or Káth-ghar, long celebrated for its footprint of Ṣanka-
ráchárya. This temple was pillaged by the Nágas, or Sannyasís,
in 1763, and has since been gradually falling into ruins.
The existing Ákháṛá was built in place of the two older
ones, and is popularly known as Harí Charan Gírs, a famous
superior of former days. The temple is richly endowed, and is
liberally supported by the inhabitants of Dacca. Mahárájas of
Kochh Bihar and Tipperah, and Rájas of Chandradvíp, have at
178
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
different times given grants of lands for its maintenance, but
most of these have been resumed. Several branch temples.
have been established around Dacca in connection with this
Ákhárá, which add considerable funds to the annual income,
while one-sixth of the gross receipts of the Dhákeṣvarí shrine
are paid to the Mahant. The temples at Sítákhund in Chitta-
gong have, within the last few years, been handed over to his
care, and the post of head of the infamous Tára Kesvara temple
in Hughlí was unsuccessfully claimed by the present Mahant.
The Gosain of the Dacca Ákhárá is Kálí Gír, a Gaur Brahman,
well known in every court and jail of Eastern Bengal. The
high-sounding titles with which he begins every petition are
Paramánanda Girí, Paramhansa, Paribrajuk, Srí Prakáșa, Kálí
Charan Gir, Gosvámi, Mahant. Although his life is notoriously
unsaintly, crowds of women resort to the Ákháṛá, especially on
festival days, and worship him with the same extravagant
devotion as the Vaishnava does his Gosáin. In the sanctuary
of this temple are two large idols of Kálí and Krishna, made of
the eight metals (ashta-dhátu), regarded by the Hindus with
superstitious fears, one the gift of a Mahárájah of Kochh Bihár,
the other of a ruler of Tipperah.
All Brahmáchárís worship Şiv and Kálí, and their religious
observances are those prescribed in the Sáma Veda and the
Tantras, often including the impure practices attending the
Şaktí ritual. Bloody sacrifices, libations of ghí and spirits, as
well as offerings of fruits and flowers, are presented to the
deity.
A Brahmáchárí, after spending ten years of devotion in an
Ákhárá, can return home, burn his sacred thread, and swallow
the ashes, after which he may assume the garb of a Daṇḍi. If
during another period of ten years he has complied with all
the requirements of the grade, he becomes a Paramhansa, and
must remain seated for twelve years in one position without
asking charity, or accepting viands, but those voluntarily
offered.
Surviving this prolonged penance, which is seldom tried,
and scarcely ever accomplished, the devotee assumes the title of
Mahá Paramhansa, becoming a part of the divine spirit. It is
remarkable how similar these different grades of holiness are
to the various stages of Cufí abstraction. The yearning desire
for a closer communion with God is characteristic of both, and
their common goal is complete absorption into the divine
essence.
Members of Hindustání Saiva sects are occasionally met
with in Dacca on their way to some holy place, but they very
rarely settle, or prolong their stay.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
179
VARIOUS SECTS.
In addition to the Vaishnava and Șaiva sects, four others are
met with in Eastern Bengal. The Srí-Nárayana calls itself
deist, but the great annual gathering is for the most part a scene
of intemperance and vice. The members chiefly belong to low
castes, who regard the drinking of spirits and the smoking of
Gánjha as the greatest enjoyments in life.
The Nának Shahí and Suthrá Sháhí sects, transplanted from
the Punjab, have never become acclimatized in Bengal. They
have no root in the affections of the people, and are gradually
perishing for want of support.
The Tri-náth Pújah, a modern excrescence peculiar to
Eastern Bengal, has attracted great numbers of the most
credulous and foolish of the people. The intoxication produced
by Indian hemp is considered to be the illumination of the
Spirit, and essential to the proper performance of their religious
duties. The evil effects of this debasing worship are obvious,
but up to 1875 it had spread with wonderful rapidity through-
out Eastern Bengal, although no respectable Súdra had openly
enrolled himself in its ranks.
ŞRÍ-NÁRÁYANA, SIVA NÁRAYANA.
This unitarian body in Eastern Bengal styles itself Srí-
náráyana, the name of God, and repudiates that of Siva-
náráyaná, the name of the founder.
The Dacca Mahant alleges that the peculiar doctrines of his
congregation have prevailed for eleven hundred and forty-five
years; and that their Grantha, or book, was unintelligible until
Sítala, an inspired Sannyásí, translated it in compliance with a
divine command. The translation, consisting of several works
in the Devanagarí character, is the undoubted composition of
the Rajput Sivanáráyaná of Ghazípúr, who wrote it about
A.D. 1735.¹
The most important of these works are the Guru-nyása, and
Sánta-vilása. The former, compiled from the Puráņas, gives an
¹ Wilson's "Religious Sects of the Hindus," i, 358. The 1145 years was at
first 1145 of the Bengali era, corresponding to A.D. 1738.
A.D. 1738. Buchanan, ii,
137.
180
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
account of the ten Avatárs of Vishnu, or Nárayana, and is sub-
divided into fourteen chapters, of which the first six treat of
the author, of faith, of the punishment of sinners, of virtue, of
a future state, and of discipline. The latter is a treatise on
moral sentiments. The opening lines are, "The love of God,
and His knowledge, is the only true understanding."
The Srí-náráyanas profess the worship of one God, of whom
no attributes are predicated. They pay no regard to any objects
of Hindu or Muhammedan veneration, and are more strict
unitarians than either the Sádhs, or Satnámís. Polygamy is
prohibited, and sobriety, virtue, and charity inculcated. They
strive to be tolerant, and not to wound the feelings of any sect
by openly scoffing at their religious ceremonies. Finally, they
admit all classes and races within the pale, and even half
castes, or Eurasians, are occasionally enrolled. In Dacca the
large majority of the Srí-nárayanas are Dosáds, Dhobís, Chamárs,
and other equally low castes.
As with most Hindu sects there are three grades, the
Mahant, the holymen, called Sants,¹ and the laity.
The Mahant, or head of the Dacca congregation, a Patit.
Hindustání Bráhman, asserts that when a boy he accompanied
Rám Mohan Ráí to England. He initiates disciples by
whispering a "mantra" into their ear, and presenting them with
a parwánah, or certificate of membership.
The Sants are numerous, but as it is not necessary to relin-
quish worldly occupations, a 'person working at any trade or
profession may become one, on paying a fee of thirty rupees,
and on giving presents of muslin to the Mahant, and a feast to
all Sants attending.
Sants are objects of reverence, and whenever one dies in a
strange place, the Sants on the spot subscribe and bury him.
The funeral procession is impressive, but very noisy. The corpse
wrapped in a sheet with a roll of cloth wound round the head is
deposited on a covered litter. Red flags flutter from the four
corners, and a white cloth acts as a pall. With discordant music,
and loud singing, the body is carried to the grave, dug in some
waste place, where it is laid flat, not sitting as with the Jogís.
The bodies of the lay brethren, on the other hand, are always
burned.
The chief festival of the Srí-nárávanas is held on the Srí-
panchami and following day, in Magh (Jan.-Feb.). The Sants,
along with representatives of many of the low Hindustání
castes, resort to a thatched house, called the Dhámghar, having
one large room with verandahs on all sides. At one end is a
1 From Sanskrit Sánta, calmed, free from passions.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
181
raised earthen platform on which the open Grantha, garlanded
with flowers, is laid, and before this each disciple makes obeisance
as he enters. The congregation squats all round the room, the
women in one corner, listening to a few musicians chanting
religious hymns, and smoking tobacco and gánjha, indifferent to
the heat, smoke, and stench of the crowded room. The Mahant,
escorted by the Sants carrying their parwánas, enters about
1 a.m., when the service begins. It is of the simplest form.
The Mahant, after reading a few sentences in Nágarí, unintelli-
gible to most of his hearers, receives offerings of money and
fruit. The congregation then disperses, but the majority seat
themselves in the verandahs and drink spirits. If the physical
endurance of the worshippers be not exhausted, similar services
are held for several successive nights, but the ordinary one only
lasts two nights.
It is sad to think that a religious body, established as a protest
against idolatry and the polytheism of the masses, should have
so rapidly and so utterly failed to preserve its original standard;
but it has only followed in the same downward path all the
reformed Vaishnava and Saiva sects. The Srí-náráyan creed,
however, has encountered peculiar difficulties, against which it
has succumbed. The lower Hindu castes, ever willing to repu-
diate Bráhmanical interference, and assert spiritual indepen-
dence, have always been notorious for profligacy and intemperate
habits. Intoxication is with them an irresistible passion, and
no threats or corrections have the slightest effect in weaning
them from the vice. Faithful servants, kind parents, and
affectionate husbands, they have no conception of a moral
religion; and their untutored minds can neither understand nor
comply with a faith inculcating morality and the mortification
of all worldly lusts and passions.
SUTHRÁ-SHÁHÍS.
This is one of the seven subdivisions of the Nának Sháhí
faith, and it is a remarkable thing to find it existing in a remote
town like Dacca. There is only one Ákhárá belonging to the
body in Chúhrá Bazár, where formerly many cenobites dwelt, but
now it is occupied by a solitary Mahant. The sect is a very
disreputable one, the members being usually drunkards, or
Gánjha smokers. The Mahant supports this character admirably,
wandering about on the look out for rich men's houses, before
182
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
which he commences howling Hindustání songs in praise of
Nának, and beating time with two pieces of wood. At weddings
and other domestic rejoicings he appears uninvited, and by his
importunity and shamelessness generally carries off alms in
some shape.
The chief objects of worship with this society are Nának
Sháh, and the Grantha, or sacred book of the Sikhs, to which on
certain occasions flowers and other articles are offered, as is also
done by the Nának Sháhís. Suthrá Shahís are often Bráhmans,
who do not discard the sacred cord on becoming Udásís. They
eat with Bráhmans of their own tribe, but not with all grades
of Sikhs. No Sikh, on the other hand, will refuse to partake of
"Prasád," or consecrated food, from them. The Suthrá Shahís
observe all the great Hindu festivals, and pay special adoration
to the "Sálagrám."
NÁNAK-SHÁHÍ.
During the sixteenth century several religious reformers
appeared in India, but few were so successful as Nának Sháh.
He proclaimed that there was One all-powerful and invisible, to
whom men ought to pray; that the only knowledge of any
value was the knowledge of God; and that salvation was free to
every one who performed good actions and led a virtuous life.
These doctrines were denounced, his disciples persecuted, and
when Nának died, A.D. 1539, he left a few zealous and devoted
followers to propagate his faith. In spite of the oppression and
intolerance of the bigoted Aurangzíb in the seventeenth century,
the sect prospered and became a nation, which few religious
associations in India have ever done, enlisting armies of brave
and enthusiastic warriors, and at one time threatening to become
the paramount power in Upper India.
It is believed that Nának Sháh visited Dacca, for a large
well, in a quarter of the city called J'afarábád, is still pointed
out as a place where he sat and drank water. Panjábí sepoys
always visit it, and make offerings to their Guru. Futhermore,
there is little doubt that his successor, Tegh Bahadur, came to
Dacca about 1670, and a portrait, said to have been sketched
by himself, still hangs in the Sútrapúr, Sangat in the city.
For many generations a small Ákhárá belonging to the
Nának-Sháhís has existed in Shujá'atpúr, a northern suburb.
This monastery, situated in the centre of an old Muhammadan
garden, surrounded by dense, impenetrable jungle, was assigned
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
183
by a Nawab of Dacca as a home for the Udásí, or religious sect
of Nának Sháh. The first Gosáin was one Níta Sáhib, the
disciple of Almat Shah, who again was the pupil of the son of
Nának Shah. The grave of Nita Sáhib is still shown, as well
as a goodly Kámaranga tree (Averrhóa carambola) that grew
from his toothpick!
The present establishment consists of a Gosáin, or Sunnyásí,
who is a Panjábí Bráhman, and an old woman from Hindustan,
who accompanied her father on a pilgrimage to Balwá-Khund,
in Chittagong, and when he died became a servant (sevaka) and
pupil in the monastery. The Gosáin is a tall muscular Sikh,
with hair plaited and rolled round his head, and a long necklace
of white coral beads around his neck. The chief occupation of
the inmates is chanting passages of the "Sambhu Grantha," and
making frequent oblations to it. Having no endowment, the
Gosáin is obliged to visit the city daily in search of alms, and
starvation would long ere this have closed the monastery, but
for the benevolence of a few Armenian and Muhammadan
gentlemen of Dacca. The Gosáin estimates his followers at one
hundred, but one half are too poor to contribute anything to his
support.
The Nának-Sháhís have adopted many Hindu rites. Special
worship is held on the Sivarátrí, Doljátrá, and during the Durga
Pújah., At the foot of a fine Amlá tree (Phyllanthus emblica)
in the Ákhárá garden is the Charana, or footprint, of a former
Gosáin, which is daubed over with red Abír powder at the Holí
festival.
Owing to poverty, the Udásís allege they are obliged to
frequent the holy places of the Hindus and observe all their
religious ceremonies. When travelling an Udásí carries a lotah,
a wooden platter (Kathrá) for alms, a dried gourd, a pair of long
pincers (Chimțá), and a dried deer's skin, while many wear a
Kará, or ring, with the same object as the Roman “Citharoedus,”
described by Juvenal,' wore the "fibula."
In the days of the Nawabs there were nine Sangats, or places
of worship, belonging to this sect in the city, and within living
memory there were three in Mahalla Úrdú; but now there is
only one, known as the Sangat of Tegh Bahadur, in Sútrapúr.
It, too, is languishing, and the twenty houses forming Sangat-
tolá being deserted, there is every prospect of the sect becoming
extinct in Eastern Bengal. Only four Panjábí Bráhmans reside
in the city, and all the old families who attended the services
have died off. The Mahant is therefore obliged to take service,
the worship at the Sangat being performed by a Panjábí
1 Sat. vi, 73.
0 2
184
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
Chhatrí born in Dacca. Although there is no material differ-
ence, there is much latent jealousy, between these two Nának-
Sháhí Mahants. The head of the Sangat does not make disciples
of Bengali castes as the Shuja'atpúr Gosáin does. The former,
again, is chiefly supported by Sikh sepoys quartered in Dacca,
the latter by low Bengali castes. The Gosáin eats with the
Chhatrí priest, but he will only touch "púrí," cake fried in
butter, made by the Gosáin.
The Grihí, or married followers of Nának-Sháh, celebrate all
the popular Hindu festivals, smoke tobacco, drink Bháng to
excess, and wear the long beards and voluminous turbans of the
Sikhs.
Among the Udásís of the Nának-Shahí, as well as among
Jogí Sannyásís, the miserable creatures, who, having devoted a
limb to God's service, hold the outstretched arm so long upright
that it becomes fixed.
In 1874, one of these mendicants, a Panjábí Bráhman, aged
40, reached Dacca. His left arm was raised upright, having
remained so for nearly thirty years. The arm was much
atrophied, the head of the humerus resting on the floor of the
axilla, and when accidentally struck acute pain shot through it.
The pectoral muscles had shrunk to mere bands, while those
that raise the arm were hard and tense. The fingers were bent,
and the thumb lay on the first phalanx of the middle finger, the
nail having a slight curve upwards, doubtless intentionally pro-
duced to prevent its eating into the flesh. The nail of the ring
finger from its matrix to the point measured three inches, while
that of the forefinger was twisted like a ram's horn.
This man belonged to the Rámráyí subdivision of the Nának-
Sháhís, whose head-quarters are in the Deyra Dhún. His dress
consisted of garments dyed with yellow ochre, while on his fore-
head was a sectarial mark painted with wood ashes. He was a
vegetarian, abstaining from flesh, fish, and spirits, but he smoked
Gánjha to great excess.
TRÍ NÁTH PÚJÁ, TRÍ NÁTH MELÁ.
This fantastic worship of modern date has spread with
wonderful rapidity among the fisher and agricultural population
of Eastern Bengal, and seems to have been intended to incorporate
the three deities, or triad, of the Hindus with the Triune God of
the Christians. In Dacca the founder of the sect is said to have
been Ánanda Chunder Dás, a constable in the municipal police,
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
185
but as the peculiar ritual of the worshippers has gained followers
in Rájsháhí, Pubna, Farrídpúr, and all the eastern districts, it is
likely that some one of more influence and education originated it.
The following account is abstracted from a lithographed
Bengali pamphlet on the doctrines of this new fangled worship:
In the beginning Harí revealed himself as Gaur Rúpa, after-
wards as Brahma, Vishnu, and Şiv, but on account of the grievous
sins of the world he has appeared in these last days as Trínáth,
pointing out a new road to salvation. The priesthood had waxed
proud, and as wealth accumulated, divine worship became a
prerogative of the rich, an impossibility for the poor. The
intention of the modern revelation was to limit the expense of
worship, and three paisa, a sum within the reach of all, was
prescribed as the fitting pecuniary donation. Each worshipper
is therefore instructed to buy one paisa worth of Indian hemp,
one of betle-nut, and one of mustard oil before entering the
meeting house, and on his arrival to pour the oil into a large
lamp in the middle of the room, with a wick made of three
cotton threads twisted to form one, and to deposit the other
articles in a tray common to all.
Before the beginning of the service all join in shouting
"Trínáth Ánanda, Hari! Hari! Bala!" The congregation
then squatting around the lamp chew betle, smoke Gánjha, and
listen to prayers, and to the Panchálí, or metrical confession of
faith, as long as the lamp burns; but as soon as the light
flickers, the company disperses.
The Panchálí, or poetical narrative, consists of hymns in
praise of Trínáth, and of verses exhorting to faith in the new
revelation, and to disbelief in the efficacy of all other creeds.
The meetings, always held after sundown, but on no fixed day,
may be convened by any one desirous of fulfilling a vow, of
averting a threatening calamity, or of returning thanks for the
mercies and blessings of the past. Women are rarely present
at the meetings, consequently no immorality is practised, but
men belonging to all castes associate together at them.
Such is the impious worship that is attracting crowds of
uneducated and credulous Chandáls, Kaibarttas, and Tíyars
throughout Eastern Bengal. The influence of the Guru and
Purohit is still powerful, but they can only discourage a worship
which brings them no honour or reward. It is difficult to
account for the rise of such a creed unless we believe that the
Brahmanical hold on the people is relaxing, and that the masses
blindly accept any worship which recognises the equality and
brotherhood of all classes of mankind.
(187)
SECTION III.
HINDU CASTES AND ABORIGINAL RACES.
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS ON CASTE.
NINE CLEAN CASTES.
CASTES HOLDING AN UNCERTAIN POSITION.
UTTERLY VILE CASTES.
HINDUSTANI CASTES DEGRADED BY RESIDENCE IN BENGAL.
CASTES AND RACES MET WITH IN EASTERN BENGAL:
Ahír.-(a) GAURIYA-(6) MAHISHA GOÁLA.
Bádlá-gar.
Baidyá.
Banpar.
Báo tí.
Baqqál.
Baráí.
Battí-wálah.
Bediyá.—(α) BA-BAJIYá— (6) Bází-GAR— (c) MÁL—(d) MÍR-SHIKÁR—
(e) SÁMPERIA-(ƒ) SHándár—(9) Rasia.
Berua.
Bhúinhár Bráhmans.
Bhúinmálí.
Bind.
Bráhman.~(a) Rárнí—(b) Varendra-(c) VAIDIKA—(d) SAPTA-SATI—
(e) BHAṛ—(ƒ) ACHÁRJÍ—(9) Agradána.
Cháín.
Chamár.
Chandál.
Dhobá.
Doí.
Dosádh.
Gadariyá.
Gandha-banik.
Gandhí.
Ganrár.
Ghatak.
Goála.—(α) Sáda Goála—(6) Daira Goála.
Godná-wálí.
Halwah Dás.
Jaliya.
Jauharí.
Jogí.—(a) Ját-Jogí.
Kácharu.
Kahár.
Kaibartta.
( 188 ),
Kámár.
Kanaujiyá Bráhmans.
Kándho.
Kándú.
Kánsárí.
Kantha Bráhman.
Kápálí.
Karní.
Karrál.
Kawálí.
Káyath.-(a) HINDUSTÁNÍ K.
Kewat.
Khatrí.
Kíchaka.
Kochh Mandai.
Koerí
Kumár.-(a) RÁJ-MAHALLIA KUMÁR-(6) Kumнár.
Kurmí.
Lálbegí.
Lohait-Kori.
Madhu-Nápit.
Maithila Bráhman.
Málákár.
Malláh.
Málo.
Muriárí.
Nápit.
Nar.
Núniyá.
Páchaka.
Paráșara Dás.
Pásí.
Pátial.
Patní.
Rángá Wálah.
Rawat.
Rishí.
Sánkhárí.
Sarvaria Bráhman.
Sekrí.
Silarí.
Sonár.-(a) BANGA-(6) DAKHIN RÁRHÍ-(e) UTTAR RÁRHí-(d) NA-
DIYA.
Súnri.
Suraiya.
Súraj-bansí.
Sutár.
Tántí.-(a) Hindustání Tántí.
Támbúlí.
Tin-wálah.
Telí.
Tíyar.
Vaisya
( 189 )
HINDU.
THE Hindus of Bengal claim to be pure Aryans, but the
Hindus of Upper India repudiate any relationship with them.
The Aryan immigration extended gradually throughout
Bengal, and the tie which bound the settlers to their faith
and peculiar usages was relaxed by residence among aliens.
The example of races untrammelled by caste, or religious
scruples, also led them to shake off all bonds, and assert greater
freedom of action. The priesthood formed illegal connections,
and neglected their religious duties; while the mixed offspring
observed none of the Bráhmanical ordinances. In the tenth
century corruption and irreligion being universal, Adisúra in-
troduced priests, trained in the orthodox school of Kanauj, to
reform and educate the people. But the arrival of a small body
of religious teachers did little towards elevating the Bráhmans,
or laity, and in the twelfth century Ballál Sen found only
nineteen families of the Rárhí Bráhmans living in strict obedi-
ence to all that their religion demanded. These families were
raised to the highest rank, but those who had forfeited all
respect, and formed illegal marriages, were reduced to secondary,
or even lower grades. The innovations made by this monarch
only affected the Rárhí and Varendra Sreņi, or orders, for the
Vaidika and Bhat, refusing to be classified by a Vaidyá, retired
into the hill countries of Silhet and Orissa; and the other tribes,
who had become hopelessly demoralized, were left untouched.
The chief object of the reform organised by Ballál Sen was
the creation of an aristocratic and powerful hierarchy, placed in
such a position of dignity that no misdemeanor, and no immo-
rality, could deprive it of hereditary privileges, or the reverence
of the lower classes. An illegal marriage was the only trans-
gression entailing loss of rank and forfeiture of respect. No
provision was made in this new code for the elevation of the
Îower ranks, when families became extinct, consequently, as
Kulin houses disappeared, the difficulty of procuring husbands
for daughters vastly increased, and when the third re-organisa-
tion of the order was made by Deví Vara, in the fourteenth
century, polygamy, and the buying and selling of wives, was the
engrossing occupation of the twice-born Bráhmans.
In spite of these successive endeavours for securing the
190
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
purity of the Bengali Bráhmans, it is remarkable that Kanaujiya,
and other Bráhmanical tribes of Hindustan, have always
despised and repudiated any connection with their Bengali
brethren. In their religious and domestic ceremonies, habits
of life, and mode of living, Bengali Bráhmans are quite distinct
from any of the other tribes, and the only point of attachment
between them is when outcast Kanaujiyas marry Srotriyá
maidens, and become absorbed into their ranks. Although
clinging with characteristic pertinacity to all the prerogatives
of their order, modern ideas are gradually undermining their
bulwarks, and the exclusive rules are step by step yielding to
education and the progress of the nation. Kulín Bráhmans are
now found adorning the bench, the bar, and the medical pro-
fession, and, while proving useful members of society, exert a
rare influence for good over their Hindu countrymen.
Besides the Rarhi and Varendra tribes, there were in Bengal
four inferior classes of Bráhmans left out of the organisation of
Ballál Sen, namely, the Vaidika, Sapta-ṣati, Achárya, and Agra-
dána. The three first claim to have been resident in Bengal
before the reign of that monarch, and the services of all the four
are still required by the Rárhi Sreņi at many important
ceremonies. The Vaidika is the only division that has pre-
served an honourable position; but whether this is owing to
their being descendants of Kanaujiya Bráhmans, to the respec-
tability and decency of their lives, or to their independence of
character, is very doubtful. They decline to give their daughters
in marriage to the Kulin Bráhmans of Bikrampúr, and refuse to
act for any clean Súdra, or Bráhman, unless his family can
trace their origin to Kanauj. The Sapta-șati, undoubtedly one
of the oldest Bengali septs, is gradually being absorbed by the
Șrotriya, and few confess they belong to it. In a few years they
will be sought for in vain. The Achárya and Agradána are
Bráhmans only in name. The former are chiefly employed in
secular occupations, and in discharging duties useful, but un-
known to the Vedas or Puráņas. The Agradána, claiming to
rank above Áchárya, is the most despised of the sacred order,
and clean Șúdras, as well as Patit Bráhmans, would be degraded
by eating with them
The Patit Bráhmans are the most active representatives of
the Hindu hierarchy, having fallen from their high estate by
neglecting religious duties, officiating in Súdra temples, marry-
ing into inferior grades, or acting as Purohits to the Varna
Sankara.¹ The loss of rank has in some respects been mitigated
by the affection and devotion of the laity, and by the high
¹ Literally mixture of colours, hence mixture of castes.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
191
social position given by the caste for which they officiate. It is
to this class, abandoned by the Kulins, that India owes the
spread of the Hindu religion among the wild tribes of the
Taráí, Assam, and Eastern Bengal, and the conversion of the
semi-Hinduized aborigines throughout Bengal. Bad and im-
moral many of these Súdra Bráhmans are, but as a class their
lives are not one long course of depravity and selfish indulgence,
as is too often the case with the Kulins. Education has made
no progress among them, and holding the position they do,
concession to the wants of the age is not to be expected. Their
hold over the men is slowly loosening, but the women still obey,
and worship them, and while this subjection lasts Hindu caste
and Hindu exclusiveness will remain.
Though not recognised in books, many social grades are
found among these fallen Bráhmans. Those ministering to
the Nava-şákha,¹ popularly called Súdra Bráhmans, occupy a
position of comparative distinction; but at the bottom of the
scale Brahmans appear, who are accounted lower than the vile
caste they serve; while such an individual as the Chaṇḍál, or
Dôm, Brahman scarcely deserves to be called by that proud title.
The Vaiṣya caste, standing next the sacred order, occupies a
very anomalous and strange position. Their claim to be genuine
Vaiṣyas is admitted by the higher classes, but the Ballálí Vaidyá
and Kayath refuse to touch food prepared by them. This small
caste deny that Ballál Sen re-organised, or interfered in any way
with their regulations, and for this reason it remains isolated
and unrecognised by Hindus.
The two next castes are the Vaidya and Káyath, who repu-
diate the name of Súdra, and maintain that Ballál Sen did not
enroll them among the "Nava-Ṣákha." Both are satisfied to
rest their title of superiority on the fabulous births of their
reputed ancestors. Ballál Sen belonged to the Vaidya caste,
and it is to his partiality that it secured pre-eminence. On one
section the Brahmanical cord was bestowed, although the caste
profession was a dishonourable one, and Ghataks were engaged
to preserve the family purity. There has always existed much
latent jealousy between the Vaidya and Káyath, but the latter
acknowledge some inferiority, although the cause of this difference
is never defined.
The Káyath is undoubtedly one of the oldest tribes in
Bengal, but it is unnecessary to believe all that is said of
Ádisúra and the five servants of the five Kanaujiya Bráhmans.
One branch, the Bangaja,2 has been settled for many generations
1 Or Nava-Şayáka, the nine inferior castes.
2 Banga, or Vanga-ja, Bengali born.
192
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
at Edilpúr, along with the caste Ghaṭaks, and Kulin Káyath
families are as punctilious and as vain of their birth as any
Gánguli, or Mukharji, although the Lálás of Mathurá and Agra
laugh at such pretensions, and will not recognise them as
Káyaths at all.
The Kevala, or pure Súdra, does not exist in Bengal. All
castes below the Brahman belong to the “Varṇa-Sankara,” being
the offspring of parents of different tribes.
The recognized authorities on caste are the Institutes of
Menu, the Játi Nirnaya chapter of the Brahma-Vaivartta
Puráṇa,¹ and the Játimálá. According to the Brahmans it was
the wickedness of Vena, the Rájarshi, who ordered that no
worship should be performed, no oblations offered, and no gifts
bestowed on Bráhmans, and caused the people to disobey
the laws and intermarry with prohibited classes. Until his era
Bráhmans only married Bráhmans, Súdras women of their own
rank, and Chandálas followed their own tribal customs. It was
natural for the priests to attribute the irreligious propensities of
the people to a cause like this; but there is no doubt that laws
prescribed by the Bráhmans for maintaining the purity of their
order must have been soon violated by those in whose favour
they were enacted. Although marriages between individuals of
different tribes gave origin to the Varna-Sankara, or mixed
castes, the Puráņas give other explanations. According to the
Brahma-Vaivartta Purána, the gardener, blacksmith, shellcutter,
weaver, potter, and brasier are descended from the offspring of
Vişvakarma, the celestial architect, and Ghritáchi, an Apsará, or
nymph of heaven, and hence it is that all Kárus, or artisans,
worship their progenitor with exceptional reverence. The
reasons, again, why certain casts are degraded, are often quite
ludicrous, but this does not cause their rejection. The Sútrad-
hára lost rank for refusing to supply the Bráhman with sacri-
ficial wood; the Chitrakára for painting execrably; and the
Suvarṇakára for stealing gold given him to mould an idol. The
modern Súnṛí, moreover, does not resent being told that his
ancestor was created from the chips of the mutilated trunk of
Ganesa, nor the Kumár that Şiv transformed a waterpot into the
first potter.
According to the classification of Ballál Sen, as interpreted
in Eastern Bengal, the nine following castes are considered pure,
and the so called Súdra Bráhman officiates for all:-
Şánkhárí
Tántí
Kámár
Kumár
Málákár
Nápit
Gop-Goála
Madhu Nápit
Baráí.
¹ A Synopsis of this is given in the "Calcutta Review," vol. xv, p. 60.
1
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
193
Judging, however, by traditions still surviving, the position
of a caste in the new roll depended chiefly on its usefulness and
importance to the community at large. The profession which
had proved itself essential to the comfort, or welfare, of the
Hindu hierarchy, was at once promoted to a higher level, while
the less important was reduced. Thus the Tántí, unclean in
Bihár, became clean in Dacca, and the indispensable barber was
raised to the same social level as the Káyasth. The relative
position of the various castes is still a burning question in
Bengal, and in large villages, where any caste predominates, its
claims to superior rank are usually conceded. For instance,
the Gandha-banik, Telí, Támoúlí, and Kánsárí often assert to
good purpose the right of being enrolled among the nine, and, if
their voice be sufficiently loud and influential, it will be heard.
The Nava-Sakha have five servants, or Pancha-vartta,
attached to them in common, who possess the prescriptive right
of attending at all caste and family celebrations. The five
servants are the Bráhman, Málákár, Dhobá, Nápit, and Nața,
ór musician, who are presumed to be exclusively engaged in the
service of the Súdras, but they also earn money by waiting on
lower castes. Even now-a-days some work for the Súrya-vansi,
who ten years ago were not Hindus in name, while others
readily work for the Báotí, Kapálí, Kawálí, Paráṣara Dás, and
other tribes of doubtful origin. Where the fisher castes are
numerous, and cannot be overlooked, no difficulty is found in
engaging their services. They work indeed for all castes em-
ploying a Patit Bráhman, but the utterly vile tribes, the
Bhúinmálí, Chamár, Patní, and Súnrí, having Bráhmans of their
own, are not served by the Pancha-vartta. To this general rule,
however, there are exceptions. The worshipful barber, for
instance, condescends to shave, but will not pare the nails of
the rich Sáha merchant.
Although caste is no longer revered as an old institution
sanctified by religion and immemorial usage, and is disappearing
before the assaults of modern civilisation, a tendency to the
formation of new castes still exists. Semi-Hinduized races are
being enrolled among Hindus, and old established castes are
being split up by adopting new occupations. But if this new
occupation be not dishonouring, the Purohit continues his
ministration. For instance, the great Chandál tribe has given off
eight branches, yet the Chandál Bráhman officiates for all.
the other hand, the agricultural Kaibarttas, having taken to a
base employment, are obliged to support a Purohit of their own.
Between the Súdras and the Nícha, or vile, castes many
tribes, organised by degraded Bráhmans, or united by the
exigencies of modern civilisation, are found occupying an
194
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
uncertain position, exposed to the sneers of the exclusive and
conservative Súdras.
These intermediate castes are:-
Báo tí
Karrál
Baqqál
Kawálí
Bhát
Lohait Korí
Berua
Nar
Halwah Dás
Parásara Dás
Kándho
Páțial
Kapálí
Karní
Sutár.
In the Tantras,¹ the epithet Antya-ja, or inferior, is applied
to the following seven tribes, washerman, currier, mimic (Ñața),
fisherman, "Meda," or attendant on women, cane-splitter
(Varuḍa) and mountaineer (Bhilla). The term Antyávasáyin,
or dwellers outside the town, was given to the Dôm, Pan, Háṛí,
and other sweeper castes.
We however possess a very correct list² of the outcast tribes
in Bengal in the roll of pilgrims excluded from the temple of
Jagannath. If prohibited castes are distinguished from pro-
fessions there are only eleven castes so utterly disreputable
that they dare not enter the sanctuary.
Súnrí
Nama-Súdra
Dhobá
Jogí
Kahár
Ráj-Vansi
These are the
Chamár
Dôm
Tíyar
Bhúinmálí
Hárí.
Much information regarding caste, as understood in Bengal,
is obtained by comparing the relative position of Hindustánís
who reside, or temporarily sojourn there, with that of castes
native to the province.
Permanent residence is always attended by social expulsion,
but a stay of a few years is with some castes a disqualification,
with others it is not so. For example, the Ahír, Surahiyá, and
Kanaujiyá Bráhmans, who keep up communication with their
kindred and marry from their own homes, are reckoned pure;
but the Kahár, Ahír, and Kándú domiciled in Bengal forfeit all
claim to be considered stainless. By adopting local Súdra
customs and marrying with women of the country Hindustání
tribes are stigmatized as "Khontá," or debased. The Kanaujiya
Bráhman, again, expelled by his family for these delinquencies,
finds shelter in the ranks of the Srotriyá, but above this he
1 Colebrooke's "Essays" ii, 164.
2 Harington's "Analysis" iii, 213; Hunter's "Orissa " i 136.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
195
cannot expect to rise, and his children must be content with a
very ambiguous position.
The steps by which a Hindustání caste loses its original
rank, and gains a new one, may be traced in the case of the
potters. The Kumhár of Bihár is always unclean in Bengal,
but if he marries a kinswoman he may return to his home
without loss of rank. The Ráj-Mahallia potters, however, being
in an intermediate state, have neither risen to an equality with
the Bengali Kumár, nor remained unclean like the Kumhár.
The Súdras of Bengal drink from their water vessels, and, still
more blessed, the Súdra Bráhman ministers unto them. Lastly,
the Bengali Kumár, originally of the same stock, has become in
the course of ages a pure Súdra, and one of the Nava-Șákha.
In no instance, however, is the separation between kindred
castes so striking as with the Chamárs and Rishis. Both belong
to the same tribe, both are equally vile in the eyes of Hindus,
and both live apart from all other castes, yet similar occupations
not only excite jealousy and enmity but prevent all friendly
intercourse between them.
Occupations, moreover, which a Hindustání may engage in at
home without stain or obliquy are sometimes unbecoming when
the habitation is in Bengal. Thus the Dômni and Chamáín,
professional musicians in Upper India, are disgraced by plying
for hire in Bengal, while on the other hand such menial work as
the Mungírya Tántís perform in Daca would be considered
very debasing in their own district.
Although continuous residence at a distance usually repels,
a brief sojourn sometimes draws together disunited subdivisions.
Thus the different branches of Ahírs and Chhatrís intermarry in
Bengal and lose caste, although debarred from doing so in
Hindustan.
The Brahmanical order to which the Purohit belongs is
generally a nice test of the rank accorded to a Hindustání caste.
Among the lower tribes the Guru belongs either to one of the
Daşnámí orders, or he is a Vaishnava Bhagat,' who visits his
flock at regular intervals, confirming the old, and teaching the
young the rudiments of their faith. Maithila Bráhmans, on
the other hand, ordinarily act as Purohits to Kurmí, Chhatrí,
Kándú, Ahír, Cháín, and Kewat; but Chhatrís are occasionally
found with a Sarsút, or Sarasvatí, Bráhman, and Kurmís and
Dosádhs with a Sákadvípa. The Kanaujiya tribe again ministers
to Binds, Tántís, and Gádariyás. In the case of the Raṇḍa Khatrís
whose parentage is equivocal, the strange phase is found of a
Kanaujiya acting as Purohit, a Srotriyá of Bengal as Guru.
1 A corruption of Sanskrit Bhakta, "the devoted," hence a mendicant.
196
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
A most important distinction between Hindustání and
Bengali castes of similar origin, is the religious belief found
among them. It may be said with perfect truth that Vaishna-
vism, in one or other of its diverse forms, to the exclusion of
Şaivaism and all other creeds, is the faith professed by the
agricultural, artizan, and fisher tribes of Bengal. The worship
of Krishna has, for obvious reasons, attracted well nigh all the
Goála, and other pastoral tribes of India. The teaching of
Chaitanya and his successors has made little progress among
Hindustání castes, but the sympathetic creeds of Kabir and
Nának Shah have attracted multitudes of disciples. The Kurmís
and Dosádhs especially patronize Kabír; the Kewats, Kumhárs,
and many Dosádhs enroll themselves under the banner of Nának.
It is among castes from Northern Bengal, such as the
Kándú, Bind, Muriárí, and Surahiya, that the followers of the
strange Pánch Píriya creed are to be met with. Other curious
sects, unknown to Bengal, are also found in their ranks. The
Tirhutiyá Tántís are members of the Buddh Rám communion.
Kurmís often profess the doctrines taught by Darya Dás, and
many Dosádhs those of Tulasí Dás. Still more worthy of
notice is the existence among them of an old prehistoric cultus.
The apotheosis of robber chiefs by Dosádhs, the deification of
evil spirits, as Rahu by the Dosádhs, Kasi Baba by Binds, and
Madhu Kunwár by Tántís, and the animistic idea endowing with
life and personality the destructive energy of the Ganges, are all
forms of belief unknown to castes native to Bengal.
AHÍR. ÁBHÍRA.
This important Hindustání pastoral caste is frequently met
with in Eastern Bengal, the members assuming a superiority
over the Goála, and refusing to hold any social intercourse with
it. The Ahír forfeits caste privileges by settling in Bengal, but
if he only resides for a short time, a wife can be got from his
home in Bihár.
In Gorakhpúr the Ahír stands immediately below the
Káyath, being regarded as a pure Súdra; but in Bengal he is
impure in the eyes of Șúdras and Gop-Goálas.
Ahírs are generally handsome, with fine delicate features,
retaining in Bengal their ancestral love of spirits and pork.
The tribe is known everywhere by a ceremony, peculiar to
itself, called Gáe-dágha, Gáe-dhar, or Gokrirah. On the day
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
197
after the Díwálí, and on the day before the new moon of Kártik
(Sept.-Oct.), Ahírs place a cow, which has lately calved, within
an enclosure where a pig is confined. They beat drums, sing,
and shout outside until the cow, maddened by the din, gores or
butts the pig to death, when the carcass is removed, cooked,
and eaten.1
The flesh of the wild pig is also esteemed a great delicacy
by Ahírs, and when procurable is made the occasion of much
conviviality.
In Bengal the subdivisions of the Ahirs are-
Kanaujiyá,
Maghaiyá,
Majrotí,
Mungíryá,
Puchiára,
Krishnautí,
Gauriya.
As with other composite castes the subdivisions vary according
to locality, and clannish prejudices disappear in a foreign land.
For instance, in Dacca the Mungíryá and Gauriyá intermarry,
although it is forbidden in Bihár.
All Ahírs in Dacca belong to a "gotra," called Kasyapa, and
the majority worship Krishna, only a few following the Sakta
ritual. Ahírs observe the Sráddha on the eleventh day after
death, and their funeral service is performed by the Mahá-pátra,
or Kantha, Bráhman.
Ahírs sell milk, but are degraded by making butter, curds,
or clotted milk. Bullocks cannot properly be used by Hindus
in the plough or oil-mill, but the Ahír has no compunction
about selling a vicious or unmanageable bull to the Muhamma-
dan Kolú.
Bengal Ahírs never prepare the yellow paint called "Pewri,"2
as is done in Mungír, although the Palasa tree (Butea frondosa) is
one of the commonest jungle trees.
(a) GAURIYA.
The Gauriyá is the most numerous subdivision of Ahírs
in Bengal, and to it belong the Uriya palanquin bearers of
Calcutta, and the professional Lathiáls, or clubmen, of Kishna-
ghur and Jessore.
"
In Eastern Bengal they are reckoned a very impure race who
castrate bulls, brand cattle, and act as cow-doctors, being on this
account generally styled Go-baidyá, or Dághania Goálás.³
1 This cow baiting exactly resembles the Binda-parab of the Bhúmij. Dalton,
Descriptive Ethnology," p. 176.
2 Sanskrit Go-rochana, and used for painting Hindu sectarial marks, and
walls of bungalows.
3 In Northern Bengal the cow-doctor is called Hádiq.
P
"
198
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
These Ahírs, chiefly residing in Jessore, have become natu-
ralised in Bengal as cultivators, resembling in physique and
appearance the common Bengali peasantry, though they still
employ a few Hindi words when speaking the vernacular. It
is alleged that in Jessore the Gauriyá is reckoned a pure Șúdra
caste, but farther east utterly abominable. A Patit Bráhman
ministers at their religious ceremonies, which are distinct from
those observed by the Goálá of the Ballálí country. No genuine
Súdra Goálá would do the menial work of the Go-baidyá, never-
theless, a fallen tribe of Goálas in Tipperah is said to practise as
cow-doctors.
The Gauriya have only one gotra, the Aliman.
During the cold season the Go-baidyás wander throughout the
country, and in villages may be distinguished by the cry “Goru
dágha ba!" or simply "Kemon!" How is it?
Preparatory to branding or operating on animals, the Go-
baidyás always invoke Krishna and the two Páṇḍava brothers,
Nakula and Sahadeva. They use skewers and awls of different
shapes and sizes for opening abscesses and puncturing swollen
houghs, but deny that they ever castrate bulls, and certainly no
cutting instrument is ever found in their wallets. The Rishí
and Hajjám, however, who undoubtedly do so, positively assert
that the Go-baidyá is the recognised operator.
Go-baidyás brand the cattle of the peasantry, and treat the
diseases of domestic animals with a few simples. In swollen
joints they administer mashes of wild fig leaves and salt, or of
the Arum, heated with salt, while they wrap the joint with
poultices of pounded leaves. In oedema of the head the fore-
head is freely cauterised with two red hot iron hooks (dágh),
which are also employed in making the common reversed semi-
circular marks on native cattle.
In small-pox (Basanta) Go-baidyás trust to a mash of " Ním"
leaves, wild ginger, green turmeric, and the pounded bark of the
Seorhá tree; while in catarrhs wild fig leaves are said to be very
beneficial.
(b) MAHISHA GOÁLÁ.
The Mahisha, or, as they are called in the Dacca dialect,
Maisan, Goálás, derive their name from Mahisha, the Sanskrit
for a buffalo, and were originally Ahírs from Patna and Mungír,
who have been settled for several generations in Eastern Bengal.
In towns, having ceased to keep buffaloes, they own dairies, and
sell milk.
On the uncultivated "chars" or islands of the Dhullaserry,
these Bengalí-speaking Ahírs tend herds of buffaloes belonging
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
199
to Sáha merchants, and sell the milk to Gop-Goálás, who pay
in advance for it. The herdsman keeps a daily account of the
quantity sold, and at the end of each month his tale of milk is
balanced, and compared with that kept by the purchaser.
Buffaloes give from four to five pounds of milk daily, a
smaller quantity than in Bihár; but the "ghí" prepared from it
is more highly priced, and more palatable, according to native
taste, than "ghí" made from cow's milk. Bull calves are always
sold as victims for sacrifices, the Bhúinmálí and Rishí eating
the flesh, and the latter tanning the hides. As the annual
inundation subsides, wild bulls from the neighbouring jungles of
Bhowal visit the herds, and after remaining several weeks with
the cows, revert to their wild habits.
Widow marriages, and the Gáe-dágha ceremony, are no longer
observed.
BÁDLÁ-GAR.
The trade of wire drawing, or Tár-kash, is followed by
Hindus of all castes, and sometimes by Muhammadans, in a very
primitive manner.
Silver wire is heated, and merely passed through apertures
in a steel plate, according to the fineness wanted. In gilding
silver the following method is adopted. China gold leaf wrapped
round the silver is put over a charcoal fire, and slowly heated.
When partially fuzed it is withdrawn, and burnished with
"Lahsan patthar," perhaps soapstone, after which it is drawn into
wire, and sold to workers in Zardozí, or Zarí, and Kárchob.¹
The Bádlá-gar also manufactures" chamkí," or spangles, and
Gokhru-gota, or filigree ankle bells.
BAIDYÁ, VAIDYÁ, BAID, VAIDA.
The Baidya is one of the most respected castes in Bengal.
ranking immediately after the Vaiṣyas, and before the Káyaths.
They are peculiar to Bengal, and in Bihár the Sákadvíp
Brahmans are the regular physicians.
The origin of the Baidyá caste is unknown, but the following
tradition satisfies the curiosity of the Hindus. In the house of
Gálava Muní was a Vaiṣya damsel, naned Ambá, who one day
¹ In Dacca Zardozí often means muslins embroidered with gold or silver
thread, in contradistinction to Kárchob, or brocade.
P 2
200
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
((
returning from the river met the sage, and was asked for a drink
of water, which she gave. The Muní blessed her, and said,
May you have many children !” She laughingly replied,
"How can I, an unmarried girl, have children?" The sage
having expressed the wish could not recall it, so he ordered her
to bring a wisp of Kusa grass, which he transformed into a male
child; the girl was naturally bewildered by the gift, as she could
not return home, where eviction was certain, so the Muní sent
for a Brahman and made him marry her. This miraculous child,
called Amrita Ácháryá, was instructed by Gálava Muní in the
Áyur-Veda, or science of medicine. It is also related that by
her Bráhman husband Ambá bore, among other children, a son
called Ambashṭha, the father of such as practise medicine.
Under Brahmanical rule the physician was not highly
esteemed, and when a Bráhman encountered one on his return
from bathing, he was polluted and obliged to go back and wash
his clothes before touching food. In Menu we are informed
that physicians and surgeons acting unskilfully must pay to the
injured party the middle amercement. The Sanskrit name for
a physician is Chikit-saka, from Chikit, understanding, or Aga-
dankára, “ one who makes well," and it is said that he had charge
of dispensaries (Aushadha-álaya, or Aushadha-ágára), where
ready-made medicines were prepared and sold.
1
Although we know nothing of the origin of the Baidyá caste,
history tells us that a Baidyá dynasty ruled over Bengal during
the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The most famous of these
Rájahs were Ballál Sena, and his supposititious son, Lakshmana
Sena, and it is to the domestic quarrels of the royal family that
the separation of the caste into two divisions is popularly referred.
Before their time, it is said, all Baidyás belonged to one clan,
the members of which intermarried with one another as all were
equal in rank. Ballál Sen, however, having determined on
marrying a Dôm-Pațní girl, his son Lakshmaņa Sen, and the
majority of the caste, protested against its legality, and on
finding their remonstrances unheeded, broke the sacred cord,
which all Baidyás then wore, and retired into a distant part of
the country, where their descendants have ever since preserved the
singularity of never wearing a "paitá." The dishonour inflicted
on the caste recoiled, it is related, on the head of its author, and
Ballál Sen sought in vain for a Baidyá bride for his younger son.
At the present day Baidyás are subdivided into families.
following the peculiar rites of the Vaísyas (Vaíşya-áchár), and
wearing the sacred cord, and others practising the Súdra rites
¹ Menu, ix, 284.
2 From Sanskrit Pavitra, the sacred thread.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
201
(Súdra áchár); but any member of the caste can assume the
cord on his complying with the proper regulations of investiture.
A tradition survives, that Ballál Sen, among his other
popular reforms, separated the Baidyás into three classes, Varen-
dra, Ráṛhí, and Banga, according to the place of their abode, and
conferred the rank of Kulins on the Dhanvantari and Madhu
Kuliya gotras. In course of time, owing to the frequent
marriages of blood relations, the Hingu gotra was also included
among the Kulin class. The Baidyás were finally distributed
in twenty-seven "stháns," or communes, beyond which no one
could reside without loss of caste. The principal settlements
were at Shinátí, Chandam Mahál, Daspárá, Puígráma, Karoria,
Shendia, Itna, and Bhutta-pratáp in Jessore, Poragáchha in
Bikrampúr, and Dásora and Chánd-pratáp in Dacca.
In 1872 the census returns exhibit a total of 68,353 Baidyás
in Bengal proper, of whom 37,180, or 54 per cent., resided in
Eastern Bengal; while in Báqirganj there were 12,960; in
Dacca 8,420; in Burdwan 5,004; in the twenty-four Parganahs
4,556; and in Silhet 3,291.
The Samáj-patí, or presidency of the Banga Baidyás, has for
several generations been vested in the family of Rájah Ráj Bullabh
of Rájnagar, who reside on the south bank of the Padma river, but
though now poor and dependent, the members are still consulted
on all tribal matters. Formerly, Bráhmans ate whatever the
Baidya prepared with milk, or ghí; but now they refuse to do
so, at least in public. The caste Bráhmans deny that they are
Súdras, but it is the fact that the Bráhmans who officiate for
the Nava-şákha also officiate for Baidyás.
A Baidya who wears the sacred cord is prohibited from
marrying into a household which does not; but in Silhet,
beyond the range of the regulations of Ballál Sen, Baidyás,
Kayaths, and even Súnṛís are at liberty to intermarry. When
equals marry a curious custom is observed by Baidyás. A bond
is executed notifying that the bridegroom has received twelve
rupees, but should a second son marry he executes a bond for
twenty-four, and if a third, the acknowledgement is for thirty-six,
but beyond this it never goes. Again, if a Baidyá marries into
an inferior gotra, he is dishonoured, and can only recover his
social position by marrying his sister, or daughter, into a Kulin
family, hence a common saying in Bengal, that rising and falling
is the Baidya's kul, or lot.
The four principal gotras of the Banga Baidyás are-
Dhanvantarí,
Madhu Kuliyá,
Şaktrí,
Kasyapa.
Gupta.
The most important "Padavís," or titles, are-
Sen,
Dás,
202
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
The first belong to the Dhanvantari and Şaktri gotras, the
second to the Madhu Kuliyá, and the third to the Kaşyapa.
Baidyás wearing the Bráhmanical cord mourn fifteen days:
those who do not for thirty. All old Baidyá families are Șákta
worshippers, but among the poorer classes Vaishnavas are
occasionally found. This caste has Ghataks of its own, and
formerly the Haḍa division of the Gauna Kulin Bráhmans acted
in this capacity, but for many years past members of their own
caste have officiated. This innovation originated with one
Visvaratha of Jessore, who is reputed to have been the first
legitimate Baidya Ghaṭak.
Many of the caste have lately become Brahmos, and been
excommunicated, until they can establish to the satisfaction of
the Samáj-patí that the secession from Hindu belief and domestic
usages has not been predetermined.
The practice of medicine is the proper profession of the
Baidya caste, but for many years it has sent forth young men
who have distinguished themselves at the bar, and as agents,
managers, and schoolmasters, whilst others have taken to the
study of English medicine, and become Bengali class native
doctors in the service of Government.
The Kabíráj, or medical practitioner according to the Hindu
system, is found in almost every village of Eastern Bengal, and
the most respected among them are generally Baidyás. Although
it is the fashion to disparage this class, the educated among them
are useful and deserving members of native society, occupying a
position that cannot be more efficiently filled under present
circumstances. The good that they do is rarely heard of, and
the malpractices of the legion of uneducated quacks throughout
Bengal are laid to their charge.
Kabírájs usually assume bombastic titles, such as Kabí-ratna,
Kabí-sanjan, Kabí-chandra, Kabí-Indra, Kabí-bhúshana Kabí-
bullabha, and Baidyá-nidhí; but the popular nickname for all
doctors is Nárí-tepá, or pulse-feeler. Uneducated practioners
and quacks are known as Háthuria,¹ or meddlesoine fellows,
from "háth," the hand; while a still more objectionable and
dangerous character is the Ta'liqa Kabíráj, who goes about with
a list (ta'liq) of prescriptions, selling them at random, and
vaunting their virtues in curing all diseases. He is often a
plucked student of the Calcutta College, or a young man too
poor to prosecute his studies until qualified for graduation.
Formerly, medicine was taught in Páthsálas, or schools, the
most famous being those of Bikrampúr and Kánchrapárá, on the
Hughl; but at the present day each practitioner of any reputa-
¹ Buchanan, iii, 142, derives this sobriquet from Hát, a market.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
203
tion has a "tol," or class, of pupils to whom he translates and
expounds the Sástras, if the youths understand Sanskrit, but if
they do not he merely lectures on the principles and practice of
Hindu medicine. A class generally consists of from ten to
twelve young men of various Súdra castes, and it is computed
that about twelve per cent. of the Dacca Kabírájs are sufficiently
versed in Sanskrit to interpret it.
The two principal text books of the Bengal physicians are
the Mádhava Nidána, or commentary on the Ayur-veda, and
the Chakra-vání. The former, written by a celebrated doctor,
Mádhava-Kara, chiefly treats of the diagnosis of diseases, while
the latter, named after the writer, who was physician and
steward of the court of Gaur, is a later and less valued work.
Each Kabíraj has a particular master and system, but the
greatest teacher, Dhanvantarí, the physician of the gods, is
obeyed by all. In the Brahma-Vaivartta Purána the names of
fifteen great physicians are preserved, but only the following six
are invoked by the modern doctor, namely:
Dhanvantarí,
Divodasa,
Káși Rája,
Aşvinau,
Nakula,
Saha-deva.
The first three are often identified with one person, the fifth
and sixth are the twin sons of Súrya, the physicians of Svarga,
or heaven. On all occasions of anxiety Mahadeva, or Vaidya-
nátha, "lord of physicians," is also addressed in prayer.
The chief causes of the stagnation of Hindu medicine, which
has lasted from prehistoric times, appear to be the discontinuance
of the study of anatomy, the belief that the medical Ṣástras,
being of divine origin, are infallible, and the selfishness of
successive generations of physicians in concealing the results of
their experience and observation. Kabírájs, of the present day
often blindly follow the teaching of the Ayur-veda, notwith-
standing the opinion that the habits and constitution of the
human race, and the prevailing type of diseases, have altered
since the archaic days of their teachers.
The candid physician confesses that his brethren have not
the magnanimity to divulge the merits of a drug which chance,
or experience, has taught them to value; and although it is
revealed to a son, or favourite pupil, the secret is kept from the
profession at large, and consequently is often lost at the death of
the discoverer.
The real Baidyá always dispenses his own prescriptions, but
as this consumes much time and necessitates his limiting the
number of his patients, apprentices are employed in pounding
and triturating drugs, while the minute subdivision into powders
こ
​204
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
is done by himself in a private recess of the house. Before
beginning this work, the Baidyá observes a custom, peculiar to
physicians of his caste, namely, the worship of Vaidya-nátha,
after which the medicine is divided into four parts, one being
offered to the Elements, a second to a Bráhman, a third being
retained by the physician, and a fourth sent to the patient. As
a rule drugs are procured from the shop of the Gandha-banik,
or Pansárí, but in olden days the physician had to go himself
to the forest and collect whatever herb he wanted, and the most
successful Kabíráj now in the Dacca district refers his good
fortune to the trouble he is at in gathering and verifying the
genuineness of the drugs used.
The principal difference between the practice of one Kabíráj
and another is, that the works of different commentators on the
Áyur-veda are followed. The practice is thus modified, and
often inconsistent, while all agree that the fundamental principles
of medicine are unchangeable, and that the causes of disease are
the same now as they were in Vedic days.
Consultations are usually held in difficult cases, but the
physician who can quote the Sástras most fluently and intermi-
nably, is too often deemed the most learned and skilful doctor.
Although the Sástras declare that physic given by the hands
of a Baidya has an intrinsic virtue not possessed when it is
administered by any other caste, the populace have no such
conviction, and as soon as the treatment of a Baidyá fails the
patient has no hesitation in placing himself under any other
doctor, whatever his caste, or colour, who has acquired the
reputation of curing his particular ailment.
Kabírájs, who can afford to be so, are often charitable,
giving advice gratis to the poor, and at times treating the sick in
a room reserved for them. At the present day Kabírájs are
preferred by all Hindus of the old school, as the minute attention
paid to diet and temperament is in keeping with the popular
ideas, and the way in which European doctors ignore, or disre-
gard, matters so important is especially reprehended. In acute
diseases the Kabíraj admits that the European physician far
surpasses him in knowledge, but he claims to treat chronic and
lingering diseases with greater success. It may be that in the
obscurer effects of malaria, and in cachexia the consequence of
blood poisoning, the medical treatment of the native practitioners
is so very efficacious as to explain the greater reliance placed on
it than on the routine practice followed in the dispensaries and
hospitals throughout Bengal; but no competent person has
thought it worth his while to confirm, or refute, a belief which
is universally held by the natives of Bengal.
J
The present state of Hindu medicine in Eastern Bengal is
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
205
sketched in the following particulars, obtained from the Kabírájs
themselves.
Kábírájs believe that the human race has degenerated, and
that the constitutions of the present generation have changed,
and they cite as an instance the type of fever now prevalent,
which is more acute and less tractable than the fevers described
in the Sástras. In these works it is enjoined, that for seven
days no medicines are to be given to a patient, and that he is to
fast, or only take liquid food; but now, as soon as a diagnosis is
formed, and a propitious hour found, the first dose is given.
The examination of the pulse is regarded of primary importance,
and many doctors are credited with being able to distinguish a
disease by its character. The inspection of the urine is not
considered, as it is by the Hakim, of much value, for should a
drop touch the physician he becomes unclean, and must at once
bathe. When it is inspected the sample is always mixed with
mustard oil, and the density of the water estimated by the
buoyancy of the oil.
Venesection is never performed at the present day, as the
type of the ordinary diseases contra-indicates its use; but
cupping or leeches are occasionally ordered. In apoplexy, and
some forms of hysteria, the actual cautery is still employed, and
the potential cautery (Kshára) is used for destroying piles, and,
in a fine state of division, is made into an embrocation, and
applied over the enlarged spleen and liver.
In the Sástras, enemata are recommended, but, whether,
owing to the clumsy syringes employed, or to the strange
aversion of all Muhammadan nations to their use, Hindu
physicians ceased to order them. Kabírájs, however, are
beginning to follow the example of English doctors, but much
latent opposition is encountered.
Hindu physicians have arrived at the following conclusions
regarding the most valued European drugs. Quinine, in
extensive use throughout Bengal, is popularly regarded as a
heating remedy, and as causing, when injudiciously used, the
fever to take a permanent hold, or to return after a short
interval. The masses further believe that it drives the fever
into the bones, and that, if once taken, it prevents all other
febrifuges from being of the slightest benefit. As a tonic,
however, during convalescence from fever, it is admitted by all
to be invaluable and unequalled.
With educated practitioners the use of mercury has quite.
gone out of fashion, and iodide of potassium taken its place;
but the victims of its abuse are still lamentably common, and
scarcely a hospital in Bengal is ever without several poor
creatures permanently maimed, or disfigured by it.
*
206
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
English, or American, sarsaparilla is not much esteemed, as a
"pát" of from nine to sixty ingredients is considered a better
alterative. The patient being given twenty-one powders, made
of a jumble of herbs, takes one daily and boils it in a ser of
water until only a quarter remains, then straining and putting
aside the sediment, he drinks the decoction. After the twenty-
one days have expired, all the sediments are taken, reboiled, and
the decoction drunk for eleven days longer. Finally, the sedi-
ment is put into boiling water, and with it the patient takes a
vapour bath (Bhapárá).
Cod-liver oil is considered inferior as a nutrient tonic to
divers pills and powders prepared by Kabírájs, and in consump-
tion an oil, called " Sárchandanadí," made of Til oil and numerous
herbs, is pronounced more beneficial.
Chicken broth, prohibited in health, is often prescribed in
lingering diseases, while the good effects of port wine and brandy,
in the treatment of low types of fever, are acknowledged.
Pills prepared at English druggists are objected to as the
magnesia sprinkled over them interferes, it is thought, with the
action of the medicine, consequently the Hindu pills rolled with
the fingers, and mixed with honey, or the juice of the Belá, or
Pân leaf, are preferred.
Such are the condition and opinions of the better class of
native physicians, but the description would be incomplete if it
omitted all allusion to the uneducated practitioner met with in
every village of Bengal, who secures an extensive, and by no
means unprofitable, practice among classes unable to pay for
better medical advice. He is often a superannuated barber, or
fisherman, who has obtained from some strolling "bairágí," or
"faqír" a receipt to cure all diseases. The credulity of the
average native is astounding, and even persons of education and
high position display wonderful faith in the assertions of quacks
vaunting the discovery of some new panacea. There is perhaps
no single complaint which so often awakens the inventive
faculty of such men as enlargement of the spleen, and he who
acquires notoriety as the possessor of a remedy is courted by all
classes. A very nutritious diet of milk, fish, and vegetables is
always ordered by these shrewd observers, and is generally
assigned by sceptics as the explanation of cures which they
undoubtedly sometimes effect. The following instances are
given in proof of the unsatisfactory appreciation of medicine by
the lower classes of Bengal.
In March, 1874, a cloth merchant returned from Lucknow,
cured by one 'Urf Husain, of an asthma of twenty-four years
standing, and instructed how to cure all diseases, by spitting on
and licking the seat of pain, and by rubbing wood ashes over
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
207
the part. On his arrival in Dacca he exhibited his wonderful
powers, which were the more readily believed as he demanded
no remuneration, and was satisfied with the fame of his good
actions. For weeks from fifty to a hundred patients daily
thronged his courtyard, and rumours spread that the novel
treatment had the most miraculous result in the most hopeless
cases. After a short and prosperous career failures became so
numerous, and the cures so very equivocal, that patients ceased
to attend, his popularity waned, and the fickle people sought a
new pretender.
Another amateur doctor, residing in the outskirks of Dacca,
earned a more lasting reputation by using a vesicatory made
with the root of the "Kálá-chítra," and applied over the spleen.
He, however, assigned much of its efficacy to a secret invocation,
addressed, in the act of applying the paste, to Lakhí Nárayaṇa.
The Hindu, moreover, relies as much on the virtues of a cup of
water, over which a mantra has been mumbled, as any Muham-
madan peasant, and the water of the Ganges, water taken from
a tidal river at the turn of the tide, or water in which the
Gosáin has bathed, have each their crowd of admirers.
In Bengal, as in ancient Egypt and Greece, certain shrines
are still celebrated for the cure of intractable diseases. The
most famous are, those of Tárá-Keşvara in Hughli, sacred to
Mahadeva; of Vaidyanátha in Bírbhúm; and of Gondulpárá in
Hughli, famous in cases of hydrophobia. The device followed
at the last place is for the bitten person, after fasting, to defray
the expense of a special service, and to receive a piece of red
broadcloth (Sultání banát), impregnated with the snuff of a lamp
wick, and secreted in the heart of a plantain, called “Kathálí
Kelá." As long as this charm is preserved, and the patient
abstains from eating this variety of plantain, the effects of the
bite are warded off.
1
With a people who think and act in this blind, irrational
manner, any change to more sound and enlightened modes of
thought must be slow. When we still find the lower classes of
Scotch and Irish relying on the virtues of certain springs, and
believing in the wondrous cures effected by them, we cannot
hope that the Hindu will speedily relinquish his faith in miracles
and his unreasoning acceptance of every imposture; but a great
change is already in progress, and the spread of dispensaries, and
of native doctors educated according to English ideas, is doing
as much to advance the people, and to awaken among them self-
reliance and healthy scepticism, as any other influence directed
against the ignorance and credulity of the East.
&
208
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
BANPAR.
The Banpar, or Gauri (? Gonṛhí) Banpar, as they prefer
calling themselves, belong to a caste of degraded fishermen and
boatmen from Patna and Bihár. Buchanan considered them as
a branch of the Koerí, dishonoured by becoming fishermen; but
the tribe has sunk so much lower than any offshoot of a clean
caste ever does, that it seems far more probable to assign them
an aboriginal origin. In Bihár the Banpar, objecting to till the
soil, live by fishing and trading. They are skilful sportsmen,
entrapping the alligator (magar) and Ghariyál in strong rope
nets and eating their flesh. Although this is, according to
Hindu ideas, a sufficient explanation of their low position, it is
a curious circumstance that, like the Málo of Bengal, their being
outcasted is referred to the peculiarity of passing the netting
needle the wrong way, from above downwards, and not to any
penchant for forbidden flesh.
BÁOTÍ, BÁITÍ.
In Bengal this small caste is usually called Chúnarí, or
Chúniya, from being engaged in the manufacture of lime (Chúná),
and is chiefly found on the borders of the large marshes in
Bikrampúr. In the census rolls the Báití are returned along
with the beggar and vagabond classes, and it is probable they
are the same as the "Báorí," a vagrant tribe in the Gangetic
delta and west of Delhi, who subsist chiefly by stealing.¹
In Dacca they all belong to one gotra, the Aliman, but in
the Farrídpúr district there is an outcaste Magí subdivision.
The Purohit is a Patit Bráhman, and the caste is mainly a
Vaishnava one. The only titles met with are Ráí, Bhúya, and
Sen.
""
The Báotí do not gather shells, but Bediyás occasionally do,
and fishermen from the Murshídábad district come annually in
March and April to collect them. The common swamp shells
are almost useless, while a small univalve, called "Mojia,'
formerly found in abundance, and repaying the cost of burning,
has become so scarce that it is now never sought after. The
best fishing ground is the Kamargangá river in Farrídpur, and
the only shells calcined by the Báotí are the " Ghonghá," "Sípí,
and Shámuk, the molluscs (gíta) being extracted by an iron
hook. A "man" (80 lbs) of shells, costing from fourteen to
1 Wilson's "Glossary," p. 61.
"
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
209
twenty anas, produces, when calcined, about four "mans" of
lime, which sells for about an ana a seer (2 lbs). The Káthuria
Sutárs are the only other class of Bengalis engaged in lime
burning.
Although the Báotí is one of the most impure of Bengali
castes, their water vessels defiling any pure Hindu, no one will
refuse to chew lime moistened with water from these very same
vessels.
Kabírájs purchase unslaked lime (Gúra-chúná) from the
Báotí for medicinal purposes, while the finest and most expen-
sive lime for chewing, "Panka-Chúná," is prepared with the
ashes of tamarind wood.
The Súdra barber and washerman work for the Báotí, but
the Bhúinmálí, owing to some party grudge, will not, and the
Muhammadan Beldár has to be engaged whenever the Báotí has
a house to build, or a ditch to dig.1
BAQQÁL.
This Arabic name for a grain merchant is a title assumed by
a few Chandáls, who neither eat nor intermarry with the parent
stock, although their Bráhman is the same. The Baqqáls are
wandering traders who retail turmeric, bay-leaves, rice, ginger,
and other condiments in inland villages and markets. They
are chiefly met with in the Ja'farganj and Mánikganj parganas
of Dacca. They will not cultivate the soil, but, possessing cargo
boats of their own, navigate them without any hired servants.
All belong to one gotra, the Kaşyapa, and the majority follow
the Krishna Mantra.
Having assumed a higher and more respectable position than
the Chandals, they have renounced the drinking of spirits and
the eating of pork.
BARAÍ.
The Bengali caste of Hindus engaged in cultivating Pân is
generally included among the Nava-Șákha, or nine clean castes.
They are closely allied to Súdra Kayasths, with whom they eat
¹ Báori, Bawari, Bhourie, are the names of a migratory tribe found
throughout India, probably the same as the Barbara, or Varvara of Sanskrit
works. In central India they are also known as Haran Shikárí and Haran-
pardí, “J. A. S. B." of Bengal, xiii, 5.
210
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
and drink. The ordinary name among the lower classes for a
cultivator of pân is 'Lata-baidyá, a "doctor of creepers.”
In Bengal there are 156,807 persons belonging to the Baraí
caste, fifty three per cent. of whom are distributed in the eastern
districts as follows:--Dacca 15,931, Silhet 15,036, Báqirganj
14,453, Tipperah 8,982, Chittagong 12,448, Mymensingh 6,435,
Farrídpúr 6,120, Noakhally 3,485, and Cachar 692.
The "Padavís," or titles, of the caste are very numerous, and
their gotras are uncertain. The following list was furnished by
the caste Bráhman :—
PADAVÍ.
Dutta
Sen
Mitra
Bawál
Khor
Dás
Pál
Nandí
Mantianí
Chand
•
:
:
GOTRA.
Vishnumásí, Aliman.
Kaşyapa
Karnamásí.
