Chapter 51

The different orders of Fakirs are not strictly endogamous, and marriages can take place between their members, though the Madaris prefer to confine marriage to their own order. Fakirs as a body are believed to marry among themselves, and hence to form something in the nature of a caste, but they freely admit outsiders, whether Muhammadans or proselytised Hindus.

3. Rules and customs.

Every Fakir must have a Murshid or preceptor, and be initiated by him. This applies also to boys born in the order, and a father cannot initiate his son. The rite is usually simple, the novice having to drink sherbet from the same cup as his preceptor and make him a present of Rs. 1-4; but some orders insist that the whole body of a novice should be shaved clean of hair before he is initiated. The principal religious exercise of Fakirs is known as Zikr, and consists in the continual repetition of the names of God by various methods, it being supposed that they can draw the name from different parts of the body. The exercise is so exhausting that they frequently faint under it, and is varied by repetition of certain chapters of the Koran. The Fakir has a _tasbih_ or rosary, often consisting of ninety-nine beads, on which he repeats the ninety-nine names of God. The Fakirs beg both from Hindus and Muhammadans, and are sometimes troublesome and importunate, inflicting wounds on themselves as a means of extorting alms. One beggar in Saugor said that he would give every one who gave him alms five strokes with his whip, and attracted considerable custom by this novel expedient. Some of them are in charge of Muhammadan cemeteries and receive fees for a burial, while others live at the tombs of saints. They keep the tomb in good repair, cover it with a green cloth and keep a lighted lamp on it, and appropriate the offerings made by visitors. Owing to their solitude and continuous repetition of prayers many Fakirs fall into a distraught condition, when they are known as _mast_, and are believed to be possessed of a spirit. At such a time the people attach the greatest importance to any utterances which fall from the Fakir's lips, believing that he has the gift of prophecy, and follow him about with presents to induce him to make some utterance.

End of vol. II

NOTES

[1] This article is compiled from papers by Mr. Mir Padshah, Tahsildar of Bilaspur, and Kanhya Lal, clerk in the Gazetteer office.

[2] _Basi_ or rice boiled in water the previous day.

[3] A measure containing about 2 1/2 lbs. of grain.

[4] This article is mainly compiled from papers by the late Mr. Baikunth Nath Pujari, Extra Assistant Commissioner, Sambalpur; Sitaram, Head Master of the Raigarh English School, and Kanhya Lal, clerk in the Gazetteer office.

[5] Now transferred to Bengal.

[6] Dalton's _Ethnology of Bengal_, p. 322.

[7] This article is mainly based on a paper on _Aghoris and Aghorpanthis_, by Mr. H. W. Barrow, in the _Journal Anthr. Soc. Bombay_, iii. p. 197.

[8] Bhattacharya, _Hindu Castes and Sects_, p. 392.

[9] _Aghoris and Aghorpanthis_, pp. 224, 226.

[10] Page 208.

[11] _The Tribune_ (Lahore), November 29, 1898, quoted in Oman's _Mystics, Ascetics and Saints of India_, pp. 164, 165.

[12] _Studies of Indian Life and Sentiment_, p. 44.

[13] The information about birth customs in this article is from a paper by Mr. Kalika Prasad, Tahsildar, Raj-Nandgaon State.

[14] _Go_, _gau_ or _gai_, an ox or cow, and _pal_ or _palak_, guardian.

[15] _Ind. Ant._ (Jan. 1911), 'Foreign Elements in the Hindu Population,' by Mr. D. R. Bhandarkar.

[16] Elliot, _Supplemental Glossary_, _s.v._ Ahir.

[17] _Early History of India_, 3rd ed. p. 286.

[18] Elliot, _ibidem._

[19] _Bombay Monograph on Ahir._

[20] Elliot, _ibidem._

[21] _Central Provinces Gazetteer_ (1871), Introduction.

[22] _Linguistic Survey of India_, vol. ix. part ii. p. 50.

[23] _Bombay Ethnographic Survey._

[24] Quoted in _Tribes and Castes of Bengal_, art. Goala.

[25] _Rajasthan_, ii. p. 639.

[26] Gokul was the place where Krishna was brought up, and the Gokulastha Gosains are his special devotees.

[27] _Behind the Bungalow._

[28] _Eastern India_, ii. p. 467.

[29] Buchanan, _Eastern India_, ii. pp. 924, 943.

[30] This article is mainly based on a paper by Mr. W. S. Slaney, E.A.C., Akola.

[31] _Berar Census Report_ (1881).

[32] _Tribes and Castes_, art. Arakh.