Sándilya.
Aliman, Gotromásí.
Kaşyapa, Aliman.
Aliman, Vishnumásí.
Jaintimásí, Madhu Kuliya.
Vishnumásí.
Chandramásí.
Ásh.
Kundú.
Náha.
Rukhít.
Deo.
The most common honorary titles are Chaudharí, Biswas,
and Majumdár.
Their Bráhman and servants are the same as
those of the Kayasths. Towards Mymensingh, beyond the
limits of the Ballálí country, the poorer members are found cul-
tivating the soil, an occupation abhorrent to the Bikrampúr Baraí.
Along the banks of the Lakhya the Baraís celebrate, with-
out a Bráhman, the "Nauamí" Pújah in honour of Ushas, a
Vedic goddess, identical with the Eôs of Grecian mythology, on
the ninth of the waxing moon in Asín (September-October).
Plantains, sugar, rice, and sweetmeats are placed in the centre
of the pân-garden, from which the worshippers retire, but after
a little return, and carrying out the offerings distribute them
among the village children. In Bikrampúr the deity invoked
on the above date is Sungáí, one of the many forms of Bhagavatí.
The reason given by the Baraís for not engaging the services of
a Bráhman is the following: A Brahman was the first cultivator
of the Pân (Piper betle). Through neglect, the plant grew so
1 Pán is the Sanskrit parna, a leaf; while betle is a corruption of Víți, or
Vítika, the betle plant.
1
1
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
211
1
high that he used his "poitá" to fasten its tendrils, but as the
plant shot up faster than he could supply thread, its charge was
given to a Káyasth. Hence it is that a Bráhman cannot enter
a pân-garden without defilement.
The pân-garden (Bara-Barej) is regarded as an almost
sacred spot. Its greatest length is always north and south,
while the entrances must be east and west. The enclosure,
generally eight feet high, is supported by "Hijul” trees, or
betle-nut palms. The former are cut down periodically, but
the palms are allowed to grow, as they cast little shade, and add
materially to the profits of the garden. The sides are closely
matted with reeds, jute stalks, or leaves of the date, or Palmyra
palm, while “Nal" grass is often grown outside to protect the
interior from wind and the sun's rays. The top is not so care-
fully covered in, wisps of grass being merely tied along the
trellis work over the plants. A sloping footpath leads down
the centre of the enclosure towards which the furrows between
the plants trend, and serves to drain' off rain as it falls, it being
essential for the healthy growth of the plant that the ground be
kept dry.
The pân plant is propagated by cuttings, and the only
manures used are " Pák-matí," or decomposed vegetable mould
excavated from tanks, and "Kalí," the refuse of oil mills. The
plant being a fast growing one, its shoots are loosely tied with
grass to upright poles, while thrice a year it is drawn down and
coiled at the root. As a low temperature injures the plant by
discolouring the leaves, special care must be taken during the
cold season that the inclosure and its valuable contents are pro-
perly sheltered. Against vermin no trouble is required, as
caterpillars and insects avoid the plant on account of its pun-
gency. Weeds are carefully eradicated, but certain culinary
vegetables such as pepper, varieties of pumpkins, and cucumbers,
palwal," and "baigan" (egg-plant), are permitted to be grown.
Pân leaves are plucked throughout the year, but in July and
August are most abundant, and therefore cheapest; while a
garden if properly looked after continues productive from five to
ten years. Four pân leaves make one Ganda, and the Bíra, or
measure by which they are sold, nowadays equals in Eastern
Bengal twenty Gandas, although formerly it equalled twenty-
four.2 Pân leaves are never vended by the Baraí himself, but
are sold wholesale to agents (Paikárs), or directly to the pân
sellers.
((
The varieties of the Piper betle are numerous, but it is pro-
bable that in different districts distinct names are given to the
1 Sanskrit Ijjala (Barringtonia acutangula).
2 In the “ Bháțí” country (Báqirganj), thirty-six Gaṇḍas equal one Bíṛa.
212
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
same species. The "Kafúrí," or camphor-scented pân, allowed
by all natives to be the most delicately flavoured, is only grown
at Sunnárgaon for export to Calcutta, where it fetches a fancy
price. The next best is the "Sanchí," which often sells for four
anas a Bíra. The commoner sorts are the "Desí," "Bangala,
"Bhátiál," "Dhál-dogga," and a very large leaved variety called
"Bubná." The usual market price of the inferior kinds is from
one to two paisa a bíṛa.
""
It has been mentioned that the " Bara" is regarded as almost
sacred, and the superstitious practices in vogue resemble those
of the silk worm breeder. The Baraí will not enter it until he
has bathed and washed his clothes, while the low caste man
employed in digging is required to bathe before he commences
work. Animals found inside are driven out, while women
ceremonially unclean dare not enter within the gate. A Bráhman
never sets foot inside, and old men have the presentiment that
on entering the same injury will befall them as is supposed will
happen if they pass under the washerman's clothes line, or the
trellis on which gourds are trained. It is frequently insinuated,
however, that the village lovers often whisper beneath its shade;
but, possibly this is merely idle gossip.
At the present day individuals belonging to the Dhobá,
Chaṇḍál, and Sáha castes, as well as Muhammadans, manage
pân-gardens, but they impiously omit the ceremonies necessary
for preserving the Bara clean and unpolluted.
BATTÍ-WÁLAH.
The usual candlemakers are Ghulám Káyaths, who are also
retailers of pân.
Bee's-wax is boiled and poured into cold water, then re-
boiled and run into moulds. Coloured wax candles are rarely
fancied by natives, but those required for the services of the
Roman Catholic church are always tinged pale yellow.
BEDIYÁ.
In every province of India bands of vagrants, vaguely styled
Nat, Kanjar, Brajbásí, or Banjára, are met with, who correspond
to the gipsies of Europe, and bear a striking resemblance to one
another. In the delta of the Ganges, boats being the only means
of conveyance, the nomadic tribes move about in vessels which
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
213
vary in build according to the particular division. In Bengal
these vagrants are generically known as Bediyá, from the San-
skrit Vyádha, a hunter. Each division (bahr) has its route
fixed beforehand by a Nardár, or Murabbi, who resides in a
central locality within easy reach. He promotes the general
interests of the tribe, selects the boats which are to form the
fleet, appoints a director to each party, and punishes any dis-
obedience, such as leaving the fleet and joining another. He
settles all disputes, and if any serious difference occurs, takes
evidence and delivers judgment. Fees are paid to him at
marriages, and presents of clothes are given on other festive
occasions.
Once every year the different tribes of Bediyás meet to con-
sult, to celebrate marriages, and to lay in a supply of goods for
retail during the ensuing year. On the full moon of Kártik
(Nov.-Dec.) Hindus bathe at the old junction of the Brahma-
putra and Ganges. Afterwards a fair, lasting a month, and
known as the Váruņi Mela, is held, to which traders from all
parts of Bengal, and Upper India, resort. At it the merchants
of Dacca, Silhet, Tipperah, and Mymensingh, buy their annual
stock of merchandise, and hither come the Bediyás to replenish
their stores. Each fleet brings its own Nardár, but when all
have united one supreme head is elected, who directs the affairs
of the whole tribe as long as it remains together.
The Bediyás have unfortunately given up most of their old
customs, and been transformed within the last fifty years into
uninteresting, and prosaic, Muhammadans. The Farazi Maulavís
practising on their credulity, have made out that these wanderers
are really the descendants of Núh Nabí, or Noah, who being a
Bediyá, lived in a big boat with all his family!
At the annual gathering a Maulaví is always present to
instruct his disciples, to teach the boys to pray, to perform
marriage services, and to superintend the rite of circumcision.
Although he wields much influence, the Maulaví is unable to
wean the Bediyá from all his old Hindu superstitions; red
lead (Sindúr) is still his symbol of marriage, and of married
life, and the "Marocha," or four plantain trees, is the altar at
which alone the marriage ceremony can be properly performed.
Many women continue to tattoo the forehead like their Hindu
sisters, and all classes invoke Manasa Devi, and engage Bráh-
mans to perform "pújah" to a particular deity in times of
sickness.
The Bediyás of the present day are as reserved as the Nat
and Kanjar of Hindustan, and rarely talk freely to strangers.
They still understand Hindustání, and sing Hindustání songs,
but they converse in Bengali with the villagers, and in an
Q
214
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
Argot, or cant, language with their own people. The Bediyás
and Nats mutually disclaim any relationship, but now and then
the tall muscular figures, and unmistakeable features of the true
Nat, or gypsy, are seen among the Bediyás, and when such
persons are appealed to, they confess that either they, or their
forefathers, came from Upper India. The Bediya, however,
is so cunning and so clever at giving answers to stop further
enquiry, that what he says must be received with caution.
Nevertheless, we know that early in this century the gypsies of
Bengal followed the customs of their ancestors in the north-
west, and had not in mass become converts to Islám. They
regarded religion with indifference, and if a deity was worshipped
in private, he was in public discarded for any idol or god adored
by the villagers around.
Like the gypsies in all lands, the Bediyá carries in his
features the stamp of a peculiar race, and from exposure to heat,
glare, and privations, he is tanned of a darker brown than the
Bengali artizan, and vies in swarthiness with the fisher Kaibartta,
and rustic Chaṇḍál. It is rare to find a pretty girl or a handsome
man, but the prevalent countenance is characteristic, and quite
different from the usual Bengali cast of features. The profile
is generally fine, the nose being straight, narrow, and often
aquiline. The forehead is broad, sometimes intellectual. The
figure is short, and the limbs less sinewy and graceful than
among gypsies. The elders become corpulent, and rarely live
to a green old age. Hard work and child-bearing soon efface
the beauty of the young women, who are wrinkled hags at thirty.
Men and women dress like ordinary Muhammadans, having laid
aside the jackets and petticoats formerly worn. The men are
remarkably lazy, and may often be seen enjoying a siesta, or a
pipe, while the wife with a babe at her side is rowing, or punt-
ing the boat. The Bediya boat never carries a sail, and as a
rule there is only one rowlock, consequently only one person
pulls at a time. Still this hard working, patient woman, is an
affectionate wife, a sympathising and indulgent mother, who,
without a thought for herself, devotes her whole time and
attention to the recovery of a sick child, or fever-stricken
husband. In the hospital at Dacca, the devotion of these
women often excites admiration and respect, as they, with few
exceptions, are the women who most frequently accompany
their sick relatives, and, regardless of the depressing effects of a
hospital ward, sit by their bedsides day and night, anticipating
wants, and calming the restless patient.
The Bediyás, like their kinsfolk the gypsies, are often charged
with being thieves, and whenever a robbery is committed near
a Bediyá fleet, they are suspected. This evil reputation, however,
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
215
}
is often taken advantage of by professional thieves, who trust
to escape detection by casting suspicion on the Bediyá.
Various attempts have been made to wean the Bediyá from
his unsettled habits, but only with partial success. Until the
interior of the country is opened up by roads, the wandering
trader will be welcomed, and his goods find a ready sale. At
present his movements are uncertain, depending on the state of
the rivers, and when the creeks get dry, the fleets disperse to
suitable places, where a piece of land on the bank of a river is
rented, a tent pitched, and the boats hauled on shore, and
repaired. This encampment is occupied till the end of May,
when the periodic rains enable them to set out on their annual
circuit. Although the mass of Bediyás lead this life, a few go
to other districts to collect shells, while those of settled habits
return to their home, and cultivate land like the peasantry.
((
The boats of each Bediyá subdivision differ in some respects
from all others, and by this difference can be distinguished at
a distance. The boats of the Sámperia have the bow and stern
raised, while those of the Shándárs are horizontal. The
Chhapar," or tilt, of boats belonging to the Mál, Sámperia, and
Bázígar, is fastened outside the gunwale, while, those of the
Ba-bajiya and Shándár are fastened inside, with mats hung
outside to prevent water entering. The boats of the Gayan
again are merely canoes with raised wooden bulwarks, and an
opening towards the stern. The roofs of all Bediyá boats are
rounded, tapering towards one or both ends, and except in the
case of the Gáyan, having two openings, one towards the bow,
the other towards the stern.
Under the Muhammadan government, there was an officer
who kept a register of all the tribes of wandering musicians and
performers; according to some authorities they varied in number
from eighteen to thirty-two sets. A tax, known as "Chandína
Damdári," or "Bajantarí," was levied on them, being included
under the head of "Sáir," or miscellaneous imposts. For the
year 1777-8, the collection for the Dacca division, including
Mymensingh and Silhet, amounted to rupees 2,761. 4. 0; namely,
Damdárí, rupees 821. 4. 0; and Bajantarí, rupees 1,940. 1. 8. At
a still earlier date the aggregate of the two taxes amounted to
rupees 4,500 a-year.
The following are the seven divisions of Bediyás in Eastern
Bengal:-
(a) Ba-bajiya,
(b) Bází-gar,
(c) Mál,
(e) Sámperia,
(f) Shándár,
(g) Rasia.
(d) Mír-shikár,
Q 2
216
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
(a.) BA-BAJIYA.
The origin of this name is disputed, but it is probably
derived from the Sanskrit Banijya, or Banij, trade. By their
kinsmen they are called Lava and Patwa, the former in Sanskrit
meaning a section, the latter a derivative of Pața, a screen.
The Ba-bajiya are pedlars. Their wares are very miscella-
neous, consisting of gaudily painted wooden bracelets, waist-cords,
tape, brass finger rings, nose rings, glass beads, wooden cups for
oil, playing cards, looking glasses, sandal wood chains, and fish-
hooks. They make voyages to Silhet, bringing back shells for
lime, and pearls used in native medicine. Few sportsmen are
bolder divers, and none excel them in spearing fish, especially
mullet, with the harpoon.
The Ba-bajiya keep dancing monkeys, and, like the Bází-
gars, teach their daughters acrobatic feats; while adults perform
tricks of legerdemain with all the mysterious flourishes, and
fluent talk, of the wizard tribe.
Though assuming to be Muhammadans, they chaunt songs
in honour of Ráma and Lakshmana, and exhibit painted canvas
scrolls, representing the redoubtable deeds of Ráma and Rávaṇa,
and the exploits of Hanuman.
The women have the reputation of being skilful in the
treatment of infantile diseases, and in the removal of nervous and
rheumatic pains. They occasionally tattoo, but are not so
expert as the Natní.
(b.) BÁZÍ-GAR.
The Bází-gar is generally called by Bengali villagers Kabú-
tarí, from his tumbling like a pigeon (Kabútar), or Bhánu-matí,
from the daughter of Vikramaditya of Ujjayana, the first person,
according to Hindu tradition, who practised jugglery and conjur-
ing. Another familiar name is Dorá-báz, or rope dancer.
The Bází-gar women and girls are the principal performers;
the men play tricks with balls and knives. The girls are very
supple, twisting and bending their bodies into most bewildering
figures. One of the ordinary feats is fastening a buffalo's horn
in front, climbing to the top of a pole on which a board is fixed,
and resting on the point of the horn, spinning round at a rapid
and giddy pace.
The women dabble in medicine, and prescribe for children
ill with fever, or indigestion. A favourite remedy for the latter
is the juice of the "Sem," or flat bean, mixed with lime made of
the common shell, called Sambúka. They are also cunning
rubbers for rheumatism, and dexterous curers of toothache.
OF EASTERN BENGAL,
217
In Dacca the Bází-gars rarely live ashore, but in Farrídpúr
they have become cultivators, and are being rapidly absorbed
into the village population. These families are very thrifty,
purchasing standing crops and disposing of them at a profit, or
leasing a grove of date palms, and making money by the sugar
extracted.
In physique the Bází-gars resemble the Nats and Kanjars of
Hindustán, and they often admit that their immediate ancestors
came from Gházípúr, or Upper India.
(c.) MÁL.
The name Mál is derived from the Sanskrit Mála, a hillman,
but according to their own account they were wrestlers (Malla)
at the court of the Dacca Nawabs, and gained the name from
this profession. From their dexterity in extracting worms from
teeth, the nickname Ponkwah is often given.
Notwithstanding their roving habits, peculiar physiognomy,
and characteristic figures, the Máls repudiate any connection
with the Bediyás, but neighbours can recollect when relationship
was readily admitted. At present Máls are with difficulty
recognised. As a rule they are Mahajans, or bankers, never
dealing in pedlar's wares, but advancing small suns on loan,
rarely exceeding eight rupees, and on good security. The rate
of interest charged is usually about fifty per. cent. per annum,
but this exorbitant demand is less than that exacted by town.
bankers. The borrower has also to pay the writer of the bond
a fee, called Taḥríri, calculated at the rate of two paisa for each
rupee.
The Dacca Máls never keep snakes, and know nothing about
the treatment of their bites. The women, however, pretend to a
secret knowledge of simples, and of wild plants. They are also
employed for cupping, for relieving obscure abdominal pains by
friction, and for treating uterine diseases; but never for tattoo-
ing.
Mals do not intermarry with other Bediyás, or with Muham-
madan villagers, and if a stranger asks in marriage a Mál
maiden, he must leave his paternal home, relinquish his calling,
and adopt the life and habits of a Bediya. This custom, formerly
insisted on by all Bediyás, has been gradually given up by
families realizing the advantages of settled life, but its general
disuse is still resented by the older members.
(d.) MÍR-SHIKÁR.
The Mír-Shikár, or Chirí-már, the smallest subdivision of
218
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
Bediyás, only musters some hundred boats. They capture
singing birds, "Bulbuls," and parrots with birdlime and the Sát-
nalí rod, or with nooses of horse-hair. Formerly game was
killed with arrows, but these antiquated weapons have given
place to the Mungír fowling piece.
The following animals captured by these hunters are sold
for medicinal purposes, or for charms.
Ban-rahu, Manis, or scaly anteater. If bound on the arm
its scales are reputed to cure palpitations of the heart.
Mahokha, or Pán-Korí, the common crow pheasant of India.
Killed on a Tuesday or Saturday, its flesh cures en-
largement of the spleen, and puerperal disorders.
Penchá, the spotted owlet of Jerdon. Its claws and drop-
pings, pounded with betel-nut, are, according to Mu-
hammadans, a very powerful and certain philtre.
Dáuk (Gallinula phoenicura).
When dried its flesh is
highly beneficial in rheumatism.
(e.) SÁMPERIA.
The Samperia are the snake charmers of Bengal, who, like
other Bediyás, huckster miscellaneous goods in the villages of
the interior, and manufacture fish-hooks and such like articles.
The snakes usually exhibited are the Jáit,¹ or cobra; the
light and dark varieties of the Ophiophagus Elaps, named by
them Dudh-ráj and Mani-raj; the python; a beautiful whip
snake, with red, black, and yellow spots, called “Udaya Sámp;'
and a large brown snake with black stripes on its neck, known
as “Ghár-bánká," from the singular way it bends before striking.
These snakes are caught in the forest. When one is seen
the Sámperia pursues, and pins it to the ground with a forked
stick. He then rapidly glides his hand along, and fixes his
thumb over the first vertebra, the animal being rendered quite
helpless. If the snake be a poisonous one, the fangs are
barbarously torn out, but the poison "bag," the most profitable
product of his dangerous trade, is carefully preserved. Snake
poison is highly valued by Hindu physicians, being used in the
treatment of diseases, and fetching in the market from fifteen to
sixteen rupees a “bhari.”
72
Another valuable prize is the tick (Kilní), occasionally
found on the hood of the black cobra, about which the most
fabulous stories are told. One of these parasites fetches a large
¹ The common name for the Cobra de Capello is "Gohmaná," or "Gokhrá.”
In Sanskrit it is "Krishna-Sarpa."
2 A "bhari," or Sicca rupee, equals 179 grains.
/
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
219
sum of money, as it is popularly believed to be a certain
preservative against snake bites, and poisons in general.¹
The cobra does not feed on snakes, but the Ophiophagus, as
its name indicates, does. The Sámperia feeds his menagerie on
fish, frogs, and mice. Domesticated snakes, with the exception
of the python, rarely live more than five months in captivity,
and never breed. Incredible as it may seem, snake charmers
assert that all kinds cast their slough once a month. In a wild
state this occurs once a year.
Sámperias have no specific for snake bite, but each man
carries, as a charm, the root of the “Bhatráj,” a forest creeper,
but the specimen shown by one was a twig of the common wild
vine (Vitis Indica). The popular belief is that the bud (málatí)
of the "Bhatráj" is a specific, but the Sámperia deny this.
When any one is bitten by a poisonous animal, the Sámperia
follows a rational treatment. He ties a string round the limb,
sucks the wound, bathes the extremity in hot water, and covers
the bite with the leaves of the "Bhatráj." One of the company
then recites Hindustání mantras, or incantations, which are
usually utter gibberish.
The Sámperia are in great request for the due performance
of the Manasa Devi festival, in the month of Srávan (July-Aug.),
being engaged by Bráhmans to exhibit their collection, and
make the snakes crawl in front of the idol. Manasa Devi still
maintains her position as the patron deity of Sámperias, and no
Mulla has as yet dared to cast her down from her pedestal.
When snakes are exhibited the Sámperia plays on a pipe,
while his wife, or child, chaunts a monotonous Hindustání song,
and irritates the reptile to strike by threats and shouts.
The Sámperia is also a sportsman. He tames jungle cocks
to entrap wild ones, and the "Kora" (Gallicrex cristatus), a
bird famous for its pugnacity. When he is in want of food he
tethers it near a marsh, arranging a low screen with three
movable leaves from which horse-hair nooses hang. The wild
bird advancing to test the courage of his captive brother, gets
entangled, and falls an easy prey to the Bediyá who is lying
concealed in the brushwood.
The Sámperias, like other Bediyás, keep tame cormorants to
drive fish into the net, for he is a great fisherman, although he
never sells what he catches. When moored near a jungle he
stalks deer, and shoots partridges, paddy-birds and egrets.
(f.) SHÁNDÁR.
This is the most orderly and industrious of the Bediyá divi-
1 Regarding the Sarpa-mani, Gara-mani, "snake gem," or carbuncle of
romance writers, see Asiatic Researches," xiii, 317–328.
220
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
sions. Many have settled in Dayáganj, a suburb of Dacca, but
others live in boats. Their name is derived from the Persian
Shánah, a comb, corrupted into Hánah by the Bengalis. This
comb, or more correctly reed, through which the warp threads
pass, is in great demand by Tántís, and Juláhas, for their looms,
as no other workmen can make them so cheaply and artistically.
The framework of the comb (dhangi), is made of split bamboo,
and the teeth (gaibi) of well seasoned wood from Kachár. The
latter are fixed at equal distances apart by strong cotton thread.
The sale of these combs obliges the Shándárs to visit villages
where weavers reside, and Dacca where the Tántís work. This
intercourse with the working classes has civilised them.
The Shándár, however, follows other trades. Like gypsies
he is a "Manihár," or pedlar, buying beads and trinkets; making
neck bands; purchasing waist-strings (Kardhaní) from the
Patwá; and needles, thread, and tape, from the Mughuliyá
shop; which are retailed in the villages.
The Shándárs are also expert divers, and, when anchored in
suitable localities, gather the common bivalve shells (sípí), and
sell them to the Chunarí, or lime burner. They also use the
Sát-nali, or bamboo rod of seven joints, tipped with birdlime,
catching “bulbuls," and other small birds. Like the Sámperia
they keep tame "Koras," jungle cocks, and cormorants, and, if
able, take out a gun license to shoot game.
Shándárs form the largest division of the Bediyás, often
associating with the other septs, but never in a friendly manner.
They have all become Muhammadans, wearing the skull cap
and dress of the villagers, from whom they cannot be dis-
tinguished. As a rule Šhándárs are short, muscular men, more
communicative, and less suspicious of strangers, than the
ordinary Bengali peasant. Many of the race peculiarities have
been lost, but Muhammadans banish them from society, and
refuse to intermarry, to eat, and to pray with them. They
seldom speak, or understand, Hindustání, and Bengali is the
spoken language.
A class called Gáyan, literally a singer, has separated from
the Shándár, but is already disappearing in the ranks of the
village Muhammadans. The Gayan, instructed by teachers,
believe they are descended from Jihad Gayan, who accompanied
Sháh Jalál in his conquest of Silhet, and state that they emi-
grated from that country in covered canoes, differing in build
from those inhabited by other Bediyás.
The Gayan is usually a peasant, and when absent from
home the wife watches the crops and tends the cattle. Any
relationship with other Bediyás is warmly repudiated, for which
reason the Farazí sect sometimes concedes to them the rights and
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
221
privileges of other Mussulmáns, and this concession has trans-
formed these vagrants into rigid Puritans. The Gáyan women
are secluded, and the other Bediyás are reproached for indelicacy
in allowing the women to wander about unveiled and unpro-
tected.
The Gayan sing Bengali songs in public, and the musical
instruments in use are the violins, called "Sárangí” and
Behlá."
(6
(9.) RASIA.
A few gangs of this subdivision are now and then met with
in Dacca, but they are more numerous in Pubna. Their boats
are of curious construction, being only half covered over, while
the tilt is cocoon, or bottle-shaped, tapering gradually towards
the stern, where there is a small round opening through which
a man can with difficulty crawl. These Bediyás work with
zinc, which is bought in pigs, melted, and run into moulds.
From the similarity in colour of zinc and mercury (Rasa), the
division has derived its distinctive name from the latter metal.
The Rasias make anklets, bracelets, and collars for the neck
(hanslí), which are worn by all Hindu and Muhammadan
females of the lower orders.
At their homes the Rasias are cultivators, and having com-
pletely amalgamated with the village Muhammadans are strict
Farazís. Their standing, however, is so precarious, that pro-
longed absence from home, or a manifest partiality for boat life,
is punished by expulsion from society.
When afloat the Rasia shows the same fondness for animals
as other Bediyás, keeping a caged "Mainá," or " Kaim" (purple
coot), for amusement or sport; while cocks and hens wander at
will throughout the boat.
BERUA.
The Berua, or Pátr-Berua, caste is an offshot of the Chandál
tribe, with the members of which they still eat and drink, but
do not intermarry.
Their name is derived from the Hindi
Berá, a raft of bamboos or reeds, used for catching mullet. It
is the well known habit of this fish to jump over any obstacle it
meets with in water. The Beruas at full tide throw a screen
across a creek, and on the surface of the water below it they
moor another. As soon as the mullet encounters the first and
finds no opening, it leaps over and is caught on the second.
The fish are sold in the market, but no Berua will cast a net, or
earn a livelihood as the Kaibarttas do.
222
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
In Dacca the Beṛuas occupy about five hundred houses, and
are generally cultivators. The headman is called Pátr,¹ and the
whole caste belongs to one gotra, the Kaşyapa. The connection
with the Chandál tribe is so intimate that the same Purohit
officiates for both.
BHÚINHÁR BRÁHMANS.
A considerable number of these cultivating Bráhmans, of
doubtful parentage, reside in Eastern Bengal, acting as policemen,
clubmen (láthíal), or watchmen. They generally come from
Gorakhpúr, or Ghazípúr, and after an absence of a few years
return to their homes and families in Hindustan.
The popular idea is, that the Bhúinhárs are descended from
a Bráhman father and a Kahár woman, but this origin would
give them no right to the rank of Bráhman. The story told by
themselves of their degradation is as follows. Bhoja Rájah of
Bhojpúr, a great wizard, prepared a feast for the Bráhmans, but
none attended, so he sent for Bhrigu Rishí, then residing at
Hájípúr in the Chapra district, who also disobeyed the summons
on the plea of being engaged in preparing his fields for sowing.
Owing to their cultivating land, as their ancestor did, his
descendants have been degraded, never having any "jajmán," or
clients, never accepting alms, and never eating or drinking with
any other Bráhmanical order.
Their Guru is always a Kanaujiya: their Purohit a Sarvaria
Bráhman.
They affirm that Rajputs make obeisance to them, and in
return receive benediction. The Bengali Bráhmans again, refuse
to eat rice, but partake of púrí (buttered scones), sweetmeats,
and "khichṛí” prepared by them.
Among themselves the designations Bhúinhár, Gautam, and
Thákúr are regarded as synonymous; but the ordinary titles
are Ráí, Singh, Pánḍe, Tiwárí, and Chaube; whilst Rájah, and
Mahárájah appellations discarded by all the higher orders, are
not infrequent.
BHÚÍNMÁLÍ.
The Bhúínmálí is identical with the Hárí of other parts of
Bengal, and in Dinajpúr the names are used synonymously,
¹ Pátra, a competent person.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
223
while the caste is generally considered as the remnant of a
Hinduized aboriginal tribe which was driven into Bengal by the
Aryans, or the persecuting Muhammadans.
In Eastern Bengal he is sometimes called "Siddhí-putra,"
after a Muní of that name. In the Census Rolls of 1872 the
Bhúínmálí and Hárí are entered under separate headings among
semi-Hinduized aborigines. There has evidently been a dif-
ference of opinion among returning officers on this point, for in
Dacca 1,954 Hárís are returned, although a prolonged search in
all corners of the district has failed to discover any persons
acknowledging that designation, and 7,267 Bhúínmálís, an
aggregate below the actual number. Next to Dacca the districts
with the largest settlements are Tipperah (5,522), Rangpúr
(3,771), Maldah (2,109), Noakhally (1,943), Farrídpúr (1,836),
and Silhet (1,825).
The Dacca Bhúínmálís assert that they were originally
Súdras degraded in consequence of the following absurd incident :
Párvatí obtained permission from her husband, Șiv, to give a
feast to her worshippers on earth. All castes were assembled at
the entertainment, and in the midst of the enjoyment a
luckless Bhúínmálí was overheard saying, “If I had such a
beautiful woman in my house, I would cheerfully perform the
most menial offices for her." Şiv did not allow the speaker to
retract what he had said, but gave him a beautiful wife and
made him her sweeper. In confirmation of this legend a Bengali
proverb defines the Bhúínmálí as the only Hindu ever degraded
for love of garbage.
1
The Bhúínmálí caste has two great subdivisions, the Baṛá-
bhágiyá and Chhotá-bhágiyá, who never intermarry, or hold
social intercourse with each other. The former are chiefly
cultivators, musicians, and palkí bearers; the latter scavengers,
looking down with contempt on the Dôm, Mihtar, and Halál-
khors, who, after work, enter their houses without bathing, and
allow their females to labour at the same offensive trade.
At Saráíl, in Tipperah, Bhúínmálís keep swine, but these
recreants are not acknowledged as brethren. In certain villages
the Bhúínmálí has ceased to be a professional musician and
become a chaukídár, or watchman. No member of the caste
ever keeps a shop, as he would have no customers, and never
trades, as he has no capital.
A large section of the Bhúínmálí caste is known as Mitra Sení
Beháras, tracing their descent from Mitra Sen, the reputed son, or
relative, of Ballál Sen, and claiming to be the original bearers of
Bengal. They cultivate the soil, and are in great request as
household servants by Hindu families. Although the same
Bráhman officiates, the cultivating Bará-bhágiyá despises the
224
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
cultivating Mitra Sení, and declines to eat with them. These
palanquin bearers, again, will not carry torches, and look down
upon those who do.
Although the caste has split up into divisions, the Bhúínmálí
is properly one of the village servants, employed in cutting down
brushwood, repairing footpaths, sweeping the outside of the
Zamíndár's house, removing carcasses from the village, and
preparing the "Marocha," or marriage area, for doing which he
receives one rupee, if the marriage is that of a village boy, and
eight anas if that of a girl, He is likewise the Mash'alchí
engaged to carry the torch at Hindu weddings. A Bhúínmálí
sweeper never enters a Hindu house to pollute it; but a maiden,
called Dásí, or Chhokrí, is employed to sweep the floors of rooms
and passages.
The Bhúínmálí also levels the space where the Ṣráddha is
held, constructs the small shed in which the votive offerings are
placed, and, when a sacrifice is to be made, smears the ground
with cowdung. If the victim is killed in the morning the flesh
is distributed among Bráhmans and clean Súdras; but if it is
a Sandhya, or evening sacrifice, everything, including the cloth
by which the animal is bound, becomes the perquisite of the
Bhúínmálí.
The Bhúínmálí, besides, prepares and plasters the mound
on which the Vastú Pujah is celebrated, receiving the ram as his
remuneration, and, whenever a new house is built, he smears
cowdung over the sides only, as he would lose caste if he touched
the interior. Hindus of all castes smear the inside and steps of
their own houses, but never those of others. The Bhúínmálí
is the only native who will bedaub a strange house.
The
The gotras among the Bhúínmálí of Dacca are Paráșara and
Aliman, the latter being only found along the banks of the old
Brahmaputra. The caste has a degraded Bráhman as Purohit,
and the washerman and barber are members of the caste.
Bhúínmálí generally worship Krishna, and celebrate all the
popular Hindu festivals. Along the Lakhya “Káwaj," who is
probably the same as Kwajah Khizr, is invoked, as is also Pír
Badr. Like the Hindu and Muhammadan peasantry generally, the
Bhúínmálí abstains from work during the three days known as .
"Ambuváchí," which last from the tenth to the thirteenth of the
waning moon of Ásárh (June-July) when the earth is believed
to be impure, and no Hindu can dig, plough, or even touch it.
Although most anxious to represent themselves as Șúdras, by
apeing the prejudices of the higher ranks, the Bhúínmálí are
contemned, and obliged to live on the outskirts of villages apart
from the Hindus, and to perform any menial work that is
required of them. Like other low castes the Bhúínmálí nowa-
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
225
days shudders at the idea of eating pork, although it is within
the recollection of men still living, that he was very partial to it.
Until the last twenty years he was very friendly with the
Chandál, interchanging visits, and often dining with him, but
lately an estrangement has parted them, and the Bhúínmálí
treats his former friend as an inferior being, declining to eat
with or even work for him. It is difficult to understand the
cause of this coldness which has sprung up, but it was probably
the result of a vague assertion of superiority on the part of one
or other. The Bhúínmálí still works for many castes as low as
the Chandál, and does not feel dishonoured by labouring for
the Dof, or the Muhammadan peasant, although he does by
toiling for the Jogi weaver.
It is at Hindu weddings that the Bhúínmálí musicians are
engaged, creating a most horrid noise with their pipe (sarnáe),
and drum (dhakká); but a feeling among them indicates that
before long musicians will be expelled from the genteel classes.
Widows never remarry, but a few years ago it was the universal
custom. The Bhúínmálí female is now and then employed as a
midwife, or a domestic servant. She is ceremonially unclean for
thirty days after parturition as with Sudras, but it is a curious
circumstance that the "Chhathí" ceremony is performed on the
ninth day, and not on the sixth, as the word signifies.
BIND, BHIND, BINDU.
The Bind is a semi-Hinduized aboriginal race, widely
scattered throughout India. Buchanan was of opinion that
Oudh was their original home, but at the present day they are
dispersed throughout the north-western provinces, Õudh, and
the Gangetic valley. In 1865¹ it was computed that the Bind
caste numbered 63,501 individuals in the north-western pro-
vinces, and in 1872 the census returns show a total of 10,563 in
Bengal, of whom 6,002 belonged to Maldah, 1,100 to Pubna,
1,017 to Nadiyá, and only 153 to Dacca. Settlements of Binds
are, however, found along the left bank of the Padma, but less
frequently than on the right, or Farrídpúr, side. Originally
residents of the Benares district, they were driven by the great
famine of 1770 to seek shelter in the fertile delta, which has
ever since been their home.
It is extremely doubtful if the Ben of Oudh, generally a
musician, is the same as Bin of Arrah, who works as a Beldár,
and manufactures saltpetre. In Bhagalpúr the Binds, or Beldárs,
Supplemental Glossary," i, 287.
1
226
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
as they are usually called, fish, dig, cultivate the soil, hunt, and
act as drug collectors. Mr. Sherring,¹ on the other hand, classi-
fies the Bind, or Bin, with the Núniya caste. In Dacca, again,
the Bind recognize three subdivisions, Jutaut Binds, Nún Binds,
and Bin. The first is the most aristocratic, while those belong-
ing to the second are degraded, from working as palanquin
bearers, manufacturers of salt (nún), diggers, and, it is said,
gravediggers. Representatives of the Bin division are not met
with in Eastern Bengal.
In Gházípúr the caste is reckoned clean, while in Arrah it
has gained, according to native ideas, an enviable position,
being employed by the sacred order to carry water in Bráhman-
ical vessels without causing defilement. Binds in Bengal are
unclean, and their brethren in the north-west repudiate any
relationship with them. For this reason the Bengali Bind often
finds it difficult to procure a wife from the small expatriated
communities along the Padma.
A Daşnámí Gosáin periodically visits the Dacca Binds, acting
as their Guru, while a degraded Kanaujiya Bráhman officiates as
Purohit. Many of the Bengali Binds belong to the Panch
Píriyá sect, others worship Siv, and at the Mahábalí festival
sacrifice a ram instead of a he-goat as is usual. At the Ganga
Pújah a swine is offered to Jalka Deví, the popular goddess of
the Chamárs. The patron deity, however, of all Binds is Káși
Bába, about whom the following childish story is told. A
mysterious epidemic was carrying off the herds on the banks of
the Ganges, and the ordinary expiatory sacrifices were ineffectual.
One evening a clownish Ahír, on going to the river, saw a figure
rinsing its mouth from time to time, and making an unearthly
sound with a conch shell. The lout concluding that this must
be the demon causing the epidemic, crept up and clubbed the
unsuspecting bather. Káşí Náth was the name of the murdered
Bráhman, and as the cessation of the murrain coincided with his
death, the low Hindustani castes have ever since regarded Káṣí
Bába as the maleficent spirit that sends disease among their
cattle. Nowadays he is propitiated by the following curious cere-
mony. As soon as an infectious disease breaks forth the village
cattle are massed together, and cotton seed sprinkled over them.
The fattest and sleekest animal being singled out is severely
beaten with rods. The herd, scared by the noise, scamper off to
the nearest shelter followed by the scape bull, and by this
means, it is thought, the murrain is stayed.
Like all up-country boatmen who visit Bengal, the Binds
invoke Pír Badr, whenever a squall threatens. Pír Badr!
"Hindu Tribes and Castes," p. 348.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
227
1
tákya ek nazar! Pír Badr!" "bestow one glance!" is the
ordinary ejaculation.
Karámat 'Alí and the Farazí Maulavís have of late years
converted many of these outcast Binds, but the village Muham-
madans will not as yet associate with them. These converts are
usually styled by the peasantry "Chaylí," from the Bengali word
for the Berá, or fish trap.
Binds in the upper provinces are commonly addressed by the
title Rawat, but in Bengal Chaudharí is their only designation.
Hindustání Binds are enterprising traders, often visiting
Bengal during the cold seasons, with cargoes of wheat, pulse, and
grám." Bengali Binds lead an irregular life. Some cultivate
the soil; others kill mullet with the harpoon, or catch them with
"Sirki" screens, like the Beṛua. Many are cunning sportsmen,
and during December and January net great numbers of wild
fowl and snipe. After the harvest the Binds wander about the
country digging up the stores of rice accumulated by field rats
in their burrows. From four to six pounds of grain are usually
found, but even this quantity is sometimes exceeded. It is said
that the Binds feast on the rats, but, as they remark, this would
lessen the next year's profit, they carefully avoid injuring them.
Another occupation is cutting tamarisk (jháú) on the sandbanks
of the Padma, and selling it for firewood. By them are made
the best mud brasiers, or Chúlhás, used on board all native boats
for cooking.
Finally, Binds freely indulge in spirit drinking, and are very
partial to pork, when it can be procured.
BRAHMAN.
(a.) RÁRHÍ.
The origin of the Bengali Bráhmans is hidden in obscurity.
It is, however, generally traced to the introduction of five
Bráhmans from Kanauj by Ádisúra, King of Gaur, about
A.D. 900; but there are grounds for believing that the Vaidika
and Sapt-Satí were earlier immigrants, and it is probable, as
Dr. Hunter thinks, that the first Aryan settlers in Bengal
claimed to be the aristocracy of the new country, and as a
natural consequence to be Bráhmans, an idea inseparable (in
the Aryan mind) from the rank of an aristocracy. This suppo-
sition acquires additional probability from the surviving tradition
that Ádisúra applied to the Rájah of Kanauj for priests capable
228
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
of performing certain Vedic ceremonies, as the false Bráhmans
of Bengal were incapable, through ignorance, of doing so.
The names, and gotras, of the five Kanauj Bráhmans were:-
Bhúttanáráyana of the Sánḍilya Gotra
Daksha
Chhándara
Sríharsa
"
">
""
Kaşyapa
Vátsya
Bharadvája,,
Savarṇa
""
"}
""
Vedagarbha
Of the personal history of these men we know líttle,¹ but it
is related that they intermarried with their Bengali neighbours,
and the issue became the progenitors of the Varendra tribe,
while the children by their Hindustání wives became the
founders of the Rárhí. The Varendra Bráhmans, on the other
hand, maintain that they are the legitimate branch, the Rárhí
the illegitimate.
During the two following centuries the Bráhmans increased
so fast by births, and the influx of other settlers from Hindustan,
that Ballál Sen, in the eleventh century, found the Rárhí
Bráhams domiciled in fifty-six Gáins, or communes, isolated
from many Sapta-Satí, Vaidika, and low caste Bráhmans, who
in contradistinction were designated Nau-gáins, or outsiders,
from residing beyond the limits of the communes.2
The exact number of descendants of the five Kanaujuja
Bráhmans, who were raised to pre-eminence by the reforms of
Ballál Sen, is a subject of lasting dispute between the Rárhí and
Banga Ghaṭaks. The following particulars derived from the
Banga genealogists must therefore be received cum grano.
Ballál Sen, under Bráhmanical influence, it is supposed,
organised a Samáchára, or enquiry, to ascertain which families
possessed special religious qualities, entitling them to the first
rank in the sacred order, and to classify the rest, according as
they had lost one or other important faculty, in subordinate
ranks. The nine personal endowments qualifying for the
highest position were:-
1. Achár, faith in the performance of appropriate duties,
2. Vinaya, modesty, or moral training,
3. Vidyá, learning,
4. Pratishtha, devotion in consecrating a temple,
5. Tírthadarsana, the regular visitation of holy places,
6. Nishtha, piety,
7. Avrittí, observance of legal marriages,
8. Tápasa, devotion,
9. Dána, liberality.
1 Fragments of moral poems attributed to them, and called Pancha-ratní,
are still extant. A translation is to be found in the "New Asiatic Miscellany,"
vol. i, p. 62. Calcutta, 1789.
2 "Orissa," by W. W. Hunter, vol. i, p. 249.
OF EASTERN BENGAL
229
Nineteen families found to have preserved untarnished these
nine cardinal virtues were enrolled as the eight Mukhya, or
superior, Kulins; families who had neglected Áchár were in-
cluded in fourteen classes, called Gauna, or secondary, Kulins;
while the large majority, though regular students of the Vedas,
having lost Avrittí, and formed alliances with families of
ignoble birth, were divided into thirty-four Șrotriyá¹ septs.
These classes of Mukhya, Gauna, and Srotriyá were honorary
distinctions attached to a hereditary hierarchy, who received
from the reigning monarch grants of villages and arable lands.
Further, no personal misdemeanour could deprive them of the
privileges of their order; but to ensure a pure and aristocratic
race it was enacted, that an unequal, or irregular, marriage
caused loss of prestige, and forfeiture of rank.
The eight Mukhya Kulína families were:-
Vandya (Banarjí),
Chatta (Chatarjí),
Mukhuti (Mukharjí),
Goshála,
Putitunda,
Gánguli,
Kánjilála,
Kundagrámí.
These names were taken from the village, or commune, where
the greatest number of approved reputation were found.
Of the inhabitants of Vandya, only six families were enrolled,
namely those of Gáhlana, Maheṣvara, Devala, Vámana, Îșána,
and Makaranda. The descendants of the Kanaujiya Bráhman
Daksha were found residing in the village of Chatta, and five
families, namely, Bahurúp, Sucha, Aravinda, Halayudha, and
Vángála, were deemed worthy of admission. The Mukhutí
returned two families, Utsáha and Garuda; the Goshála one,
Şira; the Putitunda one, Govardhanáchárya; the Gángulí
one, Șisa; the Kánjílala two, Kanu and Katúhala; and the
Kundagramí one, Roshákara.
The fourteen Gauņa, or secondary, Kulins were:
Dirdhángí,
Páriha,
Kulabhí,
Podárí,
Pipalaí,
Hada,
Ráí,
Keṣarí,
Ghanteswarí,
Dinṣáí,
Pítamundí,
Mahinta,
Guda,
Gadagadí.
The status of these families was fixed in accordance with
their moral characters. Four were inscribed as "Siddha," or
perfected; seven as "Suddha," or pure; and three, including
¹ Literally a Bráhman versed in the study of the Vedas.
R
230
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
Pipalaí and Dinṣáí, as "Káshtha," excellent, or "Arí." The
designation "Arí," or enemy, was given because a Kulin
marrying a daughter of one of them was disgraced.
The thirty-four Gáins of Srotriyás were as follows:--
Páladhí,
Púshalí,
Pákadásí,
Ákása,
Simaláyí,
Palasáyí,
Vápuli,
Koyárí,
Vhurishtháta,
Sáharí,
Kulakulí,
Bhattáchárya,
Vatavyala,
Sáteşvarí,
Kuşárí,
Náyerí,
Seyaka,
Dáyí,
Kusuma,
Párihala,
Ghoshalí,
Siyárí,
Mashachataka,
Siddhala,
Vasuyárí,
Punsika,
Karála,
Nandígrámí,
Anvulí,
Kánjárí,
Tailavatí,
Múlagrámí,
Sunalála,
Válí.
According to some authorities, the Srotriyá were the
descendants of the Kanaujiya Bráhmans by Sapta-Șati wives,
being esteemed inferior to their fathers, but superior to their
mothers, maternal grandsires, and to all relatives of the Sapta-
Şati class. Again, the Banga Ghataks give three more Srotriyá
gáins, namely Ghanteṣvarí, Bhatteşvarí, and Dígál; but the
Rárhí Ghaṭaks do not recognise more than thirty-four in all.
Such was the classification of Ballál Sen, rendered, it was
thought, complete by stringent laws regarding marriage. It was
the prerogative of the Gauna and Srotriyá to provide wives for
the Mukhya Kulins, and to get wives for themselves from their
own class equals. The marriage of a daughter into a good
Kulin family raised, in public estimation, the character of the
father's household, whence arose the strange custom, known as
Kula-gotra, by which the reputation of a family depended on
the daughter's suitable marriage.
As years rolled on, and families became extinct, the difficulty
of obtaining an unexceptionable husband immensely increased.
Kulin fathers accordingly often gave away their daughters to
Gauņa, Srotriyá, and even to Sapta-Satí families, thus forming
the "Vanṣaja" class. Again, the daughters were often married
to the sons of Vanṣaja parents, in which case the character and
dignity of the family were forfeited, and it became "Sukriti-
bhanga," from whom were descended in the next generation the
1 Literally, belonging to the family.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
231
V
Dvipurusha, in the third the Tripurusha, and in the fourth
the Cháturpurusha, after which, as among the Varendras, the
branch was blended in the Vanșaja class. It was, moreover, the
practice in the various grades for the daughters of the lower
lineage to marry with their cousins of the elder branch. If
the Sukriti-Bhanga Bráhman married into a Kulin family it was
dishonoured and degraded; or, if a Kulin married a Vanșaja
maiden, similar results followed, and he became a Bhanga, or
ruined, Bráhman.
With the Muhammadan invasion of A.D. 1199, the Hindu
Empire was overthrown, and the artificial structure of Hindu
society underwent a complete revolution. Kulins sold their
family rank and honour for money; they increased the number
of their wives, without regard to the respectability of the families
from which they came, and they enhanced their demands as the
supply of suitable wives diminished. But it was not only the
selfish and unprincipled behaviour of the Bráhmans in the
matter of marriage that lowered their characters in popular
estimation. The system from its birth bore the seeds of decay,
and was doomed to certain destruction. Purity of life, piety,
knowledge, and sympathy with the lower orders, were disregarded,
or discouraged, and the sacred order sank demoralized beneath a
load of vices, unpitied by the people.
A fortunate thing would it have been for Bengal if the
scandal had been swept away, and a radical reform introduced
on sounder and more equitable principles; but the evils were
increased and the vices diffused among a larger circle, by the
classification of an obscure Ghatak. This rise and unquestioned
influence of a Bráhman reformer is one of the most puzzling
incidents in the domestic annals of Bengal. His rank and
position were plebeian, yet he acquired such a commanding
station as to dictate his own terms to the proudest Kulin, and
enforce their observance on the most contumacious.
Tradition has preserved a few events of his career, but none
of them indicate the policy by which he overcame the discontent
and disobedience of a haughty and still dominant oligarchy.
1
Deví Vara, a Jessore Ghatak, lived ten generations after
Ballál Sen, in the fourteenth century. He is said to have been
a man of eccentric habits, with a strong, though wayward, will.
As a young man he visited Kámákhyá, and became a Siddhavák,
or a person who had only to express a wish and it was fulfilled.
On returning to Bengal he wandered about the country, like
any demented Bairágí, shouting out "Akulam! Akulam!" the
Kul, or family honour, is gone! It is probable that this "antic
1 Another account states that he lived twelve generations ago.
R 2
232
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
disposition" was assumed, for it is a popular belief that his
subsequent classification of the Bráhmans turned upon the
hospitality and favour shown to him during his peregrinations.
A story in point is narrated of him. One day entering the
house of Yogisvara Pandit, head of the Kharḍadaha Mel, who
was from home, the inmates treated him with curt civility.
Incensed by their rudeness, he began shouting “Akulam !
Akulam!" and Yogiṣvara became an outcast. On returning
home Deví Vara was implored to remove the curse, but as this
was impossible, he compensated the sufferer by the following
prophecy, worthy of Thomas the Rhymer.
"When Şaşamriga¹ returns home, when the sky produces
fruit, when the barren woman conceives, then, and then only,
shall Yogiṣvara lose his Kul.”
The following story is told to explain why a good Bráhman
like Deví Vara left no children. At a great meeting of Bráh-
mans convened to reorganise the order, Deví Vara was tormented
by his Guru, Prabhákara, to explain why he was born a Ghaṭak,
and not a Kulin Bráhman. Provoked beyond endurance, Deví
Vara exclaimed "Prabhákara is Akulam!" The Guru retorted,
"The house of Deví Vara shall not remain, he shall be ultimus
suorum.'”
(
The reorganising scheme of Deví Vara was confined to the
Rárhí Kulíns of the Mukhya grade, and did not embrace the
Gauna or Srotriya, who had already united to form a homo-
geneous order with certain trivial limitations regarding pre-
cedence. In conformity with the new classification the Kulin
Bráhmans were included in three grades:—
Svabháva, or original Kulins,
Bhanga,
Vanṣaja.
Furthermore, a most important innovation was introduced,
in the creation of thirty-six Mels, or septs, named after the
home or chief man of a family.
The thirty-six Mels were:-
Phuliya,
Kharḍadaha,
Vijaya Pandit,
Chádáí,
Bidyadhari,
Saivvanandi,
Madháí,
Ballabhí,
Surai,
Áchárya Şekhari,
Srí Rangabhattí,
Pandit Ratni,
Bangala,
Gopala Ghatakí,
Cháyanarendrí,
Párihal,
Máladharakhání,
Kákumví,
Hari Majumdárí,
Șrí Bandhaní,
1 The constellation Lepus.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
233
Pramadaní,
Bhairava Ghataki,
Áchambita,
Dasaratha Ghataki,
Şubharajakhání,
Dharádharí,
Nadiya,
Válí,
Rayamelá,
Rághava Ghosálí,
Bhattarághavi,
Dehátí,
Chay,
Şungosarvvanandí,
Súdánanda Khání,
Chandravatí.
The cardinal point in the new reorganisation was the law.
restricting the marriages of Kulins to their own Mel. This
limitation led to evils far greater than those of previous times.
Claims of superiority were advanced and resisted, and families
of the highest rank were disgraced, and their places filled by
plebeian houses. Whether this innovation was the work of
Deví Vara, or introduced subsequently, is uncertain, but the
monstrous absurdity known as Páltí-Prakrití¹ was intended to
restrain the social anarchy. By this contrivance marriages in
certain corresponding families of equal rank were enjoined, and
any violation of the law was visited by dishonour and degrada-
tion. For example, the Mukhuti family were obliged to marry
their sons to Chatarjí daughters, and the Chatarjí sons to
Mukhuti daughters. When it happened that the Mukhuti had
only one son, and the Chatarjí ten daughters, the former was
compelled to marry the whole ten, or all remained spinsters.
The Kulin boy with hundreds of rich offers of marriage must
decline all, until he had fulfilled this obligation. Again, the
Bhanga, Vanṣaja, and Srotriyá septs were in eager quest of
Kulin husbands to preserve their reputation, and as the total
number of Kulins, even before the absorption of the Gauna,
never equalled the numbers of the Srotriya, the competition was
great. When the Kulins became still further reduced by the
loss of many, who departed from amongst them, and formed the
Bhanga and Vanșaja, the competition became extravagant. The
polygamy of Kulins was countenanced, and prescribed. They
had not only to marry a maiden of their own Mel, but also a
Șrotriya wife, and as their pecuniary value rose, the temptation
to live by the wages of polygamy became irresistible.
At the present day the classification of Deví Vara is pre-
served, and the evils of the system have grown so intolerable
that legislative interference is solicited by enlightened Hindus.
Kulin girls, for want of husbands, are living and dying unmarried,
being known as Yamavara, or wedded to Pluto. Svabháva
Kulins, yielding to the attractions of a Paņa, or marriage fee, of
two thousand rupees, are breaking their Kul, and marrying
Vanṣaja girls, who are immediately resigned to the charge of
1 From the Sanskrit Pálana, guarding, cherishing, and Prakriti, nature.
C
234
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
their parents; but as the Pana diminishes ten per cent. with
each new wife, it is no uncommon thing for the fee to fall to
fifteen or even ten rupees.
As soon as a Svabháva Kulin is degraded to the rank of a
Sukriti-Bhanga, he adopts matrimony as a profession, and finds
no limit to the number of suitors for his hand from among
Bhanga and Șrotriyá families. As his Haram enlarges from a
few up to hundreds, the Bhanga and Srotriyá, ruined by the
large marriage fees they have paid, and by the paucity of
marriageable girls of their own class, live and die unmarried.
The honour of marrying one's daughter to a Bhanga Kulin
is so highly valued in Eastern Bengal, that as soon as a boy is
ten years of age, his parents, or guardians, begin discussing his
marriage, and before he is twenty he frequently becomes the
husband of many wives, of ages varying from five to fifty. The
bride, unless of a rich and influential family, rarely sees her
husband after marriage, and thus a wide field is opened for
adultery and immorality. In a list drawn up by Babú Ubhaya
Chunder Dás, the names of two Kulins in Eastern Bengal, each
of whom possesses a hundred wives, are given; two with sixty;
three with fifty; and three with thirty. This gentleman further
asserts, that each Kulin has a register containing the names of
the villages where their fathers-in-law reside, and that every
cold season he makes a connubial tour, visiting each wife, and
after fleecing the foolish parent of as much money as he can,
transports himself to another village where he does the same
thing. At the end of his tour he returns to his home, living
in ease and sensuality until another marriage rouses him to
temporary activity.
It is only among Bráhmans of the Rárhí Srení that this
infamous system exists, for the Varendra Kulins, unreformed by
Deví Vara, are said to have as few wives as any other order of
high caste Hindus.
The amount of immorality developed by Kulinism is incal-
culable. Young wives deserted by their husbands, and often
living in penury, children brought up without a father, and
parents madly ruining their heirs to obtain a licentious po-
lygamous husband for the daughter, is a picture without a
redeeming point. Within the last ten years various petitions
have been presented to Government urging the necessity of
blotting out this hideous crime, but as yet no legislative action
has been taken. The two main obstacles to reform are, the
opposition of the Ghaṭaks, an influential body, whose existence
depends on the continuance of the system, and the selfishness of
the Kulins themselves, who prefer certain wealth and ease to the
precariousness of a learned, or the exertion of a mercantile, life.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
235
It is a remarkable fact, that in spite of inbreeding, sloth,
and debauchery, and notwithstanding the damp and malarious
climate of their homes, the Bráhmanical race of Eastern Bengal
has preserved its physique and talents, impaired, it is impossible
to doubt, but still on a par with the higher Bengali castes.
Sanskrit is still their favourite language, and the chief families
can read enough to guide them through the intricate ceremonials
of their worship. Few Kulin boys attend the more advanced
Government schools, as the obligations of the Mel system call
them away while still young; but boys are either instructed in
village schools, or at home by a Pandit.
The tedious ceremonies connected with the marriage of a
Rarhí Kulin are for the most part correctly detailed by Mr.
Ward, but there are several points requiring mention which the
vicissitudes of the last seventy years have effected. Before any
steps can be taken to marry a Kulin, the Ghatak must ascertain
first, whether the girl has at any time been engaged, or divorced;
second, whether she is younger than the bridegroom elect; third,
whether her name differs from his mother's, and fourth, whether
her Gotra is different from his. Owing to the extinction of
corresponding Mels a Kulin is nowadays permitted to violate
the second and third enactments.
A Kulin father, again, can only preserve his Kul intact by
one of three ways:
1. By giving his legitimate daughter to one of equal
rank.
2. By making an effigy of his child with Kuşa grass (Kusa-
Kanyá), and giving it in marriage to a Kulin male of
equal rank.
3. By saying before Ghatak witnesses "I would give my
daughter, if I had one, to you," addressing a Kulin
present, and by making a Tilak, or symbol of marriage,
on his forehead.
This last rite, called Káraṇa, still observed in Eastern Bengal,
but fast falling into disuetude in other parts of the country,
was lately celebrated by a Zamíndár of Mymensingh, who paid
twenty-two thousand rupees to the Bráhmans for permission.
Many Mels having died out, a son of a family whose Páltí-
Prakriti is dead, must marry the only daughter of a widow;
while in the case of an only daughter of a Kulin widow, for
whom no eligible husband is procurable, the mother may marry
her to a Șrotriya, and accept "paņa" without endangering the
family prestige.
In Dacca the Kulin bridegroom is married from the bride's
house, while the Srotriyá parents bring their daughter to the
bridegroom's village, and she is married in the house of a friend.
236
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
The marriages of Kulins are invariably arranged by Ghataks;
those of Srotriyás usually by relatives; but as a Șrotriyá family
is dishonoured if it does not marry a daughter to a Kulin, the
Ghataks must negotiate with his parents.
From the foregoing remarks it is obvious that the position
of a Kulin parent with a large family of daughters is a most
unenviable one. The Sastras insist on the early marriages of
girls, and censure those who are dilatory. The Kulin therefore,
must either pay a large "pana" to a Kulin boy, or, if too poor
to do so, bribe an octogenarian, or dying Kulin, already possess-
ing a bevy of wives, to condescend to marry his daughter just
come of age. Immorality is the natural result, and the number
of illegitimate children in Kulin villages is believed to be
excessive. The illegitimate son of a Bráhman woman by a
Súdra, is facetiously known as Krishna-paksha,' and generally
becomes a Vairágí, while the bastard of a widow by a Kulin is
secretly adopted, and the breath of scandal hushed. The occur-
rence of such an event in a Șrotriyá family, however, cannot be
concealed, and its effects are disastrous to its respectability.
Rárhi Bráhmans have sadly fallen from the standard of
purity enjoined by the Bráhmans of Mathurá and Brindában.
In accordance with the Sástras any Bráhman may accept alms,
educate boys in the sacred language, or duties, and instruct man-
kind generally in virtue and morality. All other occupations
are sinful. In Eastern Bengal, however, Bráhmans take service
as domestic servants, chiefly as cooks, and do most kinds of
husbandry, such as cutting corn and brushwood; but holding
the plough, though occasionally resorted to by the very poor, is
regarded as derogatory, but does not entail loss of caste. Bengali
Bráhmans are as strict as their Hindustání brethren in expelling
individuals found selling milk, ghí, iron, lac, or common salt.
A Bráhman, moreover, officiating as a temple priest (Pújárí) in
a shrine erected and endowed by one of the Nava-Sakha, or a
Bráhman Devala, living on oblations offered to an idol, is at
once expelled. The profession of a physician was formerly
abhorrent to the priesthood; but nowadays many highly educated
graduates of the Calcutta University are Bráhmans, who, how-
ever, lose caste if they dissect bodies.
The Rárhí Bráhmans have diverged still farther from their
Kanaujiyá brethren in the matter of diet. Ducks, as well as
duck's eggs, onions, a variety of the teal (Nárkúlí) caught by
the Bhinds, the spotted rail, or Kharail (Porzana maruetta), the
Mogá" fish, and the flesh of sacrifices, are eaten in Bikrampúr,
although their stricter brethren are vegetarians.
1 Literally, the dark half of the month.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
237
Salted, or dried, fish and meat, and the flesh of birds trapped
by birdlime, are rejected by all Bráhmans. The Kámrúpí
Bráhmans, on the other hand, eat the flesh of buffaloes, geese,
and pigeons, but neither the Vaidika Bráhmans, from whom
they are descended, nor any other tribe have as yet followed
their example. Furthermore, those Rárhí Bráhmans, who con-
form to certain rules of the Șákta ritual, drink spirituous liquors,
although the tasting of "Madhu" causes forfeiture of caste in
Hindustan, and the smoking of Indian hemp (Gánjha), also
prohibited, is year by year becoming more common in Bengal.
The majority of Bengali Bráhmans comply with the Sáma-
Veda; but a few, chiefly of the Puşí Lál gotra, follow the Yajur-
Veda. Bráhman boys are invested with the sacred cord when
seven years old, or more correctly when seven years and three
months old, or eight years after conception. The length of the
cord depends on the Veda followed, and Bráhmans who obey the
Sáma-Veda acquire a “paitá” either reaching from the top of
the right thumb, when the arm is extended, to the tip of the left
shoulder, or from the top of the sternum to the right thumb.
Those, again, who follow the Yajur-Veda, wear it long enough to
reach from the right shoulder to the extended right thumb;
and the followers of the Rig-Veda from the navel to the anterior
fontanelle.
The "paitá" must consist of three plies of three strands
joined by knots (gánth), the number depending on the gotra of
the Brahman. Thus, the descendants of the Kanaujiyá Bráhmans
belonging to the Sánḍilya, Kaşyapa, and Bharadvaja gotras have
three knots in each ply; while those of the Vátsya and Savarṇa
have five.
Bráhmans observe the Deş-áchár, or custom of the particular
country in which they reside, if it is not contrary to the Sástras;
and high caste Kanaujiyá Bráhmans living in Bengal do not
lose their good name by officiating as Purohits to low caste
Hindustání castes, though they would certainly do so in Hin-
dustan. Rárhi Kulins, as a rule, have no Jajman, or com-
munities for whom they perform religious services, but degraded
Kulins often, and Srotriyás always, have a circle of families,
who remunerate them for attending to their religious wants.
The Guru of the Rárhí Srení is usually a hereditary office, held
by the representative of an old respected Kulin family. Should
he die leaving a son, the community take especial care to have
him properly educated, and instructed in his duties. The Puro-
hit, too, occupies a hereditary office, and is generally a member
of a family living in the immediate neighbourhood of his flock.
Nine-tenths of the Rárhí Bráhmans either worship Ṣiv, or
follow the Sákta ritual of the Tantras. Few Vaishnavas are
:
238
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
met with, as it is deemed a misdemeanour for an adult Bráhman
to forsake the worship of his fathers; but a certain number do
join the ranks of the corrupt Vaishnava sects. It is essential in
Bengal for a Bráhman, who values orthodoxy, to worship Siv
and the Sáligrám, the special deities of the order.
The Rárhí Brámans assert that the large majority follow the
Dakshináchar form of Șákta worship, as being less intricate than
the Vámáchar, or Kaula, but other classes of natives deny this,
maintaining that in Dacca at least the licentious orgies of the
Kaula, or Chakra, Pújáh, as it is popularly called, have more
patrons than any other. When the habits of intoxication and
licentiousness so prevalent among the higher ranks of the Rárhí
Bráhmans are considered, it is impossible to resist the conclusion
that the popular charge is quite credible. At these impure
revels all castes meet on a footing of equality, but at those
directed by Súdras, a degraded Bráhman presides, while at the
worship of. Şáktí, the living personification of the goddess, a
Bráhmaní girl, is the object adored. The worshippers being
bound by an oath not to divulge the mysteries, it is difficult to
ascertain what classes, and what numbers, of Bráhmans patronise
the assemblies.¹
The proper deities for a Bengali Bráhman to worship are
Kálí, Manasa Deví, and the Sáligrám, and this may be done in
any temple, or house, of a clean caste; but he dare not officiate
at the shrine of any other deity.
(b.) VARENDRA.
The popular, story is, that the five Kanaujiyá Bráhmans,
introduced by Ádisúra, settled on the east of the Ganges, and
forming alliances with the women of the country, their offspring
became the Varendra Bráhmans.
Varendra, or the country north of the Padma, between the
rivers Karatoya and Mahánanda, and embracing the modern
Zila's of Rajshahí, Pubna, and Bograh, is the home of this tribe;
but as the Ráṛhí have passed beyond the limits of their proper
residence into Dinajpúr, so the Varendra have crossed into the
northern part of Mymensingh, belonging to the ancient kingdom
of Kámrúp.
Ballál Sen classified the Varendra Bráhmans under three
heads-
Kulína,
Şuddha Srotriyá,
Kashta Srotriya.
For further particulars see Wilson's "Sects of the Hindus," vol. i,
pp. 240-263.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
239
The Kulina were subdivided into eight Gáins, or village com-
munities, namely—
Maitra,
Bhíma,
Rudra-Vágísí,
Santámani, or
Láhari,
Bhadri,
Sádhu-Vágísí,
Bhadra.
Sándilya,
The Suddha, or stainless, Srotriyás were also separated into
eight classes-
Karanjau,
Nandanavásí,
Champati,
Jampati,
Bhattaṣali,
Naori,
Atharthi,
Káma-devta.
Finally, the Kashta, or bad, Srotriyás were resolved into
eighty-four families.
A Káp is a Varendra Kulin, who has lost his Kul by making
an irregular marriage with a Kashta Srotriyá. He retains the
same rank among his provincials as a Vansaja does among the
Rárhí.
The following story explains the origin of the Káp. One
Narasinha Naral, a Brindában Bráhman, having a grown-up but
unmarried daughter, came to Bengal, and while crossing the
Padma river, the ferryman upbraided him for keeping her so
*** long a maid, and asked in mockery whether he intended wedding
her to Madhu Maitra, or Ráma-dhana Vágísí, the two chief
Kulins of the Varendras. Narasinha, losing his temper, vowed
that he would either marry her to Madhu Maitra, or commit
suicide. He accordingly put his daughter, a cow, and a Sáligrám,
on board a boat, and proceeded to Guranai, near Nátor, where
Madhu lived. He met the Bráhman by chance at a bathing
ghat, and threatened to sink the boat with its contents, unless
he agreed to marry the girl. Madhu sent for his sons, and
insisted that one of them should marry her; but all refused, so
he himself took her to wife.
At the festival, when food is first taken from the bride's
hands, she scoffingly sang—
"Who is honourable, and who is not,
To whom shall I give Bháji,' and Paramánna ?” 2
The guests believing her to be a Muhammadan damsel in
disguise, departed in anger, and declined to hold any further
intercourse with the household.
The annual Sráddha in memory of his father coming round,
Madhu anxious to pacify his relatives, and to induce them to
· Rice gruel.
2 Rice and milk.
240
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
attend, went to the house of his brother-in-law, Ráma-dhana, to
ask his advice, but finding him from home, accepted refreshment
offered by his sister, and on leaving, gave her this riddle-
“If Ráma-dhana comes, he will perform his father's Șráddha;
if not, he will never do it!"
On his return, Ráma-dhana being unable to solve the puzzle,
went to Madhu's house, and learned its meaning. Thereupon he
summoned the chief Kulins, and making light of the misunder-
standing, told the guests that they had practised a foolish joke
(Káp). The anger of the guests was not appeased, and ever
after they lived apart, forming the Káp subdivision.
An offshoot, called Chhíța Káp, formerly existed, but Rájah
Káns Nárayana of Táhirpúr, got it readmitted into communion
with the main body.
Varendra Bráhinans have not adopted the extravagant custom
of Pálti-Prakṛití; but among the Kulins eight Pátí, or social
grades, are distinguished:-
Nirabhil,
Janail,
Bosnah,
Rahala,
Baini,
Atub-Kahní,
Kutb-Kahní,
Panchuria.
Each Gáin of Varendra Kulins belongs to a Páțí, but a Pátí
is not always identical with a Gáin, for some members of the
Maitra are found marrying with the Nirabhil grade, and others
with the Janail. Similar conventionalities are observed by the
Șrotriyás.
The gotras of the Varendra are the same as those of the
Rárhí Srení, namely, Kaşyapa, Vátsya, Sánḍilya, Bharadvája,
and Savarna. Their ordinary titles are, Chakravartti, Parihal,
Bhattacharya, Chaudharí, Majumdár, Bhúmika, and Sikhdár.
The Varendra differ in many respects from the Rárhí. With
the former, a widow remarries, if the husband dies before
puberty. This is called "Ánupúrva Viṣishta." Again, a Rárhí
Kulin boy is often married to an old woman, but this is never
allowed by the Varendra. Both tribes, however, agree that a
Kulin cannot wed a girl with the same name as his mother
(Matri-náma), nor a kinswoman of his own gotra (Sa-gotra).
When a Varendra Kulin takes to wife the daughter of a Káp,
he sinks to her level, but the children have special respect shown
them, and are therefore more eligible in marriage. On the other
hand, when he weds a Srotriyá maiden, as is lawful, the children
are Kulins. Marriages between the Rárhí, Varendra, and Vaidik
Bráhmans are strictly forbidden.
When a Kulin cannot get a suitable husband for his daughter,
he must either marry her to a figure made of Kuşa grass with
the usual formalities, or, after having the marriage service per-
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
· 241
formed, smear red lead on her forehead, which is the symbol of
the married state.
Varendra Bráhmans usually follow the Sáma-Veda, but a few
study the Rig, Yajur, and even the Atharva-Veda. Different
creeds (Mata) are obeyed. One, known as Rájah Ráí Ka
Mata, is the same as that of Rájah Rám Krishna; a second is
the creed of Bhinad Ráí, a Rájah of Táhirpúr, and a third,
derived from the second, is called the Mata of Balihár Rájah.
Vaishnavas are more frequently met with among Varendras
than in any other class of Bengali Bráhmans.
Varendra Brahmins have acquired and retained a more
important rank in Bengal than has fallen to the lot of the
Rárhí Sreni.
In Rájsháhí, there are still the Rájas of Nátor, Patiya, Táhir-
púr, and Chauganga, and in Mymensingh the Rájah of Susang,
all of whom belong to old and respected Varendra families.
(c.) VAIDIKA.
This, one of the most honoured and homogeneous divisions
of Bengali Bráhmans, is distinguished by its adherence to Vedic
rites and Vedic literature, by social independence, and abjuration
of polygamy. Some authorities have described them as des-
cendants of the original Bráhmans of Bengal, who refused to
submit to the reforms of Ballál Sen, and sought for freedom in
the frontier lands of Bengal beyond his jurisdiction. Whether
this be correct or not, it is certain that Silhet and Orissa con-
tain the most important colonies of the tribe, and Buchanan
mentions¹ a tradition lingering among the Vaidika Bráhmans of
Dinajpúr, that they had been introduced into that district by
Advaita Subuddhí Nárayana, Rájah of Silhet. In Orissa, again,
the Vaidik, or high, Bráhmans are said to be immigrants from
Bengal or Kanauj, and date their oldest settlements in Purí from
about the twelfth century. Others conjecture that many fled
from Orissa through fear of being made Vámáchárís, or left-hand
worshippers of the Sáktí of Siva.
3
2
A whimsical story is told at the present day by the Ghataks
of the Vaidik Bráhmans to account for their gotras, which is
evidently of modern invention, being the counterpart of one
related of the Rárhí Șrení Bráhmans. A vulture happened to
die on the roof of the palace occupied by Shamal Varman, a
Chhatrí Rájah, ruling over the Banga Déşá, in an undetermined
era before Ádisúra, and none of the local Bráhmans being able
1 Vol. ii, 734.
2 "Hunter's Orissa," vol. ii, app. i, p. 7.
3 Ward, vol. i, 79,
8
242*
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
to avert the calamity thus foreboded, the monarch wrote to his
friend the Rájah of Ayodhyá, and besought him to send five
Bráhmans, competent to offer the needful sacrifice, and save the
household from the vengeance of the offended deity. The Bráh-
mans arrived, and were so successful, that amid the smoke of
the burnt offering the embodied spirit of the dead vulture was
seen to soar heavenwards! To these five Bráhmans the Rájah
gave large tracts of land, and to six of their tribe, who sub-
sequently arrived, he allotted other tracts, hence the modern
ṣeparation into two subdivisions of five and six gotras.
The Kanaujiyá are admitted by all Hindus to be the purest.
stock of Bráhmans in Northern India, and each offshoot tries by
some extravagant story to prove its genuine relationship with the
parent stem. Sherring¹ ascertained at Benares that the Vaidika
were admitted to be a branch of the Kanaujiyá Bráhmans
settled in Bengal, but in Dacca this is not always conceded.
The Vaidika Bráhmans have two great divisions, the Páschá-
tya, or western, and Dákshinátya, or southern; the former, alone
met with in Eastern Bengal, point to Kanauj as their home; the
latter, chiefly inhabiting Central Bengal, claim to belong to the
original Bengal stock.
The Páschátya, as has been mentioned, are subdivided into
Pancha and Shash gotras. The Pancha, or five, gotras are-
Sándilya,
Savarṇa,
Bharadvája,
Şaunaka,
Vasishtha.
The Bharadvaja obeyed the Sáma Veda, but having become.
extinct, the first gotra of the Shash has taken its place.
The Shash, or six, gotras are-
Sunaka,
Rathíkara,
Krishnátreya,
Váchyara,
Kasyapa,
Gautama.
No two Ghataks, however, repeat the same names, as other
gotras have been formed, and usurped a position which cannot
be justified. Upamanya, Maitrayalí, Ghrita Kauşikí, and
Tuțhíkara are names of uncertain standing.
The Páschátya Vaidiks were originally grouped in fourteen
Stháns, or settlements, whence fourteen societies emanated. At
the present day, owing to the destructive agency of the River
Ganges, the sites of these colonies have been in several instances
swept away, leaving no trace behind; but the position of the
following eleven has been ascertained:
In Báqirganj ..
Sámanta Sára,
Chandra-dvípa,
Kotálipáda,
"Hindu Tribes and Castes," p. 23.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
243
In Rájsháhí ..
In Farrídpúr ..
In Nadiyá
In Jessore
:
Jayárí,
Âlambí,
Brahma Púraka,
Gaurálí,
Paní Kanṭaka,
Akhará,
Navadvípa,
Madhyadéṣa.
The sites of Sántalí, Dadhíchigrám, and Maríchigrám have
not as yet been determined.
At present many families live beyond the limits of these
settlements, intermarrying with aliens like themselves, but, on
payment of a heavy fine, they become re-entitled to the full
privileges of the Samáj, or association.
Vaidik Bráhmans are very exclusive, neither giving their
daughters in marriage to Kulins, nor acting as Purohits to any
Súdra, or Bráhman, family, unless the latter can trace their
origin to Kanauj. Furthermore, they do not officiate as Pujárís
of temples, and although it is considered undignified to live
on the charity of Súdras, a few do so. This sept of Bráhmans
minister as the Purohits and Gurus of the Rárhí, and Varendra
Șrení, and usually have members of these tribes officiating in
the same capacity for them. They have no Kulins, and no
Ghataks, and their titles are identical with those of other
Bengali Brahmans; for instance, Chakravarttí, Bhattáchárya,
or simply, Thákúr.
They study the Rig, Yajur, and Sáma Vedas, while the
large majority are Sakta worshippers, obeying the ordinances
of the Tantras. Vishnu is occasionally worshipped, but for at
Vaidik to abandon the time-honoured religion of his family,
and become a disciple of a Gosáin, is regarded as highly de-
rogatory, and disgraceful.
A Vaidik is prohibited from marrying into his own or his
mother's gotra, as among Rárhí Bráhmans. He can only marry
one wife, and it is customary for parents to arrange marriages
during infancy, and sometimes before children are born. In the
latter case, should either die before puberty, a subsequent
marriage is full of difficulties. Formerly, no money was paid
for a wife, but of late years the practice has become fashionable.
As a rule, the Vaidiks do not touch flesh, even if sacrificed,
or fish, and when visiting his disciples he seldom wears shoes,
or sandals.
The principal occupation of the Vaidik Bráhmans is the
celebration of the old and venerated Vedic ceremonies, which
their study of the Vedas enables them do, but astronomy,
formerly a favourite attainment, is no longer prosecuted. In
C
244
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
the Homa and Jaga rites the ministration of a Vaidik is necessary,
and even the Rárhí and Varendra Kulins require their assistance.
No temple is correctly built, no dwelling-house is auspiciously
finished, and no tank is properly excavated unless the Vaidik
performs the regulated propitiatory rite of consecration; and
should an individual be ill he may offer sacrifice for his recovery
in the place of the family Purohit. The Nava-graha Jag, or
Graha Pújah, the worship of the nine planets, one of their most
ordinary rites, consists in piling nine kinds of sacred woods,¹
pouring "Ghí," or clarified butter, over them, and then applying
fire, while the Vaidik standing at one side repeats Mantras, or
collects, adapted to the particular day of the week.
The Vástú Pújah, or ceremonies observed on laying the
foundations of a house, are generally performed by them, but if
a Vaidik is not available any Bráhman may officiate. On the
site of the new building a pit, a cubit square, being dug, and
filled in with billets of Bél and Mangoe, chips of the nine
sacred plants are thrown in, "Ghí" poured on the pile, and a
light being applied, wheat, barley, linseed, and honey are after-
wards cast into the flames. Until this expiatory rite is com-
pleted the laity are not allowed to enter the enclosure.
If a Ráṛhí Kulin be on friendly terms with a Vaidik he may
eat food in the latter's house, without offence, but they cannot
eat together in the caste assembly, as in public the Vaidik can
only touch food cooked by one of his own caste.
Every Vaidik learns Sanskrit, but a knowledge of English,
or Persian, is highly dishonouring. Vaidiks boast that they
never accept service with Hindus or Englishmen, but a few of
late years have become Pandits in government schools, an
innovation, however, very unpopular with the conservative party
of elders. Notwithstanding this exclusiveness the Vaidik be-
comes independent, and resigned to altered circumstances and
new influences whenever he quits home, and is untrammelled
by family customs, accepting without compunction any re-
munerative employment which offers. In Dacca, a Vaidik
Bráhman from Murshídábád keeps a liquor shop, but this
scandalous occupation does not disqualify him from acting as
Purohit to numerous families of Dakhin Rárhí Sonár-baniks,
who reside in the immediate neighbourhood.
1 The nine sacred woods are :-
Paláṣa
Kuşa
Vata
Dúrvá
Akanda
Butea frondosa.
Poa cynosuroides.
Ficus Indica.
Tajnoḍumbara Ficus glomerata.
Apánga Achyranthes aspera.
Mimosa catechu.
Khádira
Panicum Dactylon.
Şamí
Asclepias gigantea.
Adenanthera aculeata.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
245
(d.) SAPTA-ȘATÍ BRÁHMANS.
The Sapta-Şatí Bráhmans are peculiar to Bengal, and ex-
traneous to the ten Bráhmanical tribes. They occupy a low
position, admitting their inferiority to the main branches, and
their pedigree, though ancient, is uncertain. Ghataks maintain
they are descended from Bráhmans banished across the Brahma-
putra for resisting the innovations of Ballál Sen; but the popular
story is that their ancestors were the seven hundred (Sapta-Satí)
ignorant Bráhmans sent by Ádisúra to the court of Kanauj.
Sherring, however, mentions a tradition that originally they
associated with one of the superior races, but lost their status
through the ceremonial delinquencies of the members. At the
present day they are still numerous on the north of the Brah-
maputra in Tipperah, Silhet, and Mymensingh; but few acknow-
ledge the name.
1
Whatever was their rank in former days, they have relin-
quished all class peculiarities, and are gradually being absorbed
among the Srotriyá Bráhmans. In Bikrampúr, where many
reside, they are said to be divided into twenty-seven septs; but
as no one of respectability, or education, will confess that he is
a Sapta-Satí, it is impossible to arrive at a correct conclusion.
Sherring, on the other hand, enumerates sixteen septs, of which
only nine correspond with the following list.
The twenty-seven septs are-
Sagáí,
Sogáí,
Mulk-júrí,
Kandaka,
Nánashi,
Chairika,
Jagáí,
Bántopi,
Helaí,
Latárí,
Kálai, or Karlá,
Pitárí,
Dhai,
Baghráí,
Bánasi,
Pharphara,
Dhánasí,
Bachaní,
Kanthuri,
Jarjara,
Katání,
Kuşala,
Uchala,
Halika,
Chairaka,
Banika.
Ulaka,
Sherring likewise gives the gotra to which each sept belongs;
but in Bikrampúr the Ghataks allege that having forgotten the
names of their saintly progenitors, the Sapta-Satí assumed those
of the Kanaujiyá Bráhmans. This misstatement, evidently of
1 "Hindu Tribes and Castes of Benares," p. 112.
2 "Topography of Dacca," by James Taylor, p. 229.
ន
246
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
modern origin, is quite consistent with the claim they at present
put forth of being Srotriyá Bráhmans.
Neither Sapta-Satí Kulins nor Ghataks exist. They, how-
ever, give their daughters in marriage to Kulins of the Rárhí
Șrení, and by paying a heavy dowry, often amounting to one
thousand rupees, obtain brides from Srotriyá families. But cases
occasionally occur of their being imposed upon by some treache-
rous Ghatak, who abducts, or buys, a Súdra girl from another
part of the country, and palms her upon them as a maiden of
aristocratic, and pure Bráhmanical, lineage. A Kulin Bráhman
of the Rárhí Srení will, it is said, eat and drink with the Sapta-
Şatí; a Vanṣaja never.
Srotriyá Bráhmans usually officiate as Purohits, but in some
parts the Sapta-Sați have Bráhmans of their own. Formerly
the teaching of the Yajur Vedar was followed, but of late years
their religious rites, having been assimilated to those of the
Rárhí Bráhmans, the Sáma Veda is obeyed.
The ordinary title of the Sapta-Satí is Şarınan, never Dev-
Sarmmá, as among the ten tribes; but Sirkár, Ráí, Chaudharí,
and Chakravartí are common appellations.
(e.) BHÁT.
This is a race differing in many respects from the Bhát, or
bards, of Hindustan, and repudiating the usually acknowledged
descent from a Kshatriyá and a Bráhman widow. Like the
Vaidik Bráhmans they chiefly inhabit Silhet and Tipperah,
claiming to be the offspring of the aboriginal Bráhmans employed
as Ghataks for the order generally. They likewise affirm that
they retired, or were driven, into the borders of Bengal for
refusing to submit to the reforming hand of Ballál Sen. In
Silhet the Rárhí Bráhmans still eat with the Bháts, but in
Dacca the latter are reckoned unclean, and in Tipperah, having
fallen in rank, they earn a precarious livelihood by manufacturing
umbrellas.
The Bháts are not numerous in any part of Bengal, only
3,372 individuals being entered in the census returns, of whom
44 per cent. reside in Midnapore, and 540 persons in four out of
the nine eastern districts.
In January the Bháts leave their homes, travelling to all
parts of Eastern Bengal, and, being in great request, are fully
engaged during the subsequent Hindu matrimonial season. Each
company receives a fixed yearly sum from every Hindu house-
hold within a definite area, amounting usually to eight anas.
In return they are expected to visit the house, and recite Kavitás,
or songs, extolling the worth and renown of the family. Satirical
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
247
songs are great favourites with Hindus, and none win more
applause than those laying bare the foibles and well-intentioned
vagaries of the English rule, or the eccentricities and irascibility
of some local magnate. Very few bards can sing extemporary
songs, their effusions, usually composed by one, and learned off
by heart by the others, being always metrical, often humorous,
and generally seasoned with puns and equivocal words. Their
sole occupation is the recital of verses, unaccompanied by in-
strumental music. They are met with everywhere when Hindu
families celebrate a festival, or domestic event, appearing on such
occasions uninvited, and exacting by their noisy importunity a
share of the food and charity that is being doled to the poor.
Their shamelessness in this respect is incredible. During the
Durga Pujah they force their way into respectable houses, and
make such a horrid uproar by shouting and singing that the
inmates gladly pay something to be rid of them. Should this
persecution have no effect on the rich man inside, they, by
means of a brass lotah and an iron rod, madden the most
phlegmatic Bábu, who pays liberally for their departure. The
Bengali Bhát is, as a rule, uneducated, and very few know
Sanskrit.
They have three gotras, Kasyapa, Sánḍilya, and Bharadvája,
and are all Ṣákta worshippers, addicted to intemperance.
A Bhát would be dishonoured by acting as a Pujárí, or priest
of a temple; or a Purohit.
After residing for six months in Bengal they return to their
homes in Silhet with a fund of twenty or thirty rupees, which
is augmented by the rent of a piece of land cultivated by other
members of his family. The head of the house never cultivates
land himself, as is done by the Hindustání Bhát, on which
account no fraternization between the two is possible.
(ƒ.) ÁCHÁRJ, ÁCHÁRYA.
4
This term is properly applied to the Brahman who instructs
the Kshatriyá and Vaiṣyas in the Vedas; but in Bengal it is
the name of a low and despised tribe of Bráhmans. Persons of
this class are known as Lagan-Áchárjí, Ganaka (astrologer), or
Daivajna (calculator of nativities), and, in Purneah, as Upád-
hyaya, or teachers.
Various traditions as to their origin are current. According
to one they are descendants of Rárhí Bráhmans, and to another,
they spring from the degenerate priesthood residing in Bengal
anterior to the reforms of Ballál Sen. Others claim to be
descended from a Muní, called Devala, and a Vaiṣya mother;
but this parentage gives them no right to the rank of Bráhmans,
S 2
248
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
although they are popularly recognized as such by the Súdras,
who usually address them as "Ganak Thákúr."
The caste attributes its insignificance and decreasing numbers
to a curse laid on it, and at the present day they have not more
than sixteen houses in the city of Dacca. The members are
therefore obliged to intermarry with Áchárjí Bráhmans in other
districts.
This caste recognizes six gotras, namely:
Sándilya,
Bharadvája,
Kasyapa,
Madhu-Kulya,
Savarna,
Váchava.
In Eastern Bengal the class is an illiterate one, Sanskrit
being rarely studied, but when it is, the Achárjí ceases to be a
fortune teller, and becomes a Pandit.
At three domestic ceremonies the Achárjí attends, and
receives presents. At a Sráddha, the offering made to the Sun
(Súrya-Argha) is his perquisite, when the Anna-práșana, at
which a child is first given rice to chew, and when the young
Bráhman is invested with the sacred thread (Upanaya), his
presence is necessary. The offerings he receives on these
occasions consist of napkins and clothes, but, if the family be
poor, he is content with the former, and a few anas. Strange to
say, these despised Bráhmans share with the Dôms the oblations.
made during eclipses of the sun or moon.
Their chief occupation is casting nativities, deciphering
horoscopes, and drawing up almanacs and ephemerides. In the
month of Baisákh, the first of the Hindu calendar, they foretell
the peculiarities of the ensuing year to each household, acquaint-
ing the members with the good or evil fortune that will befall
them, and giving warning of the auspicious and unpropitious
regents of the sky, land, and water, and many other astrological
signs, which have always found credulous believers among the
ignorant and superstitious races of men. All Hindus, and most
Muhammadan families of the old school, consult these astrologers
on the birth of a son, and as much as a hundred rupees are given
for an unexceptionable horoscope. Like the gypsies, they still
pretend to read fortunes by palmistry, and to be masters of other
equally occult sciences. With them a circular mark round the
tip of any finger presages wealth and power, a perpendicular
wrinkle in the centre of the forehead entitles the lucky person
to the title of Ráj-dand (royal sceptre), or Ráj-bhágí (sharer of
empire). Although discredited by the higher and instructed
classes, these fortune-tellers exert enormous influence over the
happiness and well being of the masses. There is usually some-
thing displeasing about the physiognomy of these Brahmans.
They are as black as any Súdra, and their pretended sanctity
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
249
and learning are not belied by their calm and phlegmatic
manner. With the greatest presence of mind, they refer any
failure in their predictions to some trifling error in the calcula-
tions, and, by rearranging their figures, prove that the event
would necessarily have occurred had it been correctly demon-
strated.
The Achárjí is frequently a gold or silver, smith, and he is the
acknowledged painter and delineator of the different gods and god-
desses; the Kumhár fashioning the idol, while the Achárjí paints
and embellishes it. He also depicts the scenes exhibited on the
Misls, or platforms, carried about on great festival days. Their
skill is small, as they have no schools of art, and it is imperative
that the portraits of the Hindu gods and goddesses shall be of a
stereotyped outline, otherwise the populace would not recognise
them; but the background may be designed according to the
fancy and taste of the artist. It is here that they fail, and their
pictures are, as a rule, the sorriest daubs, without any idea of
perspective, or anatomy. They possess, however, a slight know-
ledge of the composition of compound colours, but their art is
subservient to Hindu taste, which demands a profusion of bright
and abruptly alternating colours. Their paint-brush, made of
goat's hair, is called "Tulí."
The Achárjí is also a house decorator, ornamenting cornices,
and painting designs of flowers and animals on the walls of
rooms.
Astronomy is a sealed book to him, and he has no knowledge
of any astronomical books or instruments. Finally, he is often
a physician, but his skill is not greater than that of the thousand
quacks around; and formerly he inoculated children.
It is a remarkable fact that Achárjí Bráhmans are generally
Vaishnavas in creed, differing in this respect from all others of
the sacred order, while their religious ceremonies are identical
with those of the Bengali Bráhmans. Owing to the paucity of
their numbers, a young man has often to pay from two to three
hundred rupees for a wife, and many, not being able to meet
this expenditure, die unmarried, and their families become
extinct.
The Rangsáz, or oil painter, quite distinct from the Muham-
madan Naqqásh, is usually an Áchárjí. He is always addressed
as Ustádgar. The Rangsáz formerly prepared his own colours,
but now English paints, being cheaper and more durable, are
procured from Calcutta.
(9.) AGRADÁNA.
This, the lowest and most unhonoured class of Bráhmans,
is usually regarded as a degraded branch of the Sawálákhya
250
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
Bráhmans of Hindustan, who became dishonoured from claiming
as their perquisite the offerings presented at the Angaprayaș-
chitta, when the next of kin presents offerings at the first
Sráddha. In Bengal they are in irony called Mahá-purohit,
Mahá-Bráhmana, Mahá-Șráddhí, or Mahá-putra, and from acting
at the funerals of Bráhmans, and members of the Nava-Șákha,
Marápoḍa Bráhmans. In Hindustan the individual discharging
similar duties is known as Mahá-pátra, or Kantaha.
The services of these men can nowadays be dispensed with,
as the family Purohit often reads the Mantras at the burning
Ghát.
The Agradána, assuming a higher social rank, refuse to eat
with the Achárjí; but the latter do not decline alms given by .
the former. The Áchárjí again eats with the Súdra, or Patit,
Bráhman, who would be excommunicated if he held any social
intercourse with the Agradána.
According to their own account, these Bráhmans are degraded
Rárhí, and their gotras still bear the names of the most holy
Munís. These are five in number—
Sándilya,
Bliaradvája,
Kasyapa,
Savarṇa,
Váchava.
Their marriages and religious rites are the same as those of
the Rárhí Bráhmans. A work, called Sráddha-Veda, written in
Bengali, is adopted as their guide book. At Ṣráddhas they
receive a day's food and from one ana to twenty-five rupees.
The Agradána is usually as illiterate as the Áchárjí. When
learned in Sanskrit, he assumes, or is given, the title of Pandit.
The caste has no established Pancháít, but when disputes occur
five elders meet and consult together.
CHÁÍN, CHÁÍ.
This is one of the largest and most scattered fisher tribes of
Northern India. In Bengal they number 67,300 persons, chiefly
congregated in Maldah and Murshídábád, while in the nine
Eastern districts only 450 are returned. In Bihár as many as
41,686 are registered, being massed in Patna and Mungír, while
the Santal pergunnahs contain 17,576. According to Buchanan¹
Nator in Rajsháhí was, in his day, the centre of the tribe; but
Maldah now returns more than any other district of Bengal.
The Cháín are found in Oudh, where Carnegy² connects them
with the Tháru, Rájí, Nat, and other unclassified tribes, inhabiting
1 "Eastern India,” i, 173.
2 "Races of Oudh," pp. 8, 14.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
251
1
-1
the base of the Himalayas, and traces in their physiognomy
features peculiar to Mongolian races. Sherring, again, in one
place speaks of them as a subdivision of Malláhs, in another as a
predatory tribe of Oudh and Gorakhpúr. Beverley, on the other
hand, thinks they resemble the Binds, although the Cháíns are
most numerous south of the Ganges, the Binds in Northern Bihár.
It is most probable that, like other fisher castes, the Cháíns are
remnants, or offshoots, of an aboriginal race, having no relation-
ship with the true Aryan Hindus.
2
Wherever found, the Cháíns are notorious as thieves, and
"extraordinary clever impostors and thimbleriggers," although
Mr. Beverley asserts that this bad character is not altogether
deserved. The term "Cháí-paná," however, is a common term
for stealing among the Hindi speaking natives, while throughout
Bengal individuals belonging to the caste are watched with great
suspicion.
At their homes Cháíns are cultivators, as well as boatmen
and fishermen, catching mullet with the "Sirkí" mat, as the
Binds do. In Oudh, and the north-western provinces, they are
cultivators and prepare Khair, or catechu. În Eastern Bengal
they appear as traders in grain and pulse.
As among other impure tribes, a Dasnámí Gosáin acts as
Guru, a degraded Maithila Bráhman as Purohit. In Oudh they
worship Mahábíra, the Monkey god, Sat Narayana, and Deví
Pátan, while they drink spirits, and feast on pork. Those who
come to Bengal, like other fisher tribes, are followers of the
Pánch Píriya creed, and worshippers of Koila Bábá, freely
indulging in spirits whenever a favourably opportunity presents
itself.
CHÁMÁR (H), CHÁMÁR (B), CHARMA-KÁRA (S).
This Hindustani tribe is found in all parts of Bengal, living
apart in villages of their own, everywhere following the same
customs, and prosecuting the same trade. The north-west
provinces is the home of the Chamár, and in 1865 they num-
bered 3,580,385 individuals. In Bihár, again, according to the
census of 1872, there were 711,721, while in Bengal proper,
Chámárs and Rishis only numbered 393,490. In the nine
eastern districts 47,053 were returned, of whom 24,063, or 50·6
per cent., belonged to Dacca.
"Hindu Tribes and Castes," pp. 346, 390.
2 "Note on Inferior Castes, &c, in the N. W. Provinces," by E. A.
Reade, C.S. p. 39.
2
252
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
The Chamár is descended, according to the Puráņas, froin a
boatman and a Chandál woman; but Menu represents them as
being Nisháda, or outcasts, the offspring of a Bráhman and a
Súdra mother. In Oudh, at the present day, their descent is
traced to the fabulous hero Nikhad and a Dab-gar, or currier
woman.¹ There cannot, however, be any doubt that Chamárs
belong to a semi-Hinduised aboriginal tribe reduced to the level
of other helot races, and expelled from the homes of the Aryan
Hindus.
The Chamár is proverbially a black man, but in the Central
provinces he is described as a brown, not a dark skinned person,
while in Eastern Bengal he is not so swarthy as the average
Chandál, and is infinitely fairer, with a more delicate and
intellectual cast of features, than many Srotriyá Bráhmans.
Chamárs trace their own pedigree to Raví, or Ráí, Dás, the
famous disciple of Rámánanda at the end of the fourteenth cen-
tury, and whenever a Chamár is asked what he is, he replies a
Raví Dás. Though despised and spurned by all classes, the
Chamár is proud and punctilious, never touching the leavings of
a Brahman's meal, nor eating anything cooked by a Bengali
Bráhman, although he has no objections if a Hindustání Bráh-
man prepares it.
According to the Chamárs of Eastern Bengal, the caste has
the following seven "gots" or subdivisions:-
Jatha,
Kuláha,
Jaiswára,
Jhúsia,
Dohár,
Kanaujiyá,
Korí.
In Dacca the Chamárs all belong to the Jhúsia "got," and
came originally from Gházípúr, Mungír, and Arrah. Many have
permanently settled in Bengal, but others only remain a few
years until money is saved, when they return to spend it at
their homes. Chamárs are very gregarious, being generally
massed in the large towns, but occasionally small settlements
are found scattered throughout the interior.
In Dacca, Chamárs are employed in tanning leather, making
shoes, and grooming horses. The Chamrá-farosh hire them to
preserve hides, but there is such bitter enmity between the
caste and the Rishis, that they are rarely engaged to skin
animals.
The Chamár is inconceivably dirty in his habits, and offends
others besides the Hindu by his neglect of all sanitary laws.
Large droves of pigs are bred by them, and it is no uncommon
sight to witness children and pigs wallowing together in the
mire. Hides, in various stages of preparation, hang about the
Carnegy's "Traces of Oudh," spp., p. 85.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
253
hut, yet strange to say the women are very prolific, and with
the exception of a fisher village, nowhere are so many chubby
children to be seen as in a filthy Chamár hamlet. Chamárs eat
both beef and pork, and like the European gypsies have no
repugnance to cooking the flesh of animals dying naturally.
""
Hindustání Chamárs are always employed as musicians at
Hindu weddings, their favourite instruments being the "Surnáe,'
or pipe, and varieties of the drum, such as "Dholak" and "Tása,"
but in Eastern Bengal no male or female Chamár ever performs
as a professional musician, and it is only at domestic festivities
that they play on the "Dhol," or drum; the "Jhanjh," or cymbals ;
the “Ektára,” or harp; and the "Khanjarí," or tambourine.
By far the most interesting features of the Chamár caste are
their religious and social customs. They have no Purohit, their
religious ceremonies being directed by one of the elders; but
Gurus, who give Mantras to children, are found, and a Hindus-
tání Bráhman is often consulted regarding a lucky day for a
wedding. Chamárs have always exhibited a remarkable dislike
to Bráhmans, and to the Hindu ritual. They, nevertheless,
observe many rites popularly regarded as of Hindu origin, but
which were probably festivals of the village gods kept for ages
before the Aryan invasion. The large majority of Bengali
Chamárs belong to the Sat Nárayana sect, and "Sants" are very
numerous among them. Futhermore, the Mahant of that sect is
always regarded as the religious head of the whole tribe. In
Biláspúr of the central provinces, Chamárs constitute twenty-
seven per cent. of the Hindu population, and in 1825 one of
their number, named Ghásí Dás, founded a religion which he
called Sat-námi.¹ The principal doctrines of his creed were
social equality, no idolatry, and the worship of one God, who
was not to be represented by any graven image or likeness.
Ghásí Dás died in 1850, but his work still lives. Though
imbued with many superstitions, the Chamárs have generally
adopted this new faith, repudiated Bráhmanical interference,
and enlisted many brethren of other districts into their ranks.
The Sat-Nárayana sect is also a deistical one, and it is a curious
coincidence, that the tribe should have adopted, in places so far
apart, a creed that is almost identical.
A few Dacca Chamárs belong to the Kabir "Panth," but
none have joined any of the Vaishnava sects.
The principal annual festival of the Chamárs is the Ṣrí-
panchami, when they abstain from work for two days, spending
them in alternate devotion at the Dhámghar, and in intoxication
at home. Another of their festivals is the Rámanauamí, or
1 "Gazetteer of the Central Provinces," p. 101; "The Highlands of Central
India," by Captain J. Forsyth, p. 412.
S
254
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
birthday of Ráma, held on the ninth lunar day of Chaitra
(March-April), when they offer flowers, betle-nut, and sweet-
meats to their ancestor, Raví Dás.
A few days before the Dashará the Chámaíns perambulate
the streets, playing and singing, with a pot of water in the left
hand, a sprig of "Ním" in the right, soliciting alms for the
approaching Deví festival. Money, or grain, must be got by
begging, for they believe the worship would be ineffectual if the
offerings had to be paid for.
On the "Nauamí," or ninth lunar day of Áswin (September-
October), the day preceding the Dashará, the worship of Deví
is observed, and offerings of swine, goats, and spirits, made to
the dread goddess. On this day the old Dravidian system of
demonolatry, or Shamanism, is exhibited, when one of their
number working himself up into a frenzy, becomes possessed by
the demon and reveals futurity. The Chamárs place great value
on the answers given, and very few are so contented with their
lot in life as not to desire an insight into the future.
When sickness, or epidemic diseases, invade their homes, the
women fasten a piece of plantain leaf round their necks, and go
about begging. Should their wishes be fulfilled, a vow is taken
to celebrate the worship of Deví, Șítala, or Jalka Deví, which-
ever goddess is supposed to cause the outbreak. The worship
is held on a piece of ground marked off, and smeared with cow-
dung. A fire being lighted, and "Ghí" and spirits thrown on it,
the worshipper makes obeisance, bowing his forehead to the
ground, and muttering certain incantations. A swine is then
sacrificed, and the bones and offal being buried, the flesh is
roasted and eaten, but no one must take home with him any
scrap of the victim.
Jalka Deví seems identical with the Rákhya Kálí of Bengali
villagers, and is said to have seven sisters who are worshipped
on special occasions.
At Chamár marriages an elder presides, but a Bráhman
usually selects the day. The father of the bride, as a rule,
receives a sum of money for his daughter. During the marriage
service the bridegroom sits on the knee of the bride's father,
and the bridegroom's father receives a few ornaments and a cup
of spirits, after which each of the guests is offered a cup.
A "Marocha" is not made, but a Hindustaní barber prepares
and whitewashes a space, or "Chauk," within which the pair sit.
He also stains the feet of the bride and bridegroom with" Álta,"
or cotton soaked in lac dye, and is responsible that all the
relatives and friends are invited to the marriage.
Chamárs have no ceremony at the naming of a child, the
name being selected by a relative or intimate friend.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
255
The only class of natives, not Muhammadans, who still prac-
tise the Sagáí, or Levirate marriage, are the Chamárs. When
an elder brother dies childless, the younger must marry the
widow after a year, or eighteen months, unless they mutually
agree not to do so, in which case she returns to her father's
house, where she is free to remarry with anyone she pleases.
On her remarriage, the family of her first husband cannot
claim any compensation, as is the custom with the Jews and
other races, who follow this marriage law. When a younger
brother marries his widowed sister-in-law, no service is per-
formed. The formality is gone through of consulting the Pan-
cháít, with the object of deciding whether the marriage is well-
timed or not. An elder brother, again, is prohibited from
marrying his younger brother's widow, the sole purpose of the
Levirate marriage being the perpetuation and exaltation of the
head of the family. Among Muhammadans the Levirate
marriage is ordained but rarely performed. According to their
legislators the sister-in-law must live for a whole year as a
widow, when she may become the " Nikah " wife of her husband's
brother, for that is the only position she can aspire to. Chamárs
do not consider concubinage (Ardhí) disgraceful, but being
usually poor, few can afford themselves the luxury.
Chamárs still observe the pleasing custom called "Bháí-
photá,” on the last day of the Hindu year, when sisters present
their brothers with a new suit of clothes and sweetmeats, and
make with a paste of red sandal wood a dot on their foreheads;
a similar usage, known as "Bhrátṛí-dvitíyá," is practised by
Bengalis on the second day after the new moon of Kártik.
Chamárs usually bury their dead, and if the husband is
buried, his widow will be laid beside him if she had been taught
the same Mantra, otherwise her body is burned.
Throughout Hindustan parents frighten naughty children
by telling them that Nona Chamáín will carry them off. This
redoubtable old witch is said by the Chamárs to have been the
mother, or grandmother, of Raví Dás, but why she acquired such
unenviable notoriety is unknown. In Bengal her name is never
heard of, but a domestic bogey haunts each household. In one
it is the "Burhí," or old woman, in another, "Bhúta," a ghost,
in a third, "Pretní," a witch, and in a fourth, "Gala-Káta
Káfir,” literally, the infidel with his throat gashed.
The Chamáíns, or female Chamárs, are distinguished through-
out Bengal by their huge inelegant anklets (Páirí) and bracelets
(Bangrí), made of bell-metal. The former often weigh from
eight to ten pounds, the latter from two to four. They also
wear the "Tiklí," or spangle, on the forehead, although in Bengal
it is regarded as a tawdry ornament of the lowest and most
256
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
immoral women. Chamáíns consider it a great attraction to
have their bodies tattooed, consequently their chests, foreheads,
arms, and legs, are disfigured with patterns of fantastic shape.
In Hindustan the Natní is the great tattooer, but not being met
with in Bengal, the Chamáíns are often put to great straits,
being frequently obliged to pay a visit to their original homes
for the purpose of having the fashionable decoration indelibly
stained on their bodies.
Chamáíns are the midwives of India, and are generally
believed, though erroneously, to be skilled in all the mysteries of
parturition. They have no scruples about cutting the navel
cord as other Hindus have, but in the villages of the interior
where no Chamáíns reside, the females of the Bhúinmálí,
Chaṇḍál, and Ghulám Káyath act as midwives, and are equally
unscrupulous. It is a proverbial saying among Hindus that a
household becomes unclean if a Chamár woman has not attended
at the birth of any child belonging to it.
Chamár women are ceremonially unclean for ten days sub-
sequent to childbirth, when after bathing, casting away all old
cooking utensils and buying new ones, a feast, called " Bárahiya,"
is celebrated, upon which she resumes her usual household
duties.
CHANDÁLA.
The Chandals, one of the most interesting races in Bengal,
are more generally known as Nama-Súdra, or Changa. The
derivation of the former name is uncertain, but it is probably
the Sanskrit Namas, adoration, which is always used as a
vocative when praying, or the Bengali Námote, below, under-
neath. Changa again, in Sanskrit, signifies handsome, and was
most likely used in irony by the early Hindus. The following
synonyms are given by Amara Sinha, Plava (one who moves
about), Mátanga (? elephant hunter), Janmagama (life-taker),
Nishád-svapácha (dog-eater), Antevásí (one residing on the con-
fines of a village), Divákirti, and Púkkasa.
From the earliest recorded times the Chandálas have been.
an outcast and helot race, performing menial duties for the
Bráhmans, and living apart outside cities occupied by the para-
mount Aryan race. They are represented by Menu as the
offspring of a Súdra male and a Bráhman female, and as “the
lowest of men," who are excluded from the performance of
obsequies to their ancestors, and whose touch was as defiling as
that of a corpse. In the Mahá Bhárata they are introduced as
hired assassins, whose humanity, however, revolts against put-
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
257
ting an innocent boy to death. In the Rámáyana they are
described as ill-formed and terrible in aspect, dressing in blue,
or yellow, garments with a red cloth over the shoulders, a bear's
skin around the loins, and iron ornaments on the wrists. Even
the liberal minded Abúl Fazl describes the Chandáls of the
sixteenth century as "vile wretches who eat carrion." At the
present day the term Chandál is throughout India used only in
abuse, and is not acknowledged by any race, or caste, as its
peculiar designation. In Hindustan it is the common name of
the Kantha Bráhman, and everywhere it is an epithet cast at the
Dôm. The higher subdivisions of the Nama-şúdras apply it to
the lower, while the lower transfer it to the Dôm.
The Dacca Chandáls retain an obscure tradition of having
originally migrated from Gayá, and make mention of a certain
Govardhan Chandál as an ancestor of theirs. There can be no
doubt, however, that they belong to a powerful aboriginal, or
Dravidian, tribe, who, driven before the Aryan invaders, or by
later persecution, sought shelter in the marshy forests of Bengal.
The fact that they alone among the population of lower Bengal
use the Káyathí Nágarí, the common written language of
Dinajpúr, and that a Chandál Rájah ruled from the fort, whose
ruins are still shown in the Bhowál jungle, prove that they were
in early times a strongly organized commonwealth driven forth
from their homes in the north in search of freedom, and security
of religious worship. Mr. Wells' quotes a tradition of Hindu
invention, current among the Chandáls of Farrídpúr, to the
effect "that they were originally a complete Hindu community
consisting of persons of all castes, from the Bráhman downwards,
who, on having the misfortune to be cursed in a body by a
vengeful Bráhman of unutterable sanctity in Dacca, quitted
their ancestral homes, and emigrated bodily to the southern
wastes of Farrídpúr, Jessore, and Baqirganj.
""
According to a tradition of the Dacca Chandáls they were
formerly Bráhmans, who became degraded by eating with
Súdras, but others assert that in days of yore they were the
domestic servants of Bráhmans, for which reason they have
perpetuated many of the religious observances of their masters.
For instance, the Chandál celebrates the Sráddha on the eleventh
day, as Bráhmans do, and the Gayáwál priests conduct the
obsequial ceremonies of the Bengali Chandáls without any
compunction.
Mr. Beverley, again, is of opinion that Chandál is merely
a generic title, and the tribe identical with the Mals of the
Rájmahal Hills, an undoubted Dravidian clan, and demonstrates
from the census figures that in many districts the number of
¹ Appendix to Census Report of 1872, p. vi.
258
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
Chandáls is in the inverse ratio to the Mals. There appear to
be some grounds for this supposition, but an obvious error occurs
in the return of 4,663 Mals in Dacca, where none exist, and the
omission of any Málos, who are numerous. The latter, though
undoubtedly a remnant of some aboriginal race, have not as yet
been identified with the Mals.
Dr. Buchanan considered the Chandál of Bengal to be
identical with the Dosádh of Bihár. Although both are equally
low in the scale of caste, and characterized by an unusual
amount of independence and self-reliance, very great differences
actually exist. The Dosádh worships deified heroes belonging
to his tribe, the Chandál never does. The Dosádh invokes
Ráhu and Ketu, the former being his tutelary deity, while we
find no such divinity reverenced by the Chandál. Finally, the
Sraddha of the Dosádh is celebrated on the thirtieth day as with
the Súdras, that of the Chandál on the eleventh as with Bráhmans.
The Chandals of Eastern Bengal have separated into eight
classes, that never eat, and seldom intermarry, with each other :
1. Hálwah from Hál, a plough, are cultivators.
2. Ghási are grass-cutters.
3. Kandho, from Skandha, the shoulder, are palanquin
bearers.
4. Karrál, are fishmongers.
5. Bárí, probably a corruption of Barháí, a carpenter.
6. Berua from Byada, Ber, an inclosure.
7. Pôd.
8. Baqqál.
The Halwah claim precedence over all the others, not only
as being of purer descent, but as preserving the old tribal cus-
toms unchanged. They associate with and marry into Karrál
families, but repel the other classes. The Pôd, numerous in
Hughlí and Jessore, but unknown in Dacca, are cultivators,
potters, and club-men (Láṭhíyals).
Although subdivided according to trades Chaṇḍáls actually
work at anything. They are the only Hindus employed in the
boats (Bajrá) hired by Europeans, they form a large proportion.
of the peasantry, and they are shopkeepers, goldsmiths, black-
smiths, oilmen, as well as successful traders. They are, however,
debarred from becoming fishermen, although fishing for domestic
use is sanctioned. In the census returns of 1872, the Chandáls,
correctly included among the semi-Hinduized aborigines, are
met with in every district of Bengal, forming, however, a very
small fraction of the population in the most northern, western,
and south eastern divisions. They are chiefly congregated in
the districts of Báqirganj (326,755); Jessore (271,325); Dacca
(191,162); Farrídpúr (156,223); Mymensingh (123,262); and
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
259
Silhet (122,457), forming a total of 1,191,184 persons, or 73 per
cent. of the whole Chandál race in Bengal, which comprises
1,620,545 individuals.
The Chandals of Eastern Bengal have only one gotra, the
Kaşyapa, and the large majority are Vaishnavas in creed. They
have a Patit Bráhman of their own, but he is not so necessary
to them as to the Súdra castes. The washerman and barber are
Chandáls, as professional workmen decline to assist them. The
Bhúinmálí is loth to work for them, there being much secret
jealousy between the castes, which in some places has broken
out into open feuds. At village festivals the Chaṇḍál is treated
as equal in rank with the Bhúinmálí and Chamár, and obliged
to put off his shoes before he sits down in the assembly. The
clean Șúdra castes occasionally, and the unclean tribes always,
sit with the Chandál, and at times will accept his dry pipe.
Nevertheless, vile as he is according to Hindu notions, the
Chandál is polluted if he touches the stool on which a Súnṛí
is sitting. Futhermore, the Súdra Bráhmans will nowadays eat
food in a rich Chandál's house, and a Srotriyá will accept of a
meal, but not partake of it within his walls, although were he to
do so in the utterly vile Sáha's house, he would be irretrievably
lost.
The Chandál is very particular as regards caste prejudices.
He never allows an European to stand or walk over his cooking
place on board a boat, and if his master inadvertently does so,
while the food is preparing, it is at once thrown away. He is
also very scrupulous about bathing before meals, and about the
cleanliness of his pots and pans. Still more, he takes a pride in
his boat, and the tidy state in which he keeps it contrasts
forcibly with the appearance of one manned by Muhammadan
boatmen.
Many customs characteristic of non-Aryan tribes are being
gradually abandoned by the Nama-Súdra. Widow marriage,
formerly universally practised, has within a few years been pro-
hibited, and the Chandální bride, who in old days walked, is
now carried in state in a palanquin. Although he has adopted
many Hindu ideas, the Chandál still retains his partiality for
spirits and swine's flesh.
After the birth of a male child, the Chandál mother is cere-
monially unclean for ten days, but for a female child the period
varies from seven to nine days. Should the child die within
eighteen months, a Șráddha is observed after three nights, but
should it live longer, the obsequial ceremony is held at the
expiration of ten days. On the sixth day after the birth of a
boy, the Shashṭhí Pújah is performed, but omitted if the child
be a girl. Whenever a Chamáín, or Ghulám Kayasth female, is
260
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
not at hand, the Chandální acts as midwife, but she never takes
to this occupation as a means of livelihood.
The Chandáls retain many peculiar religious customs,
survivals of an ancient and time-worn cultus. At the Vástu
Pújah on the Paush " Sankránt," when the earth personified is
worshipped, the Chandáls celebrate an immemorial rite, at which
the caste Bráhman does not officiate. They pound rice, work it
up into a thin paste, and colouring it red or yellow, dip a reversed
cup into the mess, and stamp circular marks with it on the
ground around their cottages and on the flanks of the village
cattle. This observance, not practised by any other caste, has
for its object the preservation of the village and its property
from the enmity of malignant spirits.
Throughout Bengal the month of Srávan (July-August) is
sacred to the goddess of serpents, Manasa Deví, and on the
thirtieth day, the Chandáls in Eastern Bengal celebrate the
“Náo-Ka-Pújah," literally boat worship, or as it is more generally
called, “Chandál Kúdní," the Chandáls rejoicing. As its name
imports, the occasion is a very festive one, in Silhet being
observed as the great holiday of the year. The gods and god-
desses of the Hindu mythology are paraded, but the queen of
the day is the great snake goddess, Manasa Deví. A kid, milk,
plantains, and sweetmeats are offered to her, and the day is
wound up with processions of boats, boat races, feasting, and
drinking. On the Dacca river the sight is singularly interest-
ing. Boats manned by twenty or more men, and decked out
with flags, are paddled by short rapid strokes to the sound of a
monotonous chaunt, and as the goal is neared, loud cries and
yells excite the contending crews to fresh exertions. The Kuțí
Muhammadans compete with the Chandals for prizes contributed
by wealthy Hindu gentlemen.
The Chandál is one of the most lovable of Bengalis. He
iş a merry, careless fellow, very patient and hard working,
But always ready, when his work is done, to enjoy himself.
Chandals are generally of very dark complexions, nearer black
than brown, of short muscular figures and deep expanded chests.
A few are handsome, but their dark sparkling eyes and merry
laugh make ample amends for their generally plain features.
Singing is a favourite amusement, and a Chaṇḍál crew is rarely
without some musical instrument with which to enliven the
evening after the toils of the day. When young, the Chandál
is very vain of his personal appearance, always wearing his hair
long, and when in holiday attire, combing, oiling, and arranging
it in the most winsome fashion known. Many individuals
among them are tall and muscular, famed as clubmen and
watchmen. During the anarchy that accompanied the downfall
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
261
of the Maghal power, the rivers of Bengal swarmed with river
Thugs, or Dákáíts, who made travelling unsafe, and inland trade
impossible. The Chandáls furnished the majority of these mis-
creants, but since their dispersion the Chandál has become a
peaceable and exemplary subject of the English Government.
DHOBÁ, DHOBÍ, DHÁVAKA.
The polite term for a washerman in Bengali is Sabhá-sundar,
and is in common use among the people; but in Sanskrit it is
Rajaka.
In Eastern Bengal the caste has two great divisions (Sreņí),
Şíta, and Ráma; the former claiming to be the descendants of
the washermen of Síta, the latter of the washermen of Ráma.
The two divisions eat and drink together, but never intermarry.
There is only one title (Padaví) among them, Sákalya, derived
from the name of a Muní, whose sons, owing to a curse, became
degraded washermen. In Dacca, moreover, they have only one
gotra, the Aliman.
The Dhobí is reckoned as vile, because he washes the puer-
peral garments, which, according to Hindu ideas, is the occupa-
tion of the outcast and most abandoned races. The Dhobí,
notwithstanding, assumes many airs, and lays down a fanciful
standard of rank to suit his pleasure. Thus in Bikrampúr he
declines to wash for the Patní, Rishi, Bhúinmálí, and Chandál,
but works for the Sáha, because the Nápit does so, and for all
classes of fishermen. He further refuses to attend at the
marriages of any Hindus but those belonging to the Nava-
Şákha, or nine clean castes; and under no circumstances will he
wash the clothes worn at funeral ceremonies.
The village Dhobí often holds Chákarán land, receiving
presents at all village festivals.
The presence of the washerman is indispensable at marriages
of the higher classes, as on the bridal morn he sprinkles the
bride and bridegroom with water collected in the palms of his
hands from the grooves of his washing board (Pát), and, after
the bride has been daubed with turmeric, the Dhobí must touch
her to signify that she is purified.
Dhobies have a Bráhman of their own, who officiates at all
religious ceremonies. As a class they are Varishnava in creed,
a few only being Șákta.
Those resident in the city, numbering about two hundred
and fifty families, intermarry freely with their brethren living in
Τ
262
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
villages. Bright colours being admired by washermen, the
fashionable bridal dress is either red or yellow, rarely white;
while the bridal crown (Mukuța) is of the same colour as the
dress. The marriage ceremonies are in every respect the same
as those of other Șúdra castes.
The city Dhobies have no permanent union (Dal); but when-
ever disputes arise, or their interests are endangered, they quickly
form one, reserving for such occasions a headman, or Pará-
mánik.
Among the natives of Bengal the washerman, like the
barber, is proverbially considered untrustworthy, and when the
former says the clothes are almost ready he is not to be believed.
The Bengali Dhobi is not so dissipated as his Hindustani
namesake, whose drinking propensities are notorious, but he
is said to indulge frequently in Gánjha smoking.
The washerman is hardworking, regular in his hours of
labour, and generally one of the first workmen seen in the early
morning, making use of a small native bullock, as the donkey
does not thrive in Bengal, for carrying his bundles of clothes to
the outskirts of the town. He cannot, however, be said to be a
careful washerman, as he treats fine and coarse garments with
equal roughness, but for generations the Dacca Dhobies have
been famous for their skill, when they choose to exert it, and
early in this century it was no uncommon thing for native
gentlemen to forward valued articles of apparel from Calcutta to
be washed and restored by them. At the present day, Dhobies
from Kochh Bihár, and other distant places, are sent while young
to learn the trade at Dacca.
For washing muslins and other cotton garments, well or
spring water is alone used; but if the articles are the property
of a poor man, or are cominonplace, the water of the nearest
tank or river is accounted sufficiently good. The following is
their mode of washing. The cloth is first cleansed with soap,
or fuller's earth, then steamed, steeped in earthern vessels filled
with soap-suds, beaten on a board, and finally rinsed in cold
water. Indigo is in as general use as in England, for removing
the yellowish tinge, and whitening the material. The water of
the wells and springs, bordering on the red laterite formation,
met with on the north of the city, has been for centuries cele-
brated, and the old bleaching fields of the European factories
were all situated in this neighbourhood. Dhobies use rice starch
before ironing and folding clothes, for which reason no Bráhman
canper form his devotions, or enter a temple, without first of all
rinsing in water the garment he has got back from the washer-
man.
Various plants are used by Dhobies to clarify water, such as
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
263
the "Nir-mali” (Strychnos potatorum), “Pui” (Basella), “ Nág-
phaní" (Cactus Indicus), and several plants of the Mallow
family. Alum, though not much valued, is sometimes used.
The Dhobí often gives up his caste trade, and follows the
profession of a writer, messenger, or collector of revenue (Tahsil-
dár), and it is an old native tradition that a Bengali Dhobí was
the first interpreter the English factory of Calcutta had, while it
is further stated, that our early commercial transactions were
solely carried on through the agency of low caste natives. The
Dhobí, however, will never engage himself as an indoor servant
in the house of an European.
DOAI, DOÍ.
This is a low, mixed class of cultivators, met with in various
parts of Eastern Bengal, especially along the banks of the
Lakhya river. They either reside in villages separate from those
of the Hindus, or in outlying quarters of Hindu villages, along
with the Patní, Rishi, and Bhúinmálí. About a hundred and
fifty houses inhabited by them are scattered throughout the
jungle at Palás on the Lakhya; but they are still more numerous
farther up the river, at Toke and Kapásia, while in the whole
Dacca district they occupy about 1,500 houses, with a popula-
tion of nearly 6,500 individuals. None of the caste are met
with farther south than Nángalbandh, opposite old Sunnárgáon,
and they place their original home at, or near, Susang Durgapúr,
in Mymensingh.
1
The Doaf of the Eastern districts is distinct from the "Dauyi,"
described by Buchanan, as the most depraved of the Kochh,
and the most impure of the Rájbansí. They are not mentioned
by Colonel Dalton. The Doaís of Rangpúr, Mr. Damant, C.S.,
states, have no Bráhmans, but employ members of their own
caste as Purohits, and any stray Bairágí as Guru, the Șráddha
being held on the eleventh day after decease. They eat pork
and drink spirits, while their principal occupation is carrying
palankins and fishing. The physiognomy of the "Dauyi
differs from that of the Kochh, with whom they have no tribal
affinity.
>>
The Doaí of Dacca are quite different, being undoubtedly a
composite race. Some are short, squat men, with an Indo-
Chinese type of features; others are tall and muscular, with
1 Vol. iii, pp. 545, 586.
T 2
264
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
large black eyes, aquiline noses, and a profusion of hair on the
face, while their complexion is of a light brown. The average
height of five adult men, taken at random, was five feet three
and a half inches, a standard the same as the average of Ben-
galis.
་
There can be little doubt that the Doaís are allied to the
Hajang, a mongrel Garo tribe,¹ inhabiting villages in the Mymen-
singh and Silhet districts, bordering on the Garo hills, who,
under Brahmanical influence, have broken off from their brethren
the hillmen. The Doaí are also known as "Lakhí-putra," or
children of Lakshmí, and Páția Dás, from the matting (Pát),
which they make. The derivation of the word Doaí is obscure.
Hodgson gives "Doí" as the Bodo for water, and it may be that
on becoming fishermen this name was given, as Jaliyá has been
to the Bengali fisher tribes. At the present day the Doaís have
become so thoroughly Hinduized, and have so completely lost
their original language and customs, that very little information
can be got from them. They have Patit Bráhmans of their own,
who confess to having been their priests for three generations
only. The weddings and funerals are the same as those of other
low caste Hindus, the Șráddha being likewise celebrated on the
thirtieth day. The Doaí will drink from the vessels of the
lowest Súdras, but even the Bhúinmálí is disgraced if he drinks
from theirs. They disavow the use of pork and spirits, although
their neighbours affirm that indulgence in both is universal.
They all belong to one gotra, the Aliman, and their sole title is
Dás. Disputes are settled by a headman, Pradhán, whose office
is not hereditary.
Their religious festivals are Hindu, the majority being
Vaishnavas, while a Gosáin or Bairágí is the Guru. Before
felling a Gujálí or Sál tree, offerings are made to Chandí, or
Durga, the Brahman officiating; while (if their word is to be
believed) no religious rite is ever celebrated without the
guidance of the family priest.
Living as they always do on the edge of the forest, they cut
firewood for the market, but never become fishermen for profit,
nor engage themselves as boatmen. Having lost their ancestral
language, they occasionally learn to read and write Bengali,
being employed as Tahsíldárs, or rent-collectors, by landlords;
while the illiterate become watchmen and messengers. The
villagers assert that the Doaí only speak Bengali, never using
words foreign to the vernacular.
1 Doi is & division of the Kochh-Mandai.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
265
DOM, DOMRÁ, DOMA, DOMBRA, DAMA.
There is a painful interest attaching to this helot race, which
has for ages been treated as the very dregs of humanity, and
condemned to perform the most degrading and disgusting servile
duties. That the race is not of Aryan descent is evident from the
prevalent type of physique and complexion, but its exact position
among the families of the Indian peninsula is still undeter-
mined. Dr. Caldwell¹ connects the Dôms, Pariahs, and Chandálas
with the Dravidian race, and conjectures that prior to the Aryan
invasion they were reduced to the condition of slaves; but
another theory allies them with certain aboriginal races inhabit-
ing India anterior to the Dravidian migration, who took refuge
from the intruders in mountain fastnesses and pestilential
jungles, which races have been included by Lenormant in "la
race mélanienne aux chevaux plats et non laineux," analogous to
the blacks of Australia. It is remarkable that in Kamáon the
Dôms, said to be of the same lineage as the Ráwat, or Rájí, a
tribe of undoubted aboriginal blood, whom they serve as slaves,
differ from their masters in having curly hair inclining to wool,
and in being all extremely dark. The Dôm of Bengal, however,
has none of these characteristics. His hair is long, lank, and
coarse,while his complexion is oftener of a brown than a black hue.
Sir H. Elliot, on the other hand, traces the original home of
the Dôm to the banks of the Rohini in Oudh, but the correct-
ness of this supposition has been disputed, and a possible con-
nection between the Dôm and Donwár, or Rájput cultivators of
Gorakhpúr, has been hazarded.5 Buchanan, again, identified
Dôms with the Domtikár, a division of Sarwaria Bráhmans."
4
3
There can be no doubt, however, that the term Dôm is
indiscriminately applied to many predatory and outcast tribes,
who have nothing in common, but their degraded position in the
eyes of the people. For instance, in the valley of the Brahma-
putra, boatmen and fishermen are always called Dôms, or Dôm-
Paţní; in Chittagong Dôm is the title of all fishermen, irrespec-
tive of caste; in Oudh of sweepers; and in Arakan of pagoda
slaves. The genuine Dôms have, moreover, broken up into
many tribes.
The Maghaiyá Dôms are professional thieves,
with the same vagabond propensities as the gypsies; the
Múshahar Dôms of Bihár are hunters who wander throughout
1 "Graminar of the Dravidian Languages," p. 546.
2 "Manuel d'Histoire Ancienne," tome ii, 401.
Asiatic Researches," xvi, 160.
4 (6 Supplemental Glossary," i, 8.
5 "Notes on the Races of Avadh." By P. Carnegy, p. 24.
6 "Eastern India," ii, 453.
7" Journal A.S. of Bengal," x, 679.
266
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
1
Eastern Bengal shooting tigers, and trapping wild animals; and
the town, or scavenger, Dôm, or Murda-farosh, is the carrier and
undertaker employed at the burial of the dead, with whom Dôms
manufacturing mats, baskets, and drums, repudiate all relationship.
According to the census returns of 1872, there were in
Bengal 222,899 Dôms, in Bihar 100,114, and in Orissa 10,615.
It is probable, however, that under this head have been included
other outcast tribes, as the Patní, for in Dacca, where 641 are
returned, it is certain that not a single real Dôm is domiciled
outside the city, while within its limits not more than twenty
houses are occupied by them, which indicates a population of
about a hundred souls. A tradition survives among the Dacca
Dôms, that in the days of the Nawabs their ancestors were
brought from Patna for employment as executioners (Jallád) and
disposers of the dead, hateful duties which they perform at the
present day. On the paid establishment of each magistracy a
Dôm hangman is borne, who officiates whenever sentence of
death is carried out. On these occasions he is assisted by his
relatives, and as the bolt is drawn, shouts of " Doháí Mahárání!"
or “Doháí Judge Sáhib!" are raised to exonerate them from all
blame.
By all classes of Hindus the Dôm is regarded with both
disgust and fear, not only on account of his habits being
abhorrent and abominable, but also because he is believed to have
no humane or kindly feelings. To those, however, who view
him as a human being, the Dôm appears as an improvident and
dissolute man, addicted to sensuality and intemperance, but
often an affectionate husband and indulgent father.
As no
Hindu can approach a Dôm, his peculiar customs are unknown,
and are therefore said to be wicked and accursed.
For example, it is universally believed in Bengal that Dôms
do not bury or burn their dead, but dismember the corpse at
night, like the inhabitants of Tibet, placing the pieces in a pot,
and sinking them in the nearest river or reservoir. This horrid
idea probably originated from the old Hindu law which com-
pelled the Dôms to bury their dead at night. According to
their own account, which must, however, be accepted with
hesitation, the dead are cast into a river, while the bodies of the
rich or influential are buried. When the funeral is ended each
man bathes, and successively touches a piece of iron, a stone, and
a lump of dry cow-dung, afterwards making offerings of rice and
spirits to the manes of the deceased, while the relatives abstain
from flesh and fish for nine days. On the tenth day a swine is
slaughtered, and its flesh cooked and eaten, after which quantities
of raw spirits are drunk until every body is intoxicated.
Their marriage ceremonies are also peculiar. The guests
१
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
267
being assembled on a propitious day, fixed by a Bráhman, the
bridegroom's father takes his son on his knee, and sitting down
in the centre of the "Marocha" opposite the bride's father, who
is holding his daughter in a similar posture, repeats the names
of his ancestors for seven generations, while the bride's father
runs over his for three. They then call God to witness the
ceremony, and the bridegroom's father addressing the other, asks
him, “Have you lost your daughter?" The answer being in the
affirmative, a similar interrogation and reply from the opposite
party terminates the service.
The boy bridegroom then advances, smears the bride's fore-
head with "Sindúr" or red lead, the symbol of married life,
takes her upon his knee, and finally carries her within doors.
Like all aboriginal races, Dôms are very fond of gaudy colours,
the bridal dress consisting of yellow or red garments for the
female, and a yellow cloth with a red turban for the male.
In some parts of Bengal the Dôms have a priest called
Dharma-Pandit; in Bihár Dôm-Brahman, but the Dacca com-
munity have not as yet procured the services of one. They are
not on this account less attentive to their religious duties.
Many Dôms belong to the "Panthá," or doctrines of a certain
Súpan, or Sobhana, Bhagat, a famed Guru of theirs; while
others are Hariş-chandís¹ from a Rájah Haris-chandra, who was
so generous that he gave away all his wealth in charity, and
was reduced to such straits that he took service with a Dôm,
who treated him kindly. In return the Rájah converted the
whole tribe to his religion, which they have faithfully followed
ever since.
The principal festival of the Dôms is the Șrávannia Pújah,
observed in the month of that name, corresponding to July and
August, when a pig is sacrificed, and its blood caught in a cup.
This cup of blood, along with one of milk and three of spirits,
are offered to the Deity. Again, on a dark night of Bhádra
(August) they offer a pot of milk, four of spirits, a fresh cocoa-
nut, a pipe of tobacco, and a little Indian hemp, to Harí Rám,
after which swine are slaughtered, and a feast celebrated.
1 Wilson's "Religious Sects," i, 181.
2 It is of this Rájah that the natives of Bengal tell the following story, so
strangely like that narrated in the xviiith chapter of the Koran regarding Moses
and Joshua. He and his Rání, wandering in the forest almost starved, caught
a fish and broiled it on a wood fire. She took it to the river to wash off the
ashes, but on touching the water the fish revived, and swam away. At the
present day a fish called Kálbosa (Labeo calbasu), of black colour and yellow
flesh, is identified with the historical one, and no low caste Hindu will touch it.
In Hindustan the following couplet is quoted, the moral being the same as that
of the English proverb, "Misfortunes never come singly."
Rájah Nal
par bihat pare
Bhune machhle jal men tire."
268
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
Although the Dôm eats the flesh of swine, domestic fowls,
and ducks, he abstains from beef, and, in Assam, from buffalo
meat. He will eat with a Muhammadan in his house, but
refuses to touch, or perhaps more correctly denies in public that
he ever touches, food brought from a Christian's table. He will,
moreover, feast upon the leavings of any Hindu dinner, except
that of the Dhobí, who in his eyes is utterly vile from washing
the Chhathi garments after childbirth.
In Eastern Bengal the Dômni, or female Dôm, only performs
as a musician at the weddings of her own people, it being con-
sidered derogatory for her to do so at any others. At home the
Dômni manufactures baskets and rattles for children.
The presence of the Dôm at any gathering of pure Hindus
defiles them all, but his services at the funeral pyre, when the
whole assemblage is unclean, was formerly essential. Of late
years, at any rate in Dacca, household servants carry the body to
the burning "Ghát," where the pyre constructed by them is
lighted by the nearest relative.
A curious custom, observed by all castes throughout Bengal,
has the Dôm as a participator. Whenever an eclipse of the
sun or moon occurs, each Hindu householder places at his door
a few copper paisa, which are regarded as the perquisite of the
Dôm.¹
The Achárjí Bráhman has recently been claiming this
oblation as his due; but it is admitted on all hands that formerly
he would have spurned the gift. If the worship of Ráhu is
acknowledged to have been adopted by the Bráhmans from the
Dosáds, may not the presentation of offerings to the Dôms be a
survival of a cultus of which this aboriginal race were the
recognised exponents.
It is a strange fact that Dôms have occasionally raised them-
selves to positions of distinction and authority. One Nábhají
Dôm wrote, in the sixteenth century, the Bhakta Málá, a treatise
highly valued by the Rámávats; and another, 'Alí Bakhsh
Dôm, became governor of Rasúlábád, one of the districts of
Oudh.2
DOSÁD, DOSÁDH.
This semi-Hinduized aboriginal tribe is not numerous in
Eastern Bengal, and in the city of Dacca there are not more
than fifteen or twenty families of them who lay claim to a more
dignified position than is conceded in their native districts of
1 Wilson's "Religious Sects," i, 60.
2 Sleeman's "Journey through the Kingdom of Oude," i, 317.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
269
1
Tirhut and Mungír. They are employed as house bearers, syces,
pankhá coolies, and porters. As a rule the young men are hand-
some, of a yellowish-brown complexion, with wide expanded
nostrils, and the tip of the nose slightly retroussé.
Dosáds claim to be descended from the soldiers of Bhím Sen,
and to be allied to the Cherú-Chaṇḍáls, while at least one of
their deities connect them with the Puraniyá district.
following six subdivisions are recognised :-
Maghaiyá,
Palawár,
Kúrí,
Kanaujiyá,
Keot,
Kúril.
The
The majority of Dosáds belong to the first, a fact which
Buchanan thought indicated that Magadha was their native
land. In Maithila, where the Dosáds are styled Hazárás, three
small tribes, known as Kámar, or beef-eaters, Palawár, and
Kúrin, had separated from the parent stock and been excom-
municated. By many Bahaliyás the claim of being Dosáds is
insisted on, and in Bengal the Bahaliyá and Dosád eat and
smoke together.
In Bihár, Dosád has come to be synonymous with Chaukídár,
as all the watchmen belong to that tribe. Although Dosáds are
no longer employed as executioners and carriers of dead bodies,
they are often found feeding pigs and curing pork.
The most interesting point about the Dosáds, however, is
their peculiar religious ceremonies. The demon Ráhu is their
patron deity, and in fulfilment of vows, sacrifices are offered to
him, when a Bhagat or Chatiyá presides. Dr. Buchanan re-
garded the worship of Ráhu as a survival of an early aboriginal
cultus, which the Dosáds were one of the last to give up, and,
as they were found reluctant to abandon it, the Brahmans
transformed Ráhu into an "Asura," or demon, and placed him
in their Pantheon. Whenever the worship is to be performed
in Bengal, priests are procured from Bihár, who are always
Dosáds. A ladder, made with sides of green bamboos and rungs
of sword-blades, is raised in the midst of a pile of burning
mangoe wood, through which the Bhagat walks barefooted, and
ascends the ladder without injury. Swine of all ages, a ram,
wheaten flour, and rice-milk (Khír), are offered up, after which
the worshippers partake of a feast, and drink enormous quan-
tities of fiery spirits.
Next in importance to the worship of Ráhu is that of various
deified heroes, in honour of whom huts are erected in different
parts of the country. At Sherpúr, near Patna, is the shrine of
Gauraiá, a Dosád bandit chief, to which members of all castes
resort, the clean making offerings of meal, the unclean sacri-
*
270
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
ficing a swine, or several young pigs, and pouring out libations
of spirit on the ground. In the Taráí, Salesh, said to have been
the porter of Bhím Sen, but afterwards a formidable robber, is
invoked, a pig being killed, and rice, ghi, sweetmeats, and
spirits offered. In other districts Choár Mal is supplicated, and
a ram sacrificed. In Mirzápúr, the favoured deity is Bhindá-
chal; in Patna it is either Bándí, Kárú, Bhairav, Jagdá Má,
Kálí, Deví, Pataneṣvarí, or Ketú.
It is worthy of notice that in none of these shrines are there
any idols, and that the officiating priests are always Dosáds,
who minster to the Súdra castes frequenting them.
The Sákádvípa Bráhmans act as the hereditary Purohits of
the Dosáds, and fix a favourable day for weddings, and the
naming of children. To the great indignation of other tribes
these Bráhmans assume the aristocratic title of Misra, which
properly belongs to the Kanaujiyá order. The Guru, called
Gosáin, Faqír, Vaishnava, or simply Sádhu, abstains from all
manual labour, and from intoxicating drugs. His text book is
the "Gyán-ságar," or Sea of Knowledge, believed to have been
written by Vishnu himself, in his form of Chatur-bhuja, or the
four-armed. It inculcates the immaterial nature of God (Nir-
ákára), which is regarded by the Brahmans as a most pernicious
heresy.