[33] _Cajanus indicus._

[34] _Berar Census Report_ (1881), p. 157.

[35] Based on papers by Mr. Bijai Bahadur Royzada, Naib-Tahsildar Hinganghat, and Munshi Kanhya Lal of the Gazetteer office.

[36] A preparation of raisins and other fruits and rice.

[37] The ordinary tola is a rupee weight or two-fifths of an ounce.

[38] _Jasminum zambac._

[39] _Michelia champaca._

[40] _Phyllanthus emblica._

[41] _Report on the Badhak or Bagri Dacoits and the Measures adopted by the Government of India for their Suppression_, printed in 1849.

[42] Sleeman, p. 10.

[43] Sleeman, p. 10.

[44] Sleeman, p. 57.

[45] Sleeman, p. 95.

[46] Sleeman, p. 231.

[47] Sleeman, p. 217.

[48] Sleeman, p. 20.

[49] Sleeman, p. 21.

[50] Sleeman, p. 81.

[51] Sleeman, p. 82.

[52] Sleeman, p. 152.

[53] Sleeman, p. 127. This passage is from a letter written by a magistrate, Mr. Ramsay.

[54] Sleeman, p. 129.

[55] Sleeman, p. 112.

[56] Sleeman, p. 124.

[57] Sleeman, p. 125.

[58] Sleeman, p. 147.

[59] Sleeman, p. 104.

[60] Sleeman, p. 110.

[61] Sleeman, p. 131.

[62] Sleeman, p. 205.

[63] Sleeman, p. 106.

[64] Malcolm's _Memoir of Central India_, ii. p. 479.

[65] Crooke's _Tribes and Castes_, art. Bawaria.

[66] _Sirsa Settlement Report._

[67] It would appear that the Gujarat Vaghris are a distinct class from the criminal section of the tribe.

[68] _Bombay Gazetteer_, _Gujarat Hindus_, p. 514.

[69] Art. Bawaria, quoting from _North Indian Notes and Queries_, i. 51.

[70] _Bombay Gazetteer_, _Hindus of Gujarat_, p. 574.

[71] Gunthorpe's _Criminal Tribes_.

[72] _Criminal Classes in the Bombay Presidency_, p. 151.

[73] Gunthorpe's _Criminal Tribes_, art. Badhak.

[74] _C. P. Police Lectures_, art. Badhak.

[75] Art. Bawaria, para. 12.

[76] _Criminal Classes in the Bombay Presidency_, p. 179.

[77] Kennedy, _loc. cit._ p. 208.

[78] Kennedy, _loc. cit._ p. 185.

[79] This article is partly based on a paper by Munshi Kanhya Lal of the Gazetteer office.

[80] Sir B. Robertson's _C.P. Census Report_ (1891), p. 203.

[81] _Punjab Census Report_ (1881), paras. 646, 647.

[82] _Nasik Gazetteer_, pp. 84, 85.

[83] Crooke's _Tribes and Castes_, art. Bahna.

[84] The word Achera is merely a jingle put in to make the rhyme complete. Kachera is a maker of glass bangles.

[85] This article is based largely on a monograph by the Rev. J. Lampard, missionary, Baihar, and also on papers by Muhammad Hanif Siddiqi, forest ranger, Bilaspur, and Mr. Muhammad Ali Haqqani, B.A., Tahsildar, Dindori. Some extracts have been made from Colonel Ward's _Mandla Settlement Report_ (1869), and from Colonel Bloomfield's _Notes on the Baigas_.

[86] In Bengal the Bhumia or Bhumij are an important tribe.

[87] Colonel Ward's _Mandla Settlement Report_ (1868-69), p. 153.

[88] _Shorea robusta._

[89] Jarrett's _Ain-i-Akbari_, vol. ii. p. 196.

[90] Colonel Ward gives the bride's house as among the Gonds. But inquiry in Mandla shows that if this custom formerly existed it has been abandoned.

[91] Forsyth's _Highlands of Central India_, p. 377.

[92] The Great God. The Gonds also worship Bura Deo, resident in a _saj_ tree.

[93] Opened in 1905.

[94] _Mandla Settlement Report_ (1868-69), p. 153.

[95] _Notes on the Baigas_, p. 4.

[96] Mr. Lampard's monograph.

[97] Farthings.

[98] This article contains material from Sir E. Maclagan's _Punjab Census Report_ (1891), and Dr. J. N. Bhattacharya's _Hindu Castes and Sects_ (Thacker, Spink & Co., Calcutta).

[99] _Dictionary_, s.v.

[100] Sir E. Maclagan's _Punjab Census Report_ (1891), p. 122.