Dosáds follow the ordinary Hindu ceremonies at marriages,
but they often take more than one wife, and the Sagáí, or
Levirate marriage custom, is not unknown at the present day.
The female Dosád is unclean for six days after confinement,
when she bathes, but is not permitted to touch the household
utensils till the twelfth day, when a feast, Bárahí, is given, and
she becomes ceremonially clean.
During the Muhammadan rule in Bengal, Dosáds, or Baha-
liyás, served in the army, and during the Nawabship of 'Alí
Vardí Khán, the native historian2 stigmatises their licentious
conduct as a disgrace to the government.
From the days of William Hamilton³ it has been generally
believed that in the early period of our military history,
Bengali Sepoys almost exclusively filled several of our bat-
talions, and distinguished themselves as brave and .active
soldiers;" but, as pointed out by Mr. Shore,* for years before
the battle of Plassey, the troops in Bengal were chiefly com-
posed of Hindustání recruits enlisted there. Futhermore, the
1 Literally Jnána-sagara.
2 "A Narrative of the Transactions in Bengal," translated by F. Gladwin,
p. 1/77.
3 Vol. i, 95.
4 Shore, F. J. ii, 432.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
271
Sepoys who served under Lord Clive were, according to Mr.
Reade, Dosáds,¹ and they cannot be regarded as Bengalís in the
true and ordinary sense of the word.
The majority of Dosáds belong to the Srí Nárayana sect, but
others follow the "Pantha," or doctrines, of Kabír Sáhib, Tulasí
Dás, Gorakhnáth, or Nának Sháh.
1
GADARIYÁ
In the census returns only 604 members of this shepherd
caste are entered as resident in Bengal proper, while in Bihár
87,017 are enrolled. Only fifteen families are domiciled in
Dacca, being employed in making blankets, hence the name
Kammalí often bestowed on them.
The Gadariyá is reckoned higher in rank than the Ahír,
and equal to the Majrotí and Krishnaut Goálás. Buchanan,
further, identifies them with the Kuramba, or Kuraba, of Maisúr,
who are likewise shepherds.
The Gaḍariyá have the customary seven subdivisions, but
the most important are the Níkhar and Dhengár. A few, who
have become Muhammadans, are styled Chak, the Hindi for a
shepherd, or Chikwá, a butcher, who slaughters animals, but not
bullocks. The Bakrá-Kasáí, or goat butcher, is another family
who secretly kill cattle.
In Bihar and Bengal this caste is generally reckoned a clean
one, but in Puraniyá it is impure. The Gadariyá is often found
working as a domestic servant, refusing, however, to carry bath-
ing water for his master, or to rinse his body clothes after bath
ing. He cannot, without incurring expulsion, serve as a cow-
herd with any but Gadariyá masters. He may, however, take
household service with any class, even with Christians. Among
themselves old men are addressed as Bhagat, or Chaudharí,
young men as Rám. Many of this caste are followers of Daryá
Dás, a Gaḍariyá,2 who founded a corrupt Vaishnava sect, abstain-
ing from touching fish, flesh, or spirits. His followers do not
worship him as a deity, but simply regard him as their Guru.
The caste Guru is usually a Dasnámí ascetic, the Purohit a
Kanaujiya, but oftener a low Joshí Bráhman.
Gadariya women are unclean from seven to twelve days
after confinement, when a feast called "Chhaṭhiyán,” is given to
1 "Note on Inferior Castes, &c,” p. 16.
2 Buchanan, i, p. 499, states that he was a Darzí.
272
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
friends and relatives. The Levirate and widow marriage cus-
toms are still observed by the caste.
When a flock of sheep is sold, the Gaḍariyá keeps back a
ram, and having assembled his brethren, sacrifices it to Banjárí,
after which its flesh is eaten by those who follow the Saiva
ritual.
Gaḍariyás make wethers themselves, and like the Highland
shepherds are very partial to "Perauntí," or "niceties," which
they recommend as a very strengthening delicacy.
GANDHA-BANIK.
This caste claims to be the same as the Banyá of Hindustan,
and traces its descent from Chandra Bhava, commonly called
Chand Saudagar, " an accomplished man, the son of Kotís-Vara,
the lord of crores," and Sáha Saudagar, mentioned in the Padma
Purána. Although this ancient lineage is assumed, the caste no
longer wears the Bráhmanical thread; and, instead of mourning
like the Agarwálá Banyás for thirteen, mourns like pure Șúdras
for thirty days.
Another story of their origin is current. Kubja, the hunch-
backed slave girl of Rajah Kansa, was carrying home spices and
sandal wood when Krishna first met her. The son born of their
subsequent liaison was naturally the first spice seller, and the
father of all Gandha-baniks.
In Bengal this caste numbers 127,178 individuals, being
most numerous in Burdwan, 32,105, Murshídábád 11,016, Bírb-
húm 10,165, Nadiyá 8,010, and Dacca 6,634. In the city of
Dacca alone from one hundred and fifty to two hundred houses,
representing a population of about a thousand, are occupied by
them.
The Gandha-baniks of Eastern Bengal have four Ṣrení, or
subdivisions, namely, Aút, Desá, Sankhá, and Chhattís, or thirty-
six; the three last intermarrying and eating together. The Aút
has a family called Dhaula, the Desá one named Dhallár, after
villages where they resided, while other Srení are to be found
in the neighbourhood of Calcutta and Murshídábád. The titles
of the Aút Ṣreņí are Dutta, Dhur, Kar, Näg, Dhár, and Dé; of
the Desá, Sáha, Sádhú, Laha, and Kahn. The caste has six
powerful dals, or unions, in Dacca city, the Dalpatís, or head-
men being persons of great respectability. In one of the "dals"
a curious marriage custom, said to have been observed by their
forefathers when they first entered Bengal, is still preserved.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
273
The bridegroom climbs a "Champa " tree, and sits there while
the bride is carried round on a stool seven times. Should no
tree be available, a Champá log, placed beneath a canopy, or a
platform made of Champá wood planks, is substituted and orna-
mented with gilt flowers resembling the real Champá blossoms.
The other "dals," who follow the usual Súdra marriage
service, privately associate with this one, but never publicly.
Bridal dresses are made of yellow silk (Cheolf) with a red
striped border, the bride wearing hers for ten days after
marriage.
The large majority of Gandha-baniks are Vaishnavas, a few
Şaivas.
All Bengalí shopkeepers worship Gandheṣvarí, a form of
Durgá, every morning and evening; but on the full moon of
Baisakh (April-May) the Gandha-baniks hold a special service
in her honour, arranging in a pyramidal form the weights, scales,
drugs, and account books, and placing in front a goblet daubed
over with red lead. The caste Bráhman then comes and repeats
several invocations, soliciting the favour of the goddess during
the ensuing year.
The Gandha-banik is a spice seller, or "Épicier," as well as
a druggist. He will not sell rice, vegetables, salt, oil, or spirits,
but he will almost every other grocery. He is often called by
the Hindi term "Pansárí," which signifies a dealer in groceries,
spices, and herbs. Their comparatively high position among
Súdra castes is owing to the circumstance that sandal wood and
spices, essential for Hindu religious rites, can only be procured
at their shops.
The Gandha-banik obtains his drugs and spices direct from
Calcutta, or from the place where they are produced, and buys
quinine, iodide of potassium, and sarsaparilla from English
druggists. He also sells tin, lead, pewter, copper, and iron, and
retails, if licensed, saltpetre, sulphur, and gunpowder, as well
as chemicals used by pyrotechnists, and dispenses medicines
ordered by Kabírájs. Although Gandha-baniks possess no
pharmacopoeia, and are ignorant of chemistry, they display
wonderful sharpness in distinguishing salts and minerals. Every
Gandha-banik has the reputation of being a doctor, and like the
druggists of Europe, he is often consulted, and prescribes for
trifling ailments. Drugs, at the present day, are sold by
apothecary's weight, other articles by the bazar weight of eighty
sicca to a ser. Kabírájs, however, still use the old Hindu
weights, “Pala,” “Ratí," " Másha," and "Jau." Boys able to read
and write Bengali are apprenticed to a Gandha banik, who
1
Champaka (Michelia champaca).
274
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
makes him familiar with the appearance, names, and prices of
drugs, which, it is said, amount in a genuine Pansárí's shop to
three hundred and sixty kinds. Most of these go to form the
different kinds of Pát, or alterative medicine, greatly relied on
in Hindu therapeutics. The Gandha-banik is expected to know
the proper ingredients in each Pát, as well as the proper quantity
of each. In the preparation of pills, goat's milk, or lime-juice
and water, are used, but by some druggists the juice of the
Ghí-Kuwár (Aloe perfoliata¹) is preferred.
The Gandha-banik retails Charas," Bháng, opium, and
Gánjha, but some have scruples about selling the last, and employ
a Muhammadan servant to do so. Most of the shops for the
sale of Gánjha, however, are leased by members of this caste,
who pay a Súnrí, or Muhammadan, to manage them.
+
GANDHÍ.
The perfumer, who may belong to any caste, or religion,
extracts the essences of flowers by maceration and subsequent
distillation. The scents generally preferred are those of the
"Champa" (Michelia champaca), "Belá" (Jasminum Zambac),
Vakula," or Maulsarí" (Mimusops Elengi), and "Júhí"
(Jasminum auriculatum).
(C
The 'Atr of roses and "Guláb," or rosewater, prepared in
Dacca are inferior in quality to those made at Gházípúr.
GANRÁR, GANDHA-KÁRA, GANDHA-ÁRA, GARWÁL.
This caste, more generally known as Shikárí, or hunters, is
called by Bengalis Gandhá Pál, Madhu Mayara, or Mayara
Ganrár, while their villages bear the name of Shikárí-tola, or
Shikárí-párá.
In the census returns the Gaṇrár is correctly classified along
with the Madak, or Mayara, among the castes engaged in pre-
paring cooked food. In Bengal the caste consists of 14,843
persons, scattered in small numbers throughout the province,
but grouped in the following districts: Murshídábád (2,384);
Nadiyá (2,268); twenty-four pergunnahs (1,847); and Dacca
(1,611).
Sanskrit "Ghrita-Kumárí."
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
275
There can be no doubt that the Ganrár caste is the same as
the Madhya-deshí Kándús of Bihár. A tradition still survives,
that, five generations ago, their ancestors were brought to Dacca
by the Muhammadan government from Súrya-garhí in Bhagalpúr,
to act as rowers on board the imperial dispatch boats (Chhip).
The caste is most numerous in Dacca, but they are also met
with in Silhet, Tipperah, and Mymensingh, working as cultiva-
tors. Buchanan mentions that the Ganrár of Rangpúr originally
came from Dacca, two hundred families being in his time
domiciled along the banks of the Brahmaputra.
1
In former days the Ganrár had the reputation of being the
bravest of all boatmen, and the river Dákáíts never dared to
attack boats manned by them. Nowadays, they are great
traders, carrying in their large cargo boats, called "Palwár," rice,
cotton, and linseed, to Calcutta, Bhagwán-golah, and other
centres of trade. They generally do business on their own
account, and being honest and straightforward, obtain advances
of money on most favourable terms from the bankers.
Gaprárs use the three-pronged harpoon (Tența) with wonder-
ful dexterity, and rarely miss an object within forty yards. If
an alligator takes to carrying off bathers from a "Ghát," the
Ganrárs are employed to kill it. When the brute is seen
basking on a sandbank the sportsman crawls up, and strikes it
with a harpoon, to the shaft of which a rope and a float are
attached. As soon as the animal is hit, it takes to the water,
the Ganrárs following in a boat, and every time it rises for air
spears are implanted, and it is rare for an alligator to escape from
these active and persevering assailants.
Gaṇrárs also kill a great many Gangetic porpoises (Sús) for
the sake of the oil, which is in great repute for burning, and as
an embrocation for rheumatism. It usually sells for three to
five rupees a "man." Turtle are frequently harpooned for food,
and turtle eggs are deemed a great delicacy by these sports-
men.
Gaṇrárs work at almost any trade, but in Dacca nothing
will induce them to cultivate the soil. The women are princi-
pally employed in parching grain, and selling it in bázárs.
They all belong to one gotra, the Aliman, and the Purohit is
a Patit Bráhman. The caste is a Vaishnava one, but deities
unknown to the Brahmanical Pantheon are worshipped. Like
most of the low castes they set afloat the "Berá" in honour of
Khwajah Khizr, and pay especial adoration to Sat Nárayana.
Moreover, on the last day of Srávan they sacrifice a turtle to
Manasa Deví, the goddess of snakes, and make offerings in the
month of Paush to Bura-Burí.
The Ganrárs of Dacca, through Bráhmanical influence, have
2
276
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
relinquished the worship of Khala-Kumári, who is regarded by
the Ganrárs of Rangpúr as the Naiad of the river. This worship,
a survival of an earlier cultus, is peculiar to the aboriginal races
of Bengal, and like that of Bura-Burí is only found in the out-
lying districts, where Hinduism has always been least active
and aggressive.
Ganrárs rarely eat flesh, but they freely indulge in spirits,
and often in Ganjha. At the present day widows do not marry,
and the Levirate marriage custom is unknown.¹
1
GHATAKA.
The Ghaṭaks are Bráhmans engaged in negotiating marriages
between families, and each Sreņí, or division, of the sacred order
in Bengal, has its recognized staff, upon whom rests the respon-
sibility of arranging suitable marriages, and of preserving the
pristine purity of each family belonging to it. The Varendra,
Rárhí, and Vaidika Bráhmans possess Ghataks distinct from
those employed by the Baidya and Kayath castes, who inter-
marry with, and act as agents for, the Bráhmans of their own
division, but for no others.
The organisation of the society is referred to Ballál Sen,
who settled the Rárhí Ghaṭaks in Jessore, Baqirganj, and
Bikrampúr, where, with the exception of a few who have lately
emigrated to Calcutta, they are domiciled at the present day.
The Ghatak registers of the Rárhí Bráhmans, like those of the
Kulin Kayaths, go back twenty-three generations, or five hundred
years, and, although any Bráhman may become a Ghatak, the
highest estimation, and the title Pradhán, or chief, is only
bestowed on the individual who can show a long and unbroken
pedigree of Ghatak ancestors.
There are three grades of Ghataks. The first can repeat
off-hand the names of all the members of the main, as well as
collateral, branches of any family in his particular part of the
country; of the families with which they have married, and of
the issue of such marriages.
(C
A Ghatak possessing a memory as retentive as this is liable
at any wedding to be challenged by some youthful aspirant to a
Vichára," or trial of memory, when he must defend the laurels
he has won. It is, however, considered not only rash, but
unmannerly, for a challenge to be given to an old Ghatak, who
1 Vivien de St. Martin is of opinion that the Ganrár, the Gonrhi of Bihár,
the Gangai of the Taráí, are remnants of the Gangaridae of Pliny and Ptolemy.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
277
has for years retained, against all comers, a position of this
pre-eminence.
The second grade embraces those Ghataks who can only give
the name of the " Kula," or family into which a Bráhman or
his relatives have married; while the third comprises such as
can only name the Vansa, or lineage, to which the Bráhman
belongs.
The text books of the Ghataks are the "Darbha-nanda Mișra
Grantha," a Sanskrit treatise intelligible to few, and the "Ku-
lanáma,” a work of little value, from its only containing a con-
fused account of the Bráhmans and their subdivisions.
Ghataks never officiate at religious ceremonies, and always
employ Purohits for their own requirements. Every Kulin
Brahman in Eastern Bengal is compelled to employ a Ghaṭak in
negotiating the marriages of his family, otherwise the whole
race of Ghataks revolt and ostracise him. The rich Bráhman
Zamíndárs, who are willing and able to pay a large sum for an
unexceptionable Kulin bride, often try to convince the Ghataks
that their families are of purer and more honourable descent
than they actually are. Bribes are often offered to establish the
claim, but are rarely accepted. Disputes however, are common.
and the Ghataks who favour a claim that is fallacious, and who
attend at an unauthorised marriage, fall in the estimation of
those who have questioned its soundness, and declined to be
present. The scruples of a single Pradhán Ghaṭak often mar
the otherwise perfect satisfaction of a parent on the marriage of
his son to a family of higher rank than his own; and should
all the leaders unite in forbidding the marriage it is impossible
for him to win any permanent promotion beyond that laid down
in their registers.
Ghataks of similar rank receive equal fees, while at weddings
of rich Kulins, at which hundreds attend, the fees are distributed
according to a provisional scale, by which Ghataks of the first
estimation receive double what the last get. Thus, if the first
is given a hundred rupees, the second is entitled to seven-eighths,
or eighty-seven rupees; the third to three-fourths, or seventy-
five rupees; the fourth to five-eighths, or sixty-two rupees eight
anas; and the fifth to a half, or fifty rupees.
At the present day the two most celebrated Pradhan Ghaṭaks
are Káli Náth Kabí-ságar, of Kachadía in Bikrampúr, and Grish
Chanda Ghaṭaka-Sinha of Kolah, men not only remarkable for
their prodigious memories, but for modesty and general informa-
tion on all subjects connected with Hindu society.
U
278
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
GOÁLÁ.
The Goálá, one of the most composite and ill-defined of
castes, is often confounded with the Ahír. In Bihár the names
are synonymous, while in each province of Bengal the members
claim to be the only pure representatives of the clean cowherds
of ancient India.
Goálás known as Sat-Gop in Burdwan and Hughlí are styled
Gop-Goálás in Eastern Bengal, and arrogate to themselves a
higher position than the Ahír. The Goálá is always included
among the clean Súdra castes of Bengal, but he is not the first
in rank as among the Marhátás.
According to the census returns of 1872, the pastoral Goála
caste numbers in Bengal 625,163 individuals, the agricultural
Sat-Gop 635,985, while in Dacca the former are 22,788, the
latter only 1,085, but in reality no Sat-Gop exist there, and
Goálás are found indiscriminately cultivating the soil, keeping
cattle, and buying milk to manufacture Ghí.
The Goálas of Eastern Bengal are all included in the
following list:-
1. Gop, or Ghose, Goálá,
2. Sáda¹ Goálá,
3. Áhírs-
(a.) Gauriyá or Go-baidyá.
(b.) Mahisha Goálás.
4. Daira, or outcast Goálás.
The Gop-Goálás are the only pure Súdras, and never inter-
marry with any of the other families. It is probable that the
Goálá is the descendant of the Áhír, and the crucial test of
purity with all the septs is the boiling of milk before the cream
rises, a practice enjoined by the Sástras.
The Gop-Goálás, comprising the large majority of the tribe
in Bengal, have two gotras, the Aliman and Kasyapa; the former
being more numerous and more respected than the latter, and
although they eat together, a milkman of the Aliman would be
dishonoured if he took a wife from the Kasyapa gotra. In
Mymensingh there is an additional gotra, called Paráșara, but
none of the Dacca Goálás associate or intermarry with it.
The Goálá Bráhman is a Patit, often acting as Purohit to
"Sukriti-bhanga," or outcast Bráhmans. Milkmen mourn thirty
days, and their domestic occurrences are celebrated in the
ordinary Súdra fashion. The betrothal ceremony, however, is
observed with unusual solemnity. The bridegroom's father
buys sweetmeats, garlands of flowers, and sandal-wood paste,
Perhaps Sádhu, good.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
279
which he takes to the house of the Mundle or president of the
caste "Pancháít," who immediately summons the Guru, Purohit,
and all intimate friends to attend, when each guest is presented
with a garland and sweetmeats. The Mundle, accompanied by
the party, proceeds to the bride's home. She is formally
bedecked with flowers, after which the betrothal is considered
complete, and, should any insuperable obstacle supervene to
prevent the final marriage, the girl is treated as a widow, and
cannot marry any one else. The custom of giving and accepting
a marriage fee is not observed by the town Goálás, although it
still is by the village.
Gop-Goálás, who have a dairy, sell milk, butter, ghí, curdled
milk (Dahí), curds (Chhená), " Khirsá," and "Pát-khirsá," or ripe
plantains with milk, and occasionally keep buffaloes for milk,
although they object to milk goats.
Three breeds of cows are found in Eastern Bengal, the
Bengalí (Deşi), the Hindustání (Deswalí), a handsome milk-
white animal, said to have been introduced by Nawáb Shaistah
Khán, and a cross-breed, called "Dú-naslá." A Dacca milch
cow rarely gives more than ten sérs of milk thrice a day, but
this quantity is never got unless the animal is stall fed, for which
reason the finest milch cows of the "Deswálí" breed are always
kept in sheds. A fodder consisting of vetches (Mash-kaláí¹),
broken rice, rice dust (Kúnḍá), and salt, is usually given daily,
while those who can afford it add rice and oilcake.
A cow is reckoned impure for three weeks after calving, and
no Hindu would taste the milk, or Biestings, during that period.
Gop-Goálás will not physic or brand cows, as the Ahir does,
unless at Sráddhas, when the "Dharm-sánṛ" is branded by
them. The following singular treatment of a newly born calf
and its mother is in vogue: The calf's mouth is washed out,
and the milkman chewing pepper and ginger expectorates into
the animal's open mouth. He then cleans the cow's hoofs, and
gives her a ball made of ginger, green turmeric, fennel seeds,
and molasses, to which a little Indian hemp is usually added.
Like the Áhírs, the Gop-Goálás are very partial to bright,
gaudy colours. The bride dresses in red, and on the great
annual festivals of the Janmáshṭamí and Gopáshṭamí Goálás
appear in red or yellow turbans.
(a.) SÁDÁ GOÁLÁS.
This division of milkmen has been outcasted for some
economical reason. The bride dresses in white (Sáda), hence
perhaps the origin of their name.
1 Sanskrit, "Másha" (Phaseolus radiatus).
U 2
280
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
(b.) DAIRA GOÁLas.
This is another outcast division, which became degraded
because it makes butter without first scalding the milk. Hence
their nickname, "Mogha-Kára." It is generally believed that
the name Daira is merely a corruption of the Bengali Dárí, a
beard, because many wear beards, having become Muham-
madans.
GODNÁ-WÁLÍ.
There being no Natnís in Bengal, Bediyá women travel about
the country with a bag, containing a variety of drugs, a cupping
horn (Singá), and a scarificator (Náran). They attract attention
by bawling" To tattoo, to cup, and to extract worms from decayed
teeth!" They also prescribe for female disorders. It is said
that small grubs are kept in a bamboo tube, and while the
patient's attention is occupied by the talk of the operator, a
maggot is presented as if it had been extracted from the hollow
tooth. For this trick she receives a suitable fee.
In tattooing the juice of the "Bhangra" plant (Indigofera
linifolia) and woman's milk are the materials used, and the
punctures are made with needles, or the thorns of the Karaundá
(Carissa Carandas); while the operation is being performed, a
very equivocal Mantra is recited to alleviate pain, and prevent
any subsequent inflammation.
In respectable Hindu families an old nurse usually tattoos
the girls. Nowadays the ordinary tattoo design, either circular
or stellate, is made at the top of the nose in the centre of the
forehead; formerly the fashionable stain (Ullikhí) was at the
same spot, but a line extended along the bridge of the nose,
branching out into two curves over each ala.
Tattoo marks were originally distinctive of Hindu females,
but Muhammadan women copied them, and it is only since the
Farazí revival that they have discontinued the habit.
Chandál women are often employed to cure goitre by
tattooing. A circular spot on the most prominent part of the
swelling is punctured with a bamboo spike, and common ink
mixed with the sap of the "Kálí Koshijia” rubbed in.
¹ Sanskrit, Mogha-Karman, one whose actions are fruitless.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
281
HALWAH DÁS.
This is an offshoot from the Kaibartta tribe, and is probably
identical with the Chásá Kaibartta and Paráṣara Dás, although
the latter protest against this presumption. Very numerous
along both banks of the Meghna in the Tipperah and Báqirganj
districts, they are rare west of the Lakhya.
The Halwah Dás are chiefly cultivators, weavers of Jámdání
muslins, goldsmiths, and stonecutters, while the educated mem-
bers are clerks and accountants.
The Brahman of the Halwah Dás and of the cultivating
Kaibarttas is the same person; but the priest of the fisher
Kaibarttas is distinct. The Súdra servants everywhere work
for them. They have three gotras, Aliman, Kaşyapa, and
Madhu Kuliya; and the common patronymics are Dás, Chaud-
harí, Biswas, and Hazrá.
Kálí is chiefly worshipped, but the educated also observe the
annual holiday sacred to Sarasvatí, and the cultivators, relin-
quishing the Ganga Pújáh, have adopted the Vástu Pújáh and
the Ambuváchí vacation.
The Halwah Dás drink from the water vessels of the clean
Şúdra Bráhman, but not from those of Patit Bráhmans. Widows
never remarry, but the aboriginal crime of eating flesh and
drinking spirits is ineradicable.
Among the Halwah Dás there are the same social ranks as
with the Paráşara Dás, the rich endeavouring to assume a higher
position, and refusing to give their daughters in marriage to the
lower grades.
JALIYA.
The occupation of a fisherman is considered a degrading one
throughout India, and no Muhammadan will engage in it.¹ For
this reason it is usually followed by unclean, and generally non-
Aryan, tribes. In Bengal the fisher castes are remarkable for
strength, nerve, and independent bearing. The finest examples
of Bengali manhood are found among them, and their muscular
figures astonish those accustomed to the feeble and effeminate
inhabitants of towns. The physique of the Dacca fisherman is
1 ¹ The dishonour clinging to fisher tribes is apparently of Buddhist origin. It
is written that "twenty-one kinds of people will, on account of their evil deeds,
"fall into the lowest hell. By performing good works, nineteen of these will be
"released; but the hunter and the fisherman, let them attend Pagodas, listen
to the law, and keep the five commandments to the end of their lives, still
"they cannot be released from their sins." Buddhaghosás Parables," p. 183,
translated from the Burmese by Captain T. Rogers. London, 1870.
282
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
more robust than that of the same class on the Hughlí, a fact
noticed by Bishop Heber fifty years ago.
The three fisher castes of Eastern Bengal, the Kaibartta,
Málo, and Tíyar, are undoubtedly representatives of the prehis-
toric dwellers in the Gangetic delta. As a rule they are short
and squat, of a dark brown colour, often verging upon black.
Although Hindus by creed, they are fond of showy garments, of
earrings, and of long hair, which is either allowed to hang down in
glossy curls on their shoulders, or fastened in a knot at the back
of the head. The whiskers and moustaches are thin and scrubby;
the lips often thick and prominent; the nose short with the
nostrils expanded. The physiognomy indicates good temper,
sensuality, and melancholy rather than intelligence and shrewd-
ness. Their religious ceremonies consist of many survivals from
an earlier and more barbarous cultus. Bura-Buri is a patron
deity with them; Khala Kumárí is the Naiad of their rivers,
while Manasa Deví, a sylvan goddess, is worshipped with
exceptional honour, and, among the Tíyars, certain mythical
heroes have earned immortality, and the adoration of generations
of sincere worshippers.
The three fisher castes live in amity with one another, and
will even smoke together. The Málo, however, is the lowest in
rank, while the Kaibartta and Tiyar still dispute about their
relative positions. The Kaibartta, again, is more thoroughly
Hinduized than either of the other two. A ridiculous distinc-
tion is always cited in proof of the inferior rank of the Málo.
The Kaibartta and Tíyar in netting always pass the netting
needle from above downwards, working from left to right; while
the Málo passes it from below upwards, forming his meshes from
right to left. It is remarkable that the same difference is
adduced by the Bihár fisherman as a proof of the degraded rank
of the Banpar.
No one belonging to a fisher caste will fish with a rod and
line, or use a harpoon as the Shikárís do. Bengal fishermen use
the sean, drift, trawl, bag, and cast nets. The Kaibarttas, how-
ever, will not employ an Uthár or Ber net, which are favourites
with the Tíyar and Málo.
Nets are made of hemp, never of cotton, and they are
steeped in Gáb (Diospyrus glutinosa) pounded, and allowed to
ferment, by which means the net is dyed of a dark brown colour,
becoming after immersion in water almost black. Floats are
either made of Sholá, or pieces of bamboo, but dried gourds are
occasionally preferred. Sinkers are made of baked clay, or
iron.
The following are the common nets in use among Bengali
fishermen :
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
283
+
1. “Jhakí,” or “ Kshepla," is the circular cast net¹ met with
in all Eastern countries. It is usually six or seven cubits in
diameter, and is either thrown from the bank of a stream, or
from a boat. The circumference is drawn up into loops, or
rather puckered, and weighted with iron. It is folded on the
left forearm, while the edge and the central string are held by
the right hand. By a sudden and forcible swing of the body
the net is cast, and, if properly thrown, alights on the surface of
the water, forming a complete circle. On its touching the bottom
the fisher slowly draws it towards him by the string just
mentioned, and, as he does so the heavily weighted edge comes
together, and no fish can escape. The outcast Bágdí in central
Bengal swings the net round his head before casting it, but no
respectable fisherman would dishonour his calling by so doing.
2. The Uthár" and "Gúltí" are magnified cast nets,
differing only in size and in the dimensions of the meshes.
They are shot from a boat placed broadside to a stream, with the
net folded on the edge. One man holds the centre rope, while
two others gradually unfold, and drop it overboard. As the
boat drifts the net falls in a circle, and is then slowly drawn up.
One of these nets is often forty feet in diameter, and a long
boat like the Jalká is required to shoot it from.
3. The "Sángla" is a small trawl net, used for catching
"Hilsá." The lower edge of the bag is weighted, and after being
shot the boat drifts with the stream. When a fish passing over
the lower lip of the net, to which a rope held by the fisherman
is attached, is felt to strike the back of the net, it is suddenly
raised and the fish secured.
4. The "Baoti" is a fixed bag net, worked on the same
principle.
5. "Chándí" is a large drift net, supported by gourds or
bamboo floats, and in the water it hangs as a curtain like the
herring net, the fish being caught by the gills.
6. Ber is a large sean, or sweep net, often thirty feet in
depth, and seven hundred and fifty in length. Several nets are
usually joined together to form this "train fleet," or "drift of
nets." The upper edge, or back, is buoyed by bamboos, while the
lower, or "foot," is weighted with iron. This is the favourite
net with the Málos on the Meghna; but owing to its great
length it has to be shot from two boats fastened together, and
when drawn the two "wings," or ends, are slowly brought
ashore.
7. "Besál," or "Khára," is a fixed net, used either from the
side of a boat, balanced by an outrigger, or fixed to posts on the
banks of rivers. The net is attached to two bamboos, which
1 Il Giacchio of Italian fishermen.
284
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
1
meet at an acute angle in the boat, but branching off until
separate about fifteen to twenty feet. One man stands at the
angle and lowers the net into the water, while another sits at
the stern working a paddle with his leg until a certain distance
has been passed over, when the net, which is somewhat bagged,
is leisurely raised. This net is fancied by Tiyars and Málos,
who at the first dawn of day may be seen fishing with it off
bathing ghats, and around steamers and vessels anchored in mid
stream. Small fry are usually caught with it, but when fixed on
the margin of a river, where there is a backwater or an eddy,
large and weighty fish are often netted.
(C
8. Kona” is a large bag net used at the outlets of rivers and
streams. The sides are fixed, and the mouth faces the current.
The lower lip rests on the bottom, while the upper remains open,
and at intervals the former is raised and the fish taken out.
Bengali fishermen are familiar with the habits of fish, and
much might be learned from them on a branch of natural
history strangely neglected in India. Night is the favourite
time for fishing, quiet being necessary for success, and a full
moon, or sunset and sunrise, are favourable times for shooting
uets. The first of a spring tide is also a period when fish move.
It is a curious coincidence that the English fisherman, when
looking for a place to shoot his large drift, or herring net, raps
with a piece of wood the planks of his boat, close to the water
line. The Málo is equally aware of the fact that brisk undula-
tion of water frightens fish, causing them to move, and as the
net is being drawn, a man beats the side of the boat with an oar,
by which means the draught is increased.
During the month of mourning for a parent, no fisherman
can ply his trade, or have any dealings in fish, unless he gets a
special dispensation from the Purohit.
All fishermen object to sell the skate (Ságus), and will not
retail in any way but whole the " Pangas " (Pimelodus pangasius),
"Garua" (Silurus garua ), and "Gagar" (Pimelodus gagora).
Neither will they catch, or sell crabs, nor touch the "Putká," or
bladder fish.¹ Many of the fisher castes of India have the
Muhammadan aversion to fish without scales, and few will eat,
or even handle the "Singi" (Silurus singeo). Eels, however,
they sometimes cook, but owing to the rich and heating proper-
ties of the flesh, it is not a favourite article of food. Muham-
madans of the Hanífí school never eat amphibious animals, as the
crab, consequently the only Bengali Muhammadans who use
them as food are the indulgent residents of Chittagong.
¹ The Tetrodon patoca. It emits a sound when lifted out of the water, and
fills itself with air. Like the T. Fahaca of the Nile, it serves as a plaything for
fisher children.
OF EASTERN BENGAL..
285
It is unfortunate we cannot estimate the numbers and distri-
bution of the different fisher tribes from the census returns, as
the Tíyars are the only ones specified, the others being included
under the comprehensive, but indefinite, terms Jaliya, Mallah
and Mánjhi, which are trade not caste names. The total number
of persons belonging to the boating and fishing tribes of Bengal
proper is returned at 1,301,174, a very low estimate, if we con-
sider the important place fish holds in the native dietary. The
correct composition, however, of the population of Bengal can
only be ascertained when a better knowledge of the people and
of their different classes and subdivisions has been acquired.
JAUHARÍ.
Dealers in precious stones may be either Muhammadans or
Hindus, but the more eager purchasers are, as a rule, persons
of the former creed. Many shopkeepers sell gems, but the
Jauharí can alone distinguish the real from the spurious.
"'Ilm al-jawáhir" is considered a distinct branch of oriental
science, dealing with the qualities of gems, the art of distin-
guishing good from bad stones, and the knowledge of the virtues
inherent in each.
According to oriental authorities, the most precious gems are
nine in number,¹ each representing a planet. Black is ascribed
to Saturn, green to Jupiter, red to Mars, yellow to the sun, and
white to the moon. The colour of gems either depend on the
matrix in which they are found embedded, or on the direct
influence of its particular planet. Transparent stones are
supposed to be formed from drops of rain; opaque ones from
water and earth, acted on by the sun and the internal heat of
the mine (Harárat-i-ma'dan).
The "Nava-ratna," or nine gems, are the following:-
1. Manika, Yáqút, Lál.
The ruby is regarded as the king of stones, and though
found in Ceylon and Badakhshan, is said to be only genuine in
Burmah. A large one exceeding six Ratís in weight is of price-
less value; but should the slightest opacity, or flaw, be present,
it is considered unlucky to wear it. A ruby, moreover, is
believed to be a preservative against certain diseases, and a safe-
guard against lightning.
The ruby mines of Badakhshan, which supplied the "Rubis
balais" of the French, have been closed for many years.
1 The Vaijayantí, or necklace of Vishnu, is only set with five, namely, pearl,
ruby, emerald, sapphire, and diamond. Vishnu Purána," p. 158.
286
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
2. Muktá, Motí.
Two varieties of pearls are distinguished, the Ceylon and
Basra. According to oriental poets they are drops of vernal
rain congealed in oyster shells, and by the same fanciful conceit
the origin of amber is ascribed to the tears of “sorrowing sea
birds." Pearls found in the fresh water rivers of Bengal by the
Bediyás being of little value, are chiefly used in medicine.
Tavernier mentions that at the court of Shah Jahán no person of
quality ever appeared in public without wearing earrings having
a pearl set between two coloured stones.
3. Híra, Vajra, Almás.
Four varieties of diamonds are known in India, the white, red
(Lál, or Gulábí), yellow, and green, which, in accordance with
the fanciful nomenclature in fashion are distinguished as
Bráhman, Kshatriyá, Vaiṣya, and Súdra. The price of diamonds
is estimated by their weight and cutting; The English brilliant
is most valued, then the Dutch, Benares, "Takícha," and
"Púrab," or Eastern cutting, the two latter being ground
according to the rough and faulty fashion peculiar to India.
The value of a stone in native ideas is enhanced by being large
and heavy, and the workmen think more of leaving the stone
big than of unveiling its hidden beauties. A variety, from its
hardness called "Kará," is spoken of as being so dark that no
amount of polishing will brighten it. This is probably the
Carbonado," so much employed in boring rocks. Indian
connoisseurs depreciate Cape diamonds as being dull and
yellowish. A diamond with a pink or dark streak is considered
by the natives of Hindustan as most unlucky.
<<
4. Marakata, Harin-mani, Zummurud, Panná.
3
In
The emerald is a very favourite stone with Muhammadans,
being used to ornament sword hilts, scabbards, and gold cups.
Tavernier¹ asserts that it was unknown in India before the
conquest of Peru in 1532; but he is undoubtedly wrong.
1515, Andrea Corsali² says, emeralds are in greater estimation
in India than any other stone; Garcia de Orta, in 1563, mentions
that Peruvian emeralds were then branded as spurious; and
De Boot,* in 1609, writes, that during the previous fifty years
oriental emeralds had fallen in value, owing to the importation
of specimens from the New World; but that the Oriental were
really better and more perfect stones. Baldaeus,5 in the seven-
teenth century, describes three kinds of emeralds in India, the
Scythian, Egyptian, and Peruvian, the first being most valued.
1 II, c. xvi.
2" Ramusio," i, 180.
3 "Aromatum et simplicium, &c.," edition 1567, p. 199.
4 "Gemmarum et lapidum historia," p. 101.
5 "Churchill's Voyages," iii, 656.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
287
Finally, Streeter¹ describes the Indian emerald as of quite a
different quality from those found in South America. Where
the oriental emerald came from was unknown to De Orta and
De Boot; but of late years the emerald mines of Egypt, men-
tioned by Pliny, have been described by M. Cailliaud.
The popular belief in Hindustan is, that the finest emeralds
formed part of a cargo of a vessel wrecked on the west coast of
India, belonging to Alexander the Great.
Many virtues have been attributed to the emerald. Greeks
and Arabs believed it to be an infallible preservative of chastity,
and to facilitate parturition. A dark coloured stone without
flaws is, by Al Suyútí, and oriental nations generally, considered
a safeguard against snake bites, and, being a surety against
epilepsy, is recommended to be worn by the children of noble
families. An emerald reduced to powder, and given in a draught,
cures leprosy.
5. Indra-níla, Nílam, Nilmaņi, Çafír.
The sapphire comes either from Burmah or Ceylon. In
Europe it has always been considered to prevent evil and impure
desires; in the East the owner, it is believed, will never become
poor, but if it exhibits the slightest flaw he will certainly die
suddenly.
6. Go-meda, Go-medaka.
This is described as a red stone with a yellowish tinge, and
is either an agate, or a topaz.
7. Lahsaniya, Chashmdár, 'Ain-ul-hirr.
Indian jewellers distinguish three sorts of cat's eye, one
with a yellow, a second with a pale green, and a third with a
dark shade or streak. Should the gem possess one or more
lines of lustre it becomes priceless, being venerated as a sacred
stone. On approaching buried treasure the owner will find
the stone leave its setting, and as long as he retains it his
wealth will never diminish. It is a preservative against many
diseases, and all forms of witchcraft. De Orta and Baldaeus,
preserve a superstition current in their day, to the effect that
cloth rubbed with a cat's eye is rendered fireproof. The former
believes in its truth, but the latter says, "I have found this
contrary to truth by my own experience."
8. Prabála, Múngá, Marján.
In India red coral is included among gems, being made.
into beads for necklaces, and into charms for armlets. Taver-
nier states that coral was used in the seventeenth century " by
the meaner sort of people, all over Asia, more especially by the •
hillmen of Asam and Bhútan for bracelets and necklaces.' At
1 "Precious Stones and Gems," p. 151.
288
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
the present day, it is given by Hakims along with pearl powder
to cure impotency, and by itself to correct bilious disorders.
9. Pítáşman, Pukhráj, Topaz.
The topaz was more valued in Europe in former days than it
is now; but in the East it has always been a favourite gem,
being regarded by Muhammadans as the luckiest of stones.
Muhammad is said to have worn one in a ring, which passed to
his successors and ensured prosperity. The Khalifa Othman
let it fall into a well, and this loss is believed to account for the
tumults during his rule, and for his violent death. Confiding in
the good fortune conferred by the stone, Aurangzíb always wore
one on state occasions, and Tavernier alludes to a topaz in his
treasury which cost 18,000 pounds sterling.
These are the nine gems of the Hindus, but many other
precious stones, being valued, are invested with preternatural
virtues.
The Fírozah, or turquoise, although cheap and common, is
more frequently worn by Muhammadans than any other gem.
The finest "Basháqi," come from Nishapúr in Khurásán, and
Karman. If received as a gift the turquoise is believed to avert
the evil eye, to be an antidote against poisons, to grow dim when
the well-being of the giver is in danger, and to cure the stings
of scorpions, as well as the bites of noxious animals. Another
peculiarity attributed to it is that of becoming hazy when the
sky is lowering or overcast.
Vaidúrya, Lájaward, or lapis lazuli, is often substituted as one
of the nine gems in place of the cat's eye. Mines of this stone
still exist in Badakhshan, but, being lightly valued, is rarely seen
in Bengal.
Jade, known in Persia as Sang-i-yashm, but more generally
throughout the East by its Turki name, “Kash," is not so much
admired in Hindustan as in China and the Himalayas.
In India the grey, white, dark green, and red varieties are
occasionally seen. The dark green was formerly most admired,
and several drinking cups, belonging to Jahángír, are made of
it. The different sorts are employed for ornamenting scabbards
and the frames of mirrors. Trays, plaques, dagger and
“Chaunrí” handles, are often made of this mineral. When
bows and arrows were in fashion, the ring worn to protect the
thumb was generally formed of jade. Many superstitious
virtues are attributed to jade in India, and no Zanánah in
Eastern Bengal is without a piece. Cups made of it are said to
fly in pieces when poison is poured into them; a fragment is
believed to protect the wearer against lightning; and when
licked it allays palpitations of the heart. Jade is brought from
the mines on the banks of the Karakash river in Khoten and
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
289
Yarkand, which were visited by Goez in 1604, and by Shaw in
1868. The fragments found in the river bring three times the
price of the quarried stone, which is injured by the fire used to
splinter it. From Yarkand it is chiefly exported to China, and
never reaches India in the raw state.¹
Many of the poorer Muhammadans in Bengal wear either a
carnelian ('Aqíq), or an agate 2 (Sulaimání) ring, but a few fancy
the moss agate, or Mocha stone ('Aqiq ul-bahr).
The carnelian is said to possess three properties: it calms a
person excited by fear or passion; it stops hæmorrhage, espe-
cially in females; and it cures bleeding from the gums, or
scurvy. Al Tífáshí distinguishes five kinds, red, flesh-coloured
(Rațbi), blue, black, and white.
Amber, much admired in parts of India, is not valued in
Dacca, but its electrical properties early attracted attention, and
both its Sanskrit name, "Trina-gráhin," and its Persian, "Kah-
rubá,” signify "straw drawing.'
""
Amber is found on the eastern frontier along with lignite.
Mines exist at Meinkhoon, north-east of Manípúr, and the fossil
finds a ready sale among the Singphos and Chinese.³
Many oriental works on gems have been written, which are
still popular in the East, and at least two have been translated
into European languages. The work of Ahmad ibn Yusuf ibn
Muhammad Al-Tifáshí (d. 1253), called "Azhár al-Afkár," was
partially done into Latin by Sebald Rau in 1784, and into Italian
by Antonio Raineri in 1818. A treatise by the famous Al-
Suyúți (d. 1505) was translated by the Maronite, Abraham
Ecchellensis, in 1647. An abstract of Al Kazwínís' (d. 1275)
celebrated "'Ajáíb al-Makhluqát," or Wonders of Creation, has
also been published.*
Bengal jewellers, however, either follow the "Jawahir-sina,"
a work difficult to procure, or the "Jawáhir-námah” of Mu-
hammad bin Mançúr, who lived in the thirteenth century. The
latter, however, is a common title for books of gems, and one
dedicated to Baber, and another published at Delhi, or Haida-
rábad, anonymously, are in use in India.
5
6
Gems are usually cut in India by Muhammadan Hakkáks;
but always set by Hindu Karmakárs."
1
""
Regarding jade, more information is to be found in "Astley's Voyages,
iv, 645; "Moorcroft's Travels," i, 375; Jule's " Cathay," i, 130; ii, 564;
and Shaw's "Visit to High Tartary," p. 474.
2 Aisha always wore an agate necklace.
Journals of Travels," by William Griffith, i, 77.
4" J. A. S. of Bengal," xiii, 632.
5 "J. A. S. of Bengal," i, 353.
6 "J. A. S. of Bengal," xxiii, 262.
7 In the "Institutes of Menu" (ix, 329), the Vaisya is directed to know the
prices of gems, pearls, and metals.
*
290
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
JOGÍ.
This singular race, found all over Eastern Bengal, is more
numerous in Tipperah and Noakhally than Dacca, being every-
where reviled by the Hindus, without any satisfactory reason.
The only grounds given by natives for abusing and ill-treating
Jogís are that the starch of boiled rice (Már) is used by them
in weaving, while the Tantí use parched rice starch (Káí), and
that they bury their dead.
In Bengal three different varieties of Jogí are met with,
namely―
Jogí, Bengali weavers,
Ját Jogí, Hindustání snake charmers,
Sannyásí Jogí, religious mendicants.
Jogí, or Yogí, literally means one who practices the Jog, i.e.,
religious abstraction, or in a lower sense a pretender to super-
human faculties, while the designation is popularly given to any
naked Hindu devotee.
In the census returns, the Jogí and Patwá are classified as
one and the same caste, but in Dacca the latter is always the
name of a Muhammadan trade. The weaver Jogí caste in
Bengal is computed to include 426,543 individuals, 306,847, or
71 per cent. of the whole number, being distributed throughout
the nine eastern districts. Like many outcast races, the Jogí
has been driven into the outlying tracts of the province, and at
the present day are massed in Silhet (82,038), Tipperah (66,812),
Mymensingh (39,644), Noakhally (33,038), and Chittagong
(32,314). In Dacca they only muster 16,410 persons.
Until the last few years the Bengali Jogís were all weavers,
but now the cloth (Dhotí and Gamcha) manufactured by them
is gradually being displaced by English piece goods, and the
Jogi finds it difficult to earn a livelihood by weaving. A few
who took to agriculture being outcasted, formed a new sub-
division, called Hálwah Jogís. In Tipperah the burning of lime
has been adopted as an occupation by some, but they, too, have
been excommunicated. Others, again, take service under
Government, or work as goldsmiths. Recently a shudder ran
through the Hindu community when a Jogi was elevated to the
bench, but many have already outlived this prejudice, and,
except among the upper strata of society, no objections are now
raised. The Jogí has peculiar difficulties in having his children
educated, as no other boy will live with his son, who is conse-
quently obliged to hire lodgings for himself, and engage servants
of his own. The race, however, is ambitious, and recognises the
value of education, but being poor, the higher branches of learn-
ing are beyond their reach.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
291
The Jogí uses a much more cumbrous loom than either the
Tántí or Juláha, but employs the same comb, or "Shánah," while
his shuttle, "Nail," is peculiar to himself. The women are as
expert weavers as the men, the preparation of the warp being
exclusively done by them.
Jogís are a contented people, laughing at the prejudices of
their neighbours. When they enter the house of any of the
clean castes, a very rare occurrence, all cooked food, and any
drinking water in the room, are regarded as polluted, and thrown
away, but, strange to say, the Súdra barber and washerman work
for them. The Jogí, too, is intolerant, eating food cooked by a
Srotriyá Bráhman, but not that prepared by any Patit, or caste,
Bráhman, or by a Súdra, however pure. The Sannyásí Jogí eats
with the weaving Jogí, but a Bairágí will only touch food given
by the Adhikárí. Furthermore, the Ekádaşí Jogi will eat with
the Sannyásí if he is a Bráhman observing the Sráddha on the
eleventh day.
In the burial of their dead all Jogís observe the same cere-
monies. The grave (Samádhi, or Ahsan), dug in any vacant spot,
is circular, about eight feet deep, and at the bottom a niche is
cut for the reception of the corpse. The body, after being
washed with water from seven earthen jars, is wrapped in new
cloth, the lips being touched with fire to distinguish the funeral
from that of a Muhammadan. A necklace made of the Tulasí
plant is placed around the neck, and in the right hand a rosary
(Jápa). The right forearm, with the thumb inverted, is placed
across the chest, while the left, with the thumb in a similar
position, rests on the lap, the legs being crossed as in statues
of Buddha. Over the left shoulder is hung a cloth bag with
four strings, in which four cowries are put. The body being
lowered into the grave, and placed in the niche with the face
towards the north-east, the grave is filled in, and the relatives
deposit on the top an earthen platter with balls of rice (Piņḍá),
plantains, sugar, Ghí, and betel-nuts, as well as a "Huqqa" with
its "Chilam" (bowl), a small quantity of tobacco, and a charcoal
ball. Finally, from three to seven cowries are scattered on the
ground as compensation to "Vișa-matí" for the piece of earth
occupied by the corpse. Women are interred in the exact same
way as men.
The bag with its four cowries, and the position of the body
are noteworthy. With the cowries the spirit pays the Charon
who ferries it across the Vaitarani river, the Hindu Styx; while
the body is made to face the north-east because in that corner
of the world lies Kailása, the Paradise of Siv.
1 Sanskrit Nála, a tube, a shuttle.
292
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
The one title common to all the Jogí tribe is Náth, or lord.
The majority worship Mahádeo, or Șiv, but a few Vaish-
navas are found among them.
Although all Jogís observe the funeral ceremonies just men-
tioned, they have separated into two great divisions, the Másya,
the more numerous in Dacca, who perform the Sráddha thirty
days (Mása) after death; and the Ekadași, who celebrate it
after eleven (Ekádaṣan) days. The former abound in the
southern parts of Bikrampúr, Tipperah, and Noakhally, the
latter in the north of Bikrampúr, and throughout the Dacca
district generally. No intermarriages take place between them,
and each refuses to taste food cooked by the other, although they
drink from each other's water vessels.
1. MÁSYA JOGÍS.
They are the more interesting of the two, having adhered
more strictly to the customs of their ancestors than the Ekádaşí.
The following account of their origin is given: In the Vṛihad
Yoginí Tantra, their chief religious work, it is written that to
Mahádeo were born eight passionless beings (Siddhas), who
practised asceticisms, and passed their lives in religious abstrac-
tion. Their arrogance and pride, however, offended Mahádeo,
who assuming his illusive power, created eight female energies,
or Yoginís, and sent them to tempt the Siddhas. It was soon
apparent that their virtue was not so impregnable as they
boasted, and the issue of their amours were the ancestors of
the modern Másya Jogís.
Another account is that a Sannyásí Avadhúta, or scholar,
of Benares, who was an incarnation of Șiv, had two sons, the
elder by a Bráhman woman, becoming the progenitor of the
Ekádaşí Jogís, the younger by a Vaiṣya woman of the Másya; ·
but it is probable that this legend has been invented to account
for the fact that the two divisions perform the obsequial rites at
different dates.
The Másya Jogís have no Bráhmans who minister to them,
but a spiritual leader, Adhikárí, elected by the Purohits, is
invested with a cord, and styled Bráhman. In Tipperah and
Noakhally the cord is still worn, but in Dacca of late years it
has been discarded. The Adhikárí of the Másya Jogís in Dacca
is Mathurá Ramana, of Bídgáon, in Bikrampúr, a very illiterate
man, who can with difficulty read and write Bengali. The post
has been hereditary in his family for eight generations, and
nowadays it is only in default of heirs that an election is held.
It is a curious circumstance that the Adhikari bestows the
Manrta on the Bráhmans of the Ekádaşí, and occasionally on
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
293
Sannyasi Jogís, although neither acknowledge any subjection to
him. The Adhikárí has no religious duties to perform, as each
household employs a Purohit to minister at its religious cere-
monies. The Purohit is always a Jogí, inducted by the Adhi-
kárí, and subordinate to him. He is often a relative, or marries
a daughter of his master. The Adhikárí, again, has his Puro-
hit, without whose ministration neither he nor any member of
his family can marry or be buried.
The great festival of the Másya Jogís is the Șivarátrí, held on
the fourteenth of the waning moon in Mágh (January-February);
but they observe many of the other Hindu festivals, such as the
Janmashtami, and offer sacrifices beneath the "Bat" tree to the
village goddess, Siddheṣvarí.
In all religious services they use a twig of the Udumbara, or
Jagyá dúmúr (Ficus glomerata), and regard with special rever-
ence the Tulasí, Bat, Pípal, and "Tamála" (Diospyrus cordi-
folia).
They have Stháns, or residencies, at Brindában, Mathurá, and
Gokula, but their chief places of pilgrimage are Benares, Gayá,
and Sítakhund in Chittagong
2. EKÁDASÍ JOGÍS.
They possess a Sanskrit work called Vriddha Sátátapíya,
in which the Muní Sátátapa relates how the divine Ṛishí
Nárada was informed by Brahma that near Káşí resided many
Brahman and Vaiṣya widows, living by the manufacture of
thread, who had given birth to sons and daughters the offspring
of Avadhútas, or pupils of Náthas, or ascetics. The Rishi was
further directed to proceed to Káşí, and, in consultation with the
Avadhútas, to decide what the caste of these children should be.
After much deliberation it was determined that the offspring of
the Avadhútas and Bráhman widows should belong to the Şiva
gotra; while the issue of the Vaiṣya widows should form a class
called Náth, the former like the Bráhmans being impure for
eleven days, the latter like the Vaiṣya for thirty days. Both
classes were required to read six Vedas, to worship their Mátris,
or female ancestors, at weddings to perform, each household for
itself, the Nandí Șráddha in the name of their forefathers, and
to wear the sacred cord.
It was farther enacted that the dead should be buried, the
lips of the corpse being touched with fire by the son or grand-
son. It is from these Bráhman widows that the modern
Ekádaşí Jogís claim to be descended, and being of that lineage,
mourn for only eleven days, although they have never assumed
the Brahmanical cord.
X
294
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
The Ekádaṣí have Bráhmans of their own, called " Varņa-
Şarman," and addressed as Mahátama, who trace their origin
from the issue of a Șrotriyá Bráhman and a Jogi woman. In
Bikrampúr alone it is estimated there are at least a hundred of
these Jogí Bráhmans.
The majority of this division of Jogís are worshippers of
Krishná, but a few who follow the Sákta ritual are to be met
with. The Gosáins of Nityananda admit Jogís into their com-
munion, but those of Aḍvayánanda will not.
All Jogís in Eastern Bengal regard the family of Dalál
Bazár, in the Noakhally district, as the head of their race, and
very proud they are of the distinction which was conferred on
that house. In the middle of last century Brijo Ballabh Ráí, a
Jogí, was Dalál, or broker, his brother Radhá Ballabh Ráí being
Jachandár, or appraiser, of the English factory of Char Páta, on
the Meghna. The son of the former developed the trade in
Báftah cloth to so great an extent that the Company in 1765
bestowed on him the title and rank of a rájah, presenting him at
the same time with a Lákhiráj, or rent free, estate. His grand-
son still enjoys the property, being respected not only by the
Jogís throughout Eastern Bengal, but by all who know him and
his family.
The mourning dress of the Jogís is a cotton garment called
"Jála Kaccha,” literally netted end, manufactured by them, and
identical with that worn by other Hindus between the death of
a relative and the Sráddha. In a corner of this raiment the Jogí
ties a piece of iron, suspending it over his shoulder. On the
eleventh day, when the funeral obsequies are about to be per-
formed, the barber, cutting off the iron, gives it to the wearer,
who throws it into water, then bathes, offers the Pinda to the
manes of the deceased, and returns home.
The Jogí Bráhmans are, with few exceptions, illiterate, but a
few gain a livelihood as Páṭhaks, or readers of the epic poems.
Jogís are the Mahants of the Kapila Muní shrine in the Sunder-
buns, and officiate at the Váruņi festival in Phálgun.¹
All Jogís believe that good spirits are at death absorbed
into the Deity, while the bad reappear on earth in the form of
some unclean animal; but women, however exemplary they may
have been in this world, are not cheered by any assurance of a
future state, it being believed that death is for them annihila-
tion.
Who, then, are the Jogís? Buchanan thought it probable
that they were either the priesthood of the country during the
reign of the dynasty to which Gopí-Chandra2 belonged, or
1 "J. A. S. of Bengal," vol. xxxix, 238.
2 Ibid., vol. iii, 534.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
295
Súdras dedicated to a religious life, but degraded by the great
Şaiva reformer Sankara Áchárya,' and that they came with the
Pál Rájas from western India. In Rangpúr he found the Jogís
living by singing an interminable cyclic song in honour of Gopí-
Chandra. This is all the information collected by that shrewd
and trustworthy observer, and since the beginning of the century
no fresh facts have been added.
After repeated interviews with the Adhikárí and Jogí Bráh-
mans their history is still uncertain. A tradition, however,
survives in Bikrampúr, that their ancestors were Bráhmans, who,
forgetting the Gáyatrí, or sacred verses, were degraded.
JÁT-JOGI.
2
This class of Hindustani vagrants, also called Madárí, Tubri-
wálas, or Sányá, who play on pipes and exhibit tame snakes,
frequently visit Dacca after attending the two annual festivals
of Gorakhnáth, near Gorakhpúr. They wander over the country,
subsisting as snake charmers, and by capturing wild ones, but
scandalising the people by their intemperate and filthy habits.
They wear shell bead necklaces, massive brass earrings, called
"Gorakhnáth ka mundrá," and long untrimmed beards. Their
homes are in the Mirat or Delhi districts, where they are known as
Ját-Jogí. Being usually married, their wives occasionally assist
at the snake-charming exhibitions. Tall, fine-looking men they
often are, but their garments are always dirty and habits most
dissolute. The police are constantly on the watch when the band
is on the move, as thefts, and even murders, are attributed to
them.
KÁCHARU.
This small caste claims to be an offshoot of the Kayasth,
and tell the following absurd story to explain the separation,
1 J. A. S., vol. iii, 408.
2 Tomṛi. S. Tumba, a dried gourd (Lagenaria vulgaris). An epithet of
Siva is Tumba-Vína, having a gourd for à lute. On the gourd mystic figures
are usually engraved.
3 There is a close connection between these Sányas and the Kánpháta Jogís.
Both wear similar ornaments, and Siva is the patron deity. Wilson's "Essays
on the Religion of the Hindus," i, 217.
x 2
296
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
and consequent debasement: A rich and aspiring Káyasth
determined on celebrating the worship of Kálí in his own house,
contrary to the wishes of his brethren, and deaf to all arguments
he performed the ceremony, but was punished by being excom-
municated. This is a most improbable story, as the Kácharu
caste is dispersed throughout Eastern Bengal, being very
numerous at Madárípúr in Farrídpúr, and it has a Purohit of its
own. The Súdra barber and washerman work for them,
although their water vessels are unclean. It is far more pro-
bable that, like the Chhotá-bhágiya Tántís, they were expelled
for adopting a new trade.
In Dacca the Kácharu are gradually relinquishing their
caste trade, the manufacture of glass bracelets (Kácha), in which
Muhammadans also engage, and are acting as traders, grocers,
and shopkeepers.
The caste has three gotras, Aliman, Kaşyapa, and Paráṣará.
Their patronymics are Dutt, Dáș, and Dé. The principal
festival kept is in honour of Viṣva-Karma in Bhádra (August-
September).
*
KAHÁR.
According to their census there were, in 1872, 7,821 Rawání
Kahárs in the nine eastern districts of Bengal, of whom 1,436
were returned as residents of Dacca; while of the Behára, or
Dolíya sept, there were 19,569 individuals in the former dis-
tricts, and 1,226 in Dacca. Kahárs, however, principally inhabit
Bihar and Hindustan, and in 1872 there were 378,706 belong-
ing to the caste in the former province, while in 1865 there
were 693,519 in the latter. The relation between the Kahár
and the Behára¹ is still obscure, but it is probable that the latter
term, as well as Dolíya, are merely names given to palanquin
bearers, and not to any caste.
In accordance with Bráhmanical genealogy, the Káhar is
descended from a Bráhman father and a Nisháda or Chandál
mother, but it is now generally admitted that the Kahár and
Dhímar are identical, the former being remnants of a primitive.
race who dwelt in the valley of the Ganges, and the latter out-
cast Kahárs.
The Kahár being the most docile and industrious of work-
men, is in much request throughout Bengal, and of late years
he has been in great demand as a coolie for the tea gardens of
¹ Sanskrit, Bhára, a load.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
297
3
Assam, Kachar, and Chittagong. A few also come yearly from
Chaprah, being employed in the city of Dacca as coolies, porters,
and domestic servants; but they always return home as soon
as a little money has been saved. These Hindustání, or Rawání,
Kahárs, observe a peculiar worship in honour of Ganesa Jí on
the seventh day of the waxing moon of Kártik (October-
November), when, accompanied by Bráhmans, they proceed to a
wood, and make offerings of vegetables, fruits, and sweetmeats,
under an "Ámlá" tree (Phyllanthus emblica); but never sacri-
fice any animal. A feast is then given to the Bráhmans, after
which the Kahárs dine, and drink spirits to excess.
The enter-
tainment of Bráhmans on this day is accounted as meritorious
as the gift of five cows on any other occasion.
Kahárs domiciled in Bengal, and known as Dolíya, are pro-
scribed by the Hindustání brethren, because, having ceased to
observe the peculiar customs of the caste, they have adopted
those of the despised Bengali Súdras. The Dolíya are met with
along the old post road between Dacca and Calcutta, and at
Manshúrábád, on the Padma river, twenty-five houses are
occupied by them, while in Farrídpúr still larger settlements
occur. Palanquin travelling being no longer the custom in the
country, the Doliyas have become cultivators, domestic servants,
and palanquin bearers in cities. The Rawání Kahár is an eager
and indefatigable sportsman, but the Dolíya is content to catch
fish in traps, and has given up hunting and snaring game. In
one respect the Dolíya is unchanged. Spirit drinking is to him,
as to the Rawání Kahár, the summum bonum of life, but he
shudders at the thought of swine's flesh, which is still a favourite
article of food with his Hindustání kinsmen. The Dolíyas,
rejected by the Kahárs and by the Bengalí Súdras, have a
Brahman of their own, and all belong to a gotra called Aliman.
The majority are Saiva worshippers, but a few are Vaishnavas.
In Bengal the Hindi name, "Mahará," is applied to any
palanquin bearers not Kahárs, and in Dacca bearers either
belong to the Mitra Sení subdivision of the Bhúinmálí caste, or
to the Kándho branch of the Chandál. A few Muhammadan
palanquin bearers, called Dolí-wálas, or Sawárí-wálas, may
occasionally be picked up, but their numbers are yearly
diminishing.
Last century the title Kahár was, at Patna, the distinctive
appellation of a Hindu slave, as Maulázádah was of a Muham-
madan; and the tradition in 1774 was, that the Kahár slavery
took its rise when the Muhammadans first invaded Northern
India.¹
1 "Slavery in India," by James Feggs, p. 6.
298
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
KAIBARTTA, KAIVARTA.
This is by far the most numerous and interesting of the
fisher tribes of Eastern Bengal. Their name is radically the
same as Kewat, the word Kaibartta being derived from the
Sanskrit Ka, water, and Varta, livelihood, Kewat, from Ka and
Vat, to enclose. There are, however, great difficulties in dis-
tinguishing between the two, but Buchanan has offered the
following explanation :-
In the west of India there was, and still is, a class of fisher-
men called Málo, by a woman of which impure tribe Paráșara
Muní begot a son, the famous Vyása. When Vyása established
the Hindu religion as it now exists, he naturally favoured his
mother's kinsmen, and gave those who adhered to his rules of
purity the name of Kaibartta, and appointed Súdra Bráhmans
to minister unto them. On the other hand, those who remained
fishermen, clinging to their ancestral customs, retained the name
of Málo, and continued degraded.
In Bengal, again, there was a powerful tribe called Kewat,
whom Ballál Sen in after years raised to the grade of pure
Súdras, conferring on them the title Kaibartta as a return for
their leaving off their family trade. The Bráhmans, however,
refusing to officiate for them, the less scrupulous Vyásakta were
appointed. Hence it followed, that wherever the laws of Ballál
Sen were observed, the appellation Kewat, given to those who
pursued their old and rude habits, came to be regarded as an op-
probrious and dishonouring title, and one that ought to be got
rid of as soon as possible. In Maithila, Kámrup, and Eastern
Bengal, Kewat and Kaibartta are synonymous. This great
tribe is therefore subdivided into Halwáha Kaibartta, or Kewat,
if in the particular district the latter term is not reckoned dis-
graceful, and Kewat, or, where that designation is disapproved
of, Jalwah Kaibartta, and, if this is not granted, Jáliya, or
persons using nets (Jál). In Eastern Bengal they call them-
selves Dás, or Jalwah, Kaibartta, there being no Chásá, or
Halwáha subdivision. In Dacca, moreover, as well as in
Kamrup Dhívara, the Sanskrit for a fisherman, is used as a
synonym, while, according to the Amara Kosha dictionary, Dás
Kaibartta and Dhívara are convertible terms.
The Kaibarttas of Bengal trace their descent from Mátsya-
gandha, the fisher girl, whose amour with Paráṣara Muni is
related in the Mahá Bhárata, and who became the mother of
Vyása. Of his descendants, the Vyásakta Bráhmans, they know
nothing. Their own. Bráhmans are generally confounded with
the Patit, and, according to local tradition, it was Ballál Sen
who first bestowed on them a degraded priesthood. At the
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
299
great assemblage of the castes, the Kaibarttas pleaded their
right to be included among the Nava-Sákhá, as being the off-
spring of a Muni, but the monarch, deaf to all their arguments,
alloted them one of the most degraded priests. At the present
day these Brahmans are so despised, that no clean Súdra will
touch anything cooked by them, and, in reality, they rank
beneath the Súdra. This curious circumstance is suggestive of
some such irregular creation as that referred to by Buchanan.
The Kaibarttas were amongst the earliest inhabitants of
Bengal, and acquired a commanding position many centuries
ago. On the extinction of the Peacock dynasty of Tamluk,
Kalu Bhuya, a Kaibartta from Orissa, founded a line of fisher
kings, who are still possessors of the Ráj.' He introduced a new
religion, including a shapeless block of stone, called "Barga-
bhíma,” which was held in great veneration, and has since been
identified as one of the innumerable forms of the dreaded
Kálí.
2
The Dás Kaibartta in Dacca often cultivate the soil, although
they have not as yet separated into a distinct caste, as the
Chásá and Tútiya Kaibarttas have done in other parts of Bengal.
According to Ward, the Chásá Kaibartta is descended from a
Șúdra male and a female Kshatriyá, but there is little doubt
that they were originally fisher Kaibarttas, who took to agrieul-
ture. As with the Tiyars the position of the Kaibarttas is
uncertain, for while the fisher class is invariably reckoned
impure, the agricultural is not always so.
The Jalwah, or fisher Kaibarttas, are all members of one
gotra, the Aliman, their common patronymic being Dás, but a few
individuals, who practise medicine, have assumed the title of
Baidya. In some places the Súdra Nápit and Dhobá work for
them, but this is exceptional. Their Guru is a Gosáin, the
Purohit a Patit Bráhman, and the whole caste is Vaishnava in
creed.
Their great annual festival is the "Jal pálani," or net pre-
serving, which begins on the first of Mágh (February). From
two and a half to seven days is the usual duration of this close
period, and on the last day, when the Ganga Pújah is celebrated,
the net is arranged on the river's bank, and daubed with red
lead. Offerings are then made to the river goddess, prayers
recited by the priest, and a live kid thrown into the water, which
becomes the perquisite of the Bhúinmálí, or Patní. A few
worship Bura-Burí, and at the Kálí Pújah a kid is sacrificed, its
flesh being eaten by the worshippers. The Sráddha is solemnized
on the thirtieth day after death. In Bikrampúr the customary sum
1 Hunter's "Orissa," vol. i, 310.
2 Vol. i, 140.
2
300
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
paid for a wife is fifty-one rupees; but the market rate is often
as high as two hundred rupees. When the Kaibartta has
amassed a little money, he gives up the occupation of a fisher-
man, and becomes a fishmonger (Nikari), using in his leisure
hours a cast net, but no other. Kaibarttas generally cultivate a
field of hemp, and if they hold no land make advances to the
peasantry, who plant out a patch for them; they prepare the
fibre and their wives spin it, and manufacture nets, ropes, and
twine.
The Kaibarttaní do not generally sell fish in the bazaars, or
appear in public, but becoming widows they cannot remarry,
and often join the wandering "Boistubis."
The only curers of fish in Easten Bengal are the Kaibarttas,
the curing being carried on in November and December, when
fish are most abundant. The fish-curers generally belong to
Bajitpúr in Mymensingh, or to Báqirganj. Early in Novembar
a piece of land is leased by the waterside, and the neighbouring
fishermen are engaged to bring the proper kind, the small
"Potí," or "Pontí," fish. The fish is first of all placed between
mats, and trodden under foot, and then slowly dried in the sun,
no salt being used. This nasty, and often putrid, mess is
exported to those districts where fish are not procurable during
the cold season. In Mymensingh larger fish are gutted, dried
in the sun, and, without the addition of any brine, buried in pits.
At the beginning of the rains, when fresh fish are not procurable,
this "Sukhtí," as it is called, is dug up, put on board boats, and
transported to Silhet and Kachhár, where it is esteemed a great
delicacy, and is retailed by the resident Kaibarttas in the distant
villages of the interior.
The preparation of isinglass (Machhí Ka Phúkná) is unknown
to the fisher castes of Dacca.
KÁMÁR, KARMAKÁRÁ.
The Kámár combines the trades of the Hindustání Sonár and
Lohár, having no scruples about working with any kind of
metal.
As among other Dacca castes, there exists a tradition that
they were brought from Upper India by the Muhammadan
government. In the 'Aín-i-Akbarí we are informed that there
was an iron mine in Sarkar Buzúha, which included Dacca, and
in later times Jagírs, called "Ahangar," were granted to the
skilled workmen employed in smelting iron from the red laterite
soil of the Dacca district. It is very probable, therefore, that
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
301
the tradition referred to is founded on fact. At the present day,
however, the Kámárs are unacquainted with the art of smelting
iron, and a local supply being unobtainable, they procure pig
iron from Calcutta.
The Kámár, as above stated, works with all metals, including
gold and silver, and being himself a clean Súdra, thoroughly
despises the professional goldsmith, or Sonár-banik, who is
unclean.
In Dacca the caste is said to occupy two hundred houses,
and according to the census returns they number 12,072 persons
in the district.
The Kansárí, or brasier caste, is no longer met with in the
city, the manufacture of the brass utensils, solely used in Hindu
households, devolving on the Kámárs, their only competitors
being the Ghulám Káyasths, many of whom engage in this
trade.
The majority of the Kámárs are Vaishnavas, but a few follow
the Șákta ritual, the Purohit being the same as the Bráhman of
the other Nava-şákha. They have no Parámánik, but a
Pancháít exists, at which the most influential person present
presides.
They have only one gotra, the Aliman, and no titles. The
caste has always been an illiterate one, its members at the
present day only learning sufficient Bengali to enable them to
keep accounts.
The Kámár makes an alloy with three parts of copper and
four of zinc, called "Bhart," and with it manufactures cups,
lotahs, and other vessels.
The "Panní-wálah," or tin-foil maker, is always a Kámár;
the tin is obtained in bars from Calcutta, and being run into
moulds, is, while still soft, beaten out until thin enough to be cut
into strips, which are then stained with lac and turmeric so as
to counterfeit the colour of gold. The foil so produced is then
sold to the Muhammadan Chúrí-wálah to ornament his glass
bracelets, and to the Málákár to embellish chaplets, tiaras, images
of gods and goddesses, and the platforms paraded on gala days.
KANAUJIYÁ BRÁHMANS.
There are only ten or twelve houses in Dacca occupied by
this Hindustání tribe, but several families having settled in
Bengal, are styled Khonța, and been excommunicated. Finding
302
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
a difficulty in obtaining wives, these outcasts have intermarried
with the inferior Bengal tribes, and will eventually become.
merged in the ranks of the Srotriyá.
((
Of the sixteen denominations of the Kanaujiyá subdivision
of Brahmans the most common in Dacca are Dúbe, Tiwárí, and
Súkul. These Bráhmans are employed as Dafa'dárs, constables,
and Barkandázs; but in former days they held important posts
under the Nawabs, and their descendants still proudly wear the
Sarmáí," or cold weather embroidered cap, of the Muhamma-
dan aristocracy. A Dúbe, named Natú Singh, was Názir of the
Provincial Court of Appeal last century, and to him Dacca owes
the erection of the two hideous towers, called " Názir-Ka-maths,"
on the spot where the bodies of his father and mother were
burned.
At the present day the most famous Kanaujiyá of Dacca is
a Tiwárf from Baiswárá, who has raised himself into notoriety
by his skill in telling fortunes and casting horoscopes. He is
styled “the Bráhman," the Pandit, or Jyotishí, by the Hindus;
and Rammál, or Nujúm, by the Muhammadans. His services
are as indispensable at the birth and naming of a Muhammadan
as of a Hindu child.
1
KÁNDHO.
This is a subdivision of Chaṇḍáls, formerly palanquin
bearers, deriving their names from the Sanskrit Skandha, the
shoulder, who still have the Chandál Bráhmans and servants
working for them. At the present day a few carry palkís, when
required, but the majority are boatmen, and cultivators. All
are included in a gotra, the Kasyapa. Their principal festivals
are the feast of first-fruits, or Lakshmi Pújáh, celebrated at
the full moon of Kártik (October-November); the Bura-Burí
sacrifice on the Paus Sankrántí; and of late years the Trí Náth
Melá.
Their widows still remarry, and the old Chandál fondness for
pork and spirits survives.
The Kándho will carry a Sáha, a Mussulmán, or a Farangí
in a palanquin; but refuse to bear a Jalwah, or fisherman, a
Rishi, a Chandál, a Dhobá, or a Bhúinmálí. They, moreover,
imitate the Kahárs in shouting "Rám! Rám! Hari! Hari!" in
the act of lifting the pole on to the shoulder.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
303
KÁNDÚ.
The Kándús, or sugar boilers of Hindustán, happily called
frymen" by early English travellers, occupy about twenty-five
houses in the city.
According to the Bráhmans, the Kándú is descended from a
Baidyá, or Kahar, father and a Súdra mother, but in Gorakhpúr
he is regarded as a Vaiṣya, and the Rajputs drink from their
waterpots.¹
The ordinary subdivisions found in Bengal are-
Kanaujiyá,
Magbaiyá,
Madhya-desh,
Khuránt.
The majority of the Dacca Kándús belong to the two last,
and are usually called "Bhar-bhunjás," from their parching
and grinding grain, and preparing "Sattú," or flour. Another
equally common designation is Pánch Píriya Kándús, from the
religious sect to which they all belong. The Dacca Kándús
originally came from Damdáhá, in Purneah; but having resided
for several generations in Bengal are known as Khoņtá, or
degraded, and Deswálí, or alien, Kándús, by their Hindustání
brethren, who decline all communication with them.
In Upper India Kándús are often cultivators, but they also
parch grain, and use pack-bullocks, as the Banjárás do, for
transporting merchandise and cereals. In Dacca the Kándús
are confectioners, as well as watchmen, domestic servants, and
coolies. Their lowly origin does not prevent their providing the
only food that strict Hindus can eat with unwashed hands.2
In the month of Mágh, Kándús, instead of worshipping
Sarasvatí, as most Hindus do, pay adoration to Sukha Sív Náth.
At this festival a pot filled with " Ghi," flour, barley, and other
articles of their trade, together with a large quantity of rosin
(Dhúná), is set fire to, and the dense smoke is regarded as the
symbol or manifestation of their patron deity.
The Dacca Kándús, although employing a Bráhman as
Purohit, follow the singular creed called Pánch Píriyá. Many
observe the fast of Ramazán; wear the "baddhi" or sash, and
the "Kafní" or mendicant's garb; offer sweetmeats (Shírní) at
Dargahs, and at the Shfah Husaini Dalán; and confide in amulets
(Ta’wiz) given by the Khwánd-Kár.
In their marriage and funeral ceremonies they follow the
Súdra custom. Like the Pánch Píriyá Binds, and Kumhárs,
their Guru is the Mahant of the Nának Sháhí Akhárá.
¹ Buchanan, ii, 465.
2 Vegetable products, such as Gur, or molasses, and any sweetmeat cooked by
a Sáha, or Muhammadan, without the addition of any other substance than
sugar, is called " Jálá," and may be eaten even by Bráhmans without dishonour;
but if even water, or milk be added, it is " Pakka," or dressed, and becomes
impure.
}
304
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
KÁNSÁRÍ, KÁNSYA-KÁRA.
This is an offshoot of the Sonár-banik, outcasted because its
members manufactured articles of Kánsá, or bell-metal, but now-
adays, they are workers in brass, and are properly Thatheras, or
brasiers. In Dacca very few are to be met with, but at Rájnagar,
on the right bank of the Padma, they are numerous.
The Kánsári is a clean Súdra, having the same Bráhman,
Nápit, and Dhobá as the Nava-şákha; but strange to say, they
are all Saivas, no Vaishnavas being found in their ranks. Like
other artizan classes they keep the festival of Visva-Karma, and
refrain from all work.
They manufacture with brass sheeting procured in Calcutta,
and hammered into the requisite shape, small caldrons (Bhokná),
salvers, and elongated water pots. Cuttings and filings are
fused, and worked up.
The utensils are sold to dealers (Páekár), who retail them in
the inland villages.
Chandals often serve the Kánsári, and become very skilful
workmen.
KANTHÁ¹ BRÁHMAN.
This despised Bráhman, sarcastically named Mahábráhman,
or Mahápátra, performs for Hindustání families the same offices
as the Agradána does for Bengali. They formerly occupied as
many as forty houses in Dacca, and a large reservoir of water
is still known as Kantha Ka Taláo," but now only one man,
whose ancestors came from Patna, resides there.
((
This, the most abhorred of Hindustání Bráhmans, notorious
for avarice, bad temper, and drunkenness, is considered a degraded
branch of the Sawálákhia tribe. They have good grounds for
being irascible. They are compelled to live apart, and when
seen in public, boys hoot and pelt them. Many absurd stories
are told of their doings-one is, that every morning the Kantha
drives a peg into the ground, and throws stones at it. If he hits
it, he goes home in great glee, regarding his success as an omen
of the early death of some rich person. On the other hand, if
his aim is bad, he returns disconsolate.2
1 The meaning of this word is obscure, but it may be the Sanskrit Kantha, a
rag, or patched garment, worn by ascetics.
2 The story of Rousseau and Goethe trying to forecast the future by a
similar experiment is well known,
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
305
As soon as the funeral service is finished he must fly, and
he is lucky if his home is reached with only the execrations of
the crowd ringing in his ears.
The Kanthá Bráhman attends at the funerals of all high
caste Hindustánís in Dacca, preparing the Pinda, or obsequial
ball of rice, and providing the plantain, sesamum seed, and
barley to be put in the hands of the corpse before cremation
begins. He, too, is the only person who can repeat certain
Mantras, or prayers, over the pyre.
At the Sráddha the Kantha prepares ten Pindas, and one for
the "Ekádaşí," as oblations to the manes of the departed. For
doing this he receives from the poor presents of curdled milk,
sugar, and parched rice (Chúṛá); from the rich, sweetmeats and
pieces of cloth.
At the cremation service he gets no remuneration; but at
the ensuing Sráddha it is customary for the poor to give him
twenty anas, the rich any sum up to one hundred rupees, in
return for his labour.
KAPÁLI.
This caste claims to be the offspring of a Karmakár and a
Telin, or woman of the oil-making trade.¹ In Hindi Kapáli
means sly, and, according to Forbes, is the name of a caste in
Bengal, who sell vegetables. It is also one of the titles of Șiva.
The common derivation given by Pandits is the Sanskrit Kapála,
meaning the head, or a dish. Whether any of these words be
the correct origin of the name or not, it is certain that the caste
is peculiar to Bengal, and that in Dacca, at least, it is quite
distinct from the Kawáli.
Like many Bengal castes, the Kapáli have a vague tradition
that their original home was in Upper India; but this tradition
has never assumed a legendary form. The caste claims to be
of higher rank than the Bhúinmálí, Chandál, or Sáha, and being
descended from clean Súdras the pure Dhobi and Nápit work
for them. The Purohit, who is distinct from that of the Kawálí,
is a Patit Bráhman. Their only gotra is Kasyapa; and the
caste Pancháít is presided over by a headman, called Mu'tabar.
The titles found among the Kapálís are Mánjhí, Mundle, Shiq-
dár, Mála, and Háldár; the families with the first three patro-
nymics being regarded as higher than the others, while a larger
sum is paid for their daughters.
¹ According to others the offspring of a Brahman mother and fisherman
father.
306
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
In Rangpur, Buchanan found the Kapálí engaged in making
umbrellas; but in Eastern Bengal at the present day they are
weavers and cultivators. They chiefly cultivate jute (Koshtá),
preparing the fibre themselves, and manufacturing from it coarse
canvas (Tát) for bags. Men and women weave, their loom being
the ordinary native one, but clumsier than that used by the
Tántí. Their shuttle is called Váya, and they dispense with the
reed (Slánah). They are also careful to explain that the shuttle
is shot with the hands, as among the Tántís, and not driven by
pedals as with the outcast Jogies.
The Kapálí manufactures three kinds of canvas, the first,
"Chálá" being used for the carriage of rape seed; the second,
Chot" for packing goods; and the third, "Tat" being in universal
demand for floor matting, for boat sails, rice bags, and bags for
country produce generally. In Bikrampúr a finer kind of canvas,
known as "Vára-Vastra," is woven for the carriage of betle-nuts.
The trade of the Kapálí has of late years suffered greatly by the
importation of gunny bags from Europe; but they always find
a ready market for the sale of matting. Bamboo mats for floors
are seldom used in Bengal, but canvas is laid down in every shop,
and beneath bedding whenever the ground is slept on. On the
Vijaya Daṣamí day of the Durga Pújah each Bengali shop-
keeper, often including the Muhammadan, regards it as a duty
to throw away the old matting of his shop, and replace it by
new.
The Kapálís generally reside in villages, where they can
cultivate jute, never in large towns, and would lose caste if they
worked with hemp or cotton. Their occupation being different
from that of the Tántí, the two castes live in amity with one
another.
The Kapálí is usually poor, but in former days several of
them rose to be Táluqdárs. In Dacca none possess land, but a
few having relinquished their caste trade have become boatmen
and Modís. The majority of the Kapálís are worshippers of
Vishnu, and observe all the common Hindu festivals. They
assert that they never taste spirits, but it is generally believed
they do. Gánjha smoking, however, is common among them.
KARNI.
This low caste of weavers lay claim to relationship with the
great Tántí family, but the claim is repudiated. Nevertheless,
it is a curious circumstance that the Nápit, Dhobá, and other
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
307
servants of the clean Súdra tribes work for them, which would
not be the case if they were of humble origin, yet their Purohit
is peculiar to themselves.
Various derivations of the name Karní are given. According
to some it is merely a corruption of the Hindi Kurmí, while
others suggest it is the Sanskrit " Kár," to do, hence by meto-
nomy to do what is forbidden.
The caste is a small one, being only met with in the western
Thánas of the Dacca district, along the left bank of the Padma
river, but it is more numerous in Farrídpúr and Pubna. It has
three gotras, Bharadvája, Aliman, and Kasyapa. Vaishnavism
is the religion of the majority, Saivism of the minority.
The Karní are exclusively engaged in weaving, agriculture
and fishing being strictly forbidden. They manufacture the
"Dhotí" or waist-cloth, the "Gamcha," the mourning garment
worn by all Hindus, as well as chequered bed curtains (Chár-
kháng).
KARRÁL.
This name, of doubtful origin,' is applied to an outcast sub-
division of the great Chandál tribe which has become degraded
from carrying on the business of fishmongers. Their kinsmen
neither intermarry nor hold any social intercourse with them, but
the same Brahman and servants work for both.
The Karrál is to the Hindu population what the Mahífarosh,
or Panjárí, is to the Muhammadan, and men and women, though
they never fish themselves, retail fish in the markets, and often
make advances to fishermen.
The caste is more numerous in Farrídpúr than in Dacca,
but all along the left, or Dacca bank of the Padma, small
colonies are established, while inland individuals are employed
as constables and messengers.
The Karráls are all Vaishnavas in creed, and united in one
gotra, the Kasyapa. They confess to a partiality for spirits, but
allege that they abstain from flesh, including pork, unless when
the animal has been sacrificed.
1 The name may be derived from the Sanskrit Karála, great, formidable.
A
308
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
KAWÁLÍ.
This caste of musicians, often designated Halwah Kawálís,
were originally Kapálís, but having adopted a different occupa-
tion, were compelled to enroll themselves in a new caste. The
same Bráhman, however, officiates for both, but intermarriages, or
social intercourse, is strictly prohibited. Buchanan found the
Kawálí very numerous west of Patna, living as petty dealers and
carriers. The Kapálí, again, he regards as a Bengali tribe, and
in Puraniya he found them engaged in burning lime like the
Chunarí.
In Dacca the Kawális preserve a tradition that they are the
offspring of a Káyasth father and a Dhobín, or washerwoman,
and the Súdra servants work for them, as they also do for the
Kapális.
The Kawálí of Dacca is a musician, playing on any instru-
ment taught him by his Ustád, Sirdár, or teacher. When
young he is apprenticed to a master, whose credit depends on
the proficiency of his pupil. Youths are also taught to dance,
and, strange to say, the Purohit does not disdain to join in a
dance, or to take a part in a theatrical play. The Kawálí declines
to play in the house of any caste who has not the Súdra Nápit,
and Dhobá, and refuses to attend at the homes of the Muham-
madan Dáí, or Hajjám. They have no objections, however, to
play in concert with the Nar, Rishí, or Hajjám.
The Kawálís all belong to one gotra, the Aliman. They
have no surnames, but several honorary titles, such as Dhálí,
Mála, Háldár, and Mánjhí, and the most respectful term by
which to address them is "Vidyadhara," a name given to the
dancers in Indra's heaven.
The great annual festival of the Kawálís is the Șrí Panchamí,
in honour of Sarasvatí; but its observance is not allowed to
interfere with their professional engagements, and they as readily
accept employment on that day as on any other. The Kawális
are all Vaishnavas, and are hired by Hindu villagers to sing the
religious hymns called Harí San-kírtan.
The dancing girls to whom they usually play are either
Muhammadans (Báí), or Chandálnís; but widows belonging to
any caste, even to the Bráhman, are often found with them.
The Kawálís observe the Sráddha and Shashthi ceremony on
the same days as the Kapálí, and Súdras generally.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
309
KÁYASTHA, KÁYATH, KÁIT.
The origin of this important caste is unknown, and all
attempts to explain how and when it rose have been fruitless.
In one part of the country the members claim to be of higher
rank than the Súdras, and repudiate that title; but in Bengal
they are classified immediately below the Baidyá caste, with
whom they live on terms of great jealousy. If we accept
Karaṇa,¹ which means a man of mixed race,” as synonymous
with Káyath, the caste is descended from a Bráhman father
and a mother of the class next beneath it in rank; but accord-
ing to other authorities it is the issue of a Kshetriyá father and
a Vaiṣya mother. The Káits, however, are better pleased to
have their parentage doubtful than to be the reputed offspring
of such an ignoble stock.
The word Kayath is generally derived from the Sanskrit
Káyá, a body, because the progenitor of the clan is said to have
sprung from the body of Brahma, yet it is probable that Káyath
was simply a man's and not a tribal name.
The Kayaths of Bengal are believed to be descended from
five persons who served the five Bráhmans brought from Kanauj
by Adisúra in the ninth century.
The names of the five
servants were
Dasaratha Bosu,
Makaranda Ghose,
Viráța, or Súkdeo Gúha,
· Kálí Dás Mittra,
Purushottama Datta.
A tradition survives, that after celebrating the "Putreshți
Jagya," for which their masters had been summoned, the Káyaths
returned to Kanauj, but were repudiated as outcasts by their
brethren, upon which they came back to Bengal with two other
members of their clan, named Nág and Náth, and settled at
Pancha-Sára in Bikrampúr.
The Káyaths of Bengal are subdivided into four great tribes,
who formerly had no connection with one another, although all
were engaged in the same profession, but of late years the causes
of separation having been removed, individuals belonging to
allied tribes intermarry.
The four tribes are-
Uttar-Rárhí,
Dakhin-Rárhí,
Bangaja,
Varendra.
The distribution of the tribes is as follows:-
The Uttar-Rárhí are met with in the districts of Bírbhúm,
Burdwan, Murshídábad, parts of Rangpúr, Dinajpúr, Hughli,
and Jessore. The Dakhin-Rárhí are massed in Burdwan,
•
¹ In Midnapore Kájasths still describe themselves as Karans.
Y
310
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
1
Hughli, Midnapúr, 24 Pergunnahs, Jessore, Kishnaghur, and
parts of Baqirganj, while in Dacca only two families reside.
The Bangaja are established in Báqirganj, Jessore, 24 Pergun-
nahs, Dacca, Farrídpúr, western part of Mymensingh, eastern
part of Pubna, and in several villages of the Bograh district.
The Varendra are settled in Rájsháhí, Pubna, Maldah, Bograh,
Dinajpúr, as well as here and there throughout Farrídpúr,
Jessore, and Kishnaghur.
The second and third tribes are so closely allied that the
same gotras are common to both, and of late years they have
been fast amalgamating: but the first and fourth, having no
Kulins, are more conservative of old party customs. In Eastern
Bengal the Bangaja tribe includes nine-tenths of the whole
Káyath caste, while the remainder belong to the Dakhin Ráṛhí.
The following remarks will therefore be confined to the former.
The Bangaja Káyaths have Ghataks of their own, residing
at Edilpúr, in Báqirganj, from whom the account of the various
subdivisions has been obtained. The Ghatak registers go back
twenty-three generations, to the fourteenth century, when the
Muhammadans had conquered the most important part of
Bengal. It it probable, however, that the occurrences of a later
age have been embellished by the traditions of an earlier, and
that the present organisation of this great tribe was the work of
a reformer who lived long after the reigns of Ádisúra and Ballál
Sen. Whoever reorganised the tribe, he gave the rank of Kulin
to the four families of-
Vasu or Bosu,
Ghosa,
Gúha,
Mittra ;
while to Datta, who was of a proud and independent spirit,
refusing to be the slave of any Bráhman, was allotted only a
half Kul. On the other hand, Dutt, Nág, Náth, and a family of
bondsmen, called Dása, were enrolled as Madhalya, or inter-
mediate, Káyaths, with whom the Kulins may marry without
loss of rank.
The following is a list of the gotras of the Kulin and
Madhalya Kayaths, but the correct order of precedence is a sub-
ject of interminable dispute and heart-burning:-
Kulin
PADAVÍ.
Bosu
Ghose.
Gúha ..
Mittra ..
:
GOTRA.
Gautama.
Sukláyana.
Sándilya.
Vátsya.
Kasyapa.
Kálkisha.
Visvámittra.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
311
:
GOTRA.
Madhu-Kulyá.
Sánḍilya.
Agni-Vátsya.
Bharadvája.
Kaşyapa.
Krishnatreya.
PADAVÍ.
Dutt
Madhalya
Nág
Náth
L Dása
:
:
:
Vasishtha.
Aliman.
Şápeyin.
Paráṣara.
Kasyapa.
Madhu-Kulyá.
Gautama.
Aliman.
Átreya.
The four families next in order are designated Mahá-pátra
Sena
Singha..
Vásukí.
Aliman.
Vátsya.
رم
Sinha ..
Dé
Maha-pátra
Raha
:
:
Gautama.
Ghrita-Kausika.
Aliman.
Ghrita-Kausika.
Kaşyapa.
Paráṣara.
Madhu Kulyá.
Sándilya.
Vátsya.
Gautama.
Bharadvája.
Vasishtha.
Kasyapa.
Madhu Kulyá.
Aliman.
Bharadvája.
Krishnátreya.
Next below these are fifteen families, who by giving their
daughters in marriage to Kulins, can raise themselves to the
grade of Mahá-pátra, but a marriage of this nature brings a
Y 2
312
ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
certain amount of discredit on the family of the bridegroom.
The fifteen are-
Kara,
Dám,
Palit,
Chanda,
Pál,
Bhadra,
Dhar,
Nandí,
Kúnd,
Şome,
Rakhít,
Kúrú,
Bistu,
Addya,
Nandan.
Their gotras, being the same as those of the higher grades,
do not require mention.
Regarding the still lower grades, different lists and names
are given. According to some, they number seventy-two, but
the "Samáj," or council of the Bangaja, only recognise thirty-
two, while the larger number is met with among the Dakhin
Rárhí Káyaths. The thirty-two grades are of very low birth,
and Kulins who intermarry with them lose much, if not all, of
their family prestige. The following names are not often met
with nowadays, but a few are familiar to residents :
Dhír,
Ketú,
Saí,
Aich,
Sillya,
Bhúnja,
Kharma,
Naha,
Súr,
Subodhid,
Sam,
Híra,
Pahí,
Khíra,
Bidi,
Múscha,
Har,
Pyne,
Aditya,
Gorí,
Oi,
Bhút,
Bardhan,
Khírsan,
Gam,
Poit,
Brama,
Bag,
Loadh,
Balla,
Lodh,
Bal.
The higher grades of Káyaths will only eat with these when
paid for so doing. Many of them are writers and educated men,
but others are poor and illiterate peasants.
According to the census returns the Kayath caste numbers
1,160,478 individuals, a large proportion of whom are residents
of the nine districts of Eastern Bengal. It is likewise remark-
able that they are most numerous in Báqirganj (125,164),
Mymensingh (105,537), Dacca (102,084), and Midnapore.
(101,663) districts, on the outer borders of the province, a
circumstance that either indicates a descent from mixed races,
or a special aptitude for development on the confines of advanc-
ing civilization. It must, however, be borne in mind that the
term Káyath is often used by the lower classes of Bengal as the
equivalent of Súdra.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
313
The Kayath caste is the most intellectual, and best educated
in Bengal. Although of doubtful parentage it has from the
earliest historical period been an ambitious and prosperous
community, which even under Muhammadan rule held most of
the financial and revenue appointments throughout India; and
since the English occupation of the country has almost secured
the whole of the subordinate Government offices. At present
they are as skilful penmen, and as good English scholars as they
were formerly Persian. Furthermore, there is perhaps more of a
clannish spirit among them than among any other caste of Bengal.
Sir George Campbell describes the Káyaths as "decidedly
dark, generally thin, spare men, and on the average short, with
often sharp weasel-like features, small and quite low-Aryan."
In Dacca the Káyaths are of a deeper brown colour than the
Kulin Bráhmans, but every shade of brown may be met with.
Some are large powerful men, but after thirty-five they become
fat and sleek-headed, and generally indolent. Their undoubted
talents are too often expended on chicanery and legal quibbles,
and it is very rare to find in Eastern Bengal any highly educated
men who love literature for its own sake, not for the favours it
bestows. It may be safely said, that every Káyath can read
and write Bengali, that a large majority are well versed in
English, as taught in the schools, and that a few are acquainted
with Sanskrit. It is, however, very seldom that a Káyath is
found who can read Persian, as that language is deemed of little
value by the Hindus of Bengal, and it is rare indeed for a Hindu
boy to attend the Persian class at college.
It is a melancholy fact that this clever and rising caste
should always have been extravagant and dissipated. None of
the large Zamíndárs of Eastern Bengal are Káyaths, and few
families are, as regards wealth, on an equality with the Brahman
and Baidya houses. Many reasons are given in explanation
of this anomaly. Káyaths held almost all the lucrative posts
under the Muhammadan rulers of Bengal, were farmers of the
revenue, and were not often credited with tender feelings or
conscientious doubts. As was said of them by a Muhammadan,
who knew them well, they were like a sponge, imbibing what
they could on all occasions, but parting with their plunder as
readily as it does when squeezed. Whenever a revenue officer
was reported to have accumulated wealth, he received a summons
to Murshídábád, and was compelled to give up all that he had,
or become a Muhammadan. In former days, moreover, the
rank of a Káyath depended much on the number of slaves he
retained, and wonderful stories are told of the swarms of depen-
dants belonging to the old families. Their marriage ceremonies,
likewise, and their religious rites, have always been accompanied
314
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
by more ostentation and lavish expenditure than with other
castes. Dissolute and intemperate habits were natural conse-
quences of an uncertain position. Rich to-day, they might be
beggars to-morrow, and the savings of years might be swept
away by a word from the Nawáb. But, even after a century of
peace and security, the Káyaths are the same improvident
people they were under the Mughal dynasty.
The Sakta worship generates drunkards, and no one can be
a devoted worshipper without drinking spirits to a fearful extent.
While the doctrines of Chaitanya have united almost all the
artisan and agricultural castes in a common faith, the immoral
Şákta ritual is observed by the three highest and most intelli-
gent of the Hindu castes, namely, the Bráhman, Baidyá, and
Káyath. All Kulin Káyaths, and three-fourths of the other
subdivisions, follow the Sakta worship, and one-half of these
celebrate the "Vahmachárí Áchár," or Chakra rites. By this,
intoxication is legalised and made a religious duty, while
obscenity is countenanced and enforced. English education has
not as yet reformed them, and probably at no former period
was intoxication so universal and habitual as at the present day.
These strictures, true of the caste collectively, are unjust
towards many of the most philanthropic and excellent native
gentlemen to be met with in Bengal, who lament the degrada-
tion of their brethren, and do their utmost to stem the torrent of
unbelief and immorality which is destroying the noblest qualities
of their countrymen. As yet their endeavours have proved
ineffectual, but it is for the rising generation to realize their
position, to denounce the vices of their brethren, and to assume
the lead in the advancement and in the civilization of their
countrymen.
A Kulin Káyath family is almost as exclusive as that of a
Kulin Bráhman, and it is equally dependent on the Ghatak for
the preservation of its station and purity. A member of this
class can only retain his rank by marrying the daughter of a
Kulin, or by giving his son or daughter in marriage to a Kulin
family. Should any family during three generations neglect to
form an alliance with another Kulin family its patrician dignity
is lost; but a single, or even a second, mésalliance does not
lower the credit of the house. Families who have always inter-
married with Kulins are called "Gangá-tírtha" Kulins, being
regarded as the purest.
When a Kulin Káyath is degraded, he never can regain the
position he has lost, but his descendants, by marrying Kulins,
thenceforward become known as "Kulaja."
Kulaja." Finally, should a
Kulin marry a daughter of the Kulaja, or Madhalya classes, he
continues to preserve his respectability. This union is called
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
315
"Visráma-sthán." Adopted children, moreover, do not acquire
the position of the person adopting them.
Like other clean Súdra castes who follow the Sákta ritual,
the Kulin Káyath has a private temple, or sacred nook, where
a Şiva-linga is erected, and daily worship performed by the
head of the household. All Káyaths, except those of the Vaish-
nava sect, observe the Srí Panchamí, or "Dawát Pújah,” on
the fifth of the waxing moon in Mágh (January-February).
This festival is held in honour of Sarasvatí, the goddess of
learning, who, strange to say, is regarded by both Kayaths and
prostitutes as their patron deity. On this day the courts and
all offices are closed, as no Hindu penman will use pen and ink,
or any writing instrument, except a pencil, on that day.
When work is resumed a new inkstand and pen must be used,
and the penman must write nothing until he has several times
transcribed the name of the goddess Durga, with which all
Hindu epistolary correspondence begins. Káyaths are expected
to spend the holiday in meditating on the goddess Sarasvatí
after they have observed certain religious rites, and sacrificed a
kid to Káli, or Durga; but in reality they spend it in immorality
and dissipation, for which reasons the "goddess of learning" has
in some way come to be regarded as the tutelary deity of the
"Pesháhgar." On this day the Káyath must taste of a Hilsá
fish, whatever its price, while from the Srí Panchamí festival in
January to the Vijaya Dașamí in September or October, fish
must be eaten daily; but from the last to the first month it
must not be touched. This curious custom, probably founded
on some hygienic superstition, is often reversed by Bengali
Káyaths.
As much as a thousand, and occasionally two thousand,
rupees are paid by a bride's father to a Kulin Káyath at his
marriage, but formerly either fourteen or twenty-one rupees
were the recognised sums given, and even now, the formality is
gone through of asking the bride's father if he has received that
amount, although it is not the custom to accept it. In old
families the Purohit officiates at the marriage service, and before
it a fast is observed, during which Kálí is worshipped.
The chief strength of the Brahmo Samáj lies in the ranks of
the Kayaths, and every Káyath boy attending the Government
college becomes a member of this new sect. These boys are
necessarily outcasted, and unless their parents cease to associate
with them, expulsion befalls the whole family. On returning
home a Brahmo boy is not permitted to enter his father's house,
but is fed and entertained by himself in an outhouse. In Dacca a
few Brahmo households exist, the males and females of which
have become Brahmos and Brahmikas, but a few faint-hearted
individuals, Brahmos in Dacca, are Hindus at their homes. There
316
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
1
is reason for anticipating that the whole caste will very soon
become Brahmos. The Káyaths have time on their side, and
are confident that Brahmoism is the destined religion of the
Hindus, and that the Crescent will go down before the hosts of
Deism. Great rejoicings were lately made on the occasion of
the conversion of Záhiruddín of Sunnárgáon, a student of the
Dacca college. He was secretly made a Brahmo, and named
Jáí Nárayana. Subsequently he became a “Prakásh," or perfect-
Brahmo, receiving the title of Jala Dhar Bábu, which entitled
him to eat and drink with the Káyaths.
Throughout the eastern districts of Bengal there is a very
numerous body of natives called Ghulám, or slave, Kayaths, and
also known as Shiqdár, or Bhánḍárí. Their existence as an
adjunct, or graft, of the Kayath stock is both interesting and
peculiar, and would appear to explain the obscure and hetero-
geneous character of the main stem. The Ghulám Káyaths are
descended from individuals belonging to clean Súdra castes, who
sold themselves, or were sold, as slaves to Káyath masters. It
is stoutly denied that anyone belonging to an unclean tribe was
ever purchased as a slave, yet it is hard to believe that this
never occurred. The physique of the low and impure races has
always been better than that of the pure, and on account of their
poverty and low standing a slave could at any time be more
easily purchased from amongst them. However this may be,
it is an undoubted fact that any Ghulám Káyath could, and can,
even at the present day, if rich and provident, raise himself by
intermarriage as high as the Madhalya grade, and obtain admis-
sion among the "Bhadra-lok," or gentry of his countrymen.
For the following translation of a deed of sale I am indebted
to the late Bábu Brijo Sundar Mittra, a scion of one of the
oldest and most respected Káyath families of Dacca :
(C
I, Rám Kisto Pál, son of Túla Rám Pál, and grandson of
Rám Deva Pál, do hereby execute this deed of sale.
((
Owing to the debts incurred at my marriage, and which I
am unable to pay, I, in my proper mind, and of my own free
will, sell myself to you on my receiving a sum of Púrojonodoho-
masi¹ rupees twenty-five, and I and my descendants will serve
you as slaves as long as we are given subsistence allowance and
clothing, you, your sons, and grandsons shall make us work as
slaves, and have power to sell, or make a gift of us to others.
On these conditions I execute this bond.
"Dated 19th Kártik, 1201 B.S. (November, 1794)."
Although slavery is illegal, and has been so for many years,
the buying and selling of domestic slaves still goes on, and it
1 Mr. J. D. Ward, C. S. suggests the following reading and interpretation:
Púra (full), jana, or gana, dahá (ten), másha. Each rupee was to value ten
full máshas. A “másha” equalled 173 grains, and a rupee ten máshas.
OF EASTERN BENGAL,
317
may be safely said that there is hardly a family of any distinc-
tion which has not several Bhándárís on its establishment.
The life of the Nafr, or Shahna, as the slave is called in other
parts of the country, is most congenial to the Bengali. With
rare exceptions he is kindly treated, and in return he regards
the welfare and happiness of each member of the family as
inseparable from his own. Owing to the deaths of their
masters many thousands are scattered throughout Bengal, who
are found working at all trades, and do not consider them-
selves degraded by holding a plough or wielding a mattock.
In Bikrampúr they are often boatmen, while in Dacca Káyaths
are employed as confectioners, coolies, brasiers, shopkeepers,
and venders of Pân and Indian hemp.
Bráhmans, Baidyás, Sáhas, and Banyas possess slaves, but
none of these castes have ever permitted their servants to rise
in rank, or assume an equality with their masters. It is
suggested by the Káyaths that the Ghulám Káyaths of the
present day are the descendants of the tribe resident in Bengal
before the advent of the Kanauj families; but this conjecture is
erroneous, for not only are individuals being added even now to
the servile branch, but admissions such as that of Rám Kisto
Pál, the subject of the deed of sale (who was a Telí by caste),
can be proved by existing documents.
The honorary titles borne by the Kayath families are numer-
ous. The most common are Biswas, Bhúmika, Dhálí, Majumdár,
Qanúngo, Mahalla-nawíz, Paṭṭadár, Shíqdár, Niyogi, Mustaufí,
and Mushrif. Besides these official distinctions, the Rájas of
Chandradwip conferred others, such as Dastá-dár, Thakúrta, and
Munçif, which are borne by Guha and Ghose families at the
present day. From these titles we learn that formerly the
Bengali Kayath wielded other weapons than the pen, and that
while some fought in the ranks as shield-bearing (Dhálí) soldiers,
others commanded as brigadiers (Dastádár).
In olden times the most famous Káyath family in Bengal
was the "Banga Adhikárí," which gave for many generations.
the Qanúngoes, or finance ministers, to the province. Their
residence was in Dacca so long as the seat of government
was there, and a bazár near their mansion is still named Ráí
Bazár. A private idol, known as Sama Ráí, has for two cen-
turies been maintained by the rent of a piece of land. Early in
the eighteenth century the family removed to Murshídábád,
where its representatives still reside.
The leading Kulin Kayáth family of Dacca is the family of
Bose, or, as they prefer calling themselves, Bose-Thákúrs, of
Bose-nagar in Bikrampúr. The founder of the house was Deví
Dás Bose, Qanúngo of the Nawárah Mahall, whose Muharrir,
318
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
or clerk, was Krishna Jívana Majumdár, father of the celebrated
Rájah Ráj Bullabh. An old building at Bose-nagar still bears
an inscription put up by the builder, Deví Dás, with the date
A.H. 1087 (1676).¹
The oldest and most respected house among the Bangaja
Káyaths, however, is that of Chandradwíp. For seventeen
generations the family has dwelt in Báqirganj, and its head has
always been the Samáj-pati or president of the caste.2
}
HINDUSTÁNÍ KÁYATHS.
At the present day the Lálás, as they are called, only occupy
some four houses in Dacca, but formerly they were numerous
and influential. The families belong to the Sri Bástab sub-caste,
and claim to be descended from Káyaths who accompanied
Rájah Man Singh to Dacca in the sixteenth century. In former
days important official posts were held by them, such as that of
Díwán and Bakhshí. The Díwáns of Nawabs Hasmat Jang and
Naçrat Jang were Lálás, but on the death of the last Nawab in
1843 their families returned to Hindustán. The few who remained
behind being poor, accepted service as policemen, Dároghas, and
writers. Their general poverty is ascribed to the danger of
owning land under the Muhammadan rule, when they were in
a position to acquire it.
A few miles north of Dacca an estate, or Ta'luk, is held by
the descendants of a certain Jáí Singh, a Hindustání Káyath,
and famous killer of tigers. The honorary title of " Bághmárá,"
and a grant of land, were conferred, on condition that he and
his heirs annually presented a live tiger to the Nawab at
Dacca.
KEWAT KEOT.
A colony of this widely dispersed fisher caste has for cen-
turies been settled in the city of Dacca, where they occupy from
twenty to thirty houses; but no traces of them are to be found
1 The only other Hindu inscription în Dacca older than this is one on a
Şiválaya at Baishthia, near Mánikganj, belonging to the Guha Majumdár
family, with the date 1518 Şaka, or A.D. 1440.
2 "J. A. S. of Bengal," vol. xliii, 205.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
319
in the interior of the district. A tradition still survives that
they were brought from Bihár by the Muhammadan rulers, and
employed as messengers and watchmen.
Buchanan was of opinion that the Kewat and Kaibartta
originally belonged to one caste, aboriginal to Bengal; but,
whether this opinion is well founded, or not, the Dacca Kewats
repudiate all relationship with the Kaibarttas, although they do
not object to eat or smoke with them. At the present day the
Kewat is met with in every part of Bengal. In Orissa it is the
most numerous of the fisher tribes, polling 150,387 persons; in
Chota Nágpore it comprises 6,191, in Assam 31,300, and in
Bihár 135,692. In the Bengal census return the Kewat is
included, along with others, under Jeliya, a comprehensive term
for all fishermen.
The Kewat caste has three subdivisions, Seo Rámí, Gauri or
Gonrhi, and Dhun Kewat, who eat together and intermarry.
In Bihar and Rangpúr Kewats are either fishermen or
cultivators; in Assam and Orissa fishermen; while in Dacca,
having relinquished fishing, they have generally adopted the
occupation of fishmongers, although a few are Podárs or
bankers. The Kewat fishmonger usually makes advances to the
fishermen, and finds it more profitable to buy small fish by the
basket, and large ones by weight, than haggle for each day's
catch. The Kewat generally brings the supply from the fishing
ground himself, if it is near; but a servant is sent if it is
distant.
In Assam the Kewats have separated into two septs, the
Halwah, who are cultivators worshipping Krishna, and Jaliya,
or fishermen following the tenets of Muhammadanism.¹ Bucha-
nan records² the curious fact that the Kewats had become
Muhammadans in Rangpúr. Equally strange the Dacca Kewats
have become followers of the Nának Shahí faith. Their Guru
is the Mahant of the Shújá'at-púr Akháṛá; their Purohit a
Maithila Bráhman, called Sám-ojha. The Kantha Bráhman
performs their funeral service, and attends at the Sráddha
observed fifteen days after death; but he is charged with being
extortionate, and with demanding more than poor Kewat
families can afford.
3
The Dacca Kewats are all included in one gotra, the Kasyapa,
and though domiciled in Bengal are not excluded from caste
privileges when on a visit to Bihár. Owing to association with
more enlightened races, widow marriage has been discontinued;
but in Mungír Kewat widows still practise it.
1 Robinson's "Assam," p. 263.
2 "Eastern India," iii, 530.
3 Perhaps Sam-yája.
320
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
The great annual festival of the Kewats of Dacca is the
Nauámí, or ninth lunar day of Paush (December-January),
when every one visits the Akhárá, and after prayers, receives
"Mohan Bhog," a sweetmeat specially prepared for the occasion.
The Chhath, on the sixth of Kártik, is a great bathing rite
observed by Kewats, and all Hindustání castes; while the Ganga
Pújah, as well as the principal Hindu festivals, are kept.
Sacrifices, too, are offered at the proper seasons to Bura-Buri.
KHATRÍ, CHHATRÍ.
In 1872 there were 117,508 Chhatrís resident in Bengal, of
whom 14,393 belonged to the eastern districts. There are,
however, reasons for supposing that these figures include many
individuals having no claim to the rank of Rájputs, for the
Surájbansís, Manipúrís, and Kachharís, who call themselves
Chhatrís, are offshoots of the great Indo-Chinese family.
The Chhatrís occupy twenty houses in Dacca at the present
day. Too poor to become traders, and too proud to cultivate the.
soil, they obtain employment as post-office clerks, constables,
and "Dároghas." The majority belong to the Pachhániya branch
of the caste, but members of the Khanna, Chopra, and Dhanwar
tribes are met with, who having married with lower grades have
severed all connection with their homes. The Purohit of the
Dacca Chhatrís is a Sarsút or Sarasvatí Brahman, who pays an
annual visit to his flock. Chandika, a form of Durga, is the
patron deity of the caste; but each gotra has its own peculiar
idol.
Chhatrís are invested with the sacred cord when eight years
old, and individuals who minister at certain religious observances
have a thread of one more ply than those who do not.
At Chhatrí marriages the bride, as with Muhammadans,
remains in the inner apartments, and the "Manḍúá" is erected
in an inner courtyard, where the service is performed.
An interesting tradition connects the modern Khatrís with
the foundation of the Muhammadan city. When the Khatrí,
Rájah Man Singh, in 1595, occupied Dacca with the Mughal
army, and encamped on a tract, cleared of jungle, ever since
called Urdú, an image of Durga, said to have been the
property of Veda-bati, the divorced wife of Ádisúra, was found,
and deposited in a shrine, called Dhakeṣvarí, still regarded as
the palladium of the city. At the present day the revenue of
this sanctuary is divided between several old Khatrí families
and the Brahmáchárí Mahant of the Ramná Ákhárá.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
321
At Páíkpára, and in villages around Barmí Hât on the
Lakhya, reside a class of Hindus, calling themselves Rándá,¹ or
Randak, Khatrí, who give a confused account of themselves,
repeating the names of Ballál Sen and Rájah Man Singh, as if
connected in some mysterious way with their settlement in
Bengal and their degraded position among Hindus. Kanaujiyá
Bráhmans officiate as Purohits, and a Bengali Bráhman of
Pancha Sára, near Rámpál, as Guru. The majority follow the
worship of Krishna, but a few that of Siv. Being naturalised
Bengalis they have relinquished the names of former gotras, and
adopted the common Súdra one, Aliman. Súdras eat with them
in private, but in public refuse to touch their water pots.
They are employed as cultivators, shopkeepers, and Ta'llukdárs.
KÍCHAK, KÍCHAKA.
The Kíchak is one of the wandering predatory tribes met.
with in various parts of Bengal, characterized by the peculiar
physiognomy of the Indo-Chinese races. Their home is properly
the Morang, or Nepál Taráí, but gangs of them have settled in
the north-eastern districts of Bengal.
,
It is not admitted in Nepál that the Kíchaks and Kiráts,2
or Kirantís, are the same, an opinion held by Buchanan; but.
it is beyond a doubt that they are both scions of a pure Turanian
stock, and that they live together in Dinájpúr, a part of the
ancient Matsyadesh, in Sikhim, and in Nepál.
The Kirantís, again, are identified by Col. Dalton with the
Kharwárs of Sháhábád, a tribe of undoubted Turanian descent;
while B. H. Hodgson includes the Kíchaks among the broken
sub-Himálayan tribes, which he designates Awalia, from their
power of withstanding damp or malaria (Sanskrit Ola), along
with the Kochh, Garo, Bodo, and Dhimal. They are, moreover,
classified with the later Turanian immigrants from the north,
and their language is pronounced to be of the complex or
¹ Rándá, in Bengali, means "childless." Randa, in Sanskrit, means harren.
2 Kiráta, literally means one living outside the city, and was applied to
different aboriginal tribes dwelling on the east of Bhárata. Dr. Daniel Wright,
writing from Katmandoo, in April, 1875, says, that in the Morang are two
tribes, included under the generic name Kíchak, called Kochyá and Mechya,
who have no claim to be regarded as Kiráts. According to the Pandits the
genuine Kiráts are the Yakhas and Khombos of the eastern, and south-eastern
parts of Nepál.
3 "An account of the Kingdom of Nepál," p. 7.
4 ( Ethnology of Bengal," 128.
5
Essays," part ii, 14.
1
322
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
pronomenalized type tending, like their physical attributes,
towards assimilation
assimilation with the Dravidian, or the Santal
dialect.
The Kíchak history is a strange and puzzling one. In the
Mahábhárata, Kíchaka is the brother-in-law of Rájah Viráța,
ruler of the Matsya country, who was slain by Bhíma, the
second of the Pandava brothers, for insulting his sister Draupadí.
The next tradition, preserved by Buchanan,¹ is that the Kíchaks
were subjects of Bhimsena, who was either a Rájput ruling
their country, or a Kíchak himself. The inhabitants of Puraniya,
early in the present century, had confused accounts of ancient
invasions, and conquests of the Kíchak tribe, and mentioned
several old princes of Morang to whom worship was still paid,
and whose usual priests, or " Pariyal," are said to have been
descended from Kichak warriors. Furthermore, a legend
survives that Prithu, Rájah of Kámrúp, fearing that his purity
would be defiled by the sight of an abominable tribe of "raw-
eaters," called Kíchak, who were invading his kingdom, instead
of leading his troops to battle, threw himself into a reservoir of
water, and perished, leaving his capital and country to fall
without a struggle into the hands of the barbarians. The
causes which have reduced a powerful and aggressive people, as
indicated by these tales, into the present abject condition of the
Kíchak race, are difficult to explain. In habits they resemble
the vagrant tribes of Nats Badhaks, and Siyál-Khors, frag-
ments of primitive Indian races, whose genealogy has still to be
written; while in features, complexion, and physique they
approximate to the Mags and Chakmas of the south-eastern
frontier.
The settlement of a gang of Kíchaks in the suburbs of Dacca
has furnished a favourable opportunity of studying their
peculiar customs and habits. In 1843, an extensive robbery
was committed at Nárayanganj, an important town near Dacca,
and all attempts to trace the robbers failed until suspicion fell
upon a band of Nats, as they were called, who were then
passing through the district. The whole party was apprehended,
and the robbery brought home to several individuals belonging
to it. Further enquiries revealed the existence of numerous
allied bands in various parts of Bengal, and of one in particular,
engaged as coolies at an Indigo factory, who supplemented their
wages by robbing the villages around. Government directed the
punishment of the guilty, and the location of the remainder
under surveillance at Dacca, where they obtained employment
under the municipality. It is said that about thirty men,
"Eastern India,” vol. iii, 39, 406.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
323
besides women and children, were thus provided for, who
though in a position most uncongenial to their tastes, have
always proved good and useful citizens. Thirty years' contact
with alien races, and isolation from their brethren, have pro-
duced great changes in their characters and habits, yet the
Dacca Kíchaks still preserve many early associations and
peculiarities.
According to them the Kíchak tribe has eight subdivisions,
or septs, in the following order of precedence :-
Látia,
Sulukí,
Láthri,
Gangla,
Kaiya,
Dádar,
Chaya.
Núniya,
Members of the first four families form the hereditary
priesthood, who officiate at all religious ceremonies; but should
one of their representatives not be at hand, the head of the
family, or party, may perform the service. Each subdivision has
a Sardár or Rái, who is elected (Khun-bandhná) by manhood
suffrage. It is a remarkable fact that no subdivision can
enumerate more than eight Sardárs. The chiefs of the Sulaukí
in order are Borak, Kabah, Dewa, Saláwat, Motí Rám, Madárí,
and Bábú Rám; of the Lathrí, Hona, Kone, Babu Rám, Súbhá
and Bahádar; of the Núniya, Udási, Kazania, Gora, Kutb,
Rúrí, Nafar, Dhun Singh, and Usman. The names of the chiefs,
as well as those of the different septs are mainly Hindi, an
indication that they were given in comparatively modern times,
when the tribe broke up into two divisions, one inhabiting the
plains, the other the sub-Himálayan Taráí.
A Pancháít, as among Hindus, settles all disputes, and
punishes the guilty; while in olden days it passed sentence of
death on spies and informers.
Their religious belief is very simple. God as an abstract
conception is an incomprehensible idea, but when thunder rolls
overhead they say it is the voice of Gokháin (Gosáin). Further-
more, they have a fetich in the oval, bright scarlet-coloured
seeds of the Rakta Chandana " (Adenanthera pavonina), but
it is difficult to ascertain the exact meaning attached to them.
It
may be that the wondrous colour and rarity of the seeds have
excited their astonishment, and suggested in some undefined
way the action of a powerful and benevolent spirit, of whose
power they are the visible symbol; but the mysterious respect
with which they are treated, and the worship that is paid, pre-
supposes the existence of a spirit embodied in their substance,
¹ The seeds are in general use as weights by goldsmiths, and are often
strung on a thread to form a necklace. The same Sanskrit name is given to
the red Sandal wood tree (Pterocarpus Santalinus) of the Coromandel coast.
324
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
or acting and communicating its power through them. What-
ever be the true explanation of the selection, each Kíchak
carries a few wrapped in his waist cloth, and, whenever a
marauding expedition is starting, each man arranges the seeds
on the ground before him, saturates them with sweet oil, makes
obeisance, and prays for success in the coming journey. The
spirit that watches over them is called "Ákhá," but they also
believe in the existence of domestic or household gods, symbo-
lized by small brass idols, called "Deví Durgáo," and corre-
sponding to the Grámdevatas of the modern Bengali villages.
On critical occasions the chiefs sacrifice a goat to “ Ákhá,”
but this is neither an usual nor obligatory act.
Kíchaks bury their dead, placing in the hands of the corpse
a few copper coins, and depositing in the grave, water, sweet-
meats, rice, and spirits. Their ideas of a future state are con-
fused and rudimentary, and when asked to give a reason for
placing perishable articles in the grave, they either reply that
their fathers did so, or that it is good for the deceased person to
have them.
Kíchaks eat the flesh of almost all animals, but never touch
beef. They are very partial to the flesh of the Iguana (Goh-
sámp), jackal, pig, and civet cat (Viverra), but the flesh of snakes
is abhorred. Intoxication is universal, and every domestic
occurrence is commemorated by a feast, at which an unlimited
quantity of coarse fiery spirits is consumed. Polygamy is prac-
tised, but three wives are considered enough for the greatest
chief. Divorce is common and fashionable, and the marriage
bond is easily unloosed, although it has been tied in the presence
of the assembled tribe. Social prejudices are unknown, and
they have no scruples in eating with Hindus, Muhammadans,
or Christians. Oinens derived from the appearance, cries, or
movements of animals are, as with the Thugs, universally relied
on as having a perceptible bearing on the issue of voluntary
acts. If a jackal calls in front, or on the right hand, of a gang
starting on an expedition, the departure is postponed, but if it
howls in the rear, or on the left hand, the augury is favourable,
and the start is at once made.¹ This strange belief in the pre-
science of the jackal has gained for the Kíchaks another appel-
lation, that of "Loharí Khánu.
In former days the tribe was armed with iron weapons, but
as these led to identification, they have been laid aside, and
The manifestation of an omen is interpreted in a variety of ways by
different tribes. Among the Thugs an omen on the right hand was portentous,
on the left auspicious at the beginning, but the reverse at the end of an
expedition; while a pair of jackals moving in either direction in front was
ominous.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
325
Z
bamboo spears and swords are made as required, and thrown
away as soon as the work of the party is completed.
About thirty years ago¹ the chief Sardárs held Mustájiri, or
farmed land, and it was alleged that the Sardárs, along with the
Mundle, village officials, and even the police, participated in the
plunder brought home by the gangs. Before an expedition
started, the Pancháít met and fixed its strength, the individuals
who were to compose it, and the rates at which the booty was
to be allotted. The Sardár got a double portion, while men,
women, and children shared equally. The widows and children
of any man killed, or who died, either received a large donation
or a pension, so long as the widow remained unmarried. Finally,
goats were sacrificed, fidelity pledged, and, after dipping the
fingers in the blood of the victims, the flesh was eaten, and
spirits drunk.
The Kichak language is mainly Hindustání, with words
derived from hill tribes residing along the northern frontiers of
Bengal. In the following vocabulary sixty per cent. of the
words are either pure, or broken, Hindustání, while a few of the
remainder are traced to races living in proximity to the
Kichaks.
1 "Asiatic Journal," 3rd series, vol. i, 466; iii, 192.
326
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
COMPARATIVE VOCABULARY OF THE KÍCHAK LANGUage.

English.
Kichak.
Hindustání.
One
Ekuch
Ek.
•
•
Two
Bay
Do.
·
Three
Ten
Tín.
Four
Chari
Char.
Five
Panchi
Panch.
Six
Khoi
Chha.
Seven
Khat
Sat.
Eight
Athi
Ath.
Nine
Lau
Nau.
Ten
Dokh
Das.
Twenty
Bikh
Bis.
Hundred..
Khan
Sau
I ..
Hu
Me
My
Hand
Foot
Eye
Mouth
Munha
Ham the plural
often used for
singular.
Mujhe.
Han is Lepcha for
thou, Heu for he,
she, it.
r
In Lepcha Kha - pha-
gnón.
Marhan.
Mera.
Hathli
Háth.
Gorang
Goṛ.
Dhola
Ankh.
Bhakho
Munh.
• •
Nose
Nak
Nak.
Ear
Kabanawna
Kán.
Mother
Ai
Má
Father
Aga
Báp
In Bhutaní Ai; in
Naga Aio, or Aia.
Bhutaní Appa; Lep-
cha Abo; Naga Apú.
Brother
Bayo
Bháí.
Sister
Bai
Bahin.
Husband..
Dhani
Khaṣam.
Wife
Dhaniyani
Jorú.
Mother-in-law
Khaku
Sás.
Father-in-law
Khokaru
Sasur.
Brother-in-law
Khala
Sálá.
Sun
Dan
Súraj
In Daffla Doni;
in
Miri Daania; and in
Abor dani.
Chand
Pání.
Ujálá Hindi, light.
•
Moon
Water
Ujiyali
Pani
Spirits
Fire
•
Gutttarans, Daru Dárú.
Agi
Gold
Kaban
Cow
Dhara
Ag.
Soná.
Gorú.
Calf
Neru
Lerú.
Jackal
Lohari
Gídar.
Ass
Gadhro
Gadhá.
•
Horse
Dog
Elephant
Ghoro
..
Ghora.
Luria
Kuttá.
Kubran, Kuban.. Háthí.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
327
KOCHH-MÁNDAI
On the north of Dacca is situated the jungly and generally
uncultivated tract of Bhowál, extending, without any important
break, to the foot of the Garo hills. Here and there is to be
found a people calling itself Kochh-Mándai,¹ the latter word in
the Garo language signifying man. In the census returns of
1872, the Kochh and Mándai are erroneously separated into two
tribes, the former numbering in the Dacca district 10,928, the
latter only 309. In Mymensingh, again, there are entered 12,420
Kochh, and 5,901 Mándai.
The Kochh-Mándai, having preserved no traditions of their
origin, are convinced that the villages of Bhowal were the
primitive homes of their fathers. All connection with the Ráj-
vansí of Kochh Bihár, or the Hill Garos, is disowned. Mr.
Taylor 2 identified them with the Pání Kochh of Dinajpúr, and
his conjecture seems well grounded. When the Kochh, in the
sixteenth century, under Haju invaded Kámrúp, expelling the
Kachári, or Chutia dynasty, a remnant of the vanquished people
was left, who, separated more and more from the parent stem,
not only by the extension of the Kochh power, but also by
incursions of Aryan and Muhammadan races, gradually lost
the peculiar characteristics of their ancestors.
The adoption of the name Kochh by the vanquished is not
singular, for Colonel Dalton is of opinion that Garos, or a kin-
dred tribe, took the name of Pání Kochh to conciliate the ruling
power, and Captain Williamson is the authority for a still more
recent change of name on their part. The Daloo clan of Hill
Garos about a century ago emigrated to the plains, and married
Hajong women. In a few years, having laid aside the national
dress, and disowned all relationship with the Hill men, they now
claim to be genuine Hajongs. Unless for one or other of these
reasons, it is difficult to understand how a tribe, speaking a
language composed of many Garo and no Kochh words, relin-
quished their national name, and adopted that of Kochh-Mándai.
The vernacular is not pure Garo, but a patois made up of
words derived from other Hill languages. The Garo numerals
have been lost, and Bengali ones made use of, but at present
few can speak Bengali, or ever learn more than is necessary for
the purposes of buying and selling.
The Kochh-Mándai being an unwritten language, the follow-
ing vocabulary is given according as the words are pronounced:
Man, Mandai (Garo).
Michik (G).
Woman, Mandai-matali.
Wife
1 Perhaps the Mandei of Pliny.
{Jik (G).
2 ( 'Topography of Dacca," p. 239.
Z 2
328
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
Husband, Shai.
Boy, Mia-dosha.
Girl, Maipa-dosha.
Daughter, Dampsi.
Sister, Nagadai.
Brother, Jangodai.
Tree, Phang (Bodo).
Dog, Achak (G).
Water, Chhi (G).
House, Nak (G).
Iron, Sil (G).
Fire, Wal (G).
Rice, Mai (G).
Rice plant, Maigul Mai.
Pepper, Jamsi.
Tiger, Matcha (G).
Boar, Wak (G).
Ear, Nahathong (Dhimal).
God, Madai (Mech).
Of these twenty-two words, eleven belong to the Garo lan-
guage, one to the Bodo, Dhimal, and Mech respectively, while
eight are foreign to any of these languages. The inference to
be drawn from this is, that the Kochh-Mándai have been formed
by the amalgamation of several kindred tribes, and the fusion of
the different languages into one. A comparative list of words used
by various races on the eastern frontier will be afterwards given,
in which the predominance of the Garo element is very striking.
The Kochh-Mándai have many clans, or "Dúgús," named
after certain places or hills in the Assam valley, and identical
with the Máchongs, or Maháris, of the Hill Garos. The Garos
generally name their clans after demons, rivers, hills, trees, or
villages; but, as in the following instance, the most trivial cir-
cumstance may give origin to a new title. During the famine
of 1770, a Bengali Nápit settled in the Hills, and married a Garo
maiden of the Dophoo clan, who bore him many children. There
being no Máchong open to them, a new one was created, called
Dophoo-Nápit, which still exists. A correct list of all the Dúgús
is difficult to get, but the following are the names of the twelve
principal ones met with in Bhowál:
Darang,
Darang-Chiachí,
Darang-Sandana,
Darang-Dambuk,
Darang-Dakal,
Maikun,
Nafak,
Chishim,
Doi,
Durgu,
Chanell,
Shayni.
It is noteworthy that five out of twelve of these names are
derived from Darang in Assam, from which place they were pro-
bably driven by Assamese tribes. At the present day, though
numerous in the eastern Duárs of Goálpára, no Garos dwell on
the north of the Brahmaputra in the Darang district.
Another Dúgú, to which many of the Bhowál Kochh-Mándai
belong, is worthy of notice. The Mándai name for a Mussul-
mán being Lori (Garo, Rori), the illegitimate children of Mándai
women with Muhammadan villagers are enrolled in a Lari
Dúgú, remarkable for observing the "Shab-i-barát" festival.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
329
The members of all Dúgús being equal, they eat and drink
together, and intermarry with women of their own or another
clan. No council can legally meet, and no festive assemblage
be complete, without a representative of each Dúgú being
present.
The Kochh-Mándai are generally of a dark brown com-
plexion, with prominent upper maxillaries, projecting lips, small
black eyes obliquely set, retreating foreheads, and broad flat
noses. The face is usually smooth, but when the beard and
whiskers are grown they are scant and stunted. The ordinary
build is short and squat. They are good-natured, inoffensive
people, very sociable in habits, fond of music and dancing, and
much given to intemperance. By Bengalis they are credited
with being truthful, industrious, and virtuous.
Although the partially Hinduized Mándai worship Kálí,
Durga, and other Hindu deities, they make offerings to the Sál
tree (Shorea robusta), and under its branches sacrifice a pig to a
being called "Játrá-mátá." They worship the sun with a bunch
of flowers, propitiate the manes of their ancestors with the usual
Hindu rites, and annually celebrate a joyous festival at the
harvest home to the same Játrá-mátá. In a day in Mágh, but
not on the Sankranti, they sacrifice a swine beneath a Sál tree
to Bura-Buri, and, like the Doís, pray to Chandí before felling a
forest tree. They have no Bráhmans, and no hereditary priest-
hood, so the oldest and most respected inhabitant presides at all
village fêtes.
Women are treated as equals, and not like slaves, as is the
custom among the Pání-Kochh. They neither weave nor spin,
but are occupied with household affairs, and the cultivation of
small patches of land. As a rule the women are not obliged to
perform all the hard work as the Hill women are, and although
permitted a freedom unknown either to Hindus or Muham-
madans, their moral character has remained unsullied.
Marriages are much more free than among their neighbours,
the bride and bridegroom being always known to each other
before the wedding. Husbands, however, are not selected by
the girls, as with the Hill Garos. Mándai women never inter-
marry with low Hindu castes, and have the reputation of being
chaste and loving wives. The marriage ceremony is very
simple. Turmeric is liberally sprinkled on the dresses of the
couple, and of the assembled guests. The person who officiates
pours water on the heads of the pair, and this douche is regarded
as the sign of an irrevocable union. When the rite is concluded
the rest of the day is given up to dancing, drinking, and general
merriment, invariably ending in universal intoxication. The
bridegroom does not reside in the bride's house, as is the case
8
330
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
with many of the aboriginal tribes, but he enters at once on the
responsibilities of wedded life.
The Mándai permit widow marriage, but for it they have
adopted the usual Hindu term, Sagái. When a widow, or
widower, remarries, the wedding ceremony is not performed.
The man merely asks the leave of the village elders to marry a
certain woman, and if granted, he takes her home, and they are
regarded as legally man and wife.
Adoption is sanctioned, but while a wife remains a member
of her mother's Dúgú, an adopted child, on payment of a few
rupees, belongs to that of the person adopting.
The Mándai burn their dead, and the relatives provide a
feast for the mourners, at which as much fiery spirits are con-
sumed as at any Irish wake.
The dress of the Mándai is that of the Bengali lower classes,
but they show a greater partiality for bright colours, especially
blue ones.
The only musical instrument in ordinary use is the
drum (Dholak), to the monotonous beat of which men and
women listen attentively, or dance vigorously, for hours.
The Mándai mother is unclean for eleven days after child-
birth; but is not allowed to resume household duties for at
least two months longer. The family also remains impure for
eleven days after a death, at the expiration of which period a
feast being given to all the Dúgús of the neighbourhood, the
family again becomes pure.
The Mándai, though settled, only pay rent to the Zamíndár
when they cultivate the soil, no money being exacted for a
temporary encampment, or for the land on which the village is
built. They cultivate the "Baíds," or glades, with rice, and the
hard laterite soil of the hillocks, or "Tílás," being ploughed, is
planted with small patches of mustard, til, tobacco, and various
pulses. Jute has of late years become a favourite crop, and, in
the midst of the forest, fields of this valuable product are to be
met with. The young men are fond of sport, catching deer, teal,
and wild birds. They also collect honey for sale in the bazaars.
Fishing is not engaged in to any great extent, and only for
household supply. The villagers also cut down trees, hewing
them into logs for firewood, or for manufacturing charcoal.
The Mandai have yielded so far to Bráhmanical influence as
not to eat the domestic fowl, which they rear; but have no
objection to kill, and feed on, the wild jungle cock. They are
fond of kid's flesh, and of swine, whether wild or domesticated.
Dogs, cats, frogs, and snakes, favourite articles of Garo cuisine,
are abhorrent to the Mándai.
Slavery is unknown. When a debt is incurred the cattle
are usually mortgaged to the creditor, but if the debtor be poor
he may voluntarily serve until the debt is worked off.
OF EASTERN BENGAL. ·
331
COMPARATIVE VOCABULARY OF THE KOCHH-MÁNDAI, AND OTHER KINDRED TRIBES, INHABITING THE
FRONTIER OF EASTERN BENGAL.
English
Kochh-Mándai.
Kochh,
Garo Hills.
Hodgson's Kochh.
Hill Garos.
Bodo.
Dhimal.
Mandai Matali
Woman
Michikal Magju
Beti-Choa
Michik
Hinjou
Boy
Mia Dosha
Sasa
Chengra..
De pisa
De fante
Hiwa-gotho
..
Girl
Maipu Dosha
Magju Sasa
Chengri..
De Michik
Hinjou-gotho
Daughter
Dampsi
Magju Sasa
Beti
De Michik
Bishu
Beval.
Wajan.
Bejan.
Chandi.
Sister
Nagadai
Janau
Bahin
Abi (elder)
Bina-nou
Rima.
Ano (younger) Į
Brother
Jangodai..
Bhai, or Jong
Bhai
Ada (elder)
Bida
Yolla.
Jong (younger)
Tree
Phang
Pan
Gachh, Ped
Bol
Phang
Bon-phang
··
Sing
Rice
Mai
Mai
Dhán
Mai
Mai
Bhako-om.
Paddy
Maigul-mai
Mai-fong
Dhan gachh
Mai-bi-fong
Mai-bi-fong
Bhako-om-Singh.
Pepper
Jamsi
Moichok..
Morich
Jalika
Bánjalút..
Morchi.
Tiger
Matcha
Macha
Bag
Matcha
Mocha
Khuna.
Wild Boar
Wak
Wak
Banwa-suar
Wak
Hagrani-yoma
Dincha Ko paya.
332
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
KOERÍ.
The Koerí, a very important agricultural caste of Hindustán,
is closely allied to the Kurmí, with whom they drink, but do
not eat, while the Kurmí attend their inarriages, and partake of
the feast.
Their_subdivisions vary in different districts, but the few
Koerí in Dacca claim to belong to the Kanaujiyá section. The
respectful term by which to address them is "Mahto" (Sanskrit
Mahátman, noble), but Muráo, greengrocer, is a common appel-
lation, and Dhelphor, clod-breaker, a common nickname.
In Bihár, Koerís are employed as opium growers, in other
parts of Hindustán as husbandmen and market gardeners, but in
Dacca as constables and policemen.
In Arrah the Koerís, like the Kándús, worship the Pánch
Pír, and hold a festival in their honour on the ninth and tenth
days of the Dashará in Aswin (September-October). A few are
found following the tenets of Kabir and Daryá Dás.
Koerí women are unclean for twelve days after childbirth, at
the end of which time the mother bathes twice, and after each
bath plasters the house floor. She then marks with red lead
five spots on the rim of the well, draws a jar of water, and her
purification is complete.
KUMÁR, KUMBHAKÁRA, KUMHÁR.
This caste comprises 281,758 persons in Bengal proper, and
in Dacca they number 14,835. Those belonging to Eastern
Bengal can give no history of themselves, but are satisfied with
the following ridiculous story of their origin. At the marriage
of Siv, a "Ghat," or water jar, was wanted, but no one could.
make it. The god therefore took a bead from his necklace, and
with it created a potter; while with a second he made a woman,
who became the potter's wife. The man was father of all such
as work in pottery, and hence the name Rudra (a title of Șiv)
Pál applied to all potters.
The Kumárs of Dacca liave four subdivisions :-
Rudra Pál,
Bará Bhágiyá Kumárs,
Chhota Bhagiya Kumárs, or Miṭṭíya Kumárs,
Magí Kumárs.
The first three eat and drink together, but never intermarry.
They have the same Purohit, and the only difference between.
them is, that the two former manufacture earthenware vessels
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
333
for cooking purposes, while the last make water vessels, vats,
and jars. The Bará Bhágiyá Kumárs, again, have separated into
two clans, the first, descended from Tílak Pál, only make black
utensils; the second, sprung from Mádhava Pál, like the Chhoțá
Bhágiyá, only manufacture red.
The Magí subdivision is outcasted, having a Purohit of its
own. Their debasement is referred to the days when the Mags
harried Eastern Bengal, and, entering houses, defiled the in-
mates.
There seems no reason, however, for concluding that these
degraded potters are the offspring of Mags by Kumár women, as
they resemble in every feature the genuine stock of potters.
With scarcely a single exception, potters are Vaishnavas in
creed. They have only one gotra, the Aliman, and one patro-
nymic, Pál. The caste is a clean Súdra one, and the Bráhman is
common to the Nava-şákhá.
In Dacca the manufacture of pottery is still in its infancy.
The wheel in use is the Roman rota, a circular table of baked
clay weighted along the rim, revolving rapidly on a pivot cut
from the heart of a tamarind tree. The neck and shoulders of
all globular vessels are made with the wheel (Chák); but the
body is fashioned by hand, often by women. A round ball of
hardened clay (Pítna) is held inside, while with a wooden
mallet (Boila) the material is beaten from the outside into the
requisite shape and thinness. Two kinds of earth are used by
the Dacca Kumárs, one called "Báli," the other “Kála miṭṭí;
and one part of the former mixed with two of the lattter are
employed in the production of the strongest pottery. For
making the common red earthenware vessels, red laterite earth
from Bhowál is used, the colour of the rim being deepened by
coating it with a mixture of Catechu (Kath) and fuller's earth.
The cheap red and black earthenware are both prepared with the
same clay, the latter being blackened by covering up the kiln at
a certain stage, and adding oil cake to the fire. Bengali potters
cannot glaze, or fix the colours on the ware; but are content to
paint the vessel after it has been baked. Their colours are
always mixed with mucilage, obtained from Bela, or tamarind
seeds. Red paints are prepared with red lead; yellow with
arsenic (Hartál); green by mixing yellow arsenic and indigo;
and black with lamp-black, charred rice, or "Nal" reeds. A
gloss is often imparted with the white of duck's eggs, but as this
washes off before long, "Garjan" oil is more generally used.
Idols, toys, and tobacco-bowls, are also painted with these
colours, and the images of deities are further embellished by
having powdered mica sprinkled over them while the paint is
still wet.
334
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
The manufactory of the Kumár well repays a visit. Beneath
the same thatched roof are the kiln, store-house, and dwelling-
house, while at the door the clay is prepared. The kiln is called
the "Pon," from the Sanskrit Pavana, that which purifies, and
the hut the "Ponghar." The kiln is divided into compartments,
in which the newly made vessels are arranged, earth being
heaped over all. Wood is never used to heat it, but grass,
reeds, or bamboo stems are the ordinary combustibles.
The Dacca Kumárs manufacture bricks, tiles, earthenware of
all shapes and sizes, idols, and toys; the two last being moulded,
if of small size.
As long as there is no demand for articles of artistic beauty,
Bengal pottery will remain in its present backward condition,
while the necessity of scouring plates and dishes after each
meal, and the obligation of breaking all cooking vessels after a
death, or pollution from any cause, make Hindus prefer the
cheap and brittle articles, rather than the more expensive and
durable English ones. The most expert potters, those of Kish-
naghar, are said to have acquired the art in Calcutta.
Although Kumars are prohibited from using the Chák during
the month of Baisákh, because Vişva-Karma, the great artificer,
rested from his labours during that month, they are permitted
to dig and store clay. A potter never cultivates the soil, or
serves as a domestic servant, but he has no objections to become
a trader, a cloth merchant, a writer, or a servant to a shop-
keeper. The village potter occasionally holds "Chákarán " land
on the condition that he supplies the vessels required at all festi-
vals observed by the Zamíndár, or the village community. Hindu
households generally contract for their annual supply of
earthenware, while a few pay the market rate for what is
wanted. The pottery made at Ráí Bazár, in Dacca, bears a great
name throughout Eastern Bengal, and in the cold season, boats
laden with cocoa-nuts arrive from Sondip, Noakhally, and Báqír-
ganj, returning full of pots and pans from this mart. Vijayapúr,
in Tipperah, is another bazár famous for the excellence of its
pottery.
Kumárs still worship the ancient Vedic deities Agní,
Brahma, Indra, and Pavana, and on the first of Jyeshtha (May-
June), at the termination of the idle month, special services are
held in their honour, at the same time as the festival of Viṣva-
Karma is celebrated.
In the city of Dacca the Kumárs have two Dals, or trades
unions, one known as Islámpúr, the other as Bhágalpúr, after
two quarters of the city where the potters chiefly reside; while
outside the city every four or five villages have a Dal to promote
the interests of the trade. The headman is styled Parámánik.
}
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
335
who, on account of the increase in the size of the caste, is
obliged to employ assistants, Náiks, or Gumáshtas. They are
treated with little deference, and merely execute the orders of
their master.
It is considered a dishonouring act for a Kumár to accept a
wife without paying money to the father; of late years the price
has risen so much that the poorer young men find it difficult to
procure wives at all.
(a.) RÁJ-MAHALLIA KUMHÁRS.
This class of potters is quite distinct from the Khontá
Kumhárs on the one hand, and the Bengali Kumár on the
other. They originally came from Ráj-mahall with a member
of the Banga Adhikárí family, and having tarried in Dacca for
several generations, lost caste, while those who subsequently
arrived from Hindustán were in their turn likewise degraded.
There are about two hundred houses belonging to these potters
in Ja'farganj, Sultánganj, Ráí Bázár, and Kárwán, suburbs of
Dacca, and it is remarkable that the caste still speaks a language
made up of Hindi and Bengali. Having been settled in Bengal
for many years, the clean Șúdra castes drink from their water
vessels, while the Súdra Bráhman, and other servants, work for
them. The Sráddha, moreover, is celebrated after thirty days,
as with the Nava-Sákhá.
Their gotras are Kaşyapa Kanaka, Rishí, and Aladoshí; the
common title being Rudra Pál.
Raj-mahallia Kunhárs have a curious custom, which is a
source of much wit among Bengalis. They thatch the drying
houses with green grass, merely fastening it down with weights,
but never tying it, and when dry the thatch is used for lighting
the kiln fire. They manufacture cooking pots for vegetables,
milk-pans (Ras-dohana), and salvers on which sweetmeats and
other delicacies are handed round at weddings, but will not
make idols, or platters used in offerings to deities.
Like the Bengali Kumárs they do no work during the month
of Baisakh, and on the first Saturday of that month celebrate the
worship of Visva-Karma. Their trade implements and manu-
factures are, on that occasion, arranged on the top of the kiln,
and ornamented with Bel leaves, while the usual oblations are
presented. The Purohit, meanwhile, mutters a few incantations,
soliciting the favour of the divine workman.
The wives of these Kumhárs assist their husbands, fashioning
the globular part of the vessels, while the men make the necks
and rins.
Kumhárs are singular in placing over their wells an eartlien-
336
GLA
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
ware rim, or "Chák," admirably suited for preventing the
ingress of filth. It is made by themselves, but has not been
adopted by any other class.
(b.) KUMHÁR.
This, the lowest of the potter tribe, is generally distinguished
by the epithet Khonțá, or debased, and claims to belong to the
Maghaiyá potter family of Patna. They drink water from the
vessels of the Kumárs, and the Kumárs from theirs, but hold no
communication with the Ráj-mahallia Kumhárs. None of the
other Bengali Súdras, however, admit their equality.
The Kumhár has only one gotra, the Kasyapa, and in Bihár
Pandit is a respectful term of address. In Dacca they are all
Nának Shahís in creed, the Mahant of the Shuja'atpúr
Ákhára
being the Guru. They work throughout the month of Baisákh,
and on the Dashará make oblations of rice, wheat-flour, clay, and
red lead to Mahádeo, their patron deity.
Kumhárs only work with "Chikní-mittí," or potter's earth,
manufacturing with the Chák, or horizontal wheel, long necked
flasks (Çuráhí), lotahs, pipes, waterspouts, balusters, (Gáradía),
and toys, but never idols.
On the tenth day after death the Kanthá Bráhman performs
a religious service at which he tastes the oblation rice. On the
following day the Ṣráddha is celebrated as among Chandáls and
Ekádaşí Jogís.
KURMÍ, KUMBÍ, KUNBÍ.
This caste is one of the most widely scattered agricultural
tribes in India, being, it is generally supposed, descended from
a powerful aboriginal community, who retained a respectable
position even after the Aryans had conquered Upper India.
Kurmís never agree about the seven divisions of their tribe,
and few can even give their names; but those met with in Dacca
belong to the Ayodhya and Jaiswárá clans, while the only other
divisions represented are the Ghameta, Maghaiyá, Kachísa, and
Samsawar from Bihár.
The Ayodhya claim to be of the highest dignity and purest
blood, coming, as their name indicates, from Oude, where they
are usually cultivators, while in Bengal they enlist as sepoys, or
constables. Their common title is Mahto, but of late years Ráí
and Singh have become fashionable. The Ayodhya never
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
337
}
intermarry with other Kurmís, and widow marriage is strictly
forbidden. The Purohit is a Sákádvíp Bráhman, and the Guru
an "Atít," or Vaishnava mendicant. The majority are followers
of Kabir, Daryá Das, or Rámánand.
""
The Kumbin is unclean until three ceremonies have been
performed. On the sixth day after birth the "Gulhattí Chhathí"
is observed, at which the mother is obliged to drink rice-gruel.
On the twelfth day the " Bárahí," identical with the "Thál-vrata
of Bengali Muhammadans, is kept, and a feast provided for ten
or twelve children. Lastly, on the twentieth day, the "Bísaf"
is celebrated, when the mother paints the well with red lead,
draws water, and becomes clean.
On the marriage day an entertainment was formerly given
by the bridegroom, but the expense grew so heavy that the
Kurmís very sensibly determined on abolishing the custom, and
now refuse to ask for, or give money, on such occasions.
To render thanks for the harvest already reaped and garnered,
as well as to ensure an abundant crop next season, the Ayodhyá
Kurmís annually celebrate a harvest home in the following
manner. In the centre of a piece of ground, levelled and
plastered for the purpose, a lofty pole is erected to which the
cattle are tethered, and made to tread the new wheat crop.
This being finished, the pole is removed, and the hole filled
with water, and the sweetmeat "Laḍdú" consecrated to Mahádeo,
and Parameshvara, after which a feast (Jeonár) is given to the
Bráhmans.
The Jaiswárá, less punctilious than the Ayodhya, are
husbandmen, proverbial for industry and skill, who, from
indulging in spirits, and from permitting their widows to marry,
are degraded. In Dacca they are chiefly employed as constables,
acting however, if necessary, as coolies.
The Bengali Kayasth drinks from their vessels, and smokes
their huqqas, but the Kurmi neither eats with them nor with the
Koerís, Kándús, or Kahárs, although he drinks from their water
pots.
The majority of Jaiswárá Kurmís are Pánch Píriyas, eating
any animal offered as a sacrifice to a Hindu deity, and at the
same time keeping the Muharram, and fasting during the
Ramazán; while a few are followers of Nának Shah and Kabír.
At marriages the bridegroom receives presents from the
father-in-law, and the Mandúá or Marocha is constructed as in
Bengal.
The same purificatory rites are performed after a confinement
as among the Ayodhyá division.
Finally, the Sraddha of a Jaiswárá Kurmí is celebrated after
thirty days; of an Ayodhya after thirteen.
338
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
1
LALBEGÍ.
The sweeper castes of India, vaguely styled Lalbegí, Khákrob,
Bhangí, Ráut, Helá, Halál-khor, Sekrí, or Chúhrá, are remnants
of semi-Hinduized aboriginal tribes, although the Puráņas trace
their origin to the issue of a Súdra and a Bráhman widow. It
was believed by the early residents in Bengal, that any Hindu
expelled from his caste was obliged to herd with the Halál-
khors, "the refuse of all tribes, poor unhappy wretches destined
to misery from their birth;" but this opinion was founded on
ignorance, as outcast Hindus now, as in former days invariably
join the ranks of Islám.
Under the Muhammadan government the sweeper tribes
were employed as executioners, spies, and scavengers. Manouchi³
informs us, that in the reign of Shah Jahán they acted as
sweepers in private houses, and picked up from slaves all the
secrets of the family for the information of the Kotwál, or head
of the police. When Europeans first resided in India, cooks
and domestic servants generally belonged to these vile tribes,
and during the Mutiny of 1857, it was no uncommon thing to
find a Mihtar engaged as the cook of a newly arrived English
Regiment.
In Eastern Bengal the Lalbegí, Ráut, and Sekrí are met with
in the large towns; but the regular sweepers employed in hospi-
tals are the Bhúinmálís, or Hárís, from Chittagong.
In the census reports of 1871 the sweeper tribes are all
included under the generic term Mihtar, a name given by the
Muhammadans in derision. In Bengal only 40,894 are entered
under that head, but it is probable that this only includes the
Hindustání emigrants, while in the north-west provinces in 1865
the census gave 310,795 persons.
Although in Oude the Mihtar tribes intermarry, in Bengal
they will not even associate together.
The Lalbegi, who constitute the most important body, occupy
twenty houses in the city of Dacca. They originally came from
Upper India, some with Sepoy regiments, others as wanderers in
search of work. Though styled Muhammadans they neither
practise circumcision nor abstain from pork. The Lalbegí are
employed as sweepers in European households, and are always
addressed as Jama'dár by the other servants. On board the
river steamers, again, the sweeper is called Topas, a term origi-
1 This was also the title of one of the Sikh Misls, or confederacies.
Cunningham's "History of the Sikhs," p. 106.
2 "A View of the English Government in Bengal," by H. Verelst, p. 142.
3 “Histoire générale de l'Empire du Mogol," par le Pére F. Catrou. À
Paris, 1705, p. 271.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
339
nally applied to a mean white, the offspring of a Portuguese
father and an Indian mother.
The Lalbegí eats everything that comes from the European
table, although he will not eat with the Ráut, and drinks any
sort of wine or spirits.
The religious rites of the tribe are partly Hindu, partly
Muhammadan. As with Mussulmáns generally, marriages are
arranged by an old woman. No Kabín, or marriage settlement,
is drawn up, but an Ikrár, or bond, is executed, in which both
promise to love one another, and the bridegroom testifies that he
will not bring a second wife into his house. Previous to the
wedding day the Kandúrí ceremony is observed, as well as other
Muhammadan customs, but the services of the Áchárjí Bráhman
are not required. Should the marriage be celebrated in the
bridegroom's house a fee of twenty anas is paid to the Pancháít ;
if in the bride's only five anas.
A few of the Lalbegí keep the fast of Ramazán, although
they dare not enter a public mosque.
Their funeral ceremonies differ greatly from the Muhamma-
dans, and resemble in many points those of the Sants, which
are probably survivals of an aboriginal cultus. The dead are
not permitted to be interred in a Mussulmán cemetery, but are
consigned to the tomb in some waste and jungly spot. The
corpse is wrapped in five shrouds, a handkerchief is placed under
each arm and in each hand, a Kasáwá, or napkin, is bound round
the head, and a Khirqá, or blouse, is put on the body. After
the grave has been filled in a cloth cover (Phúl ka Chadar) is
laid over it, while four pieces of "Agar" wood are inserted at
the corners, and set fire to. The rest of the funeral ceremonies
are strictly Muhammadan. For four days after a death a fire
is not allowed to be lighted in the dwelling-house of the
deceased, the family in the meantime receiving food from their
neighbours; but on the fifth day a tray laden with betle-nuts,
and adorned with flowers, is placed in front of the hut, and a
feast is given to the whole tribe.
The Lalbegís however, follow many Hindu customs, observing
the Díwálí and the Holí as the greatest festivals of the year.
On these occasions a mud image of a mosque with five domes is
made, after the model of one still existing at Garh Ghazní, in
Kábul, which belonged to their eponymous ancestor, Lál Beg.
In front of the image a cock is sacrificed, and offerings, con-
sisting of a Puláo, Sharbat, and sweetmeats made in his name.
This absurd story of their descent from a Mughal chief is
analogous to the origin of the Bediyá from Núh Nabí. Lál Beg,
however, is identified by Sir H. Elliot' with Lál Guru, the same
1 Supplemental Glossary," i, 32.
340
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
as the Rakshasa Aronákarat; but in Benares¹ he is confounded
with Pír Zahr, perhaps the famous Chishtiya saint, Sayyid Sháh
Zuhúr. In the Panjab, again, Mihtars adore Lál Pír, or Bábá
Faqir, as the dyers do Pír 'Alí Rangrez, and the blacksmiths
Hazrat Dáúd. It is not improbable, therefore, that the Lalbegí,
like many other tribes converted to Muhammadanism, have
adopted a Muhammadan saint as their common ancestor around
whom many idle traditions have been grouped.2
LOHÁIT-KURÍ.
A small caste of Hindus known by this name is found along
the banks of the Meghna, who represent themselves to be the
descendants of a Kaibartta fisherman, bought during a season of
famine by a "Kuri," or parcher of grain, who, in want of a
caste, made that now known as Loháit-Kuri. This insig-
nificant body has already separated into two subdivisions, those
following the father's profession of fisherman having repudiated
connection with the maternal branch, who parch grain.
The caste at present neither associates with the Kaibarttas
nor the caste Kurí, or Madhu-Nápit. The majority are fisher-
men, who will not cast a net, or fish from the shore, but angle
with a rod from boats drifting with the stream. They manu-
facture large rectangular iron (Lohá) hooks, with a shank nearly
two inches long (hence the origin of the first part of their name),
as well as cotton lines. Iron sinkers are preferred to leaden
ones, and the only bait used is a small fish.
A Patit Bráhman ministers to them, and the Sráddha is kept
at the expiry of a lunar month. Like other fishermen they
observe the "Jal-palaní" for seven days. A heavy fee is paid
for a wife, as the caste is a small one, and one hundred rupees
are often invested in a suitable helpmate, but a widower has
generally to expend two hundred. The Loháit-Korís carry on
a considerable trade with their own boats; but will not accept
service with any other caste.
1 Sherring, "Hindu Tribes of Benares,” p. 397.
2 There is a possible connection between Lál Beg and Bábú Lál, the
founder of an Unitarian sect. Religious Sects,” i, 347.
3 Buchanan found in Puraniyá a tribe of fishermen called "Kurí," some of
whom spoke Bengali, others Hindi.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
341
}
:
MADHU-NÁPIT.
The following story explains the origin of this caste. The
Mahápurohit, Chaitanya having ordered two of his servants to
shave him, they obeyed, but realised that they were outcasted.
Troubled in mind they pointed out that expulsion from caste
privileges was the penalty incurred by executing his command.
Chaitanya accordingly bade them become confectioners, and
make comfits for him.
The descendants of the two servants have ever since been
employed as confectioners, and their purity, according to Hindu
ideas, is so excellent that even goddesses partake of the good
things they prepare.
The Madhu-Nápit is not included in the Nava-Sakha, but
the caste Brahman is the same as that of the clean Șudras; and
the water pots are quite pure. In creed the caste is Vaishnava.
They have two gotras, Aliman and Kasyapa. Madak is the
common appellation, but Bengalis often address them as Kurí,
or Sáha-Ji; the latter, however, is a title given to any shop-
keeper.
The Madhu-Nápit is the most respected confectioner in
Eastern Bengal, for the caste Mayara or Madak, is rarely met
with, and the Halwáí is usually a Ghulám Kayasth, a Khonța
Bráhman, or a Kándú. Only ten houses are occupied by the
caste in Dacca, but more reside in villages. These confectioners
assume great airs, neither intermarrying with other castes, not
even with barbers, nor shaving themselves. In former days
they would not fry sweetmeats in Ghí, or butter, but now are
becoming less fastidious. The common comfits prepared by the
Madhu-Nápit are " Jalebí," "Amriti," « Khájá," " Chhená-perá,"
"Laddú," "Gojhá," and "Shír-bhúja.
""
""
The delicacies offered to idols are "Perá," "Barfi," "Iláchi-
dána," "Batásá," and "Sandesa."
The Madhu-Nápit do not cultivate the soil, but are found
employed as writers, goldsmiths, grocers, cloth-merchants, and
policemen.
MAITHILA BRÁHMANS.
A few families of this sept reside in Dacca, the illiterate
serving in the police, the educated as Purohits to pure Hindu-
stání castes. Their "Jajmans," or flock, consist of Brálimans,
Chhatrís, and Kurmís; occasionally of individuals belonging to
the Kándú, Áhír, Kewat, and Surahiyá castes; but no Maithila
2 A
342
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
Brahman will officiate for the Dosád, Tántí, or Chamár.
After
remaining a few years in Bengal these Bráhmans return to their
homes in Tirhut with a little money they have saved.
The ordinary surnames of the order are Thákur, Misra, and
Ojhá.
MÁLÁKÁRA, MÁLÁKÁR, MÁLÍ.
The Málákár, or maker of garlands, belongs to a clean Șúdra
caste, and is included among the Nava-Sákha. The Málákárs
of Bengal trace their descent from the garland-maker attached
to the household of Rájah Kansa of Mathurá, who, when met by
Krishna, was asked for a chaplet of flowers, and at once gave it.
On being told to fasten it with a string he, for want of any
other, took off his sacred thread and tied it, on which Krishna most
ungenerously rebuked him for his simplicity in parting with his
'Poithá," and announced that for the future his caste would be
a Súdra one.
<<
Like others of the higher castes, the Málákárs claim to have
originally come from Mathurá, in the reign of Jahángír. They
are few in number, but in every Hindu village there is at least
one representative who provides daily offerings of flowers for the
temples, and marriage tiaras for the village maidens.
The caste had only one gotra, the Aliman, and in the city of
Dacca has two Dals, or unions, between which there is no real
difference. If, however, a member of one union marries into a
family belonging to the other, the marriage feast will be more
expensive than if he took a bride from his own, as he must
invite the members of both Dals to the ceremony. The bridal
dresses must be made of red silk brought from Murshídábád,
as cotton cloth is prohibited. The bride is always carried in a
Pálkí, or palanquin, while the bridegroom rides on a pony, or in
a Sedan chair.
A Málákár will not become a cultivator, and never works as
a kitchen gardener, the gardeners of Bengal being generally
Chandáls. In Dacca members of the caste keep shops for piece
goods, practise medicine, act as vaccinators, and take service in
temples. Their principal occupations, however, are making
wreaths, fabricating artificial chaplets and toys from the pith of
the Sholá (Hedysarum lagenarium). The garlands placed every
morning before idols are collected and arranged by Málákárs,
who nevertheless refuse to paint figures, this being the pro-
fession of the Ganaka and Rangrez.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
343
All the tinsel decorations put on the images and their
carriages are designed by Málákárs. At marriages their
services are indispensable, for they prepare the crowns (Mukuṭa)
worn by the bridal pair. Moreover, no bride would consider
the attire complete unless her hair was adorned with a Khopa-
júrá, or ornament for the hair-knot, made with leaves of the Jack
tree mixed with white Bela blossoms, while at one side of it
they place a rose, or some other bright flower. For the bouquet
delivered on the bridal morning the Málákár expects to be paid
a rupee.
The profession of a Málákár requires a considerable know-
ledge of flowers, for some are forbidden to be used in religious
services, and others can only be exhibited before the shrines of
the deities to whom they belong. Thus the "Dhatúrá” is sacred
to Şiv; the " Aparajita " (Clitoria ternatea) to Kálí; the “Bákas'
(Justicia adhatoda) to Sarasvati; and the "Asoka
Asoka" (Jonesia
Asoca) to Shasthhí. The "Javá" (Hibiscus rosa Sinensis) or
China rose, is of most unlucky omen, and cannot be presented to
idols, or employed at weddings.
Strong scented blossoms are selected for religious offerings,
and these in Bengal are the "Champá" (Michelia Champaca),
"Chambelí" (Jasminum grandiflorum), “Juhí” (Jasminum
auriculatum), "Bela" (Aegle marmelos), "Gandhráj" (Gar-
denia florida), and the “Hársingár" (Nyctanthes arbor-tristis).
Chaplets offered to idols must be tied with the dried fibres
of the plantain stem, not with string, and if picked and
arranged by one not a Málákár they are unclean. From sixteen
to twenty-four anas a month are received by the garland-maker
for providing a daily supply of flowers to a temple, but as with
everything else, the price of bouquets has greatly risen, and a
rupee only procures about half the quantity it formerly did.
The Málákárs are all Vaishnavas in creed, and it is said
none of them worship Siv. The Gosáin is the Guru, while their
Bráliman is common to them and to the Nava-Ṣákha.
One of the chief occupations of this caste is inoculating
for small-pox, and treating individuals attacked by any eruptive
fever. Hindus believe that Sítala, the goddess of small-pox,
is one of seven sisters, who are designated Motiya, Mátariya,
Pakauriya, Masúriká, Chamariya, Khudwá, and Pansá. The first
four are varieties of small-pox, the names referring to the form,
size, and colour of the pustules; the fifth is Variola maligna;
the sixth is measles; and the seventh is water-pox. Every
Málákár keeps images of one or more of these goddesses, and on
the first of Chait (March 15th) a festival is held, and the Málá-
kárs superintend the details. It is popularly called “Málí-
bágh," from the garden where the service is performed, and
2 A 2
344
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
thither Hindus and Muhammadans repair with offerings of
clotted milk, cocoa-nuts, and plantains in the hope of pro-
pitiating the dreaded sisters.
When small-pox rages, the Málákárs are busiest. As soon
as the nature of the disease is determined, the Kabíráj retires,
and a Málákár is summoned. His first act is to forbid the
introduction of meat, and all food requiring oil or spices for its
preparation. He then ties a lock of hair, a cowrie shell, a piece
of turmeric, and an article of gold on the right wrist of the
patient. The sick person is then laid on the "Mánjh-pattá,"
the young and unexpanded leaf of the plantain tree, and milk
is prescribed as the sole article of food. He is fanned with a
branch of the sacred Ním, and anyone entering the chamber is
sprinkled with water. Should the fever become aggravated and
delirium ensue, or if a child cries much and sleeps little, the
Málí performs the Máta pujah. This consists in bathing the
image of the goddess causing the disease, and giving a draught
of the water to drink. To relieve the irritation of the skin,
pease-meal, turmeric, flour, or shell-sawdust, is sprinkled over
the body.
If the eruption be copious, a piece of new cloth in the figure
of eight is wrapped round the chest and shoulders. On the
night between the seventh and eighth days of the eruption the
Málí has much to do. He places a waterpot in the sick room,
and puts on it Alwá rice, a cocoa-nut, sugar, plantains, a yellow
rag, flowers, and a few Ním leaves. Having mumbled several
Mantras, he recites the "Qiça," or tale, of the particular goddess,
which often occupies six hours.
When the pustules are mature, the Málí dips a thorn of the
Karaundá (Carissa) in Til oil, and punctures each one. The
body is then anointed with oil, and cooling fruits given. When
the scabs (Dewlí) have peeled off, another ceremonial, called
"Godám," is gone through. All the offerings on the waterpot
are rolled in a cloth, and fastened round the waist of the patient.
These offerings are the perquisite of the Málí, who also receives
a fee.
These minute, and to our ideas absurd, proceedings are prac-
tised by the Hindus and Muhammadans, including the bigoted
Farazí, whenever small-pox, or other eruptive fever attacks their
families. Government vaccinators earn a considerable sum
yearly by executing the Sítala worship, and when a child is
vaccinated a portion of the service is performed.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
345
MÁLO.
This caste is often designated Jálo, or Jáliya, that is,
persons who use a net (Jál); or Jalwah, dwellers on the water.
1
The Málo, according to Buchanan, came originally from
Western India, where they are still numerous. The families who
observed the innovations of Vyása were called Kaibarttas, while
the adherents of the old tribal customs were known as Málo.
According to Menu, however, the "Jhalla" and "Malla "
Malla" were
the offspring of an outcast Kshatriya. Ward,2 again, describes
them as the descendants of a Mágadha, or bard, and a female
Súdra. Buchanan, on the other hand, distinguishes the “ Jhalo”
from the Málo, classing the former with the Kaibartta, and
connecting the latter with the Dôm and Patní. In Rangpur
the Málo is generally called Málo-Patni, while in Dacca the
Málo and Jálo are synonymous terms for an impure fisher
caste.
3
The caste Purohit is a Patit Brahman, while the majority
being Vaishnavas in creed, their Guru is a Gosáin. Though
reckoned unclean, the Súdra Nápit and Dhoba usually work for
them. All belong to one of two gotras, Aliman and Udádhí,
the members of which will eat and drink together, but never
intermarry. The Udádhí gotra is chiefly found along the
Lakhya and Meghna, on the outskirts of the Ballálí country,
the Málos belonging to it being less deeply tinged by Hinduism
than their brethren of the Aliman gotra. The only titles met
with among Málos are Manjhí, Pátr, and Bepárí; while among
other fisher castes no honorary distinctions exist. Under the
Muhammadan government they served as boatmen, Chaprásís,
mace-bearers ('Asa-bardár), and staff-bearers (Sonte-bardár) in
processions. They were also employed in conveying treasure
from Dacca to Murshídábád, while a tradition still survives
that early in this century two of their number became great
favourites with Nawab Naçrat Jang, who presented them with
golden spinning wheels for their wives' use. The Málos, there-
fore extol the golden age that has passed, and inveigh against
the equality and degeneracy of the present.
Málos generally use a shorter Jalká boat than the Tíyars,
but when they fish with the long Uthár net they fasten two boats
stem to stern. Like the Kaibartta, the Málo is often a cultivator,
and in Bhowál he has been obliged by changes in the course
and depth of the rivers to relinquish his caste trade. Málos
¹ Chap. x, 22.
2 Vol. i, 140.
3 Vol i, 531.
346
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
manufacture twine, but not rope, and traffic in grain, while those
who have saved a little money keep grocers' shops, or become
fishmongers.
The Málos observe the same close time as the Kaibarttas
and Tíyars; while Khala-Kumárí is worshipped in Srávan
(July-August), offerings are made to Bara-Buri in fulfilment of
vows, and lights are launched on the river in honour of Khwajah
Khizr.
Málo women sell fish in the bazárs, but in some places this
practice is considered derogatory to their gentility, and is pro-
hibited. Money is always paid for a bride, and of late years
the price has risen to one hundred rupees. The bride's father
always presents his daughter with a silken, or other fine, garment.
After the birth of a child a feast is given by the rich to the
caste Bráhman, and offerings made at a shrine called Dháka
Işvarí, sacred to Durga. As is general among the unclean
tribes the Șráddha is held on the thirtieth day after death.
MALLÁḤ.
The exact bearing to one another of the different fisher and
boating tribes along the Ganges has always been a puzzle.
Little information can be derived from the men themselves, for
an enquiry of this nature has no interest for them, and as a rule
they are neither intelligent nor communicative. Buchanan¹
enumerates five tribes under the generic term Malláḥs, namely,
the Gongrhri, Suriya, Mariyari, Banpar, and Kewat; Sherring
distinguishes ten clans; and Mr. Beverley is doubtful whether
the Banpar, Surahiyá, and Mariyárí should be considered as
subordinate tribes, or as kindred to the Malláhs.
The Arabic term for a boatman, Malláh, has undoubtedly
been adopted as the name of a caste of Upper India and Biháṛ;
but it has probably been assumed by, or given to, various fisher
tribes.
In Eastern Bengal the following are frequently met with :-
Surahiyá,
Muriárí,
Banpar,
Kewat,
Tíyar,
Guriya,
Gonrhí,
Cháín.
Small colonies of these tribes are scattered throughout the
Eastern districts; but it is as traders, bringing the produce of
Bihar and Tirhut to Dacca, and other Bengal cities, that they
are chiefly known.
1 I, 172.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
347
All Hindustání boatmen are, as they say, descended from
one Nikhád, or Nishád, who ferried Ráma-Chandra across the
Ganges at Allahábád; but there is little doubt that all are of
aboriginal descent, and not of pure Hindu blood. If we enquire
what are the religious rites performed by them, we find that
ceremonials more aboriginal than Hindu predominate. The
majority of Malláḥs belong to the Pánch Píriya creed, an
excrescence of Muhammadanism, and worshippers of a water
god, called Koila-Bábá, described as an old grey-bearded person
like Father Neptune, who, as "Ganga Jí ká Beldár," saps and
swallows up whatever opposes the sacred stream. Before
casting a new net, or starting on a commercial venture, offerings
of molasses, and seven kinds of grain, kneaded into balls, are
offered to him, and at the end of the ceremony one of the balls
is placed on the edge of the water, another on the bow of the
boat.¹
1
Another rite common to many, if not to all, fisher races is
the Barwaria or Bárahí Pújah, when a subscription is made, and
in the absence of a Bráhman, a swine is sacrificed on a plain
or in a garden.
There is a much closer connection between certain of these
tribes than others. Thus the Cháín and Surahiyá are more
social and more nearly on an equality than, for instance, the
Cháín and Banpar, and, as among the Súdra castes, while one
is considered clean, another is pronounced unclean. With our
present imperfect knowledge of these tribes we cannot account
for such capricious distinctions, but the causes were probably
the same as those now creating divisions among recognised
Hindu castes.
All Hindustání boatmen call themselves Chaudharís; but
Bengalis have one contemptuous phrase, Manṛuá-bádí,2 or
Manṛuá eaters, for all foreigners from Upper India. He would,
however, be a rash man who used this epithet in their hearing,
for it is the one term of abuse most warmly resented.
The custom with all Hindustání boatmen engaged in trade,
is for the net profits to be divided into shares of which the
Mánjhí, or shipper, receives one-third, the crew two-thirds.
1 This ceremony is called by them Deothán; see Elliot's "Supplementary
Glossary," i, 245.
2 Manṛuá is the Eleusine Corocana, the Rágí, of the coast Muhammadans,
one of the most productive of grains.
348
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
MURIÁRÍ, MARIYÁRI.
Buchanan was of opinion that this tribe of boatmen belonged
to an aboriginal race from the upper valley of the Ganges.
Other authorities, however, connect them with the Kewat.
The number and wealth of the Muriárí in Bhagalpúr have
raised them to the rank of pure Súdras; but in Purneah and
Eastern Bengal impurity is attributed to them. The invariable
reply given to enquiries relating to their history and origin is
that their progenitor was a certain Kál Dás, who came from the
south country.
The Muriárí are very numerous in Arrah, being engaged as
ferrymen, boatmen, and fishermen, but refusing to carry Palkis,
or become peasants. Many large boats manned by them arrive
at the Váruní fair in November, laden with pulse and other
vegetable products.
The majority of the Muriárí belong to the Pánch Píriya
creed; and it is reported that widow marriages are still
practised among them.
NÁPIT, NÁPITA, NÁÍ.
The barber of Bengal differs in no respect from the barber
of Europe. He is the same character now as he was when
Maenas brought the first barber to Rome to shave the famous
Scipio Africanus, and although he does not possess in India a
shop where idlers lounge, and the plethoric are bled, he still
retains the reputation of being loquacious, a retailer of scandal,
and with an unusual amount of insight into character. Above
all, he is a man of the world, full of anecdote and repartee, and,
if rumour is to be believed, he arranges meetings between dis-
consolate lovers. Furthermore, he is very clannish, and an
insult received by one is resented by the whole body, while
melancholy indeed is the fate of a Hindu who offends his barber;
the whole clan will refuse to shave him, and at last, driven to
desperation, he is glad, by the payment of an exorbitant fee, to
be restored to their good graces.
In Dacca, the Nápit is a clean Súdra, condescending to shave
Europeans and Muhammadans, but declining to draw his razor
over the chin of the Chandál, Bhúinmálí, or such like impure
beings. He will shave a Sáha, but will not pare his nails, and
will not attend at the weddings of any but the clean Súdras.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
349
In Eastern Bengal the Nápits are all included in three
gotras:-
Aliman,
Kasyapa,
Madhu-Kulyá.
Seel is a title common to every member, but the polite term
to address them by is "Nara-sundar." Many, who practise
medicine, call themselves "Baidyá."
Nápits are generally Vaishnavas in creed, but a few worship
Şiv. They have no hereditary leader, but boast of very power-
ful unions, and a Pancháít.
In every village there is a barber, and the situation often
descends from father to son. In large towns they work inde-
pendently, and there is no regulation against their following
their occupation wherever they like. As a rule, the working
classes only shave every eight days, but the higher ranks do so
every four, sometimes every second day. In shaving every four
days, eight anas a month is usually charged, and for a single
shave one paisa, which also includes the charge for ear cleaning,
nail paring, shampooing, and cracking each joint of the body.
In the houses of the rich the barbership is often a hereditary
post, as is that of the Purohit, Dhobá, and Dáí, while he, as well
as they, have free access to all parts of the house during the
day. The barber pares the nails of Hindu females as well as
males, and his presence is required at all domestic occurrences.
The day a child is born he pares the mother's nails, and returns
on the ninth and thirtieth days to repeat the operation. At the
houses of Muhammadans he is only present on the sixth day,
the Chhathí. For these services he is given pulse, rice, oil, salt,
turmeric, and two paisa, the rich generally adding a piece of
cloth and a rupee.
Yet, strange to say, the Nápit also assumes a religious
character at weddings, and no marriage is properly performed
without him. While the bride and bridegroom are seated with-
in the "Marocha," he approaches, and repeats what is called
"Gaura Váchana," a story about the marriage of Siv and Párvatí,
having for its moral the duty of submitting to one another, and
of bearing with each other's infirmities of temper.
In addition to all these vocations, the barber, like his
European namesake of the seventeenth century, practises sur-
gery, opening boils and abscesses, and prescribing in all forms
of venereal disease. A considerable number of the native
physicians belong to this class, and many of the inoculators of
small-pox. When a member of the Nápit caste wishes to study
medicine, he is associated with a Kabíráj, who is then called
"Adhyapaka," or tutor. The pupil is not bound as an appren-
tice, but he must obey his master as implicitly as the disciple
his Guru. He compounds salves and simples, and daily receives
350
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
instruction from his teacher. The Nápits, who practise inocu-
lation, are generally most reckless, spreading the disease with-
out the slightest consideration for the unprotected. They
possess a text book, "Vasanta-tiká," but few study it.
Nápits have the reputation of being thrifty and very acute,
and many, plying their trade in Dacca, hold land in Tipperah,
which is sublet to others. Every year they visit their homes,
carrying thither their savings, and at leisure arranging all affairs
for the ensuing year. Those who practise medicine often amass
considerable wealth, becoming respected members of village
society.
Barbers never cultivate the soil, or fish for a livelihood, and
will not take service as domestic servants in the houses of the
low caste or European, as the Hindustání Hajjám does. At the
present day Nápits are to be met with on the bench, and they
also serve as Mukhtárs, Wakíls (attorneys), policemen, and
watchmen.
The Nápit is often an exorciser of devils; and if the newly
born child has convulsions, or Trismus, he is called in, and per-
forms the "Jhárna-phunkná" deception, which consists in
making passes with a Ním branch, while a Mantra, or invoca-
tion, is repeated without drawing breath.
The Nápitní, or female barber, has no occupation in Bengal,
as she has in Upper India.
her hair, except
deity, in the hope
The hair in such
No respectable Hindu female ever cuts
when she dedicates it as a votive offering to a
of curing her child of a dangerous malady.
cases is cut off and hung on a Ním, or Bat tree. There is a
considerable traffic in hair between Calcutta and the eastern
shores of the Bay of Bengal. A Mag considers that his good
looks in a great measure depend on the size and shape of his
top-knot, so, like the females of more civilized races, he braids
false tresses with his own. It is generally said, but perhaps by
libellers, that the poorer Muhammadan women part with their
hair for a consideration.
NAR, NAȚA, NARTAKA, NÁTÁKA.
There is little doubt that the Nar, or Nata, of Bengal, are
identical with the Kathak of Hindustán, and a tradition survives
that the caste first came to Dacca in the days of the Nawabs,
and received the name of Nața from the Sanskrit for a dancer;
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
351
but it is also said that originally they were the same as the
Naḍa who manufacture lac bracelets. Ward mentions that in
his day none of the caste were to be found in Bengal, and that
the Bráhmans traced their descent from a Málákár and a female
Súdra. The modern Natas, not satisfied with this pedigree,
claim to be the offspring of Bharadvája Muní and a dancing
girl, and assert that the Ganak Bráhmans are sprung from a son
of the same holy man. In Hindustán¹ the Kathaks still wear
the Brahmanical cord, and confer their "Áşír-bád," or benedic-
tion, on Súdras, but in Bengal the Nars no longer do so, as the
original settlers, being few in number, were obliged to take
wives from mean castes, and became degraded. Although the
Nar caste requires to support a Bráhman of its own, the Súdra
Nápit and Dhobá work for it. The Nars have one gotra, the
Bharadvája, and their patronymics are Nandí and Bhakta, by
which latter title the caste is sometimes known, but whenever
an individual excels in music he is dignified by the title Ustád.
When young, the Nar boys are taught dancing, being known
as Bhagtiyás; but on reaching manhood they become musicians,
or Sapardá, and attend on dancing girls (Báí), who are usually
Muhammadans. In former days, no Hindu girls ever danced in
public, although dancers among the Bází-gír, and other vagrant
tribes, were common, but at present Boistubís, and Hindu pros-
titutes, are often professional " Nách" girls. There has been a
tendency within the last thirty years for the Nar caste to
separate into two classes, one teaching boys to dance and play-
ing to them, the other attending the Muhammadan Bái. The
latter are the better paid, and more skilful musicians, and a band
(Sapardáí) accompanying a popular dancing girl often earn as
much as twenty rupees a night, while the former consider they
are well paid if they get five rupees for one night's amusement.
The musical instruments generally used by the Nars are the
Sárangí," or fiddle, the "Tablá," or drum, and the “Manjírá,”
or cymbals. Nars treat their instruments with great veneration,
and always, on first rising in the morning, make obeisance before
them. On the Ṣrí Panchamí, in Mágh, sacred to Sarasvati, a
Nar will not play a note until the worship of the goddess is
finished.
<<
Like the Rishi women, the Nar will not play, sing, or dance
in public, although at marriages of their own people they still do so.
It is currently believed that many Nars have of late years
become Muhammadans, but this accusation is denied by the
¹ In Oudh the Kathaks call themselves Bráhmans, and their pedigree is
traced from a Chhatrí father and a Bais, or Rájput, mother. They intermarry
with kinsmen, called Kirtannia (S. Kirtiyá, a dancer) and Bhagatoá (Bhagtiyá).
“Notes on the Races, &c., of Avadh," by P. Carnegy. App. B. 91.
352
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
caste. It is nevertheless true that when a Sapardá falls in love
with a dancing girl his only chance of marrying her is by
becoming a Muhammadan.
A large proportion of the Dacca Nars inhabit an old Saráe,
or caravansary, called Bhagtiyá Katrá, built in the seventeenth
century by an eunuch named Khwajah 'Ambar.
Many other settlements of this caste are met with in the
interior, differing in several respects from the city families. For
instance, the Nars of Bikrampúr affect the manners of a high-
born race, tracing their descent from no earthly parent, but from
a Nața of Indra's heaven, banished for some delinquency, and
degraded to the lowest rank of Hindu society. Like other
Súdras, these Nars celebrate the Sráddha on the thirtieth day,
are generally Vaishnavas in creed, and have a Patit Bráhman to
officiate to them. They decline to play in the houses of the
Chandáls, Bhúinmálís, and other low castes, and, as their services
are no longer required, have ceased to perform before Muhamma-
dans. At weddings the Bikrampúr Nars play on the "Behlá"
(fiddle), “Naqarah” (drum), and "Kása" (a variety of fiddle). If
he has no ear for music the Nar becomes a cultivator or a shop-
keeper, without any loss of respectability. The Hindu Nar
occupies a position corresponding to that of the Muhammadan
Bájunia, but the former is more sought after, as no Hindu will
have a Muhammadan musician in his house if he can possibly
avoid it.
At Gopínáthpúr, in the east of the Dacca district, there is a
settlement of the caste, celebrated as "Dholiyas," or drummers,
who are in great request at marriages and religious ceremonies,
The "Dhol" is an instrument of unwieldy dimensions, and,
hanging in front, is beaten with the right hand, and with a stick
held in the left.
""
All Bengali singers use a musical treatise, called "Rága-
málá," written in the vernacular with the " Rága" and " Ráginí
of each song marked. The words are Hindustání, and are
generally composed by masters residing in Lucknow, Allahá-
bád, or Benares; but of late years Bengali gentlemen have
shown a preference for songs written in their own language.
Skilled professional singers, both men and women, learn to
improvise, and execute variations (Tán¹) while singing; and, on
becoming adepts, a special musician playing on a "Tán-púrá,” or
instrument of four strings, accompanies them.
Native singers maintain that Gánjha ruins the voice; but
that a drink composed of rice-water, sugar-candy, and black
pepper improves and strengthens it. With few exceptions all
dancing girls smoke Gánjha to excess.
1 Sanskrit, "Tána," a tone, keynote.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
353
Throughout Eastern Bengal the most popular performers are
undoubtedly the Kabí-wálí, or Jhumar, who chaunts ribald songs
extempore, and the Kemta wálí, usually a Hindu Kasbín, whose
dancing is as lascivious as that of the Kahrúá, or fandango, dancer
of Upper India. During the annual holidays sacred to Durgá,
incredible sums are paid to these performers, and celebrated
artistes are sought for throughout India by the agents of the
rich landholders.
Besides these various classes of musicians, dancers, and
singers, the city of Dacca is enlivened on all occasions of
festivity by bands of music. Enterprising Muhammadans,
facetiously called "Majors," buy cracked wind instruments,
threadbare red coats, and old shakos, which may have figured
at Plassey, and allot them to individuals, often Farangís, whose
only qualification is having sound lungs. These bands head all
processions, and afford great pleasure to the populace, although
the music to European ears is of the most horrid and discordant
character.¹
NÚNIYA.
A few members of this Bihár caste come to Dacca in search
of employment, and are remarkable for their well-proportioned
figures, and handsome features. Mr. Magrath regards them as
a Hinduized offshoot of the Bhúiyas; but other authorities link
them with the Binds and Beldárs. Like the Kurmí, the Núniyás
maintain a peculiar and ill-defined relationship with higher
castes, a relationship rendered the more inexplicable by their
present low position in the social scale.
In Bengal Núniyás readily obtain service with Goálas, or
other clean Súdras, but refuse to work as labourers or domestic
servants with low caste families.
PÁCHAK, PÁCHAKA.
In Dacca there is only one Páchak, or preparer of digestive
pills, and he is a Chhatrí from Delhi. All castes of Hindus,
from the Bráhman to the Chaṇḍál, patronize his shop, swallow-
ing his pills whenever fancy, or expediency, prompts them. The
1 On Bengali music a most interesting paper, by Mr. C. B. Clark, is
contained in the "Calcutta Review" for April, 1874.
心
​354
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
1
popular digestive pill, called "Battísa," is composed of "thirty-
two" ingredients, the chief being the seven kinds of salt, to
which senna, various myrobalans, and pepper are added. The
Páchak, however, is also skilful in preparing preserves, such as
pickles of limes, olives, mangoes, dates, young bamboo shoots,
and the fruit of the "Ámla" tree (Phyllanthus emblica), as
well as salted limes (Nimbu-ka-járaka) and "Chatnís" of endless
variety.
Oil pickle is another preserve extensively used by Muham-
madans. A Mango being split into two, the stone is removed,
and the cavity filled with the seeds of "Methí," or fenugreek,
anise, "Kála-jírá" (Nigella Indica), and chillies. The two halves
pressed together are then put into a jar of mustard oil, and eaten
as a condiment.
PARÁȘARA DÁS.
The Paráṣara Dás is undoubtedly a branch of the Kaibartta
class; but the highly respected and prosperous native gentle-
inen belonging to it repudiate this base origin, claiming from
certain passages in the portion of the Padma Purána, called
Brahma Khanda, and in the Vṛihad Vyása Sangíta, to be
descended from a Khatrí father and a Vaiṣya mother, and,
therefore, entitled to equal rank with the Baidyá and Káyath.
This pretension, however, is not acknowledged by the latter,
who treat them as they do the Kaibarttas, as people with whom
no social communion can be held.
The Paráṣara Dás are also known as Halik Kaibarttas, and
Sparsha² Dás, a name indicating that they are not impure to
the "touch." The Sikdárs, or poorer members, are cultivators,
being identical with the Chásá Kaibarttas of Burdwan.
The majority of the Paráșara Dás of Dacca are writers,
traders, and factors. The ordinary titles are Maulik, Ráí,
Chaudhari, Biswas, Sirkár, and Majumdár, the two first being
assumed by the higher, or Kulin, families, the rest by the
Mahápatr or Sikdár orders. By paying a marriage fee not
1 The seven salts are "Pángá," sea salt; "Kálá-namak," impure rock-salt ;
"Sendhá," rock-salt; "Khár," impure carbonate of soda; "Sainbhar," from
the lake near Ajmír; “Láhorí," from the city of that name, and “ Chiṛ-Chiṛá,”
or ashes of the Achyranthes aspera.
2 This may be merely a vulgar pronunciation of Paráșara, or from Sparṣa,
touching.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
355
exceeding three hundred rupees, a Sikdár may marry into a
Kulin family, but this system of purchasing social advancement
is discountenanced by the aristocratic families.
In the western parts of the Dacca district the clean Súdras
drink from the water vessels of the Paráșara Dás,¹ although
they will not touch those of the Kaibarttas. In Silhet, where
the caste is most numerous and influential, the same arbitrary
distinction is observed.
In Silhet the caste has not attained to the high and genteel
position of their Dacca brethren, but many are still labourers
who come to Dacca, and set up as stonecutters, but return and
spend their savings at their homes. Stone in blocks is brought
from Patna, Mungír, and Mirzápúr, and with chisels the Pará-
şara Dás make grindstones, currystones, and "Fíl-páyas,” or
stands for tables and bedsteads. In Silhet they will not
cultivate land themselves, but assume to be pure Súdras,
descended from Vyása, the son of the Muní Paráşara, and a
Kaibartta damsel, and consequently entitled to the appellation
of Vyásakta, which is adopted by all.
Wherever found, the Paráșara Dás have the Súdra Nápit
and Dhobá working for them, but the Purohit is distinct,
although it is maliciously asserted by natives that the Bhúin-
málí Bráhman officiates for them.
The majority of the caste are strict followers of the Krishna
Mantra, observing all the popular Súdra festivals, but they are
unusually scrupulous regarding cooked food; for instance, the
flesh of kids is prohibited from being prepared in their own
houses, and rice cannot be boiled in the same pan as meat.
PÁSÍ.2
A few representatives of this semi-Hinduised aboriginal race
are to be met with in Dacca, working at all trades, but generally
as porters, coolies, or servants to low caste shopkeepers. In
Bengal the owners of the toddy and date palms either extract
the juice themselves, or employ Bhúinmálís to do so, and shops
for the sale of spirituous liquors are usually owned by Súnrís,
or outcast Súdras. The Pásí is therefore unable to prosecute
his ordinary occupation, and is only driven by sheer necessity
to leave his home and seek employment at a distance.
1 In some parts of Dacca this respectable caste is in derision called "Gábar
Dás," from S. Garbha Dása, a slave by birth.
2 From Sanskrit, Pása, a noose, or cord.
356
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
The extraction of the juice of the "Tál," or Palmyra palm,
as well as that of the Khajúr, or date palm, is a most important
operation in Eastern Bengal. The Tal trees are tapped from
March to May; the date palms in the cold season.
The juice of the former, or toddy (Tárí), is used in the manu-
facture of bread, and as an intoxicating liquor by adding sugar
and grains of rice. Hindustání drunkards often add Dhatúrá
to increase its intoxicating properties. In Dacca a “Tál” grove
is usually rented, and on an average twelve anas a tree are
obtained. The quantity of juice extracted varies from an average
of five to ten pounds. When fresh this sells for two anas a seṛ,
but if a day old for only one ana.
Date palm "Tárí" is rarely drunk, being popularly believed
to cause rheumatism, but is extensively used in preparing sugar.
A date palm is generally leased for seven anas a year.
PÁTIAL.
This is a branch of one of the Navaşákha castes, probably
of the Kayath, as the family names are identical with those of
its lower divisions, but it is regarded as impure.
The sole occupation of this caste is the manufacture of mats,
and they deny that they ever cultivate the soil with their own
hands. The mats, coarse, dark-coloured, and thick, are called
Motá-pátí, to distinguish them from the finer kinds made at
Silhet known as Sítal-pátí. The only plant cultivated for mat-
making is the "Mathara" (Maranta dichotoma), which grows
luxuriantly in the low, marshy parts of Bikrampúr, around the
houses of the peasantry. It flowers in June and July, and,
while still green, is cut down about the middle of September,
the stems being divided into slips are hung from the rafters,
and when required for use steeped in water.
Among the Silhet Páțials women make the mats; conse-
quently the money value of a girl who is a skilful workwoman
is considerable, and a father receives from three to five hundred
rupees when his daughter marries. In Dacca, on the other
hand, men are the sole workers.
Although chiefly found in Bikrampúr, the Pațials are
scattered throughout Eastern Bengal, wherever the nature of
the soil admits of the cultivation of the Maranta. The caste
is exclusively Vaishnava, and the headman is known as the
Pradhán, or Mu'tabar.
The only other caste that makes mats is the Doí, or Páția Dás.
¹ Or Mátula, Bengal hemp.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
357
PATNÍ, PÁȚUNÍ, PÁȚAUNÍ.
This is one of the utterly vile castes of Bengal, living in the
outskirts of villages near rivers, where their neat and tidy
hovels always attract attention. They are very reserved and
uncommunicative, but there can be little doubt they were
originally Dôms. In Rangpúr, and throughout the valley of the
Brahmaputra, they are still designated Dôm-Paṭní, and in
Bengal this is applied to them as a term of abuse. Their other
titles are Gangáputra, Gháṭ-mánjhí, or simply Mánjhí.
According to some authorities they are descended from a
Rajaka, or washerman, and a woman of the Vaísya caste. Patnís,
however, claim to be the offspring of Mádhava, who ferried
Rámá across a river on his way from Ayodhya to Mithila, and
relate how Mádhava, having witnessed the resuscitation of
Ahalya, was afraid to transport the god to the other bank until
he had extracted the promise that Rámá would sit on the
gunwale with his feet in the water. The simplicity of this
ferryman was extraordinary. When Rámá landed, Mádhava
complained that the colour of the boat had been changed to a
hideous yellow, and that he was ruined. The reply was that
the ferry-boat had been converted into pure gold, and as a
punishment for his stupidity Rámá announced that his sons
would always be ferrymen, and that he should, after death,
become the ferryman of the Vaitaraņi, or Hindu Styx.
Another fiction in the history of the Patnís pertains to the
reign of Ballál Sen. The monarch became enamoured of a
ferryman's daughter, named Padma-vatí, and married her. At the
feast" Pákasparsa," when the bride cooks, and the bridegroom
for the first time eats from her hands, the Patnís, with inborn
obtuseness, and to the great grief of the queen, presented them-
selves at the end of the festival. For this misconduct they were
degraded, and enrolled among the Nícha, or low castes.
The Patnís are chiefly massed in Eastern Bengal, there being
as many as 41,855 in Silhet, 21,726 in Mymensingh, 19,691 in
Kachar, 6,305 in Tipperah, and 4,695 in Dacca. Their aggregate
number in Bengal is 127,636, of whom 102,728, or 80 per cent.,
are returned as residents of the nine eastern districts.
The Patní is peculiar to Bengal, the Gháṭwál, or ferryman, of
Hindustán, being usually one of the Malláh caste. Besides
acting as a ferryman the Pațní often trades, or keeps a grocer's
shop, but he neither fishes nor cultivates the soil in the Bikram-
púr part of Dacca, although in the north he is generally a
peasant. Many still breed swine, but rever admit doing so.
The Patní caulks boats, and is very expert at manufacturing
sieves and baskets of ratan.
2 B
358
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
In Silhet the Patní caste has four subdivisions, having no
fellowship with each other:-
1. Ját Patní, who are cultivators, and "Modís," or grocers.
2. Balamí, or Ghát Patní, are ferrymen.
3. Naqárchí are musicians.
4. Machhwá are fishermen.
a
The caste Bráhman is a Patit, who generally assumes
pompous title, such as Chakravartí. The barber and washerman
are always members of their own caste, as the Súdra workmen
refuse to act for them. The Sráddha is celebrated after thirty
days, and wives are impure for one month after childbirth.
The chief festival is the Ganga Pújah, and Patnís never enter
upon the work of a ferry without first of all sacrificing a white
kid to the river goddess. They also propitiate Pavana, the
Hindu Aeolus, with offerings of salt, sugar, milk, and Gánjha.
The majority worship Siv, eating flesh and drinking spirits, but
a few Vaishnavas are to be met with.
Like most Hindu boatmen, on embarking, or when overtaken
by a storm, they utter the following invocation:-
"Sar Ganga, daryá, Pánch Pír, Badr, rakhya Káro."
A Muhammadan boatman, under similar circumstances,
shouts-
"Allah, Nabí, Ghazí Sáhib, Pánch Pír, Badr, rakhya Káro.”
Patnís generally combine and farm a ferry for one of their
number, exhibiting the same remarkable reliance on each other's
honesty as is displayed by other natives when lending money.
All Patnís belong to an Aliman gotra, and the headman is
styled Pradhán, or Parámánik. Widow marriage is not observed
nowadays; and in many other social matters they affect the
manners of the Súdras. For example, they will caulk a boat,
but it would be derogatory to paint it, and they freely indulge
in intoxicating liquors, although it is sinful to own to it.
The Patní is usually a short, squat, and very muscular man.
His nose is snub, with the nostrils expanded, and being, like
other non-Aryan tribes, very fond of coloured turbans and
ornamented jackets, his appearance is striking and peculiar.
RANGÁ-WÁLAH.
Pewterers belong to any caste, but are usually degraded
Goálas, or Sonár-baniks. Four or five families, who live by
melting pewter bars brought from Calcutta, hire workmen before
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
359
the Durga Pújah festival to assist in adorning the grotesque
images of the goddess. The pewter is put into an open pan, and
when melted a ladle full is taken out and thrown on a stone
slab. When cool, the Rángá-wálah presses the soft metal
between boards of jack-wood, and works out the pattern with
an awl and a sandal wood puncheon.
The pith ornaments, supplied by the Málákár for the figure
of Durgá, are decorated by this workman, and a complete set is
sold in boxes to villagers for from two to twenty rupees.
The Rángá-wálah stains his tinsel with three colours, red,
green, and yellow. The red, or " Gulalí," is procured from the
Gandha-banik, and mixed with Garjan oil before being used :
the green is made with verdigris (Zangár) and Garjan oil; and
the yellow is merely a paste of lac and turmeric.
RÁUT, RÁWAT.
This, the most numerous class of Mihtars in Eastern Bengal,
are generally known as Doriyá, or dog-keepers. By their own
account two subdivisions of the family are recognised, namely,
those residing on the north, and those settled to the south of the
river Karma-náșa, neither of whom will intermarry, or associate
with the other. The former, also called Tirhutia Ráuts, are
degraded by manufacturing brooms and baskets, like the Dôms.
Both Hindu and Mussulmán Ráuts are found in Eastern Bengal,
but the latter never circumcise their children, and after death
are not allowed to lie in the public graveyard. The Ráut, though
despised by the people around, looks down on the Sáha and
Bhúinmálí as still more degraded.
Ráuts are employed as sweepers in private houses, and look
after the dogs and cats of the household, a duty occasionally dis-
charged by the Lálbegí. Like the Helas, who are often identified
with the Ráuts, they refuse to touch food brought from the
European table, or handle the carcass of any dead animal, as is
done by the Lálbegí, Dôm, and Bhúinmálí. At the caste
Pancháít every member must attend, but those assuming
Muhammadan customs abstain from touching the pork and
spirits partaken of by their so-called Hindu brethren. In
Hindustan the Ráut cultivates the soil, in Eastern Bengal he
never does.
Their marriage ceremonies resemble those of low Súdras;
but on the wedding day the bridegroom rides, while the bride
walks.
2 B 2
360
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
Ráuts worship many Hindu deities, but the principal festival
is in Srávan (July-August), when they proceed to the jungle,
carrying a young pig, which is sacrificed to Deví, or Bandí Deví,
the favourite divinity of low caste Hindus.
When a Ráut dies, the body is wrapped in a clean white
sheet, and the mourners on the way to the grave keep shouting
"Rám! Rám! Sat hai!" "O Ram, it is true!" On their return
to the house of mourning each one drinks a little sweet sharbat,
after which spirits are passed round, and the company disperses.
On the following morning the name of the deceased is in-
scribed on a leaf and steeped in milk, which is then poured on
the ground. After seven days the Sátwíni Pújah, or Ghusl, is
observed, on which occasion all the relatives proceed to the
river and bathe. The meals are cooked in the house, but not
until ten days have expired can any of the inmates shave. A
feast, known as the "Dașamí Kriyá," is then celebrated, at
which, all the men being shaved and dressed in their holiday
attire, copious draughts of spirits are drunk. On the first anni-
versary of the death a similar feast is kept.
RISHI.
Rishi and Mochí are synonyms of the same caste, but the
members repudiate the name of Chamár. There can be no
doubt, however, that they belong to the same race, although
long residence in Bengal has altered them in several respects.
Buchanan met with a tribe of fishermen in Puraniyá called
Rishi, and he was of opinion that they were originally an
aboriginal tribe of Mithila. Rishi, however, is often used as a
pseudonym to hide the real paternity of a caste, thus the
Múshahar Dôm often calls himself " Rishi-bálaka," or son of a
Rishi, and the Bengali Chamár tries to pass incognito as a
Rishi.
In the census returns of 1872, Rishis are enrolled as Chamárs,
or Mochís, among the semi-Hinduized aborigines. In Bengal
they number 393,490 persons, and are chiefly met with in the
twenty-four Pergunnahs, Burdwan, Nadiyá, and Jessore, while
in Dacca 24,063 are returned.
-
The origin of the Rishi caste is given in the following legend,
related by a Bráhman of theirs.
One of the Prajá-pati, or mind-born sons of Bráhma, was in
the habit of providing the flesh of cows and clarified butter, as
a burnt offering (Áhuti) to the gods. It was then the custom
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
361
to eat a portion of the sacrifice, restore the victim to life, and
drive it into the forest. On one occasion the Prajá-pati, whose
wife was pregnant, failed to resuscitate the sacrificial animal,
she having clandestinely made away with a portion. Alarmed
at this, he summoned all the other Prajá-patís, and they sought
by divination to discover the cause of the failure. At last they
ascertained what had occurred, and as a punishment the wife
was cursed, and expelled from their society. The child which
she bore was the first Mochí, or tanner, and mankind having
lost the power of reanimating cattle slaughtered for food, the
good ceased to kill them.
A Bráhman was bestowed on the Rishis by Ballál Sen, and
the story goes that in the palace of that monarch there was a
Brahman, who having made himself especially disagreeable by
insisting upon being appointed to one of the newly formed
castes, had it intimated to him by the Rájah that he would
belong to the caste which should first appear to him in the
morning. There was also a Rishi, a celebrated player on the
Naqarah, or kettledrum, whose duty it was to sound the
réveille. It was easily arranged that the Bráhman should first
cast his eyes on him when he awoke, and his descendants have
ever since ministered to this despised race.
The Rishis of Dacca can give no other history of themselves.
In the city they occupy about 450 houses, and in several parts
of the district large settlements are found. The subdivisions
are numerous, varying in different parts of the country. In
Bikrampúr they have separated into three septs:-
1. Rishi, musicians and basket makers.
2. Chamár, tanners.
3. Baitál, shoemakers and curriers.
In other quarters, however, they are divided into Bará-
bhágiya and Chhoțá-bhágiya, the latter being chiefly found in
Bhowal cultivating the soil, and acting as musicians. It is
remarkable that they observe the Sráddha on the eleventh day
as the Chandáls do, and abstain from skinning the carcasses of
their own cattle.
The only gotra is Sánḍilya, while Rishi is the general title
of the caste; but a few, descended from servants of the Nawabs,
who received rent-free lands, still style themselves Chaudharís.
They have no Dals, or trades unions, but they possess a Pancháít,
and a president addressed Parámánik, or Moiáli. Nine-tenths
of the caste worship Siv, but imitate the Súdras in most of their
religious ceremonies, while others, peculiar to themselves,
resemble those of the Chamárs. Though utterly vile, they are
permitted to make offerings at the shrines of Kálí, which a Jogí
¹ Perhaps the Arabic Muwálí, one who assists.
362
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
is not allowed to do. They keep many Hindu festivals, the
chief being that in honour of Viṣva-Karma, on the last day
of Bhadra. When smallpox prevails, they offer a pig to Șítala,
first of all smearing the snout with red lead, and repeating
certain incantations, after which it is set free, and anyone can
seize it.
Like the Chamár, Dhobá, Dosád, and other low castes, the
Rishi observe the Jalka Devi worship whenever cholera or other
epidemic disease breaks out. The Rishi women, however, only
collect contributions in their own quarter of the city, and wear
the wreath of plantain, date palm, or Bena¹ (Andropogon muri-
catus) leaves, for two and a half days, instead of six, as among
the Chamárs.
Rishis burn their dead, but no religious ceremony is per-
formed at the pyre. On the fourth, tenth, and thirtieth day after
death, the Purohit offers "Pinda" to the manes of the deceased.
Men and women are impure for thirty days after a birth or
death.
A father generally receives from fifty to sixty rupees for his
daughter. The bride is dressed in red garments, and, if rich,
rides, but if poor, walks, to the bridegroom's house. Widows
still marry, but the offspring of a "Sagáí" marriage is degraded,
and the sons have to pay a heavy fine before they can obtain
wives. The Levirate marriage is unknown at the present day.
Rishis will not touch beef as the Chamárs do, but they are
very partial to chickens, and regard pork as a delicacy. Like
the Chamárs they are notorious spirit drinkers and Gánjha
smokers.
The female Rishi differs from the Chamáín in never acting
as a midwife, in wearing shell bracelets instead of huge ones of
bell-metal, and in never appearing as a professional singer.
Rishis work as tanners, shoemakers, saddlers, musicians, and
basket makers. They tan hides like the Chamárs, but the only
ones they will cure are those of the cow, goat, buffalo, and deer.
Their mode of preparing skins is as follows:-The raw hide is
rubbed, and then soaked for fifteen to twenty days in a strong
solution of lime. It is then deprived of its hair and of any fat
that remains, and steeped for six days in acid tamarind juice.
Finally, it is put in a vat containing a solution of lac and
pounded "Babúl" (Acacia), "Garan" (Ceriops Roxburghianus),
and "Sundarí" (Heritiera minor) barks, the hide being after
this immersion regarded as properly cured.
The town Rishis buy hides from their brethren resident in
those parts of the country where cattle abound. The village
1 ( Bená," in Bengali, "Virana" and "Víra-taram" in Sanskrit, are the
names of the plant, "Khas-Khas "the Persian for the fibrous roots.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
363
Rishis every morning row up and down the rivers in their
neighbourhood in search of carcasses, and when epidemic diseases
attack the herds, they find so much to do, that the villagers
attribute the spread of the disease to them. It is, doubtless,
often the case that they puncture a healthy cow with an Acacia
thorn impregnated with virus, but they are rarely, if ever,
detected at this villainous trade. The people, however, firmly
believe that they do act in this way.
The Rishi will not touch a corpse, but will skin the carcass
of a dead animal. The skin of the buffalo, sacrificed at the
Durga Pujah, is their perquisite, and the skinning of the animal
often gives rise to bitter quarrels between rival families.
The Rishis make shoes, but of inferior quality to those
manufactured by the Chamárs; also, famous baskets with
rattan (Calamus rotang), from which they derive one of their
popular names, "Bet-Mochi," the natives asserting that the
baskets are so closely woven that they will hold water. They
also collect the roots of the "Dub" grass (Panicum), and manu-
facture the brush (Manjan) used by weavers for starching the
warp. In some parts, the Rishi castrates bull calves, but this
they stoutly deny.
The caste has barbers and washermen who are Rishis, and in
the city the Hindustání, or Khoṇṭá Bráhman, officiates for them.
Illegitimate children are usually brought up to be barbers, or
washermen, and wherever the community is a large one no
inconvenience is felt.
The Tabla-wálah, or drum maker, is always a Ṛishi. Goats'
skins are used for the covering, while cows' hides supply the
strings for tightening the parchment. On every native drum,
at one or both ends, black circles (Khiran) are painted to
improve the pitch. The Rishi prepares a paste of iron filings
and rice, with which he stains the parchment. At all Hindu
weddings the Rishis are employed as musicians, and engaged in
bands, as among Muhammadans. Their favourite instruments
are drums of various shapes and sizes, the violin, and the pipe.
In former years, the marriage ceremonies of the Rishi were
scenes of debauchery and intemperance, but of late intoxicating
liquors have been prohibited until all the regular forms have
been observed. Even Hindus, who rarely have anything
favourable to say of the Rishi, confess that nowadays, owing to
some unknown cause, both the Chamárs and Rishis have become
more temperate and more attentive to their religious duties than
formerly.
3
364
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
:
SÁNKHÁRÍ, ŞANKHA-KÁRA.
The shell-cutter is one of the most homogeneous of Bengali
castes, and Dacca has always been famous for shell bracelets
manufactured by the resident Sánkhárís. In the whole of
Bengal the caste only numbers 11,453 persons, while in the
nine eastern districts it embraces 2,735, of whom 1,157 reside in
Báqirganj, and 853 in Dacca.
A tradition survives that they orginally came to Eastern
Bengal with Ballál Sen, and at the palace of that monarch in
-Bikrampúr the site of a Sánkhárí Bázár is still shown. When
the Muhammadan seat of Government was transferred to Dacca
early in the seventeenth century, the shell-cutters were induced
to leave their old settlement by the offer of rent-free land in the
new city. The Bázár where they now reside has been their
headquarters for more than two centuries and a half, but owing
to the small size of the rent-free grant, they adopted a very
peculiar style of architecture, building two-storied houses with a
frontage of six feet and a depth of at least thirty. At the time
of the permanent settlement in 1793, the Sánkhárís, being unable
to show authentic title deeds, were obliged to pay ground rent
like others of their fellow citizens.
The Sánkhárí caste is generally met with in the city; the
few residing in the country do not saw shells, but buy them
ready cut, and, after grinding, polish them. In Rájsháhí, how-
ever, the Kumár cuts and polishes shells, while in Chittagong
Muhammadans do so likewise.
""
Like all Súdra castes, the Sánkhárí has a Bará and a Chhotá-
bhágya division, the latter being also known as Sunárgáon Sánk-
hárís. The Chhota-bhágya constitute a very inconsiderable
body, occupying not more than twelve houses in a suburb of the
city called Khálgárhnagar, where they labour at polishing shells
purchased ready cut. These two sections never intermarry,
although they belong to one caste, having the same "gotras
and surnames, and one Bráhman, but different" dals," or unions.
Members of the Chhotá-bhágya have become traders, writers,
timber and cloth merchants, claiming on that account to be
higher in social rank than those who manufacture shell bracelets.
The main section of the Sánk hárís embraces 350 families,
calling themselves Bikrampúr Sánkhárís. In Bengal they are
included in the nine clean Súdra castes, their Brahman being
the same as the Kayasth.
Their gotras are six in number :-
Sándilyá,
Gautama,
Aliman,
Kaşyapa,
Madhu Kulyá,
Gárgya.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
365
Their Padavís, or patronymics, are Șúra, Nág, Nandí, Seña,
Dhar, Dutta, and Kara.
It is rare to find a Sánkhárí who is not a follower of Vishnu
or Krishna, while the majority are vegetarians, abstaining even
from fish. Their principal festival is held on the last day of
Bhádra (August-September), when they give up work for five
days, and worship Agastya Rishí, who, according to them, rid
the world of a formidable demon called Sankha Asura by means
of the semicircular saw used by the shell-cutters at the present
day. They are also strict observers of the "Jhulanjáttra" and
Janmáshṭamí” in Bhadra, festivals in honour of Krishna, kept
by all Bengali Vaishnavas. The Sánkhárís generally are dis-
ciples of the Sántipur Gosáins, but a few recognise the Khardah
family as their spiritual leaders.
(C
The Sánkhárí bridegroom rides on horseback, but the bride,
in red attire, is carried in a palanquin.
The president is styled Muta'bar, or Pradhán, and the seats
in the assembly were formerly arranged by him according to
rank, but now no distinctions are admitted. When a shell-
cutter lives beyond the precinets of the Bázár he becomes an
outcast, and necessarily joins the Sunárgáon division. Not
many years have elapsed since a Sánkhárí who took service,
educated himself, or followed any other profession, was degraded,
but many are now studying in schools and colleges, and accept-
ing employment without losing their position in society.
The shells used for manufacturing bracelets are imported
from the Gulf of Manaar. Natives distinguish many varieties,
differing in colour and size, but the ordinary conch shell is the
Mazza, or Turbinella, napa. The trade in these shells has
flourished from the earliest historical times. The "Chank" is
mentioned by Abú Zaid in the tenth century of our era.
Tavernier includes shell bracelets among the exports of Dacca
in 1666, and adds, that in Patna and Bengal there were over
two thousand persons employed in manufacturing them.¹
1
Towards the end of the seventeeth century the shell trade
became a monopoly in the hands of the Dutch. A French
missionary in 1700 writes: "It is scarcely credible how
jealous the Dutch are of this commerce. It was death to a native
to sell them to anyone but to the factory servants at Ceylon.
The shells were bought for a trifle, but when despatched in
their own vessels to Bengal, the Dutch acquired great profit."
The chank fishery became a royalty of the English Govern-
¹ Tavernier, part ii, book ii, 183–4.
2" Lettres Edifiantes," ii, 278.
3 Accounts of this shell or "sea-horn" fishery are given by Jan Nieuhof in
A. and J. Churchill's "Voyages, and Travels," vol. ii, 298, and, of a later date,
in "Lettres Édifiantes,” x, 121. (Ed. 1781.)
366
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
ment, yielding an annual revenue of 4,000l., but it is now open
to all the world. In former days six hundred divers were
employed, and in a single season four and a half millions of
shells were frequently taken, of the gross annual value of
8,000l. The shells are imported by English merchants into
Calcutta, purchased by rich Sánkhárís, and retailed to the
cutters.
On the arrival of the shells the remains of the mollusc
(Pittá) are extracted and sold to native physicians as a medicine
for spleen enlargement. The base (Gherá), the lip, and point of
the shell are then knocked off with a hammer, the chips being
used as gravel for garden walks, or sold to agents from
Murshídábád, where beads are made of the larger pieces, and a
paint, "Mattiya Sindúr," of the smaller.
In the ordinary shell the whorls turn from right to left, but
when one is found with the whorls reversed, "Dakshiná-varta,"
its price is extravagant, as it is believed to ensure wealth and
prosperity. One belonging to a Dacca Zamíndár is so highly
prized that he refused an offer of 300 rupees.
The
From two to eight bracelets are made from one shell.
sawdust is used to prevent the pitting of smallpox, and as an
ingredient of a valuable white paint.
The Sánkhárís have the character of being very penurious,
and unusually industrious, young and old working to a late
hour at night. Boys are taught the trade at a very early age,
otherwise their limbs would not brook the awkward posture
and confined space in which work is carried on.
When sawing,
the shell is held by the toes, the semicircular saw kept perpen-
dicular, being moved sideways.
Every married Hindu woman wears shell-bracelets, which
are as much a badge of wedded life as the red lead streak on
the forehead. Unmarried girls, and Muhammadan females of
all ranks, adorn their wrists with lac, never with shell, bracelets.
The Sankhárí are notoriously filthy in their domestic
arrangements. A narrow passage, hardly two feet wide, leads
through the house to an open courtyard, where the sewage of
the household collects, and is never removed. Epidemic diseases
¹ Reversed shells are holy, because Vishnu grasps one in his hand, and it is
related that the god hid himself in it to escape from the fury of his enemies.
The reversed shell is "Der linkse Koningshooren," or "Offerhoorn," of the
Dutch;
and Rumphius mentions that the natives of Amboyna gave 100 pagodas,
or £40, for one. In Nieuhof's day, 1665, a specimen was often sold for 800
reals, or £15, and in Calcutta 400, 500, and even 1,000 rupees, have been given.
Balfour's "Cyclopædia," sub. Chank.
Reversed shells of other species were formerly much valued by European
virtuosos. Chemnitz describes one belonging to a burgomaster of Rotterdam,
which was sold for over £10, and Dr. E. Clarke mentions one seen in Copen-
hagen, "not exceeding an inch in length, worth £50.”
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
367
are very prevalent, and the municipal authorities are often
required to interfere and compel them to adopt vaccination and
cleanliness.
The men, as a rule, are pale and flabby, very subject to
elephantiasis, hernia, and hydrocele.
Among them are certain families with white skins, light
auburn or red hair, and weak blear eyes, with blue irides, who
freely intermarry with other families, and transmit the pecu-
liarity to their children.
The women are remarkable for their beauty, confinement
within dark rooms giving them a light wheaten complexion.
They are, however, squat, becoming corpulent in adult life, and
their features, though still handsome, inanimate. They are very
shy, but the fact that in former days their good looks exposed
them to the insults and outrages of licentious Muhammadan
officials is a sufficient excuse for their timidity. Even nowadays
the recollection of past indignities rouses the Sánkhárí to fury,
and the greatest abuse that can be cast is to call him a son of
'Abdul Razzáq, or of Rájah Rám Dás. The former was a
Zamíndár of Dacca; the latter the second son of Rájah Ráj
Bullabh, Díwán of Bengal. It is stated that they frequently
broke into houses and carried off the Sánkhárí girls, being
shielded by their rank and influence from any punishment.
An account of a Sánkhárí who has raised himself to a
position of great popularity by his skill, is worthy of mention.
Badan Chánd Nág is no charlatan, and for twenty years he and
his father have treated a considerable proportion of the fractured
limbs of citizens. He does not allege, but his patients maintain,
that he can effect union of a bone more quickly than the
European surgeon. His treatment consists in gently rubbing
the seat of fracture with "Momiyáí," and Sambhar salt boiled
in butter. A leaf of the "Madár" plant (Asclepias) is then
laid on the limb, and over it tin splints are fastened. This
treatment-far in advance of that followed by Kabíráj or
Hakim-is successful in cases of simple fracture.
1 A bitumen brought from Persia, Kábul, and Tibet. Throughout India it
is popularly believed to be the "dripping" of Negro boys, who are hung up by
the heels, and roasted before a slow fire! Vigne's "Ghazni,” p. 62; “J. A. §.
Bengal," xlv, 51.
Since the days of Dioscorides, bitumen has by Eastern physicians been
considered to possess the following qualities : discutit, glutinat, emollit, ab
inflammatione tuetur." Arabian doctors recognised two kinds, Al qafr al
Yahúdí," from the Dead Sea, and “Al Momiyáí al Qabúri,” used in preparing
mummies. See also "Ibn Haukal,” p. 133.
368
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
SARWARIA BRÁHMANS.
A few Sarwaria, or, as they prefer calling themselves,
Ráma-Chandra Bráhmans, are employed in Dacca as constables,
doorkeepers, and servants in the houses of rich Bábús. They
are of higher rank than the Maithila, and are very strict in
expelling any of their tribe who marry in Bengal, or eat sweet-
meats prepared by the confectioner.
As with the Maithila, the "Bhánjá," or sister's son, is the
Purohit of the family.
SEKRÍ.
This sweeper caste has few representatives in Eastern
Bengal, the ten or twelve houses occupied by them being all
within the city, and, having become Muhammadans, they can
with difficulty be distinguished from the population around.
The Mullas having acknowledged them to be true believers,
they worship in the public mosques, and are buried in the
public graveyard.
are
Shaikh is a title assumed by all, and their names
generally taken from the day of the week, or from the month in
which they were born. For instance, Shaikh Ramazán, and
Shaikh Itwárí are common appellations.
At the present day the Dacca Sekrí only work at the
manufacture of lucifer matches, or spills of wood tipped with
sulphur.
On the east of the Meghna Sekrí colonists are employed as
cultivators.
ŞILÁRÍ.
This strange race of magicians, deriving their name from the
Sanskrit Şilá, a stone, are employed to protect crops from hail-
stones. They are identical with the "Gárapagárí" of the
Central provinces, who are paid village servants; but in Eastern
Bengal a member of any caste may become a Silárí, being
remunerated according to the success of his enchantments.¹
¹ Formerly the Șilárí was a paid village servant in Bengal, and officiated at
an annual festival, which is no longer observed. Taylor's "Topography of
Dacca," p. 266.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
369
Chandáls, Jogís, and Vairágís are the ordinary Silárís, but a
Muhammadan often acts as one, his co-religionists believing as
implicitly in this occult science as their Hindu brethren.
At the present day this magical art is falling into disrepute,
and it is no unusual thing for the peasantry to punish a Silárí
who fails to protect their fields. The Silárís confess that their
skill is inadequate to call down a storm on a neighbour's crop,
as was formerly done; but they still profess ability to drive
away a cloud threatening any tract of country.
As hailstorms in Bengal occur usually in March and April,
when the "Boro-dhán," or spring rice, is in the ear, the services
of the magician are called for in low lands, where this crop is
cultivated. When a storm is impending the Silárí, summoned
by the peasantry, rushes, almost naked, from his hut, with a
rattan wand in his right hand. Invoking Parameşvara, the
supreme god, he ascends a mound, where, spreading abroad his
hands, and waving his rod to indicate the direction the storm-
cloud is to take,¹ he recites one or other of the following doggrel
incantations, in the vernacular:-
I.
O Narasinha! Narasinha! mighty Narasinha! whom the
fourteen gods fear;
On hearing the name Narasinha the gods and spirits bend
their heads;
My Guru's name is Híra. Wherever you go, that quarter of
the world is subdued,
Whether it consists of hills or mountains, trees or jungle.
Should this charm of mine fail, Mahádeva's hair will be
uprooted, and fall off.
II.
Diamonds cut stones,
Rivers retire before them,
A gold knife is keen as a diamond,
I have cut it this day into thirty-two,
Begone to the mountains of the north
Having paid your tribute to the south.
Having scattered you, I go home.
My name is Siva Sankara.
The above metrical rhapsody was obtained from Ráí Chánd
Vairágí, a celebrated Şilárí, residing at Shámgáon, in Tipperah.
The villagers present their magician with rice, or other
food, when his charms have been efficacious, as money is an
inauspicious gift.
1 Compare Exodus ix, 33.
370
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
SONÁR, SONÁR-BANIK, SUVARNA-BANIKA.
In Bengal this caste has broken up into so many divisions.
that it has become almost impossible to distinguish the minute
shades of difference between them. It is allied to the great
Bania tribe, and claims to be descended from Vaisya parents,
although now degraded, and not included in the nine clean
Şúdra castes. One authority¹ describes them as the offspring of
a Baidya and a Vaiṣya female; while another connects them
with the issue of a Bráhman and a Vaiṣya woman, and therefore
the same as the Páraṣava, or mixed order, of Menu. Among
the Marhattas Sonárs claim to be Upa-Bráhmaņas, or minor
Bráhmans.
2
The Bengal Sonárs ascribe their low position to the enmity
of Ballál Sen, who ordered them to eat with Súdras, which they
refused to do. The incensed monarch appointed spies to watch
them, who invented a story that the caste Bráhman having
accepted a present from a low caste man sold it to the Sonárs.
The Rájah on hearing the false charge, and without making any
inquiry, issued an order degrading the whole caste.
It is much more probable, however, that Sonárs are Hindus-
tání Banias, who, losing rank by residing in Bengal, were placed
in an inferior position when the re-organisation of Hindu society
was effected.
The total number of Sonár-baniks in Bengal is 60,366, of
whom 12,735, or one-fifth, inhabit Burdwan, 8,195 the twenty-
four Pergunnahs, 8,097 Hughli, and 292 Dacca. They diminish
in numbers on the east of the Ganges; and it would seem from
this that they originally settled in the central, and more peaceful,
districts.
In eastern Bengal the Sonár-banik caste has four sub-
divisions, namely:-
Banga,
Dakhin Rárhí,
Uttar Rárhí,
Nadiyá, or Sapta Grámí.
1. BANGA.
They claim to be descendants of Sonárs resident in Bengal
during the reign of Ballál Sen, and are undoubtedly the oldest
branch of the family. Two Ṣreni are met with, Kulina and
Varendra, or Maulika, inferior, which never intermarry. Every
Maulika, however, asserts that he is a Kulina, and village
Sonárs, by assuming similar claims, cause endless squabbles
and feuds. Ward distinguishes between the Sauvarna-kár and
1 Ward's "Hindus" i, 134.
2 Wilson's "Glossary," p. 488.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
371
the Sauvarna-banik; the former being goldsmiths, the latter
money-changers. It is remarkable that members of the Banga
engaging in the caste profession of goldsmiths are styled
Sankara, or mixed, baniks, and excommunicated from the
society of their brethren. In the city about forty families
reside, twenty-five of whom belong to the pure town stock, and
fifteen to the Grámí, or rural. These two branches are still
further sundered by having two distinct Dals, or unions.
The Bangas have three gotras, Kasyapa, Gautama, and
Vyaşa. The "Padavi," or titles, are—
Sena,
Dhar,
Datta,
Dé,
Laha,
Chanda,
Borál,
Maulika.
Pál,
Sinha,
Addi.
The marriage ceremonies are copied from those observed at
the wedding of Srí Rámachandra and Síta, while in western
Bengal the marriage service is that of Mahadeva and Párvatí.
At the former the bridal pair, seated on stools, are carried
round the court; at the latter the bridegroom stands, while the
bride is borne round him. The bride wears a red dress, as well
as a lofty diadem (Mukuța) with a red turban, from which
tinsel pendants hang. The bridal attire becomes the perquisite of
the barber; the dress worn on the second day falls to the Ghataka.
The "Pradhan," or president of the caste assembly, is always
a Kulina. The Kulina sometimes marries a Maulika girl when
her dowry is large, but this alliance does not exalt her family.
The Banga Sonárs are jewellers, but, as a rule, do not manu-
facture ornaments. They are often bankers, traders, and shop-
keepers. The poorer class accept employment as writers, but
would sooner starve than cultivate the soil. The large majority
are Vaishnavas, but a few follow the Tantric ritual.
2. DAKHIN RÁRHÍ SONÁRS.
In the city reside about seventy families, who originally
sought shelter in Eastern Bengal, along with the Uttar Rárhi
and Nadiyá Sonárs, from the Marhatta invasion of 1741.
Among them rage interminable disputes about precedence, and
the confusion is increased by the "Padavís" being the same as
those of the Banga.
The houses of Nílámbara Datta and Potiráj Dé are reckoned the
first of Kulinas, and next, but at a great interval, are the children
of two brothers, Chanda and Madhu, who are Síls, and reside at
Balgonah, in Burdwan. Families with the titles of Borál,
372
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
Lala, Chand, and Aḍdi are deemed more aristocratic than the
Maulika.
The gotras of this divisian are
Madhu Kulyá,
Kasyapa,
Gautama,
Sándilya,
Savarna,
Bharadvája.
As a general rule the Dakhin Rárhí do not intermarry with
the Uttar Rárhí, but take « Púri," or cake, from them, and even
cooked food, if on friendly terms. The daughter of a Kulina
marrying a Maulika bridegroom sinks to his level, but the
daughter of a Maulika marrying a Kulina is raised to his.
Dakhin Rárhí women dress like other Hindu females of Eastern
Bengal; the Uttar Rárhí as women of Burdwan and Hughli.
The Dakhin Rárhí worship Lakshmí daily, when rice, sugar,
and flowers are offered, and no woman will touch food until
this duty is performed. The "goddess of wealth" is also
worshipped with especial honour four times every year.
The members of this subdivision are usually employed as
writers.
3. UTTAR RÁRHÍ SONÁRS.
Many peculiarities of their earlier home are retained by this
subdivision. The women still speak the Burdwan " Bháshá," or
dialect, and their dress is that of Central Bengal. The gotras are
many, and the following are the most important:-
Madhu Kulyá,
Sándilya,
Paráṣara,
Nága-Rishi,
Aliman,
Kaşyapa,
Bharadvàja,
Brahma Rishi,
Gautama,
Savarna.
The titles are the same as those of other Sonárs, but they
have no Maulika. Their president is styled "Múrdhanya,” a
Sanskrit word for highest.
The Uttar Rárhí still prepares the marriage space, called
Marocha, which has been given up by the Dakhin Ráṛhi, and
the bride wears the lofty diadem, and appendages of the Banga.
In Dacca there are about seventy families, the men being
employed as clerks, accountants, and bankers. Only four annual
festivals in honour of Lakshmí are kept, that on the Díwálí
being omitted. Manasa Deví is propitiated with great ceremony,
and on the Bhagiratha Dashará a branch of "Síj" (Euphorbia
ligularia), sacred to the "goddess of snakes," is planted in the
courtyard, and on every Panchami, or fifth lunar day of each
fortnight up to the Dashará of the Durgá Pújah, the Sonárs
make offerings to it. On the great day of the feast, the Vijaya
Dașamí, the plant is plucked up and thrown into the river.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
373
4. NADIYá, OR SAPTA GRÁMÍ, SONÁRS.
This subdivision constitutes a small body numbering some
thirty-five households. Driven from their former homes by the
Marhattas, they crossed the Ganges, and settled in Dacca.
The principal gotras are-
Madhu Kuliya,
Nága-Rishi,
Sándilya,
Savarna,
Súra-Srí.
The patronymics are Síl, Borál, Pál, Sena, Maulika, Dé,
Hari Priya Dás, and Karana Varí Dás.
Being a small community the Nadiyá Sonárs intermarry
with the Dakhan and Uttar Rárhí, and easily obtain wives by
giving a large dowry.
While the Ták-sál, or Mint, was open at Dacca, the Nadiyá
Sonárs worked as Son-dhoas, goldwashers, or Nyáriyás, in fusing
and purifying metals, but since its closure they have worked as
Son-dhoas on their own account. The dust and refuse (Gád) of
goldsmiths' shops are bought for a sum varying from eight anas
to five rupees a ser, according to the amount, or nature of the
business. The refuse being carefully washed the metallic
particles in the sediment are transferred to shallow earthern
pans and the larger separated by a skilled workman, or Kárígar.
The smaller mixed with cowdung and a calx of lead form a ball,
named Pindi, or Perá. This ball being placed in a hole partially
filled with charcoal, fire is applied, and as the lead melts it
carries with it all gold and silver filings, forming a mass, called
"Lína." This "Lína" is then dissolved in a crucible, and the
gold and silver being unmelted are easily separated.
SÚNRÍ, ŞAUNDIKA, ŞUNDAKA.
According to Hindu ideas this is one of the most degraded
castes, and the following ridiculous story in the Vaivarta Puráṇa
explains the origin of the first distiller, and vendor of spirituous
liquors.
Şani, the Hindu Saturn, failing to adapt the elephant's head
to the mutilated trunk of Gaṇeșa, Vişva-Karma, the celestial
artificer, was sent for, and by careful dissection and manipulation,
he fitted the incongruous parts together, and made one Kedára
Sena from the slices cut off in fashioning his chef d'œuvre. It
is further mentioned that Kedára Sena was ordered to fetch a
drink of water for Bhágavatí, weary and athirst. Finding a
shell on the river's bank full of water he presented it to her,
being unaware that a few grains of rice left in it by a parrot
2 C
374
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
had fermented and formed an intoxicating liquid. Bhágavatí,
as soon as she had drunk, became aware of the fact, and in her
anger condemned the offender to a vile and servile occupation.
The caste is subdivided into two sections, or Sreni, the
Rárhí and Varendra. The former are distillers called Súnri;
the latter traders, who have assumed the title of Sáha,¹ or
merchant. By some authorities, however, the Sáha is the issue
of a Súdra father and a Súnṛrí mother. The members of these
two classes neither associate together, nor intermarry. In some
parts of Bengal the caste has four divisions, the Rárhi, Varendra,
Banga, and Magí.
The Hindustání distiller (Kalár, Kalwár) has nothing in
common with the Súnrí, as he only manufactures spirits, and
will not vend it, an occupation carried on by Kurmís, or
Banias.
The Súnrí is a very degraded individual, indulging freely in
intoxicating liquors. The majority of the workmen in the
Government Ábkárí, or excise department, are Súnṛís, and most
of the Gánjha shops are owned by them.
The Sáha, again, is perhaps the most enterprising and pros-
perous community in Bengal, comprising a large number of the
cloth merchants, salt-traders, wood-dealers, and bankers. They
are usually known as "Amda-wálah," or traders who import
goods wholesale, and sell them to petty dealers by retail.
Mahájan, Goldár, and Árhatdár, or broker, are also common
designations. Notwithstanding the improved position of late
years, they are still utterly abandoned in the eyes of the
Hindus. Even the Bhúínmálí, who works for them, will not
touch their food, and a Chandál loses caste if he lays his hand
on the stool on which one of them is sitting. There is a
saying among Bengalís, that if a Súdra be walking down a
narrow lane with only Súnṛí houses on each side, and an
elephant approaches, he ought to allow the elephant to
trample him under foot rather than take refuge in a house of
the accursed.
Sáha is the common title of the caste, but on becoming rich
the merchant adopts Dás as a surname. A well known Sáha
trader of Dacca selected Ráí Chaudharí as his family name, and
it has been also adopted by his son.
The Dhobá and Nápit, are members of the Súnṛí caste, the
Súdra washerman and barber declining to work for them. The
Bráhman also, peculiar to themselves, boasts that he never
accepts alms from any one not a Súnrí; but it is quite certain
that none of the clean castes would present him with charity.
1 Said to be a corruption of Sádhu, perfect, honest, a merchant. Wilson's
Glossary."
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
375
These Bráhmans, who assume the bombastic titles of Vidyáságar,
Vidyálankár, Chakravarttí, and Pathak, like the Purohits of
other low castes, read the funeral service at the burning Ghát.
Almost every member of the caste is a follower of Chaitanya,
and the rich are celebrated for the ostentatious observance of
the San-Kírttana chaunts in honour of Krishna, after the
decease of any relative.
A Súnṛí will not cultivate the soil, although he does so in
Central Bengal, nor will he ply as a boatman unless the boat
belongs to his caste, and is entirely manned by Súnṛís. He is
also prohibited from becoming a fisherman, and from selling fish
in the market.
In the Mymensingh district a colony of Sáhas have taken
the title of Pánjha, but can give no reason for doing so. They
are chiefly Tallukdárs, writers, and shopkeepers, eating and
intermarrying with Sáhas in other parts of Bengal.
In various parts of Dacca a Magí Srení, quite distinct from
the Rárhi, or Varendra, and accounted fallen and outcast, is to
be met with. It is stated that in old days the Mags made ma-
rauding expeditions into this part of Bengal, and defiled the
houses by outraging their women, as was also done with the
Tántí, Telís, and Kumhárs. The Súnrí barber and washerman
work for them, but the Purohit is always distinct.
The greater number of Sáhas belong to an Aliman gotra, a
few to a Kaşyapa.
Although the Súdra Nápit occasionally shaves the Sáhas, he
will not attend at any of their religious ceremonies, when a
member of the caste has to be employed.
The chief rites observed by this caste are the worship of
Ganeṣa on the first of Baisákh, and the first of Aghan (Nov.-
Dec.); of Gandheṣvárí on the tenth of Ásín, the Daṣamí, or day
before the Durgá Pújah; and of Ganga, whenever their boats
are starting on a trading voyage. The majority being Vaish-
navas, animals are rarely sacrificed to any deity, but when it is
done the victim is afterwards released.
Sáhas are very fond of pigeons, and in the courtyard of
almost every house a dovecot is fixed, as they believe the air
fanned by pigeons' wings wafts them luck. They are also
devoted worshippers of Kartikeya, the Hindu god of war,
constructing annually in November a life size effigy of the god,
and keeping it within the female enclosure for a year. Other
Hindu castes throw the image into the river immediately after
the Kártik Pújah; but the Sáhas allege that their special
veneration of the god is often rewarded, the barren rejoicing, and
the husband becoming the joyful father of children. It is easy
to understand in what way this figure gives rise to scandalous
*
2 c2
376
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
stories among Bengalís, and how the Sáha becomes a butt for
the wit and sarcasm of his neighbours.
According to the census of 1872 there were 430,582 persons
belonging to this caste in Bengal, of whom 63,511 resided in
Dacca, and 225,558, or fifty-two per cent. of the whole Súnṛí
population, in the nine eastern districts.
SURAHIYA, SURAIYÁ.
This class of boatmen¹ properly belongs to Maldah and
Tirhut, but a few families have been long settled in Dacca, and
being a small colony wives are with difficulty procured.
The Surahiyá are enterprising and hardy sailors, often met
with in Eastern Bengal during the cold season. in large trading
vessels laden with grain, pulse, or fuller's earth, which is sold to
Mahajans, and a cargo of rice shipped for the return voyage.
In Gházípúr the Surahiyás are cultivators, who readily engage
themselves as boatmen. They are very muscular and large
boned, offering a striking contrast to the average Bengali
"Mánjhís."
Their origin, like that of other boatmen, is traced to the
fabulous hero Nikhád. There is a shadowy connection between
the Surahiya and Cháin. The former use the water vessels and
huqqas of the latter; but the Cháin, assuming a higher rank,
will smoke, but neither eat nor intermarry, with the Suraiya.
“Kalwat Malláh" is given as another name for this caste;
"Jal-Chhatrí” as the ordinary title; and Kaṣyapa as the
common gotra.
The Pánch Píriya creed is that usually followed, but like
other boatmen, Koila Bába is worshipped on the Dashará, and
various superstitious rites are observed in fulfilment of vows,
and to ensure good fortune.²
¹ Buchanan calls them "Suriya Malas" (i, 172), and in Bíhár they are
included among the Malláhs.
2 Walter Hamilton (i, 111) mentions that in consequence of the great famine
of 1770, many Hindus, from eating food cooked by unclean hands, were
outcasted, and subsequently joined a caste called Saryuriya, "because in 60
years a famine, or some other great calamity, is supposed to occur in the
year Saryuriya."
The year 1770, according to Hindu calculations, was known as Sárvari, the
thirty-fourth of the Vṛihas-pati, or cycle of 60 years, on which the natives
looked for a recurrence of calamities.
Can the outcasted Saryuriya have any connection with the Suraiyá boat-
men ?
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
377
SÚRAJ-BANŞÍ, SÚRYA-VANŞI.
This honourable Rájput title has been assumed, within the
last few years, by a hybrid race of Indo-Chinese origin, inhabit-
ing the jungly tract of Bhowál bordering on the alluvial plains
of Eastern Bengal. Their history is a most significant one, as
it exhibits the compromising spirit and assimilative nature of
Bráhmanism, when brought in contact with races of lower civili-
sation. The Súraj-banşís were formerly regarded as akin to the
Kochh-mandáí, but the Bráhmans, taking advantage of their
credulity and ignorance, led them to believe that they were
descendants of the Chhatrí who, by throwing away their sacred
thread, escaped from the death-dealing axe of Parașuráma. Ac-
cordingly, in 1871, they proceeded in a body to the house of
their Zamíndár, Kálí Nárayana Ráí, Ráí Bahádur, a Srotriyá
Bráhman, and requested him to reinvest them with the sacred
cord. An offer of five hundred rupees was made, but declined.
Disappointed at this unexpected rebuff they retired to consult,
and, after grave deliberation, it was decided to offer two thousand
rupees, when the scruples of the crafty Bráhman being laid to
rest, the sacred cord was with due solemnity presented, and ever
since the Súraj-banși have assumed the high rank of Chhatrí, to
the great disgust of Hindus generally.
The Kochh-mandáí, who reside in the same jungle, assert
that a few years ago the Súraj-banṣí were known as Kochh-
mandáí, and that even at present" Banşí" is their ordinary appel-
lation. The Súraj-banşí are peculiar to Bhowál, and are not met
with beyond the limits of the Dacca district. They are certainly
allied to the Kochh-mandáí, but, by marrying with low Bengali
tribes, have lost the characteristic Indo-Chinese physique and
physiognomy, and inherited those of Bengali lowlanders. Their
original language, too, has been forgotten, and the Bengali ver-
nacular is universally spoken. The Súraj-banṣí is generally a
darker and taller, but less muscular man, than the Kochh-mandáí.
Certain of them still retain the peculiar Indo-Chinese cast of
features, with oblique eyes, and scanty growth of hair; but the
majority have the common Bengali countenance, with bushy
moustaches and voluminous cues, for they already ape the
Vaishnava fashion of wearing the hair. Even now they call
themselves worshippers of Vishnu, and have engaged the services
of a Patit-Bráhman as Purohit. They have invented three gotras,
Kaşyapa, Aliman, and Madhu Kuliyá, and marriages into the
same gotra are strictly forbidden. Furthermore, having assumed
the sacred badge of the Chhatrís, they imitate them in observing
the Sráddha on the nineteenth day after death.
378
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
1
1
By Hindus they are not admitted to belong to a clean caste,
but the Súdra servants are beginning to work for them, and in a
few years they will doubtless have secured an established posi-
tion, as the Kachárís and Manípúrís have done under exactly
similar circumstances. Partiality for pork, one of the besetting
sins of the Indo-Chinese and Kolarian tribes, is most difficult to
eradicate, in most instances surviving long after the tribe has
adopted the Hindu ritual, and Hindu habits. The Kochh-
mandáí affirm that the Súraj-banși secretly indulge in the for-
bidden luxury, although to curious strangers the fact is stoutly
denied. Widow marriages have also been abandoned and
polygamy sanctioned.
The Súraj-banşís claim to be aborigines of Kámrúp, and
believe they substantiate the claim by citing their bi-annual (in
Phálgun and Baisakh) worship, held beneath a "Sál" tree in
honour of Kámaka Deví, the tutelary goddess of that country.
The Sun (Súraj), their reputed ancestor, is worshipped with
especial honour, but Durgá, Manasa Deví, and Búra-Búrí, are
also invoked in seasons of affliction and sickness.
SUTÁR, SÚTRADHÁRA.
This is a very low caste of carpenters met with in all parts
of Bengal, and, according to the census of 1872, numbering
177,755 persons, who chiefly inhabit Mymensingh (21,479),
Burdwan (15,973), Dacca (15,907), Silhet (13,097), and Tipperah
(11,804). It is essentially a caste of the Delta, and it seems
most probable that the boat-building trade attracted them to the
chief seats of that industry. There can be little doubt that
Sutárs belong to an aboriginal, and therefore despised, race, yet
they have the effrontery to assert that they are descended from
Karņa, the son of Kuntí, and the Sun-god, as related in the
Mahá Bhárata. Karna was adopted by Adhi-ratha, a charioteer
of Anga (Bihár), a Sutár by profession, who consequently became
a Sutár himself. It was Ballál Sen, however, who humbled them.
The story goes that a complaint being lodged against the Bráh-
mans for not performing religious ceremonies for the caste, until
all other castes had been served, the monarch, to prevent further
controversy, enrolled them among the Nícha, giving them a
Brahman of their own.
1 The Kachárís were converted to Hinduism, and made Chhatrís of the
Súraj-bansi tribe, about A.D. 1790 (“J. A. S. of Bengal," vol. ix, 831). The
Manípúrís, again, were converted about the beginning of the eighteenth century
by a Mahant of Silhet (Wheeler's "Mahá Bhárata,” p. 421).
.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
379
The Sutár caste has three subdivisions in Dacca :-
1. Sutár, who makes boats, household furniture, beams,
wheels, and ploughs.
2. Chúrá-Kutí, who parch and husk rice, make wooden neck-
laces, and burn shells for lime.
3. Káthuria, who make ploughs, tubs, platters, and wooden
agricultural implements.
The Sutárs claim, and are admitted to have, precedence of
the other two divisions. Their name of "thread-holder" is
derived from the Sanskrit "Sútra," the thread with which the
course of the saw is marked. Sutárs are all included in one
gotra, the Aliman, and invariably belong to the Vaishnava creed.
In the city of Dacca about one hundred and fifty houses are
occupied by them. The caste has a Pancháít, but no union
(Dal), and their headman, styled Parámánik, settles disputes
between members. It is derogatory for a Sutár to fell a tree,
which is done by a class of Chandáls, called "Karántí," from the
Sanskrit Kara-pattra, a saw. Turning (Kundí-Kárí), however,
is the legitimate occupation of a carpenter, and he is permitted
to make moulds used by confectioners for preparing fancy sweet-
meats, and by plasterers for ornamenting cornices and roofs.
Sutárs never cultivate the soil, but frequently carry on business.
as Mahajans, or wholesale traders. Muhammadan carpenters,
unknown in Dacca, are common in Chittagong, where they are
employed as shipwrights.
It is estimated that there are four hundred houses occupied
by the Chúrá-Kuți division in the Dacca district, and fifty in
Nárayanganj alone. The members, however, are gradually re-
linquishing their ancestral trade, and of late years have taken
Muhammadan servants to husk rice, while they themselves act
as grocers, selling pulse, grain, and oils, or as writers, servants,
and shopkeepers. The only wooden article now made by them
is the sandal-wood necklace worn by all Hindus. The Purohit
is distinct from the family priest of the other sub-divisions.
The headman is styled Pradhán, and the only gotra is Aliman.
The Chúrá-Kuti are all Vaishnavas in creed, the Guru being the
Farídábád Gosáin. Their principal festivities are the Gandhes-
varí on the tenth Asín (Sept.); and New Year's day, on the first
of Baisákh.
The Káthuria subdivision, scattered throughout the Dacca
district, is engaged in cultivating the soil, building boats, and
manufacturing lime with the fresh water shells dredged from
the extensive "Jhíls," or marshes, in the interior of Bikrampúr,
being for this reason often confounded with the Chunarí caste, a
perfectly distinct community.
The Brahman of this subdivision is an Áchárjí, who performs
380
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
the same religious ceremonies as the priests of the other two.
The headman is known as Sardár.
The members of these three subdivisions, although inti-
mately related, neither intermarry nor associate together.
TÁNTÍ, TÁNTUVÁYA.
This is one of the most interesting castes in Bengal. The
produce of their looms has been celebrated from the earliest
historical times, and the weavers have suffered more from the
vicissitudes of the last century than any other class. According
to their own traditions, they were brought from Maldah early in
the seventeenth century, and settled in the new metropolis of
the province, receiving great encouragement from the Mughal
Viceroys, and the ladies of the Delhi court, who obtained their
beautiful muslins from Dacca.
Although "Dacca Muslins" have acquired a world-wide.
celebrity, the number of weavers at the present day in Eastern
Bengal is small. In 1872 there were 358,689 Tántís in Bengal,
of whom only 31,457, or 8 per cent., resided in the nine eastern
districts, while nearly one-third belonged to the Midnapore
district. In the Dacca district 8,906 persons were returned.
The Tántís of the city of Dacca, who form the richest and
most important body, have separated into two Srení, or associa-
tions, called Bará-bhágiya, or Jhámpániya, from the "Jhámpán,"
or sedan chair in which the bridegroom sits, and Chhota-bhágiya,
of Kayath origin, who becoming weavers were expelled from
their caste. The former number at least ten to one of the
latter.
The gotras of the Bará-bhágiya are-
Bharadvája,
Paráṣara,
Gautama,
Madhu Kuliyá,
Kulyá Rishi,
Agastya Rishi,
Aliman,
Sándilaya,
Vyása,
Kasyapa,
Savarṇa,
Magí.
Baisakh is the name assumed by all, although the designa-
tion was originally taken by rich persons, who had given up
weaving and become cloth merchants. A few titles inherited
from their forefathers, employed as weavers in the Aurang, or
Company's factory, are still preserved: "Jáchandár," appraiser;
"Muhkím," supervisor; "Dalál," broker; and "Sirdar," are
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
381
the most common. Family nicknames are perhaps oftener met
with than in any other caste, and households, called Mesha
(sheep) and Chhagrí (goat), are well known to the citizens,
having, it is supposed, been acquired because their ancestors had
accidentally killed these animals.
With few exceptions Tántís are Vaishnavas, being probably
the most obsequious disciples of the Khardah Gosáins. They
have no Pancháít, and no headman, but the rich guide and
instruct their poorer brethren, while the trade interests of the
caste are secured by the supervision of powerful Dals, or guilds,
presided over by a Dalpatí, or director.
Although he holds a degraded position in Bihár, the Tántí
has had sufficient influence in Bengal to raise himself to the
grade of clean Súdra, having the same Purohit as the Nava-
Şakha. The purity of a Tántí depends on the quality of the
starch used in weaving. The Súdra weaver prepares starch
from parched rice boiled in water, or "Kái," which is not ac-
cording to Hindu ideas, "Ento," or, as Muhammadans call it,
"Jhúthá," leavings. Impure weavers, as the Jogís, make
starch (Már) by merely boiling rice, a process that is considered
utterly abhorrent.
A peculiar subdivision of outcaste Tántís belonging to a
Magí Srení reside in Mag Bazár, a suburb of Dacca, who, though
excommunicated for the same reasons as the Magí Kumárs, con-
form to all the customs of the Súdra Tántí.
The Dacca Tántís have always been celebrated for the mag-
nificent procession which parades the streets of the city on the
Janmashtami, or birthday of their god Krishna, in Bhadra (Aug.-
Sept.). As long as a Nawáb lived at Dacca, his troopers and
band led the pageant, and at the present day, though divested of
many of its attractions, it is still the most popular exhibition in
Eastern Bengal. For many generations the Dacca weavers have
resided in two quarters of the city, Tántí Bazár and Nawábpúr,
and on the day following the birthday of Krishna a procession
issues from each of these quarters, and perambulates the streets.
In 1853 the processions met, and a faction fight ensued. In 1855
the Government ordered that for the future they should never be
permitted to come out on the same day, and each quarter, there-
fore, takes precedence on alternate years, the peace of the city
having been so far assured.
Krishna is worshipped by the Tántí Bazár section under the
form of Murali Mohan; by the Nawábpúr, as the Sáligrám, or
Lukhí Nárayana.
At the present day the processions are preceded by a string
of elephants, and a "Panja," or model of a hand, presented by a
former Nawáb, is borne aloft as at the Muharram pageant.
382
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
The peculiar part of the cavalcade, however, are the "Misls,"
or raised platforms, carried on men's shoulders. On these are
placed images of Hindu gods, figures, and often caricatures of
Îocal celebrities. On others are Nách girls and buffoons reciting
comic songs, and bandying chaff with the crowd. In fact, the
anniversary and the show have come to be regarded as the
occasion of a holiday, when thousands of villagers throng the
city bent on pleasure and amusement, which are more considered
than the deity in whose honour it is held.
There is, however, another class of Tántís settled in Eastern
Bengal, quite distinct from the city weavers, claiming to be the
descendants of the original Tántís of Bengal, who supplied the
people with cotton fabrics for ages before the reign of Jahángír.
Although assuming a superiority over the Baisákhs, which is not
conceded, there can be little doubt that these Banga Tántís were
earlier settlers in Bengal than their rivals.
The Banga Tántís observe with especial pomp the Kámadeva
Pújáh, or worship of the Indian Cupid, which, though generally
neglected in Bengal, and entirely omitted by the Jhámpániya
Tántís, is still kept up in Bhowál, Kámrúp, and the districts
bordering on that country. It is undoubtedly a worship of earlier
origin than that of Krishna. On the Madana Chaturdași, or
fourteenth day of the waxing moon of Chait (March-April), the
festival is held, but it does not last for seven days as formerly.
The Purohit officiates, no victims being sacrificed.
The Banga Tántís, moreover, celebrate the Janmáshțamí, but
in a different way from the Baisákhs. Two boys, gorgeously
dressed, representing Krishna and his foster-father, Nanda Gop,
are carried about in great state, and with much discordant noise.
The Vişvakarma worship is observed on the usual day, and,
as with the Baisákhs, the loom, shuttle, and other implements of
weaving are adored.
The Banga Tántís are chiefly settled at Dhámráí, an old town
about twenty miles north of Dacca, where they occupy about
two hundred and fifty houses. Their bridal dresses are white,
and not of red or other coloured silk, as with the Dacca weavers.
They manufacture the native "Sári," and "Chadar," as well as
Doriyá and Nau-battí muslins, which are sent to Dacca to be
embroidered. At Dhámráí the famous female spinners (Káṭaní),
who wind the fine native thread, are still found, but in no other
part of Eastern Bengal. In illustration of the delicate touch of
these spinners, the story goes, that one of them wound eighty-eight
yards of thread on a reel which only weighed one " Ratí," or two
grains. Nowadays a Ratí of the finest thread equals seventy
yards, which proves that either a coarser cotton is grown, or the
women have lost their delicate sensibility of touch.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
383
*
The Chhota-bhágiya, or Káyath Tántís, formerly goldsmiths,
took to weaving as a more profitable trade, and now eat with,
and visit the Baisákhs, although they do not reciprocate the
politeness. The richer families having always adopted the pre-
rogatives of the Káyaths, have been recognised, and if wealthy,
receive wives from them. At present only from twenty to
twenty-five houses in Dacca are occupied by them, and several
households work as goldsmiths, bankers, and engravers (Naqqásh).
Five different sorts of cloth were manufactured by the Dacca
Tántís in their palmy days, but the art of making the finer
qualities has been lost. The five varieties were-
1. Malmal. Muslins of the first quality included the
"Ábrawán," "Tanzíb," and "Malmal" made of Desí
cotton or Kapás; of the second quality were the
"Shabnam," "Khaçah," "Jhúna," "Sarkár 'Alí,"
Ganga Jal," and "Terindam ;"2 of the third were the
coarser muslins, collectively called "Báftah," com-
prising "Hammám," "Dimtí" (? Dimyatí), "San,"
"Jangal Khaçah," and " Galá-band."
((
2. Doriya, striped and ribbed muslins, such as "Ráj-kot,"
"Dakhan," Pádsháhí-dár," "Kunti-dár," "Kághazí,”
and "Kelá-pát."
،،
3. Chár-Khánah, checkered muslins, such as "Nandan-sháhí,"
Anár-dána,” “ Kabútar-khopí," "Sá-Kuttá,” “ Bachhá-
dár," and "Kuntí-dár."
4. Jámdání, by the early European traders called "Nain-
sukh," or embroidered muslins. The different sorts are
distinguished by the coloured flowers, sprigs (Búțí), or
network pattern on them. The commonest are "Sháh-
barga-bútí," Chawal," " Mel," "Tirchhá," and "Dublí-
jál."
5. Kashída, or Chikan, muslins embroidered with Múgá,
or Tasar silk, generally dyed red, blue, or yellow. The
commoner ones are
ones are "Katáw-Rúmi," "Naubatti" or
"Naubatí," "Yahúdí," "'Azizullah," and "Samundar
Lahar."
The common Dhotí, Chadar, and Orhní, or wrapper with a
coloured or embroidered end, were always regarded as distinct
1 Abrawán, literally running water, was solely made for the Delhi Zanának,
and the following stories regarding its gossamer-like texture are still told by the
natives. A daughter of Aurangzíb, one day on entering the room, was rebuked
for wearing immodest drapery, but justified her conduct on the plea that she
was wearing seven suits (Jámá). Again, in the reign of 'Alí Vardí Khán
(1742-56), a Dacca Tántí was flogged, and banished from the city for not
preventing his cow from eating up a web of Abrawán, which had been laid out
to bleach on the grass.
2 Probably from Arabic Tarah, mode, and Persian Andám, figure.
3 Nayana-Sukha, pleasing to the eye.
384
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
from the foregoing being woven at their homes by weavers of
various castes.
On glancing over the preceding list one is struck by the
predominance of Arabic, Persian, and Hindi words, and the
rarity of Sanskrit and Bengali.
That weaving, like other native arts, was known in Hindus-
tán prior to the foundation of the Bengal kingdom is beyond a
doubt, and that the earlier settlers brought it with them into the
Delta is likely, but it would seem that either the names given
by the dominant Muhammadans displaced the native ones, or
that the liberal Mussulmán rulers stimulated, it may be developed,
the manufacture of the finer sorts of muslins. That the inhabi-
tants of Bengal at an early period made cotton cloth of wondrous
fineness is undoubted, for the two Muhammadan travellers of
the ninth century mention that in an Indian country called
Rahmi¹ were woven cotton garments "so fine that they may be
drawn through a ring of middling size." Unfortunately we
possess no further evidence until A.D. 1506, three hundred years
after the Muhammadan conquest, when the Roman Vartomannus²
visited the fabled city of Bengalla, where the finest cotton and
silk in all the world was produced, and whence yearly sailed
fifty ships laden with cotton and silk goods. The earliest traveller,
however, who gives us the names of the fine cotton fabrics of
Bengal, is the Arab author of the "Muhít," written in 1554.3
He mentions among the goods exported from Chittagong by his
countrymen a fine cloth (Chautár), muslin sashes, called Malmal,
the finest being known as Malmalí Sháhí, terms which are Hindi
and Persian. Furthermore, when Cæsar Frederick visited Chitta-
gong (1563-81), "bombast cloth of every sort" was exported
thence. After his day the authorities are numerous, and names
identical with those in use in the present day are cited.
The conjecture that the Muhammadans merely developed an
already flourishing trade is strengthened by the fact that the
terms in use by the Dacca weavers for the warp, woof, shuttle,
and loom generally are Sanskrit, while later improvements, such
as the Shána, or reed, the Charkhá, or spinning wheel, and the
Daftí, or reed frame, are Persian.
The decline of the cotton trade of Eastern Bengal has been
sketched by a former resident of Dacca, Mr. James Taylor,"
4
1 Rahmi, however, may not be Bengal, but as it was the country of
elephants, of a shell currency, and of the "Karkandan," or unicorn (rhinoceros),
the assumption is not altogether groundless. Elliot's " History of India,'
vol. i, 361.
2" Ludovici Vartomanni Navigatio," p. 259.
3 Journal "A. S. of Bengal,” vol. v, 467.
4"A Descriptive and Historical Aecount of the Cotton Manufacture of
Dacca, in Bengal," by a former resident of Dacca. London, 1851.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
385
((
while much curious information is contained in Mr. Bolt's
Considerations," and in the works of Edmund Burke. Under
the Mughal government, and even as late as the Nawábship of
'Alí Vardí Khán (1742-56), the weavers manufactured in perfect
liberty, and the enterprising among them advanced money to
promote the trade, but with Siráj-ud-daulah (1756–7) the deca-
dence began, and, during his eventful reign, seven hundred
families of weavers left their homes at Jangalbárí, in Mymen-
singh, owing to oppression, and emigrated to other districts.
Before 1765, when the English obtained the Díwání of Bengal,
bullion was regularly imported from Europe to meet the require-
ments of the traders, but after that day advances were made
from the provincial treasuries to buy the annual stock, or
"investment." This gave a new and unprecedented stimulus to
weaving, and in 1787, the most prosperous year on record, the
estimated prime cost of the cloths entered at the custom house
of Dacca amounted to fifty lakhs of rupees, or 625,000. This
prosperity, however, was very deceptive, being founded on
injustice and intolerable oppression. The first decline may be
traced to the rapacity of the "Banyans" and Gomastas, who
arbitrarily decided the quantity of goods each weaver was to
deliver, the prices he was to receive, while his name being
entered on a register, he was not permitted to work for anyone
but his own Gomasta. When the annual supply was ready the
Gomasta held a bazár at which the Jáchandár, or appraiser, fixed
the price of the goods, but the rascality, Mr. Bolts says,' was
beyond imagination, and the prices were often fifteen per cent.
often forty, below the market rate.
The deplorable condition of the weavers in 1773 is depicted
in the following extract from a letter written by Mr. Rouse,
the chief of Dacca.² "The weavers are in general a timid,
helpless people; many of them poor to the utmost degree of
wretchedness, incapable of keeping accounts, industrious as it
were by instinct, unable to defend themselves if oppressed, and
satisfied if with continual labour they derive from the fair
dealing and humanity of their employer a moderate subsistence
for their families."
The following incident that occurred in 1767 gives a vivid
idea of the state of matters in Dacca at that period. Mr. Thomas
Kelsall, chief of Dacca, being informed that a certain weaver,
Krishna Pál Kumár, was suspected of selling muslins to the
French factory, ordered him to be seized, but he found shelter
with the French. His relatives, however, were imprisoned and
beaten, and their houses pillaged. Upon this the weaver gave
Considerations," part i, 193.
1
2 Burke's Works (Bohn's Edition), iv, 73.
386
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
himself up to the Díwán, Bhikam Lál Thákur, who ordered him
to be flogged, after which he was confined in the factory for
eleven days, during which time the Peons fleeced him of forty-
nine rupees and two pieces of cloth. By Mr. Kelsall's order his
head was shaved, his face blackened "with lime and ink,” and
being mounted on an ox,' he was paraded through Nawábpúr,
where the brokers and Paikárs lived. After three more days
the accused was forwarded to the Nawáb for trial, who, finding
no fault, discharged him.
This hateful system was at last swept away, and the weavers
for a short time enjoyed comparative freedom of trade, and
unusual prosperity; but in 1769 Arkwright obtained his patent,
in 1779 Crompton invented the mule, and the cotton manu-
factures of Lancashire have gradually driven the finer and less
durable fabrics of the Bengali weavers out of the market, and
all but annihilated the trade.
<<
(a) HINDUSTÁNÍ TÁNTÍS.
The Hindustání, or Mungírya, weavers are very common
in Dacca, where they comprehend a large proportion of the
Mothiás," or coolies, street porters, pankha pullers, gardeners,
aud packers of jute; while at home they are weavers and
cultivators.
Two divisions are met with, the Kanaujiya and Tirhutiya ;
the former the more numerous, being of higher rank than the
latter, who are despised and shut out from all social intercourse.
In Bihar the Tántí is unclean; in Dacca he is included
among the Nava Sákha.
((
The Kanaujiya have one gotra, the Kasyapa. They worship
Máhá-mayá," or Durgá, in fulfilment of vows, keeping the
ninth and tenth days of the Durgá Pújah as holydays, conse-
crated to her. On a certain date in Kártik, they proceed to
an open plain, and sacrifice a male goat to Kálí, a "Khaçí" to
Madhu Kunwár, who, they say, was a Tántí.
On the sixth day after a birth the Chhathi is held, and on
the twelfth the mother goes to the well, smears red lead on the
edge in the name of Kamalá (Lakshmí), then draws water and
carries it within doors, when she is pronounced clean.
The Tirhutiya, degraded by carrying palanquins, and by
acting as musicians at their homes, collect in Dacca during the
jute season, and are remarkable for their squalor and stupidity.
They also work as syces, gardeners, boatmen and musicians.
¹ A donkey was the animal usually employed, but it does not live in the
damp climate of Dacca. This punishment is called by the Hindus "Gadhe pár
charhána;" by the Muhammadans "Tashhír."
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
387
Flesh and fish are eaten by them, and each time spirits are
drunk a few drops are, offered to Mahadeva. All belong to one
gotra, the Paráṣara. Á Hindustání Bráhman officiates at reli-
gious ceremonies, and the Guru is usually a Sannyasí. The
title of Bráhman is conferred on the sister's son (Bhánjá), and
great deference is paid him, although through ignorance unable
to preside at the family assembly.
Kálí, Durgá, and Mahadeva are worshipped, but the majority
follow the teaching of one Buddh Rám, a Mochi of Tírhut,
who founded a sect, differing in some slight respects from that
of Nának Sháh. They observe few caste usages, but many
superstitious rites, such as burning "Ghi" in a lamp and adding
rosin, in execution of vows.
The Levirate marriage is still lawful, and the purificatory
ceremonies performed on the twelfth day are the same as those
of the Kanaujiyá. The wedding expenses are borne by the
bridegroom, and the bride is carried with much parade in a
palanquin, enclosed with curtains (Mihaffa).
In Tirhut Tántis weave, grow opium, and cultivate the
soil.
With both classes of Tántís, the headman, Sirdar, or Mahto,
is a very important personage, who accepts contracts, acts as
purveyor, and keeps all accounts.
TAMBOLÍ, TÁMBÚLI.
This caste is not numerous in Bengal, but, wherever found,
is regarded as one of the clean Súdra castes, still wearing the
Brahmanical cord in some parts of Hindustán, although it has
been disused for ages in others. In Bengal the term Tambolí is
applied to any person engaged in retailing Pân,¹ and is not
confined, as it ought to be, to the members of a particular caste.
The census rolls, by enumerating 59,726 persons as belonging
to the caste, have endorsed this popular use of the word, while
in Dacca, where there are not fifty individuals pertaining to it,
the number entered is 200. The few resident in the city state
that their ancestors came from the Burdwán district, where they
still send for their wives, as the Hindustání Tambolí refuses to
give his daughters in marriage to the Bengali.
The Hindustání Tambolí caste, members of which are occa-
sionally met with in Eastern Bengal, has seven, the legitimate
¹ Támbúla, the leaf of Piper Betel.
388
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
number of Srení, and preserve the connection with their
original home at Benares and Mungír, by obtaining wives from
these places. The seven branches are--
Maghaiyá,
Tirhutia,
Bhojpúria,
Kanaujiya,
It has only one gotra, the Kaşyapa.
Kurram,
Karan,
Súryá-dvija.
Yellow silk is the
proper bridal dress, but should the family be poor, cotton dyed
with turmeric is unobjectionable. In Hindustan the Tambolí
often acts as a Pansárí, or druggist; when domiciled in Bengal
he keeps stores, sometimes wine shops.
The Bengali Tambolí, again, have three gotras, Kaşyapa,
Bharadvaja, and Vyása. Their titles, or "Padaví," are-
Sen,
Pál,
Khur,
Datta,
Singh,
Chail,
Dé,
Rakhít.
The most common honorary title is Chaudharí.
The bride and bridegroom still dress in yellow, and ride in
a Lálkí, or Dolí, a palanquin with an elongated pole, and a canopy
overhead.
In Eastern Bengal the Tambolí never cultivates Pân, and,
having rivals in the sale of the leaf, is gradually taking to
other occupations. In Hindustán selling Pân is the privilege
of the caste, but in Dacca the "Khílí-wálás" are Khatrís,
Káyasths, Namu-Súdras, and often Muhammadans. A "Khílí "
is a packet ready made for chewing, and four of them equal one
"Dháná."
The aromatics masticated with Pân differ in Bengal from
those used in Upper India. Bengalis add cloves, dill, coriander,
Ajwáyan,¹ cinnamon, and long pepper; while the Hindustánís
prefer small cardamons (Gujrátí iláchí), mace, and rose water.
Only two kinds of betle-nut are known in Bengal, the
Dakhaní or Penang nut, which is rare, and very expensive, and
the Deși, or common nut, grown in every village of Bengal, and
universally chewed.
The lime, too, mixed with the "Kath" (Catechu) is of two
qualities. In Dacca Silhet lime slaked, and mixed with Dahí,
or curds, is in general use, while in other parts of the province
lime prepared from fresh water shells by the Chunarf caste, is
alone used.
¹ Ligusticum Ajowan, a favourite culinary and medicinal spice. It is the
"Yavánika," or "Brahma-darbhá," of Sanskrit writers.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
389
TOIL-PÁL, TELÍ, TAILÍ, TAILIKA, TAILA-KÁRA.
· In Eastern Bengal there are two great subdivisions of this
caste, the Toil-pál, or Manuhar Pál, and the Telí, the former
being the richer and more numerous. The Toil-pál are
frequently distinguished by the epithet "Do-patti," from having
adopted the Súdra marriage custom of carrying the bride and
bridegroom on stools. The Telí, again, are known as “Ek-
gáchhí," from their planting a "Champa" tree, on which the
bridegroom sits, while the bride is carried round him several
times, as with the Gandha-baniks.
Originally, however, there were no divisions, and all oilmen
belonged to one caste, but wealth having begot new objects of
desire, the richer families, ashamed of their ancestral occupa-
tion, have adopted a new name to conceal their parentage. In
Nadiya and Kishnaghar another separation has taken place, the
Tilís affecting to be of a higher lineage than the Telís, although
they still retain the old family titles. Wealth and prosperity
have made them give up the manufacture of oil, and led them
to become "Amdawáláh," traders buying goods wholesale and
selling them by retail.
In the northern parts of the Dacca district, beyond the
limits of the Ballálí country, the oilman caste has other divi-
sions varying in almost every Parganah. In the Ráípúra juris-
diction there are four classes, the "Satrah," or
Satrah," or seventeen
families; the "Báís," or twenty-two; the "Chaubís," or twenty-
four; and the " Chár," or four, each taking rank in the order
named, and large dowries being given by the last three for
wives belonging to the first class.
In Dacca the Toil-páls and Telís intermarry, and are regarded
as clean Şúdras. The gotras common to both are Aliman,
Sándilyá, and Kasyapa. The Padavís, or family surnames, are-
Pál,
Nandí,
Dé,
Kúndú.
Chaudhari and Shiqdár, honorary titles bestowed by the
native government, are common among them, while the headman
is styled Mundle. In former days their unions (Dals) were
notorious for the faction fights which broke out whenever differ-
ences of opinion were expressed. No "Dal" exists at the present
day, but the Mundle summons a Pancháít when required.
The degraded Kolú caste found in other parts of Bengal are
not met with in Dacca. There are, however, two outcast classes
of oilmen in Eastern Bengal, who have been excommunicated
because they manufacture oil in a novel manner; the first, or
Gáchhua Telí, express the oil by crushing the seed between
2 D
390
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
wooden rollers; the second, or Bhúnja Telí, parch the seed, and
then extract the oil.
The pure Telís only extract Til oil from the sesamum seed,
and caste is forfeited if any other oil be manufactured. The
"Ghání," or oil mill driven by bullocks, is never used, the oil
being prepared in the following manner. The seeds are boiled,
and given to the Muhammadan Kútí to husk. After being
sifted, the Telí puts them into large vats (Jálá), boiling water
being poured in, and the seeds allowed to soak for twelve hours.
In the morning the liquid is beaten with bamboo paddles (Ghoṭna)
and left to settle, when the oil floating on the surface is skimmed
off and stored, no attempts to purify it being made. The refuse
(Khalí) is given to cattle.
The Telí caste is found in all parts of the country, the Til oil
being eaten by Hindus at every meal, but oilmen are chiefly
massed on high lands, where the Til plant (Sesamum orientale)
grows best. In 1872 the oilman caste, including the Telí, Tilí,
and Kolú throughout Bengal, numbered 572,659 persons, while
in Dacca alone it comprised 5 Telí, 556 Kolú, and 13,150 Tilís,
or a total of 13,711 individuals. It has been already pointed
out that this repudiation of the primary name is not defended
by the caste itself, nor attributed to any better motive than the
pretension of the richer families. The Kolú, again, has pro-
bably been confounded with the Muhammadan " Kolú," engaged
in expressing oil.
The Telí caste is a Vaishnava one. Their principal festivals.
are those in honour of Lakshmí, Sarasvati and Gandheṣvarí, the
last being celebrated on the Dashará in Aswin (Sept.-Oct.),
and not on the full moon of Baisákh (April-May) as with the
Gandha-baniks. Many oilmen have given up the oil trade and
become bankers, cloth-dealers, and shopkeepers, but, like other
clean Șúdrás, will not sell spirits, or cultivate the soil.
<<
Members of this caste have acquired historical renown.
Krishna Kánta Nandí, better known as Kánta Baboo, the
Banyan" of Warren Hastings, immortalised by the eloquent
invectives of Edmund Burke, was a Telí by caste, and did much
to raise its position among the Hindus. On visiting Jagannáth,
he offered to provide an "Atka," or assignment of land for the
maintenance of the poor, but the "Pandá," or presiding priest,
refused to accept it from the hands of such an unworthy person.
Kánta Baboo successfully appealed to the Pandits of Ñadiyá
and Hughlí, who decided that the Telí, by using the balance
(Tulá) in his trade, must necessarily belong to the Bania, a clean
Súdra caste. Kánta Babu died in 1780, and it is said that he
first introduced the "Nath," or nose-ring, among the females of
his caste, it having previously been only worn by Bráhmans,
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
391
and the higher Súdras. The present representative of his family,
Mahárání Sarnamáyí of Kásimbázár, is renowned for her charity
and munificence in support of works devised for the advance-
ment of her countrymen and countrywomen.
Many of the wealthiest gentlemen of Bengal are members of
the Telí caste, and the Kúndú family of Baghyakúl, and the Pál
Chaudharís of Lohu-jang, in Dacca, are second to none of the
merchants of Bengal.
TIN-WÁLAH.
This is the name of a flourishing trade followed, without los
of caste, by Ghulám Káyaths and Sonár-baniks, who make boxes,
water pipes, lanterns, and standing lamps of zinc, tin sheeting, or
the tin lining of old packing cases, and paint them with various
gaudy colours.
3
TÍYARS,¹
In various parts of India races called by this name are found,
but it is highly improbable that they spring from the same
parent stock. Dr. Caldwell' states that Teers (properly Tívárs,
or islanders) of Southern India "are certainly immigrants from
Ceylon." In Maisúr the Tíyars, or Shánárs, included among the
Panchaman, or outcast tribes, worship peculiar gods symbolised
by stones, drink spirits, and eat the flesh of swine, fowls, and
goats. Wilson defines Tíyar as a caste in Malabar, whose
occupations are agriculture and "Tárí" drawing. Sir H. Elliot*
identifies the Tíyar of Hindustan with the Dhímar, an offshoot
of the Káhar caste. Mandelslo, again, in 1638, found in Gujarát
a tribe called "Theer," or "Halál-Khors," employed as sweepers
and executioners, "qui ne sont Payens, ni Mahometans." In
Oudh the "Teehurs have no fixed or defined religion, live in
great poverty, eating anything, are expert thieves, but industrious
peasants, and are disowned by both Hindus and Muhammadans."
men.
5
¹ In Purchas they are called "Tiberi," and in other books of travel "Teer-
2 "Grammar of the Dravidian Languages," Introd. p. 110.
3 Buchanan's "Mysore," ii, 415.
4 ( Supplemental Glossary," i, 80.
5 <<
Voyage des Indes," Liv. i, 219.
"The People of India,” ii, 85.
2 D2
392
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
In Bengal, on the other hand, the fisher Tíyar belongs to a
semi-Hinduized aboriginal, or perhaps Dravidian race, deriving
its name from the Sanskrit Tívara,¹ a hunter, or perhaps fisher-
man. In most districts the tribe has assumed the honourable
title of Ráj-bansí, as the Kochh have also done, probably, as
Buchanan thinks, because in prehistoric times they were settled
in the Gangetic provinces, and ruled over by a Rájah of their own.
As a race the Tíyars are short and muscular, with prominent
cheek bones, dark brown, almost black, complexions, thick and
generally projecting lips, and long coarse hair worn in a cue,
which has often a reddish tinge towards the tip, a peculiarity
coinmon to them and other low castes, which, although in the
first instance produced by exposure, is now, if not hereditary
at least characteristic. In Eastern Bengal, where no subdivisions
exist, the Tíyars call themselves Ráj-bansi, or sometimes, as in
Mymensingh, Tilak Dás, while those living on the Ganges lay
claim to the title of Súraj-bansí. According to Buchanan the
Tíyars of Bhagalpúr are divided into "Báman-jagya," who are
cultivators and clean Súdras, and "Govaríya," who fish, eat
pork, drink spirits, and are outcasts. Wherever they are
regarded as pure, a Dasnámi ascetic acts as Guru, and a Maithila
Bráhman as Purohit; when impure, a Gosáin of Bengal is Guru,
and a Patit, or degraded Bráhman, is Purohit.
In Bihár and Bengal generally, Tíyars are reckoned impure,
and along the northern bank of the Ganges Tíyars employed in
manufacturing mats of the "Nal" reed, and known as Nal
Tíyars, are considered so utterly vile that the fisher Tíyars
repudiate any fellowship with them.
The Tiyar caste is distributed irregularly through Bengal.
In Bihar they number 49,717 souls, while in Bengal proper
331,661 individuals are returned, of whom 141,213, or 42 per
cent., belong to Rangpúr; 49,709 to the 24 Pergunnahs
23,051 to Hughli; 16,304 to Midnapúr; 17,364 to Dinájpúr;
14,451 to Mymensingh; and only 7,988 to Dacca. In Orissa,
again, there are only 3,743 Tíyars.
In Dacca the Tíyars occupy an uncertain position, in one
part of the district being pure and Pancha-varta, having the five
Súdra servants working for them, while in another, being
unclean, these servants are members of their own caste. Tíyars
in Eastern Bengal are usually fishermen, but where the fishery
has become unproductive, or the river has silted up, they are
found cultivating the soil, keeping shops, and acting as boatmen.
They manufacture their own nets, but their long narrow boats,
called "Jalká," are made by Chandáls.
1 From the root "Tíra," a shore, and connected with
fisherman.
"Dhívara" a
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
393
As is done by all Bengali fishermen, the Jal Pálani, on the
"Tilwá" Sankrántí in Mágh (Jan.-Feb.), when the sun enters
Capricorn, is observed by the Tíyars. The close time lasts from
two to fifteen days, but the demand for fish being steady they
catch on the eve of the festival an extra supply, and keep them
alive for purposes of sale, there being no offence in selling,
although there is in catching, fish at that period, when prices
being high, profits are unusually good.
Among Tíyars three social grades are recognised, the highest
being the "Pradhán," or chief families, next the "Parámániks,"
while the rest go to form the "Gana," or lower orders. The last
can only intermarry with the higher by paying a large sum of
money, the father receiving in all cases money for his daughter,
so that female children are more valued than among the true
Hindus. Widows never marry, but either earn a livelihood by
selling fish, by manufacturing string, or, if desirous of change
of life and scene, by becoming Boistubis (Vaishnavís).
Tíyars are almost to a man Vaishnava in creed, their religious
ceremonies being always held beneath trees. The Seorhá (Tro-
phis aspera), a very common scrubby plant, is held in especial
veneration by them, and its shade is usually selected as the scene
of their worship; but should this tree be not at hand, the Ním,
Bel, or Gujálí (Shorea robusta), forms an efficient substitute.
Hindustání Tíyars sacrifice a goat to Kálí on the Diwálí, and
the animal, not being decapitated in the orthodox Hindu way, is
stabbed with a sharp pointed piece of wood, a practice universal
among the aboriginal races of India, after which, as with the Dosáds,
the flesh is eaten by the worshippers. Bengali Tíyars, on the
other hand, sacrifice a swine to Bura-Buri on the Paus (Dec.-
Jan.) Sankrántí, slaughtering it in the same way as their Hindu-
stání brethren. At the Ganga festival in Jeth (May) they offer
a white kid, pigeons, and milk, and adore with great solemnity
Mánasa Deví, in the month of Srávan (July-August).
As was natural, the Tíyars have peopled the waters and
streams with beneficent and wicked spirits, whose friendship is
to be secured, and enmity averted, by various religious rites.
Along the banks of the river Lakhya they worship Pír Badr,
Khwajah Khizr, and, in fulfilment of vows, offer through any
Mussulmán, a goat to Madár, whom they regard as a water god,
but who may be identified with Shah Madár Badí'uddín. In
stormy weather, and in bad fishing seasons, they invoke Khala-
Kumárí, a Naiad, to whom the first fruits are presented in the
same way as Hindus do to Lakshmí.
In Purneah Tíyars worship a peculiar deity, called Prem
Rájah, or Pamiráj, who they say belonged to their tribe, and was
celebrated brigand residing at Bahurágar in Tirhut. Having
394
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
been on many occasions favoured by the deity, he was translated
(Aprakáṣa), and disappeared along with his boat. In 1864, one
Baijua Tíyar gave out that Pamiráj had appeared to him in a
vision, and ordained that the Tíyars should cease to be fisher-
men, and devote themselves instead to certain religious rites
which would procure general prosperity. Great excitement
ensued, and in February, 1865, about four thousand Tíyars from
Ghazipur, Benares, and the adjoining districts, assembled at
Gogra in Purneah, and after offering holy water to a private idol
belonging to Baijua, which he said came to him out of a bamboo
post, 3,000 goats were sacrificed. Shortly afterwards another
meeting of the tribe was held in the Benares district, at which a
murder was committed. This movement was a repetition of a
precisely similar one among the Dosáds of Bihár, in 1863, and,
like it, was short-lived and unsuccessful.¹
VAÍSYA.
It has been the opinion of most writers on the castes of
Eastern India, that the Vaísya no longer exists. Ward' says
that they have become blended with the Súdras; Buchanan³
identifies them with the Bania caste; Mr. Beames' regards the
caste as extinct with the exception of a small body of Bais
Banias in Oudh, whose claim, however, is disputed by some;
and Mr. Beverley' in the census report, expresses the opinion
that the claims of any trading class to be considered pure
Vaíṣyas are "absolutely worthless."
In the Bhowál Parganah of Dacca, and at Jahángírpúr in the
Mymensingh portion of Bhowál, a considerable colony of persons
calling themselves Vaísyas, and recognised as such by the higher
castes, has been settled from time immemorial. A few families
are also to be met with at Chát Mohur in the Ráj-sháhí district.
The duties devolving on the Vaíşya caste, according to Menu,
were agriculture, trade, and attendance on cattle; but its mem-
bers were likewise expected to understand the proper seasons
for sowing seed, the qualities of different soils, the prices of
gems, cloth, iron, coral, and perfumes, and the ordinary weights
and measures.
The progenitor of the caste is said to have sprung from the
¹ Annual Report on the Administration of the Bengal Presidency for 1865–6,
p. 27.
'2 Vol. i, 65, 91.
3 "Eastern India," vol. i, 161; ii, 735.
4 Elliot's "Supplemental Glossary," vol. i, 166.
5 Census Report for 1872, p. 171.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
395
1
thigh of Brahma, hence the synonyms of "Úravya" and "Úruja.”
The other names of the caste are "Arya," Bhúmisprik, Vit, Dvija,
Vanik, Bhúmijíví, Vyanaharta, Vártika, and Pañik.
The Vaísyas of Eastern Bengal can give no account of them-
selves, nor do they possess any traditions of their original home.
They deny that Ballál Sen ruled over, or reorganised them, and
boast that no honorary titles inherited from ancestors serving
the Muhammadan government survive. For these reasons they
regard themselves as exceptionally pure, having lived uncon-
taminated amid the changes of the country.
The Vaísyas are generally short and squat, some having fine
aquiline noses and prominent superciliary ridges, while others
have broad cheek bones, badly formed chins and lower jaws.
Their physignomy suggests cunning combined with intelligence,
but many exhibit the inanimate vacant expression so common
among Bengali low castes.
The Vaísyas have relinquished many of the peculiar duties
enjoined by Menu, though still wearing the sacred cord, com-
posed of three strands knotted together, and another disconnected
one of three threads, called "Utarí." The ceremony of tonsure,
"Chúḍá-Karman," is observed before the thirteenth year, not
postponed to the twenty-fourth after conception, as laid down
by Menu, and on this occasion the youth is invested with the
Bráhmanical cord. Vaíṣyas repeat the whole of the Gáyatrí,
but the Brahmans assert, that at the present day few know more
than three-fourths of it, and not having full permission to bestow
a blessing on the Súdras they twist the "Poitá" round the right
thumb, and holding the right hand on a level with the navel
confer the usual benediction. Vaísyas are permitted to read one
of the four Vedas, and that always followed is the Yajur-veda.
Each household celebrates by itself the Sáligrám, Chakra, and
Vishnu Pújahs, although Bráhmans dispute their right to do so,
without requiring the services of the Guru, or Purohit, who are
Srotriyá Bráhmans. In creed the caste is a Vaishnava one, yet
a few Ṣákta worshippers are met with. The Vaíṣyas formerly
committed the heinous sin, in Hindu eyes, of marrying in their
own "gotra;" but of late years, in order to stay the scandal,
new "gotras" have been formed. The most common are
Aliman,
Kaşyapa,
Sándilya,
Madhu Kuliya,
Kátyáyana.
They have no peculiar titles, but Gupta is often added to
their names, while individuals employed as assistants to mer-
chants frequently assume the surname of Biswas,¹ literally a
1 In Puraniya Biswas means a storekeeper, while in Dacca Bhándárí is used
in the same sense.
396
ON THE RACES, ETC., OF EASTERN BENGAL.
holder of one-fourth share. Menu affirms that the first part of a
Vaíşya name should indicate wealth, the second prosperity; but
the Bengali Vaísyas have ceased conforming to this rule, and
the names ordinarily met with are Rám Kamár, Dev Nárayana,
Şítala Chandra, or Rám Gopála, to which the surname Vaíşya is
always appended.
A Vaíṣya was of old allowed to marry a Súdra woman as his
second wife, but this custom, owing to the hard times of modern
life, has died out.
Baidyás and Káyasths residing within the Ballálí country
refuse to touch food prepared by the Vaíṣyas, but those living
beyond the limits readily do so.
The Vaíṣya is generally a tolerable Bengali scholar, but few
learn English, as it entails expense, and delays the young from
starting in life. In Mymensingh a few enter government
employ, but the majority are Wakíls, Mukhtárs (attorneys),
Tahsíldárs, and Amíns, or land surveyors. Formerly the cultiva-
tion of the soil was general, but nowadays holding a plough is
considered dishonourable, while managing a harrow is admis-
sible.
When a Vaíşya meets a Bráhman he does not, like other
Hindus, make the salutation "Pranáma," as the Bráhman be-
stows his benediction without it. Among Vaísyas the period of
impurity after a death is fifteen days. All the Hindu festivals
are observed by them, but the favourite one is that in honour of
Lakshmí, the goddess of wealth.
( 397 )
SECTION IV.
ARMENIANS.
SETTLEMENT IN PERSIA.
SETTLEMENT IN INDIA IN SIXTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH
CENTURIES.
CENSUS OF, IN BENGAL.
CAUSES OF THEIR DEGENERACY.
PRIESTS, RELIGIOUS FESTIVALS, CUSTOMS, MARRIAGES.
PROSPECTS OF THE RACE IN INDIA.
( 399 )
ARMENIANS.
IN 1605 Sháh 'Abbás invaded Armenia, and transferred 12,000
inhabitants of Julfa, on the Araxes, to the neighbourhood of
Ispahán, where he allotted them land on the banks of the
Zindarúd, which subsequently became the site of a town,
since known as New Julfa. While Sháh 'Abbás lived, he
treated the settlers with remarkable liberality, advancing money
without exacting interest, granting the free exercise of their
religion, and permitting them to elect a " Kalán-tar,” or headman,
of their own. No Muhammadan was allowed to reside within
the walls, and, as the murder of an Armenian could only be
expiated by the rigorous law of retaliation, the inhabitants were
respected, and favoured, by the Persians themselves. During
the reign of Sháh Husain (1694-1722), however, many of these
privileges were repealed, and the slayer of an Armenian was
absolved from all punishment on payment of a load of corn.
The prosperity of the settlement was destroyed by Shah Mahmúd
and the Afgháns in 1722, but not until after a gallant though
unavailing resistance.¹ Previous to the Afghán invasion the
Persian Armenians numbered about 70,000 souls, but in
1742 the oppressive exactions of Nádir Sháh forced many to
leave their homes, and seek an asylum in India and other
countries. As a consequence, in 1829, only 500 poor Armenian
families resided in New Julfa, where formerly 2,500 families
throve, and throughout Persia their numbers had dwindled to
12,383 persons. In 1877 two thousand Armenians remained in
Julfa, the children being educated by the Church Missionary
Society. Education is only encouraged as a means of enabling
the young men to emigrate from poverty-stricken Persia to
India.³
2
We possess no information regarding the first appearance of
the Armenians in India; but we know that in the sixteenth
century they were settled at Goa, and that a deputation visited,
in 1590, the court of Akbar. At Agra is still shown the tomb-
"
1 Hanway's "Historical Account," ii, 160.
2.16 History of Persia," by Sir J. Malcolm, ii, 374.
3 <
Through Persia by Caravan," by Arthur Arnold, 1877.
Elliot's "History," vi, 85.
400
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
2
1
stone of one Khwajah Martinas, who died in 1611. It was,
however, into Western India that Armenians chiefly congregated.
In 1623 Pietro della Valle found the Dutch intermarrying with
them; and in 1638 Mandelslo encountered Armenians in Surát
and Gujarát. Tavernier, moreover, has preserved the name of
one Corgia, brought up by Sháh Jahán, an excellent wit and
poet, much in the King's favour, who had conferred on him
many fair commands, though he could never by threats or
promises win him to turn Muhammadan. Bernier, too, men-
tions Armenians in Delhi, who were ruining the inland trade of
the Dutch by their competition.
If Mr. Glanius is to be relied on, a body of Armenian cavalry,
celebrated for its horses and discipline, accompanied the army of
Mír Jamlah, in 1662, when he invaded Assam.
""
Towards the end of the seventeenth century many Armenians
resided at Chinsurah, and they possessed" a pretty good garden
opposite Calcutta. During the latter days of Muhammadan rule
the principal Armenian settlement in Bengal was at Saidábád,
near Murshídábád, whence were annually exported valuable
assortments of piece goods and raw silk.
3
The Armenians have always been distinguished as enter-
prising traders throughout Asia, and as early as 1690, when the
East India Company was entering upon its marvellous career,
Mr. Charnock received instructions to employ them to sell the
annual shipments in the interior, and buy fine muslins and other
valuable goods. The ostensible reason for this preference being
that they could transact business with the native traders better
than agents of the Company provided with a firmán.³ In 1694,
again, a proposal was made to the Armenians of Ispahán to sell
the goods of the Company, or barter them for silk, money, and
"Caramania wool;" but this project failed, as the Armenians
themselves imported, by Aleppo, the goods of the Turkey
Company. During the eighteenth century, the Armenian com-
munity in Bengal prospered, and, favoured by many special
grants from the Imperial court, secured much of the inland
trade of the province. Several individuals raised themselves to
positions of eminence during the civil wars preceding the over-
throw of the Mughal power. Coja (Khwajah) Gregory, better
known as Gurghin Khán, commanded the artillery of Mír Qásim
at the battle of Gheriah, in August, 1763; while his brother,
Coja Petrus, or Petrus Arrathoon, was still more intimately
connected with the early struggles of the Company, being as
Gumástha, or agent, of both Sirajuddaulah, and Mír Qásim,
1 "J. A. S." of Bengal, August, 1874.
Voyage," Liv. i, c. 7.
3 "Annals of the E. I. Company," iii, 88, 160.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
401
1
mixed up with many of the intrigues of that eventful period.
The latter survived till 1782, when he died, leaving great wealth.
At this time the Armenians were often charged, but probably
without sufficient reason, with being turbulent and crafty, and
doing much injury by thwarting the policy of the English
Company. In spite of this accusation, however, they were
permitted to reside in Calcutta in 1758; but an order forbidding
their dwelling in the smaller factories was in force as late as
1765. The Court of Directors, regarding this busy people as the
pioneers of commerce, issued an order that whenever a certain
number congregated together, an Armenian church should be
built for them.
The history of the Armenian colony at Dacca has not been
preserved. It is stated, on doubtful authority, that when Job
Charnock returned to Calcutta in 1698, he invited the Armenian
merchants in Dacca to settle in the new town; but the first
authentic record is a time-worn tombstone in the old churchyard
of Tezgáon, which marks the grave of one Avitis, an Armenian
trader, who died on the 5th August, 1714. At the middle of
the eighteenth century Armenians, as well as Europeans, were
extensively engaged in the slave trade, and if we judge of the
morality of the time by that described by one of their number,
the standard was not a high one. In 1747 a rich Armenian
died at Dacca without heirs, and to prevent the estate lapsing
to the Nawab, the narrator consented to come forward as a son
of the deceased. The perjury is justified on the plea that it
prevented "wild beasts from eating the flesh of lambs."
According to the census of 1866 there were 703 Armenians
resident in Calcutta, while on the 6th April, 1876, they
numbered 707. In 1872, again, the Armenian population of
Bengal proper was only 875, and of that number 710 resided in
and around Calcutta, and 113 in Dacca. Mr. I. G. N. Pogose,
in 1870, estimated the Dacca Armenians at 107, of whom 36
were males, 23 females, and 48 children. The professions and
occupations of the males were as follows: one was a priest, five
landholders, three merchants, one a barrister, five shopkeepers,
seven shopmen, and four Government servants. Until compara-
tively recent times no Armenian could hold land; but under
the Muhammadan rule many were farmers of the revenue and
executive officers.
The causes which have checked the growth of the Armenians.
in Eastern India have been recapitulated by a writer in the
Calcutta Review,2 who points out that the early settlers were
1
“The Life and Adventures of Joseph Émin, an Armenian.” London, 1792.
2 "The Armenian in India Physically considered,” vol. xxx, June, 1858.
*
402
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
robust, energetic, and frugal men, devoting their whole time and
thoughts to trade, while their descendants, lacking many of the
peculiar traits of the race, have sadly degenerated. Separation
from home influences, and association with alien races, effected
a marked change of habits, and, resisting the introduction of
European customs, they insensibly adopted many Indian ones.
The indolence, moreover, induced by a hot, uncongenial climate,
along with a rooted aversion to physical exertion, promoted
habits of immorality and intemperance. Early marriages became
fashionable, the offspring growing up sickly and tainted by
disease. In-breeding still further impaired the race, and only
those families who sought for brides in distant cities, or among
immigrants from Persia, have inherited the muscular healthy
constitutions of the parent stock. As late as a generation ago
the Armenians of India were generally illiterate, being totally
ignorant of European literature. They spoke and often read
Armenian, they conversed fluently in Persian, Urdú, and
Bengali; but they were unacquainted with the English language.
Of late years, however, although Armenian is still the language
of their homes, English is spoken universally, and an English
education is considered indispensable. The English costume,
too, is always worn, and the national dress is only seen on
festive occasions.
The modern Armenian is proverbially hospitable, while his
open-handed charity to the poor of all creeds, his benevolence,
and sympathy for the destitute and unfortunate of his own faith,
and his kindness to his native servants and acquaintances,
excite the admiration of his fellow townsmen.
The Catholicos, or Patriarch, of the Armenian church resides
at Echmadzin, in Russian Armenia. Not only is he the Primate,
but his monastery is the centre where pilgrims join in fraternal
union with their brethren of other lands, and from which the
Chrism, or holy oil, is brought for the services of the church in
the East. The Bishop of Julfa has jurisdiction over all the
Armenian churches in India, and by him the priests are inducted,
or translated. India has so few attractions for the priesthood,
that livings in that country, it is said, can only be got by an
offering of twenty Tománs, equivalent to ten guineas. The
priests met with in India are always married men, whose
wives and families remain at Julfa, as hostages for their return.
Five years is the fixed period of their residence, but on
application a transfer to another church is often obtained.
The greatest objection to this system is, that new arrivals
can only converse in Persian and Armenian, while their
flock speak Armenian, rarely Persian. Having acquired the
vernacular, they are transferred to Singapore, or China, where
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
403
A
another language has to be learned, under the same discouraging
circumstances.
The position of an Armenian priest in India is an unenviable
one. Separated from all his dearest ties, he finds himself in a
small community stirred by the influences of strange races, and
rival faiths, and dependent on the goodwill and liberality of his
brethren. Services, beginning before daybreak, and lasting for
six or seven hours, at which the congregation only attend
towards the end; fasts twice every week, and during Lent
continuing for weeks, tell upon the strongest constitutions.
But the interest shown in the spiritual welfare of his flock, the
sympathy shown to the sick and dying, and their moral, and
generally blameless, lives, are the bonds which bind and endear
them to their people.
The four great festivals of the Armenian church are the
Nativity, Ascension, Annunciation, and that observed in honour
of St. George. These festivals, as in the Greek church, are kept
according to the old style; for instance, the Nativity, along with
the Epiphany, on the 6th January. The Assumption, however,
celebrated by the Greek and Latin churches on the 15th August,
is commemmorated by the Armenian on the Sunday between
the 12th and 18th of that month.
The dogmas, rites, and practices of the Armenian church in
India¹ are identical with those of the parent establishment, being
uninfluenced by contact with other Christian churches, but
several customs are followed which are not mentioned by writers
on such matters. Thus, on the Assumption, raisins wrapped in
coloured paper are distributed in the church; and until late
years a large pile of dry grass was collected near the church
door on Ash Wednesday, and at a certain part of the service the
congregation, carrying lighted tapers, defiled out of the building,
and set fire to it.
At Easter and Christmas, after service, the priest visits each
household, presenting the goodman with a cake of unleavened
bread, in return for which he receives a fee, and his attendants
wine, sweetmeats, and dyed eggs. Although they disbelieve
in the purgatory of the Roman Church, Armenians admit that
the spirits of the dead remain till the Day of Judgment in
Paradise, or a place of probation. During Christmas and
Holy Week, therefore, incense and wax tapers are forwarded to
the priest who performs a service at the grave of the deceased
relatives. Armenians are forbidden, like the Jews and Muham-
1 For interesting particulars regarding this Christian Sect, see Histoire,
Dogmes, Traditions et Liturgie de l'Eglise Arménienne Orientale." Par E.
Dulaurier, Paris, 1855.
404
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
madans, to eat blood or things strangled, and on Christmas and
Easter the flesh eaten must have been killed by a Christian,
and a godfather.
The public declaration of vows is one of the most solemn
ceremonies of the Armenians. The person vowing presents the
priest with two wax candles and two rupees for each pledge.
Two gilt hands with the forefingers and thumbs united, the other
fingers extended and adorned with jewels, being taken from the
altar are dipped into holy water, and the lips of all present
touched, while the witness kneeling rests his forehead on the
floor. The priest, after repeating certain prayers, holds the two
hands over the people and blesses them.
Armenians esteem the "Little Gospel" as only second in
value to the Bible itself, and are fond of detailing incidents
recorded in it. This uncanonical scripture is the "Historia de
Nativitate Mariæ et de Infantiâ Salvatoris."
"1
Last century the Armenians observed many Persian, Bengali,
and European customs. The dress of the men consisted of a
Persian vest, or Jámah, fastened with a belt (Paṭká), and loose
trousers. Their head-dress was a black brimless hat, about eight
inches high. The costume of the women resembled that of the
men, but the vests were longer. They wore the hair hanging
down loose behind, adorned with strings of pearls and other gems,
and covered with a hat, called Kambhara. Moreover, their teeth
were stained with Misí, the hands and feet with Menhdí. It
was considered indecorous and improper for the women to speak
to, or appear before men in public, and, like the Muhammadan
wife, the Armenian had to endure great hardships when most
requiring sympathy; the doors and windows of her room were
carefully closed against evil spirits for forty days, a fire was kept
burning on the threshold, and no one dared to enter the room
till mustard seed had been cast on the embers. As a further
protection the child was arrayed with strings of amulets and
charms.
(C
The amusements of the men were confined to kite-flying,
in which pastime much money was lost and won, and to the
fighting of rams and game cocks. Native music was, and still
is, preferred to European, and dinner parties wound up with
Nách" dancing and singing. At meals tables were not used,
but mats and carpets being spread, the guests squatted and ate
with their fingers. The Armenian cuisine more nearly resembles
that of the Muhammadans than the English, and at feasts the
variety of dishes is so embarrassing that the etiquette requiring
each guest to taste of every dish becomes positively dangerous.
¹ Giles' "Uncanonical Gospels." London, 1852.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
405
Armenian marriages are ordinarily negotiated by the parents,
or guardians. A few days before the wedding the hands and
feet of the bride are stained with Menhdí. The bridle trousseau,
exhibited on a table, is blessed by the priest, who takes two
rings, dropping them into a glass of wine and consecrates it.
The rings are then taken out and placed one on the ring finger
of the bride, the other on that of the bridegroom. A portion of
the wine being drunk by the bridegroom, he hands the glass to
the bride, who tastes it. Sweetmeats wrapped in tinted paper,
and a sherbet, known as "Guláb-nabát," are served to the
guests.
The marriage ceremony in a few respects differs from that
followed in Western Europe. For instance, before entering the
church the pair, standing beneath the bell tower, plight their
troth in the hearing of the priest, after which they kneel at the
altar with their heads covered with veils. Throughout the
service the sponsor holds a silver cross over the pair, and when
the service ends the priest gives the bridegroom a belt and a
cross, which are worn for three days, and can only be removed
after the reading of certain prayers, until which time the mar-
riage is not consummated.
As soon as an Armenian expires, the arms are crossed over
the chest, and a wax taper being lighted, is placed at the head,
while incense is burned in the room. The priest being informed
of the death, orders the church bells to be tolled as an intimation
to the friends. At the burial the priest, relatives, and friends
follow on foot, while the coffin is preceded by persons carrying
a cross and torches. The coffin is first of all placed beneath the
campanile, and prayers being offered up, it is borne into the
church and placed on a catafalque surrounded by tapers, where
it remains until the appointed service is read.
In the room where the deceased expired a candle is kept
constantly burning for forty days, while on the seventh and
fortieth days, as well as on the anniversary of the death, a mass
is celebrated in the church, and after the last service a feast, to
which all relatives and friends are invited, is given, at which a
peculiar kind of Puláo with raisins is handed round.
The future of the Armenian race in India is difficult to pre-
dict; but if the tendency to adopt English ideas and ways
extends, it must overcome the contrary spirit still influencing
the majority. In many respects the Jew and Armenian resemble
one another. Cut off from the cradle of their religion and
nationality they sojourn apart from the European, and exhibit
few sympathies for the Hindu or Muhammadan. Each has
preserved an ancient established religion which, ordinarily at
least, debars the alien and Gentile from admission into its pale,
2 E
406
ON THE RACES, ETC., OF EASTERN BENGAL.
:
and each is yearning for a spiritual and temporal supremacy in
their original home. With such aspirations, however, it has
become the habit with Armenians to educate their boys as English
parents do, and so successfully has this been followed out, that
several have in competition gained admission into the Army
and Indian Civil Service. The education and position of the
Armenian female, however, leaves much to be desired. She is
generally brought up with only a superficial knowledge of any
language; she leads a secluded, uninteresting life, diversified by
attendance at church, and by visits to her relatives, and her
sympathies are neither cultivated nor encouraged. Until she is
raised to an equality with her husband, and acquires those accom-
plishments which adorn her European sister, it cannot be pre-
dicated of the Armenians that the future is for them altogether
bright and cheerful.
{
(407)
SECTION V.
PORTUGUESE OF EASTERN BENGAL.
FIRST APPEARANCE IN 1516.
JESUIT MISSION, 1599.
WARFARE WITH MAGS AND MUGHALS DURING SEVEN-
TEENTH CENTURY.
FINAL SUBMISSION, 1665.
PORTUGUESE MISSION.
↓
CENSUS OF PORTUGUESE CHRISTIANS.
THEIR PRESENT OCCUPATIONS AND HABITS.
2 E 2
( 409 )
PORTUGUESE IN EASTERN BENGAL.
"THE first Portugall," as far as Antonio Galvam knew,'
"which drunke of the river Ganges was a knight, called J.
Coello." In 1516 Fernando Perez de Andrada was sent with
a letter to him, but the credit of having discovered and observed
the country is due to Don John de Silveira, who was commis-
sioned in 1518 to negotiate with the King of Bengal. The
embassy was hospitably received by the governor of "Chati-
gan," but a quarrel arose, and though speedily quelled broke out
again, and with great difficulty a treaty was concluded.
governor, however, was only dissembling. The Portuguese
vessels were attacked by a swarm of war boats, which they
repulsed, but were obliged to retire to Ceylon in a very crippled
state.2
The
Another account is, that Silveira, being sent to establish a
factory in Bengal, met with a most unfriendly reception owing
to a rumour that his fleet was a piratical one. The expedition
passed the winter amid great hardships, especially from famine,
and the crews would have perished miserably but for the
opportune arrival of another flotilla under Juan Coello.³
It is in connection with this expedition that Dacca is first
mentioned in history. Fonseca refers to a governor of the city
of “Daracca,” and Castanheda styles him "do Señor da Cidade
Darraçao."4
In 1527 a Portuguese vessel was wrecked on the coast of
Chakaria, south of Chatigan. The crew on reaching dry land
were ill-treated by the inhabitants and one of them killed.5
As early as 1528 the Emperor Baber casually mentions that
the Bengalis were famous for their knowledge of artillery,
acquired, there is reason for believing, from the Portuguese. A
few years later Mahmúd Sháh, king of Bengal, hard pressed by
the Afgháns under Shír Sháh, applied for aid to the Viceroy at
Goa. In 1537 a small force was sent under Martin Alfonso de
1 "The Discoveries of the World." Reprinted by the Hakluyt Society,
p. 131.
2 "Osorio da Fonseca," p. 412; Lopez de Castanheda," Lib. iv, cc. 38, 39.
3 "Faria-y-Sousa," i, 220.
4 Fonseca," Lib. xi, 413; "Castanheda," op. cit.
5 "Histoire Générale des Voyages," 1, 141.
:
410
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
1
Melo, but before it could reach Gaur, that city had been taken
by the Afgháns. The Portuguese soldiers were at first ill-used,
but their bravery in holding the pass of Taliágarh gained them
better treatment, and permission was granted to build a fort at
Chatigan.
2
The Portuguese had no established government, settlement,
or fortress in Bengal at the end of the sixteenth century. As
a writer remarks, having no laws, no police, and no religion,
they lived like the natives. A lucrative and thriving trade,
however, was carried on at Hughli, or, as it was then called,
Golin and Porto Pequeno, as well as at Chatigan, or Porto
Grande. Furthermore, numerous Portuguese adventurers re-
sided with their families in Bandels,' trading in salt and cotton
goods, which were shipped in "Foists," or Jaleas, to Dianga,"
and the Portuguese settlements on the Malabar coast. Others
took service with native princes and fought bravely against
Mughal and Afghán. These mercenaries were regarded as
rebels (levantádos del rey), because they neither assisted their
countrymen nor paid tribute to the Goa Government. Their
character was infamous. The majority was composed of
military deserters, ruined traders, renegade priests, and spend-
thrifts of all ranks and professions, who, resorting to Bengal, led
scandalous lives, without any religion or law. The dishonour
brought on the Christian name forced the Church to interfere,
and at the end of 1597 a deputation, consisting of two Jesuit
fathers from Goa and one from Dianga, was sent by the Arch-
bishop of Goa to preach the gospel in Bengal and minister to
the Portuguese settled there.
.
In 1598 the fathers arrived at Hughli, where many Portu-
guese and native Christians resided. The number of professing
Christians far exceeded what was anticipated, and at "Cian-
decan," or Jessore, the mission baptised two hundred free and
bond men.
The toleration of the native rulers and officials is
most surprising. When the fathers left Hughli, after founding
a school and an hospital, the first in Bengal, the Munçif did not
exact the customary fees. At " Ciandecan" they were given a
piece of land rent free on which to build a church, and got
permission to preach and convert at pleasure. At Srípúr the
same liberality was shown. Six hundred pieces of gold were
assigned as an annual contribution; while at Baklá the salary
of two priests was paid by the Rája.
1 From Persian "Bandar," an emporium, mart.
une
2 The site of Dianga is still doubtful. Du Jarric (Liv. vi) says it is
ville sise en ce port de Chatigam, ou les nefs qui viennent de l'Inde, mouillent
l'anchre." Van der Heiden describes it as eene Stadt in de haven van
Chatigam."
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
411
In 1601 the Jesuits had two missions in Eastern Bengal, one
at Jessore, the other at Chatigan. Owing, however, to dis-
turbances, the Jesuit fathers were withdrawn, and the church.
of Eastern Bengal was transferred to the care of Augustinian
monks from Goa. At the end of the sixteenth century there
were churches at Jessore, Baklá, Dacca, Șrípúr, and Noricol,¹
supported by Portuguese settlers and native converts.2
Very little is said of the internal condition of the country.
Dákáíts infested the tidal branches of the Ganges at that time,
as they did two centuries later. The country generally was
remarkably fertile, and the abundance of corn and fruit almost
incredible. Wherever they went the Hindu and Muhammadan
inhabitants treated them with marked respect and kindness.
Father Pimenta has left us the following charming description
of the scenery of the Delta.
(C
The route from Baklá to Jessore is so agreeable and
picturesque that I have not seen its equal. Plains irrigated by
numerous rivers whose banks are adorned with the most
beautiful trees. On the one side you perceive large herds of
deer, on the other flocks of cattle. I forbear mentioning the
luxuriant fields of rice, the thickets of sugar-bearing reeds
(Arundineta calamis mellifluis redundantia), the hives of bees,
the monkeys bounding from tree to tree, and such like objects
that afford pleasure to travellers. Tigers and crocodiles that
feed through our neglect, or fault, on human beings, are common.
In the woods rhinoceroses are seen, but thus far I have met
with none."3
In 1602 the Portuguese of Chittagong, being harassed by
attacks of the Arakanese, made Sondip their chief stronghold.
This island, situated in the estuary of the Ganges, is probably
the oldest and most permanent of the group which the mighty
river is for ever building up and destroying. It had belonged
to the Rájah of Baklá, but the Muhanımadans took possession,
and when Le Blanc and Cæsar Frederick landed, between 1565
and 1586, the Moorish inhabitants were most friendly and
courteous. The fertility of the island was unparalleled, the
population large and prosperous, and the cheapness of food
extraordinary. The manufacture of salt and the trade of ship-
building were carried on with great energy and success.
The Portuguese, under command of Dominique Carvallho,
a vassal of the Baklá Rájah, and Manuel de Mattos, from Cha-
1 In Rájnagar, on right bank of Padma.
2 For further particulars regarding the Jesuit Mission, see R. P. Petri
Jarrici, "Thesaurus," iii, 2, c. xxix; "De rebus Japonicis, Indicis, &c."
A Johanne Hayo, Scoto, S. J. P., 809; Exemplum Epistolæ P. Nicolai
Pimenta." Romæ, 1602.
'Exemplum," p. 91.
܀
412
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
tigan, seized the island, but before they could secure their hold
the King of Arakan' with a large fleet, and supported by a
hundred" Kosahs 2" from Srípúr, sailed for Sondíp. The Portu-
guese joined battle and were victorious, capturing over а
hundred war boats, but so many of their own vessels were
disabled that they hastily evacuated the island and retreated
to Baklá, Şrípúr, and "Ciandecan." The King of Arakan
having recovered Sondíp, invaded Baklá, threatened Jessore,
and boasted that he would conquer the whole of Bengal.
In May, 1603, Carvallho was at Srípúr, a city belonging to
the Bhúya Kedar Ráí, superintending the equipment of thirty
"Jaleas," when a fleet sent by the viceroy, Rajah Man Singh,
and consisting of one hundred "Kosahs" under "Mandarai," 4
hove in sight. Carvallho, hastily disposing his ships, engaged
the enemy, and after a stubborn fight captured several vessels,
and put the rest to fight. Mandarai was slain, and Carvallho
severely wounded. The Muhammadan historian³ gives a very
different account of the battle. Kaid Ráí Zamíndár, of
Bikrampúr, he says, had been subdued by Rájah Man Singh,
but in 1603, forming an alliance with the Mag Rajáh, he
rebelled and laid siege to a fort near Sunnárgáon. On hearing
of this rebellion the viceroy sent a force under Ibrahim Atka,
and others. The confederates were defeated and many boats
taken. The narrative, however, ends with the suspicious state-
ment that the Rájah was compelled to entrench himself in
front of the imperial troops to provide safety against their attacks.
Carvallho proceeded to Hughli to have his wounds treated,
and on his recovery, being invited by the Bhúya of Jessore to
join in a war against the Mags, he proceeded, in spite of many
warnings, to that court, where he was made prisoner and put to
death.
Although the Portuguese were turbulent and lawless, pil-
laging Mags, Hindus, and Muhammadans without distinction,
they were sometimes entrusted with high military commands in
Bengal. For instance, Pyrard de Laval mentions one "Jean
Garie," who had under him ten thousand of the Bengal troops.
In 1607 the Mag Rajah made war, captured Dianga, and
1 “Rex Tiparæ, Chaconæ et Bengalæ, Pegusii dominus." De Jarric, tom. iii,
lib. 3, c. xxix.
2 A Kosah "
was a war boat driven by oars, but having one mast.
3 A "Jalea," from Sanskrit "Jala," water, was a name applied to boats
generally.
4 "Vir impiger et totâ Bengalâ notissimus." De Jarric. Mandarim was the
title given by the Portuguese. to any governor, or commander, in the East. It
is derived from "Mandár," to command. The English title, Mandarin, for
a Chinese official, is the same word.
5 Elliot's "History of India," vi, 109.
6
Voyage de François Pyrard de Laval," p. 239.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
413
drove the survivors to the islands of the Meghna. Sondip, which
had fallen into the hands of the Mughals, was held by a force
under Fath Khán, who had put to death all the Portuguese and
the Christian slaves in the island. A few escaped with Sebastian
Gonzales Tibao, and became pirates, plundering villages and
conveying the booty to Bakla, where they sold it. Fath Khán
having equipped a fleet, set sail to extirpate these pests, but
Sebastian Pinto attacked his vessels off Dakhin Sháhbázpúr,
destroyed a great number, and killed Fath Khán. In March,
1609, the Portuguese, supported by troops from Baklá, laid siege
to the fort of Sondíp, held by the Mughals under a brother of
Fath Khán, while the Hindu population looked on with charac-
teristic indifference. The fort was stormed and taken after a
gallant defence. The garrison and all the Muhammadans in
the island, a thousand in number, were in retaliation massacred
in cold blood. Gonzales perfidiously broke the agreement made
with the Baklá Rájah, and instead of paying him half the
revenue obtained from the island, refused to come to any under-
standing. The adjacent islands of Dakhin Sháhbázpúr and
Pațelá-bhanga were annexed, and having in this lawless manner
acquired possession of a small territory, Gonzales ruled both with
wonderful tact and sagacity. Trade flourished, and the Portu-
guese became the envy and dread of the neighbouring princes.
Good fortune also favoured them. A brother of the Mag Rajáh,
expelled from his country, sought shelter at Sondíp. Gonzales
married his sister, and after exacting a large sum of money, is
suspected to have poisoned his brother-in-law.
The unsettled state of the eastern frontier, and the devasta-
tion of the Delta by the Portuguese, forced Jahángír to transfer
the seat of government from Ráj-Mahal to Dacca. In 1608 the
viceroy, Islám Khán Fathpúrí, removed to the new capital and
at once took measures to extirpate the Portuguese, and secure a
durable peace. The district of Dacca was then a settled portion
of the empire, but farther south Mughals, Afgháns, and rebel-
lious vassals' contended for power. In 1610 the Mag Rájah
made a treaty with Gonzales, in which it was agreed that the
latter should command the allied fleets and act in concert with
the Arakan army as it marched along the coast, and that all
territory conquered should be equally divided between the two
contracting parties. The campaign began, Lakhípúr and Bhal-
uah were overrun, but on meeting the Mughal army the Araka-
nese, owing to the shameful defection of the Portuguese, were
totally defeated. Gonzales, a witness of the disastrous battle,
¹ In a mosque at Farrídpúr is an inscription of the date A. H. 1013 (1604),
preserving the name of one 'Ajab Bahádur Khán Sultání, but omitting all
mention of an Emperor, which could only have been erected by a rebel.
2
414
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
fled to Sondip, after putting to death all the captains of the Mag
fleet. The Mughals reoccupied Bhaluah without opposition, but
did not follow the fugitives to Chátgáon. To consummate his
villainy Gonzales waged war against his late allies, plundered
and burned their villages, and, sailing up the Arakan river,
attempted, but unsuccessfully, to capture the vessels anchored
there.
Up to this time Gonzales had refused to obey, or recognise,
the viceroy at Goa, but in 1615, being hard pressed by the
Mags, he submitted and urged an immediate invasion of Arakan.
A fleet was accordingly sent under command of D. Francis de
Menezes Roxo. It sailed up the Arakan river on the 3rd
October, but the Mags, assisted by some Dutch vessels, offered
a stubborn resistance, and obliged the Portuguese to retire. In
November Gonzales arrived with fifty sail, when a combined
attack was made, but De Menezes being killed, the assailants
fell into disorder and retreated.
Gonzales returned to Sondíp, but his power and popularity
were gone, and his dispirited followers quarrelling among them-
selves, allowed the Mags to take the island. After ruling nine
years, Gonzales was stripped of his possessions; "his sovereignty
passed like a shadow, his pride was humbled, and his villainies
punished."
"1
The Portuguese never recovered from this defeat, although
their flag waved for many years unchallenged in the Delta, and
the imperial Nawarah dared not meet their "Galliasses² in fair
fight. Bernier,³ however, makes mention of another Portuguese
adventurer who acquired temporary power. "It was these
same pirates," he says, "who at this time took Sondíp, in which
a certain notorious monk of S. Augustine, named Fra Joañ, acted
the petty sovereign for several years, having managed, God
knows how, to get rid of (se defaire) the commandant of the
place."
For the next fifty years the Portuguese lived by piracy, and
by making raids upon the peaceful villages of Bengal. Some
entered the military employ of the Arakan monarch, and com-
manded expeditions sent against Bengal, Pegu, and Siam ;4 others
joined the imperial artillery, and Jahangir was wont to say that
one Portuguese soldier would beat three of his own people.
1 "Faria y Sousa," iii, 268.
2 Tavernier describes the " Galeaça" as a long swift boat, often with fifty
oars a side, and two men to each oar. It was generally gaudily painted and
ornamented with blue colours and gold foil.
3 "Histoire de la dernière revolution des États du Grand Mogol." Paris, 1670.
The incident is not mentioned by Faria y Sousa, whose history ends with 1640;
and as Bernier left India in 1668, it must have occurred between these dates.
4
Voyage de Wouter Schouten," ii, 168.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
415
Many assisted Sháh Shújá in his ill-starred rebellion of 1660,
and when his cause was lost became Dákáíts infesting the
Sunderbuns, and lying in ambush in a creek near Ságar, still
known as "Rogues' River," waylaid vessels beating up the
Hughli.
"" 1
In 1662 the shipwrecked crew of the "Ter Schelling
arrived at Bhaluah, where they found Muhammadans speaking
Portuguese, and the Moorish commander protected by a body-
guard "consisting wholly of Christians negro-born, and subjects
of the King of Portugal," who were treated with especial honour
on account of their valour. Other writers, however, give a
different estimate of these "negro-born" Portuguese, and in the
seventeenth century their usual sobriquet was "Gallinhas del
Mar," on account of their habitual cowardice. The history of
two centuries confirms the latter judgment, and, except under
very exceptional circumstances, the Portuguese Eurasian has
never proved himself a valiant soldier.
The capture of Hughli in 1632, and the slaughter of its
brave defenders, was the death blow to Portuguese prestige
in Bengal, and in 1666, when Sháyista Khán determined on
annexing Cháṭgáon and the islands at the mouth of the Meghna,
he threatened the Portuguese with the fate of the Hughli garri-
son if they did not submit and become subjects of Sháh Jahán.
The evil deeds which provoked the Muhammadan viceroy to
interference are detailed by Bernier, a most prejudiced authority.
Bad as the Portuguese undoubtedly were, their cruelty was
exceeded by that of the Mags, who penetrated into the interior
pillaging and ravaging the country, and leaving behind a name
hateful even to modern Bengalis.
On the appointment of Sháyista Khán in 1664 to the govern-
ment of Bengal, an expedition was organised against the Portu-
guese banditti. The fleet, a very powerful one, supported by
several Dutch vessels, being put into the highest state of
efficiency, was directed to act in concert with the army prepar-
ing to march on Chittagong. Alarmed by these preparations,
and won over by bribes, many Portuguese left Chittagong "in
forty or fifty galliasses," and gave themselves up as prisoners to
the Nawab at Dacca, who overwhelmed them with favours.
Many were induced by large pay to enlist in the Imperial army,
while a settlement at Farangi Bazár was established for the old
and physically unfit.
"A Relation of an unfortunate Voyage to the Kingdom of Bengala." By
Mr. Glanius. London, 1682, 8vo. This is merely an English translation of
“Vervarelyke Schip-Breuk van t'oost Indisch Jacht Ter Schelling under het
landt van Bengale." Amsterdam, 1675, 4to. The author is Frans van der
Heiden.
416
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
When the army and fleet of the Mughals advanced upon
Chittagong, the island of Sondip was occupied by Diláwar, a
Muhammadan, and troops in league with the Mags. A detach-
ment was landed, the fort was besieged and taken, but a Mag
flotilla coming in sight, the troops were hurriedly withdrawn,
and the transports sailed to Ñawakhálí. In the following
December a larger force occupied the island, and held it. The
main army then advanced along the coast, meeting with little
opposition. Letters were sent to the Portuguese in the Mag
service offering advantageous terms on submission. Several of
these letters being intercepted, the Mag Rájah tried to induce
the soldiers to remove into the interior of Arakan, but refusing
to do so, they finally left in a body for Bengal. On the 18th
December, 1665, they arrived at Nawakhálí, and the leaders set
out for Dacca, where they were graciously received by the vice-
roy. Some were enrolled as volunteers under an Englishman
named Captain Moore,¹ and joined in the expedition against
Chittagong.
On the 16th January, 1666, the garrison of that town
capitulated, and the Portuguese soldiers who had distinguished
themselves in the campaign received grants of land.
With the capture of Chittagong and the pacification of the
Eastern frontier the history of the Portuguese, as an independent
and aggressive power, terminates. Throughout the Dacca and
adjoining districts numerous settlements of Portuguese Chris-
tians are still to be found, but none can claim relationship with
the soldiers of the seventeenth century.
The following sketch of the Portuguese mission since its
foundation in Bengal embraces the origin and history of these
settlements.
The Portuguese mission in Bengal was founded in 1598, by
the Augustine Archbishop of Goa. On arrival at Hughli the
missionaries obtained a grant of rent-free land.
This grant
originally consisted of 260 acres, but during last century it
dwindled one-half. A chapel was built at Bandel, near Chin-
surah, and dedicated to "Nuestra Senora del Rosario." The
first "regent" was Fre Bernardo de Jesus, and to this church
all the other parochial churches in Bengal were affiliated.
Since the beginning of the seventeenth century the Bishop
of S. Thomé, or Mailapúr, in Madras, has been the head of the
Bengal Church. In 1606 Pope Paulus V made S. Thomé an
episcopal see, and by consistorial letters annexed to it the pro-
vinces of Bengal, Pegu, and Orissa. The special mission to
1 Nothing further has been learned regarding this soldier, but at the
present day a small “Tappá” or division, in Bikrampúr is named after him.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
417
Bengal was vested in the Augustinian monks of Goa, upon one
of whom the title and prerogatives of Vicar General were con-
ferred.
A tradition is preserved by the mission, that in 1599 one of
their number, Fre Luis des Chagos, was stopped on his way to
Silhet by certain Christians who besought him to relieve them
from landlord tyranny. On his return he bought the villages
and lands of Nágori and Bhagori in Bhowál, settling in them
thirteen families of Christians, including a converted Bráhman.
A piece of land was also purchased at Nárayandih, a suburb of
Dacca, which still belongs to the mission.
The church of Nágori, however, bears the date 1664, and is
dedicated to St. Nicola da Tolentino,' the patron saint of the
Augustine order.
During the seventeenth century the success of the Augus-
tine monks was most extraordinary. In 1602, three years after
its foundation, the Hughli mission consisted of over 500 persons,
among whom were many "grands seigneurs," and by the end of
the century the sacrament was administered to 10,000 converts.
The parochial church of Dacca, dedicated "a la Assumpcion
de nuestra Senora," was at Tezgáon, on the north of the city,
and its graveyard still contains the oldest tombstones and
epitaphs in Eastern Bengal. The early history of the mission
is very interesting. Its success was chiefly owing to the con-
version of a member of a distinguished Hindu family. The
son of the Zamíndár of Bosnah, one of the twelve Bhúyas,
moved by the preaching of the monks, was persuaded to become
a Christian. Being baptized as Don Antonio del Rosario, he
induced his wife and brethren to follow his example.
Manrique, a Spanish Augustine monk, describing Dacca in
1641, mentions that families of Christians resided in the suburbs,
at Nárayandih, "Manaxor," and "Pulgari," and that a hand-
some, though small, convent, as well as a good church, existed.
Much intolerance was practised by Muhammadan Mullas, Pírs,
and Darweshes, who denounced all Christians for eating ani-
mals slaughtered in an unorthodox way. The Nawab, however,
protected them, and the position of the mission was so secure
that another chapel and residency were about to be built in
Dacca as well as two in the Bandels of Srípúr and Norícol.
In
1 S. Nicola da Tolentino died A.D. 1308, and was canonized by encyclical
letters of Pope Eugenius IV, in 1446.
2 "Donde assiste Don Antonio del Rosario, hijo del Rey de Busna, à quien
no solo convertieron nost os religiosos sinoque le redimio del cautiverio el Padre
Manuel del Rosario," p. 24. Christiandad del Japan." Su Autor El P.M. Fr.
Joseph Sicardo. En Madrid 1698, fol.
Itinerario de las Missiones que hizo El Padre F. Sebastian Manrique."
Roma, 1649, 4to.
418
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
1679 the converts in Eastern Bengal were estimated at 30,000,
and Don Antonio, attached to the Church of Norícol in Rájnagar,
had joint charge with the "rector" of 1,000 Christians.
At the end of the seventeenth century the Portuguese
churches in Eastern Bengal and Assam were those of "Chand-
púr in Tipperah, Banja, perhaps Banga, in Farrídpúr, Pippli,
Balasor, "Tambolin," Jessore with 300 Christians, Hughli, Tez-
gáon, Dacca, and "Arrayal de Bencamatis," or Rangamati, in
Assam. In 1713 Laynez, Bishop of S. Thomé, visited Bengal.
He found Christian congregations at Hughli, Pippli, Chittagong,
Dacca, Husainpúr in Mymensingh, and Rangamati in Assam.
It is difficult to arrive at any certain conclusion regarding
the number of Portuguese Christians at different periods. Bernier
was told by the priests that Hughli contained over 8,000, and
that in other parts of Bengal there were 25,000. Monsignor
Cerri,¹ secretary of the congregation De propagandâ fide, writing
about 1680, estimated the number at 22,000, divided into eleven
parishes, each of which had a vicar and a curate. It was, he
admits, hard to find any adult converts save Portuguese slaves,
who had been bought, and made Christians. In 1840, according
to Mr. Taylor, the number belonging to the three parishes of
Dacca, Bhowál, and Husainábád was 10,150. In 1873 the
Portuguese vicar of Husainábád calculated that 3,000 persons
belonged to his church, while the French priest of the adjoining
parish rated his at 1,200.
2
The census of the Dacca Farangís for 1877 and 1878 has
been kindly furnished by Mr. R. D. Lyall, C.S., who considers
the returns of the French Mission more exact than the Portu-
guese.
}
Mission.
Parishes.
Dacca
1877.
1878.
103
212
Portuguese
Nágori
1,221
•
1,265
Tezgáon
140
122
•
Husainábád
2820
2833
4,284
4,432
Bandura
1,440
French
Tumilía
5,000
2,020
Sualpúr
4,060
The total number of Dacca Farangís may therefore be esti-
mated at 8,500, but nearly 2,000 under the French fathers,
being converted natives, have no right to be called Farangís at all
1 "An Account of the Roman Catholic Religion throughout the World,"
translated by Sir Richard Steele. London 1715.
2 (
Topography of Dacca," p. 252.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
419
The system by which the Portuguese made converts was not
one that could prosper. Children of both sexes, either kid-
napped or purchased, were made Christians, while girls after
baptism became concubines and their offspring Christians. At
one time this trade flourished to such an extent that the slave-
dealers boasted of having converted more Hindus in a year than
all the missionaries of India did in ten. When the Portuguese
power in the Delta was overthrown slave-catching ceased, and a
final blow was dealt to this novel plan of converting the natives.
With the seventeenth century the Portuguese mission ceased to
triumph, and during the last century and a half it has not held
its own against Muhammadan aggression. Many reasons for
this failure are assigned, but Monsignor Cerri refers it to the
immorality of the priests and laity, the former leading loose
lives, exhibiting great ignorance and extreme avarice, and re-
taining large staffs of servants given up to all manner of vice
and lewdness. The Goa priests, to whose care the Christians of
Bengal were confided, have for many generations been half-castes,
born and bred at Goa. Each parish church, moreover, is endowed
with rent-free land, or with property held and managed by the
vicar. Communication with S. Thomé being irregular and un-
certain, the internal economy and discipline of the parishes are
not interfered with as long as the annual donation is sent to
Goa. An illiterate priesthood, a rich isolated establishment,
and a simple credulous laity, was a combination of evils sufficient
to ruin any church. No one who has given a thought to the
Portuguese clergy of Eastern Bengal can wonder that they,
inheriting a faulty system from their predecessors, have failed
to instil new life among their flocks. Occupied as they generally
are with the management of valuable church property, and of
lawsuits inseparable from the possession of land in Bengal, little
time, and less zeal, are expended on the spiritual welfare of their
tenantry.
A school is always attached to the church, but the
instruction given is of the most rudimentary kind, and no
attempts are made to raise the standard of education.
1
Such being the actual state of matters, it is not surprising
that the congregation De propagandâ fide has for long been
striving to gain possession of the churches and endowments of
the Portuguese mission. Various lawsuits have been instituted,
and in several instances, as at Dacca and Chittagong, the deci-
sion of the courts has been in favour of the congregation. The
French mission, guided by the able and benevolent Monseigneur
Dufal, has within the last fifteen years infused new spiritual
life among these neglected Christians. The good bishop, assisted
by an admirable staff of clergy, devote themselves to improving
the people, and their schools are crowded with hundreds of
420
NOTES ON THE RACES, CASTES, AND TRADES
boys eager for knowledge.
The nuns of the " Sacré Coeur"
are engaged in an equally beneficent task. To them is confided
the religious and moral training of the girls, and the schools
conducted by them are models of order and propriety.
<<
Two centuries ago the Portuguese Christians were divided
into three classes, "reynol," including those born in Europe,
"castiço," those born in India of Portuguese parents, and
mestiço," or half-castes. These three classes no longer exist.
The modern Christians are for the most part the offspring of
the last and most numerous division, but they have lost all
traces of their European parentage. Here and there a face,
characterised by large and rugged features, strikes a stranger
accustomed to the regular and more delicate lineaments of the
average Bengali, but in complexion the Farangís are as swarthy
as a Chandál. The distinctive and favourite appellation of these
Christians is Farangi, but the natives nickname them the "Kálá"
or "Mattí," earth-coloured Farangís.
The Farangi peasant dresses exactly like the Hindu or Mu-
hammadan ryot, but on gala days, especially among the wealthier
classes, the peculiar costume, still worn at Chittagong, is put on.
It consists of striped drawers, a shirt, or cloth doublet, a skull
cap with flaps fastened behind, and slippers. The women on
festivals wear a white lace veil, or mantilla, covering the head
and shoulders, while the common dress is a petticoat and a loose
muslin jacket.¹
In Bhowál the title Bocto (Sanskrit Bhakta, a worshipper),
is exclusively applied to the families of the first settlers, but in
other places the name, it is said, was given to the secretaries
who also acted as catechists in the absence of the pastor.2
According to the French clergy, the Dacca Farangís are more
moral, but quite as improvident as those of Chittagong. A poor
man will not hesitate to borrow three hundred rupees for his
marriage, while the rich will often squander eight hundred for
the same purpose. The Bazár rate of interest being exorbitant,
the borrower becomes impoverished for life, and rarely succeeds
in clearing himself of the debt. The large majority of Farangís
in Eastern Bengal are simple peasants, but many young men go
to Calcutta, taking service as cooks, or undertakers ("Poberies"
from the Portuguese Pobre, poor).
The peasantry are industrious though poor. They cultivate
the church lands, but the profit of their toil goes to Goa to support
churches and monasteries. On the whole, their position is an
1 For further particulars regarding the "Feringhees," see "Calcutta
Review," vol. liii, for 1871.
2 Père Barbier, however, writing from Chittagong in 1713, says:
"Les
Chrétiens du dedans des terres, nommés Boctos." Lettres Édifiantes, ii, 590.
OF EASTERN BENGAL.
421
unenviable one, being worse than that of ryots under good
native landlords, who generally do something for the improve-
ment of their estates.
The minor excommunication, depriving the sinner of the
sacraments until he yields and confesses his faults, is at once a
powerful and convenient weapon for subduing any quarrelsome
ryot. When the priest is only the farmer and a Bráhman the
landlord, the edifying spectacle is seen of a peasant appealing to
the latter for redress, who, if he thinks the punishment excessive,
issues an order to readmit the accused to all the privileges of
the church, and very rarely is the order disobeyed.
The majority of Farangís read and some write Bengali,
which has become the vernacular of all classes. Each individual
is given at baptism a Portuguese name, but an assumed Bengali
one is commonly used. A few Portuguese words are still spoken,
and the names of festivals and religious ceremonies are the same
as in Europe. Yet, strange to say, Lent is called "Roza," the
Persian name of the Ramazán fast. No Farangí possesses a
Bible, but each one wears a rosary and a crucifix. On Fridays
they eschew flesh, and during Lent observe a strict fast. In
most houses a recess, containing an altar, or "Prie-dieu," is
found, before which a lamp is lighted every evening, and on
which flowers are arranged on "festá" days.
On account of the prejudices of Hindus and Muhammadans
there is no Farangi shopkeeper in the villages of the interior. In
Bhowál swine are generally kept, and large quantities of ham,
bacon, and pork sausages, exported to Calcutta.
Farangís live in friendship and neighbourly sympathy with
the natives, and are generally esteemed for moderation and
liberality. They cannot, however, be considered the equal of
the frugal, sober, and industrious Hindu or Muhammadan ryot.
In blind subservience to their priests, in superstition, and in
servility to oppression, the Farangís are on a par with their
neighbours, but in their intemperate habits, against which the
pulpit fulminates in vain, they sink below the non-Christian
races around them.
2 F
INDEX.
A.
Áchárj Bráhman, 247-249.
Agastya Muní, worship of, 140, 365.
Agradána Bráhman, 249.
Ahír, 196.
Ambuváchí, 224.
Anatomy, Muhammad knowledge of,
72.
Persian, work on, 72.
Animals, worship of, 137.
Armenians, 399-406.
Ba-bajiya, 216.
Badlá-gar, 199.
Bahurúpía, 38.
B.
Baidya, or medical caste, 199-207.
Baitár, 70, 96.
Bájunia, 38.
Baker, 96.
Baldiyá, 39.
Banjará, 40.
Báola, a sect, 169.
Baqqál, 41, 209.
Baráí, 209-212.
Banpar, 208.
Báotí, 208.
Budh Rám, sect of, 387.
Bura-Burí, a sylvan deity, 132.
Çábun-wálah, 105.
Çaiqal-gar, 106.
C.
Caste, general remarks on, 189-196.
authorities on, 192.
Castes, nine clean, 192.
intermediate, 194.
vile, 194.
Hindustani, in Bengal, 195.
Cháín, 250.
Chaitanya, 153.
Chamár, 251-256.
Chamra-farosh, 42.
Chandál, 256-261.
divisions of, 258.
rájah, 257.
Chandú-wálah, 43.
Chaunrí-wálah, 46.
Cheese making, 100.
Chhapar-band, 46.
Chhipí-gar, 47.
Chikan-doz, 47.
Barber, 69, 348.
Battí-wálah, 212.
Báyán-Kaupína, a Vaishnava sect, 162.
Bází-gar, 216.
Bearers, castes of, 223, 296, 302.
Bediyá, or gypsies, 212, 221.
Beldár, 40.
Beparí, a trader, 40.
Berá, festival of, 12.
Berua, 221.
Bhát Bráhmans, 246.
Chírá-Kash, 48.
Chishtia Faqír, 55.
Chunarí, name of Báotí, 208.
Chúṛá-Kuțí, division of Sutár, 379.
Chúṛí-wálah, 48.
Colour of skin, 122.
eyes, 122.
Confectioners, 76, 303, 341.
Customs, copied from earlier inhabı-
tants, 120-145.
Bhúinhár Bráhmans, 222.
Bhúínmálí, 222.
Bhúta, a ghost, 131.
Bidrí-sáz, 42.
Bind, 225.
Brahmáchárí, a Șaiva sect, 176-178.
Bráhmans, 227-250
adoration of, 143.
D.
Dacca, city and district, census of, 4.
Dafa'dár, 49.
Dáí, 50.
Daira Goálas, 280.
Darwesh orders, 52-63.
Darwesh Faqír, a Vaishnava sect,
172.
Darzí, or tailor, 63.
1
2 F 2
424
INDEX.
Dastár-band, 64.
Dast-farosh, 65.
Demonolatry, 127.
Deví Vara, classification of, 231.
Dháří, 65.
Dhobí, 65, 261.
Dhuniyá, 66.
Doí, 263.
Dôm, 265.
Dosádh, 258, 268.
Drinking habits, 82, 128.
Dudhu Miyán, 23.
E.
Eclipses, offering at, 248, 268.
Ekálaşí Jogí, 293.
Faluda-wálah, 67.
F.
Farangí, or half caste Christian, 420.
Farazí, a Muhammadan sect, 26.
doctrines, 29.
Faujdár, a Vaishnava official, 157.
Fetichism, 129, 323.
Fisher tribes, 208, 221, 250, 281, 298,
318, 340, 345, 346, 348, 391.
Fishmonger, 90, 300, 307.
Gaḍariyá, 271.
G.
Gandha-banik, 272.
Gandhí, 274.
Gaṇrár, 274.
Gauriya, a division of Ahírs, 197.
Gayan, a tribe of gypsies, 220.
Gems, native ideas regarding, 285-289.
Ghaṭak, 276.
Ghází Míyan, 15.
Ghulám Káyaths, 316.
Glass-making, 48, 110.
Goála, 68, 198, 278.
Godná-wálí, 280.
Gosáin, adoration of, 157.
different classes of, 159.
Grám-devatas, 130.
Gypsies, 212-221.
H.
Háfiz, 68.
Hair, wearing it long, 120.
Hajiám, 69.
Hakkák, 76
Hakím, or Muhammadan physician,
69-74.
Halwah Dás, 281.
Halwáí, 76.
Hárí, or Bhúínmali, 222.
Hawáí-gar, 77.
Hindus of mixed descent, 119.
Hindustání Káyaths, 318.
Tántís, 386.
I. J.
Jagat-mohaní, a Vaishnava sect, 164.
Jaliya, or fishermen, 281.
Jalka Devi, worship of, 254.
Jal palaní festival, 299, 393.
Janmáshțamí festival, 381.
Jarráh, or surgeon, 70.
Ját-Jogí, 295.
Jauharí, 285.
Jeweller, 285.
Jild-gar, 77.
Ink, native, 110.
Jogí, a religious mendicant, 151.
a weaver caste, 290-295.
Juláha, Muhammadan weaver, 78.
Jutí-wálah, shoemaker, 79.
K.
Kabíráj, or Hindu physician, 202.
Kácharu, 295.
Kághazí, or paper maker, 81.
Kahár, or bearer, 296.
Kahhál, or oculist, 70, 80.
Kaibartta, 298-300.
Kalwár, or distiller, 82.
Kámadeva, worship of, 382.
Kamár, 300.
Kanaujiya Bráhman, 301.
Kándho, 302.
Kándú, 275,.303.
Kánpháta Jogí, a Saiva sect, 175.
Kánsárí, 304.
Kantha Bráhman, 304.
Kapálí, 305.
Karámat 'Alí, 27.
Karní, 306.
Karrál, 307.
Kasáí, 83.
Kasí Bába, a deity of Binds, 226.
Kathak, 84.
Káthuria a division of Sutár, 379.
Kaví-Indra Parivára, a Vaishnava sect,
168.
Kawali, 308.
Káyath, 309-318.
Kewat, 318.
INDEX.
425
Khala Kumárí, a Naiad, 139, 276, 346,
393.
Khatrí, 320.
Khwajah Khizr, 12.
Khwánd-Kár, 84.
Kíchak, 321-326.
Kişorí-bhajana, a Vaishnava sect, 163.
Kochh-Mandáí, 327-331, 377.
Koerí, 332.
Koft-gar, 85.
Koila Bába, a water spirit, 347, 376.
Kolú, 85, 390.
Koran, printing of, 78.
Krishna, worship of, 146.
Kulin Bráhmans, 229-236.
marriage customs of, 233-236.
Kumar, 332.
Kumhár, 335-336.
Kundakar, 86.
Kunjrá, 86.
Kurmí, 336.
Kutí, 35, 87.
L.
Medicine, Hindu, text books of, 203.
Muhammadan, 71-74.
text books of, 74.
Mír-shikár, 217.
Mírásan, 92.
Mísí-wálah, 92.
Mitra Sení, bearers, 223.
Momiyáí, 367.
Muçawwir, 93.
Muhammadan classes, 33.
converts, 5, 35,
medicine, 71-74.
municipal government, 33.
oculist, 80.
revival, 20.
Muharram, 9.
Mullá, 93.
Munshí, 94.
Murghi-wálah, 95.
Muriárí, 348.
Musician, Hindu, 225, 253, 308, 350,
363.
Muhammadan, 38, 50, 65, 81,
92, 220.
Mushkil-Ásán Faqír, 59.
Muslins, varieties of, 114, 382.
Lakar-hára, 88.
Lála or Káyath, 318.
Lal-begí, 338.
Lambadí, 40.
Levirate marriage, 125, 255, 272.
Lime, for chewing, 208.
Loháit Kurí, 340.
Lohár, 89.
Madad-wálah, 89.
Madária Faqír, 61.
Madhu-Nápit, 341.
Máhí-farosh, 90.
Naichaband, 95.
Nálband, 96.
N.
Nama-Súdra, or Chandíl, 256.
Nának-Sháhí, sect of, 182.
Nán-bái, 96.
Nápit, 348.
Naqshbandí Faqír, 58.
M.
Nar, 350.
Mahisha Goála, 198.
Mahout, 91.
Maithila Brahman, 341.
Mál, a gypsy tribe, 217.
Málákár, 343.
Nardiyá, 97.
Nets, various kinds of, 282-284,
Nílgar, 98.
Nímávat, a Vaishnava sect, 153.
Núniyá, 353.
O.
Málí, 91, 343.
Mallah, 346.
Málo, a fisher caste, 345.
Manasa Deví, worship of, 138, 219,
260.
Mançúr al Halláj, 66.
Marriage customs, 124, 235.
Levirate, 125, 272.
Mash'alchí, 41.
Másya Jogí, 292.
Mayara, or Gaṇrár, 274.
Medicine, Hindu, 202-207, 343, 367.
Ojhá, an exorciser of devils, 98.
Opium smoking, 43, 89.
P.
Páchak, 353.
Pân, cultivation of, 211.
sale of, 388.
Pancha-nanda, a village god, 134,
Panch-Pír, 17.
Panír-walah, 100.
Pankha-wálah, 101.
426
INDEX.
Panní-wálah, 301.
Paper-making, 81.
Paráṣara Dás, 354.
Pási, 355.
Páțial, 356.
Patní, 357.
Patwá, 101.
Persian school books, 94.
Pír Badr, 14.
Pírs, worship of, 10.
Polyandry, traces of, 126.
Portuguese in Eastern Bengal, 409-
421.
census of, 418.
Mission, 416.
Qádiria Faqír, 57.
Qala'igar, 102.
Rafa'í Faqír, 60.
Rafúgar, 102.
Q.
Sarasvatí, worship of, 315,
Sarwaria Bráhmans, 368.
Sekrí, a sweeper caste, 368.
Sháh Madár, 46, 61, 393.
Shaikh Sadú, 19, 128.
Shál-gar, 107.
Shamanism, 20, 127.
Shándár, a tribe of gypsies, 219.
Sharía' tullah, 21.
Shashṭhí, worship of, 134.
Shells, 208, 365.
worshipped, 366.
Shíahs, 107.
physicians, 69.
Shikárí, a caste, 109.
Shisha-gar, or glass-blower, 110.
Siddheṣvarí, 135.
Şilarí, a magician, 368.
Sítala, goddess of small-pox, 136, 343.
Siráhi-wálah, 110.
Slaves, 297, 316.
Small-pox, 343.
Snakes, worship of, 138, 218.
Snake charmers, 218.
R.
Soap making, 105.
Rahú, worship of, 269.
Ráj Mahallia, potters, 335.
Rakhwál, 103.
Rániávat, 150.
Rámánuja, 148.
Ránda Khatrí, 321.
Rángá-wálah,
358.
Rangrez, 103.
Rangsáz, 249.
Rárhí Bráhmans, 227.
Rasia, a tribe of gypsies, 221.
Rás-Melá, festival of, 162.
Ráut, 359.
1
Sonár, or goldsmith, 370-373.
Spashta Dáyaka, a Vaishnava sect,
166.
Sráddha, or obsequial ceremony,
Șrí Nárayan, a deist sect, 179.
Sudarám Báola, a sect, 170.
Súnṛí, a caste, 373.
Suraiyá, a fisher caste, 376.
Súraj-bansí, 377.
Sutár, or carpenter, 378.
Suthrá-Sháhí, a sect, 181.
Súzan-gar, 111.
Sweeper castes, 222, 338, 359, 368.
141.
Raz, 104.
Reza, 105.
T.
Rishí, 360.
Rivers worshipped, 138.
Rotí-wálah, or baker, 97.
1
S.
Sábiqí, a Muhammadan sect, 7.
Sáda Goala, outcast milkmen, 279.
Sáda-Kár, 105.
Sáha, or merchant, 374.
Şaiva sects in Bengal, 174-178.
Sáligrám, worship of, 130, 238.
Sámperia, or snake charmers, 218.
Sang-gar, 106.
Sánkhárí, or shell cutter, 364-366.
Sant, 180, 253, 339.
Sapta-satí Bráhmans, 245.
Ta'aiyuní, a Muhammadan sect, 30.
Tambáku-wálah, 111.
Támbolí, 387.
Tántí, or weaver caste, 380-387.
Muhammadan, 113.
Tár-wálah, 114.
Tattooing, an aboriginal custom, 123,
280.
Tikiyá-wálah, 115.
Tin-walah, 391.
Titu Miyán, 26.
Tíyars, a fisher caste, 391-394.
Tobacco, introduced into India, 111.
preparation of, for use, 112.
Trades, guardian deities of, 139.
Trees, worship of, 136, 244, 329, 393.
Trínáth-Pújah, or worship, 184.
INDEX.
427
W.
V.
Vaidika Bráhmans, 241-244.
Vaishnava sects in Bengal, 147-174.
Vaishnavas of Bengal, 153-162.
Vaíşya, a caste, 394-396.
Varendra Bráhmans, 238-241.
Varuņí fair, 135, 139, 213.
Vástu Pújah, 140, 224, 244, 260.
Village gods, 130.
Vişvakarma, worship of, 140.
Vocabularies, comparative, 326, 331.
Vriddleṣvarí, worship of, 135.
Wahabbí reforms, 22.
Water spirits, 189.
Weavers, 78, 113, 305, 306, 356, 380,
386.
Widow-marriage, 124.
Zar-koft, 115.
Zindah Ghází, 13.
Z.
Ka-Gáyan, 39.
LONDON:
HARRISON AND SONS, PRINTERS, IN ORDINARY TO HER MAJESTY,
ST. MARTIN'S LANE.


wils
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
301.954 W754
Wise, James.
Notes on the races, castes and trades of
3 1951 002 012 970 0
WILSON
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