[101] _Memoir of Mathura._

[102] _Hindu Castes and Sects_, p. 449.

[103] Lit. the birth on the eighth day, as Krishna was born on the 8th of dark Bhadon.

[104] Mr. Crooke's _Tribes and Castes_, art. Vallabhacharya.

[105] _Hindu Castes and Sects_, p. 457.

[106] From _laskkar_, an army.

[107] This paragraph is taken from Professor Wilson's _Account of Hindu Sects in the Asiatic Researches_.

[108] This article is based on papers by Mr. Habib Ullah, Pleader, Burhanpur, Mr. W. Bagley, Subdivisional Officer, and Munsh Kanhya Lal, of the Gazetteer office.

[109] This legend is probably a vague reminiscence of the historical fact that a Malwa army was misled by a Gond guide in the Nimar forests and cut up by the local Muhammadan ruler. The well-known Raja Man of Jodhpur was, it is believed, never in Nimar.

[110] The _ghat_ or river-bank for the disposal of corpses.

[111] _Madras Census Report_ (1891), p. 277.

[112] _Ibidem_ (1891), p. 226.

[113] _Ethnographic Notes in Southern India_, p. 16.

[114] _Madras Census Report_ (1891), p. 277.

[115] See para. 19 below.

[116] See commencement of article.

[117] _C.P. Census Report_ (1911), Occupation Chapter, Subsidiary Table I. p. 234.

[118] For examples, the subordinate articles on Agarwal, Oswal, Maheshri, Khandelwal, Lad, Agrahari, Ajudhiabasi, and Srimali may be consulted. The census lists contain numerous other territorial names.

[119] _Rajasthan_, i. pp. 76, 109.

[120] That is Marwar. But perhaps the term here is used in the wider sense of Rajputana.

[121] _Rajasthan_, ii. p. 145.

[122] _Punjab Census Report_ (1881), p. 293.

[123] _Supplemental Glossary_, p. 110.

[124] _Rasmala_, i. pp. 240, 243.

[125] _Rajasthan_, ii. p. 360.

[126] _Ibid._ ii. p. 240.

[127] The Parwars probably belonged originally to Rajputana; see subordinate article.

[128] _Rajasthan_, i. p. 491.

[129] _Bombay Gazetteer, Hindus of Gujarat_, p. 80.

[130] The common brass drinking-vessel.

[131] Sir H. H. Risley's _Peoples of India_, p. 127, and Appendix I. p. 8.

[132] _Punjab Census Report_ (1881), p. 291.

[133] _Nagpur Settlement Report_ (1900), para. 54.

[134] _Nagpur Settlement Report_ (1900), para. 54.

[135] _Tribes and Castes of Bengal_, art. Agarwala.

[136] _Tribes and Castes of Bengal_, art. Agarwala.

[137] The information on this subcaste is taken from Mr. Crooke's article on it in his _Tribes and Castes_.

[138] Mr. Crooke's _Tribes and Castes_, art. Audhia.

[139] Kennedy's _Criminal Classes of the Bombay Presidency_, art. Audhia.

[140] Kennedy, _ibidem._

[141] Mr. Crooke's _Tribes and Castes_, art. Audhia.

[142] _United Provinces Census Report_ (1901), p. 220.

[143] Atkinson, _Himalayan Gazetteer_, ii. p. 473, quoted in Mr. Crooke's article Dhusar.

[144] Sherring, _Hindu Castes_, i. p. 293.

[145] This account is based on a paper furnished by Mr. Jeorakhan Lal, Deputy Inspector of Schools, Bilaspur.

[146] Kashyap was a Brahman saint, but the name is perhaps derived from Kachhap, a tortoise.

[147] This article is mainly based on a paper by Mr. Pancham Lal, Naib-Tahsildar Sihora.

[148] Mr. Crooke's _Tribes and Castes_, art. Gahoi.

[149] _Tribes and Castes_, art. Golahre.

[150] The above notice is partly based on a paper by Mr. Sant Prasad, schoolmaster, Nandgaon.

[151] _Tribes and Castes_, art. Kasaundhan.

[152] Mr. Crooke's _Tribes and Castes_, art. Khandelwal.

[153] _Hindu Castes and Sects_, p. 209.

[154] See article Bairagi for some notice of the sect.

[155] See separate article on Jangam.

[156] _Bombay Gazetteer_, _Hindus of Gujarat_, p. 70.

[157] A town near Jhalor in Marwar, now called Bhinmal.

[158] _Bombay Gazetteer_, _Hindus of Gujarat_, p. 97.

[159] _Rajasthan_, ii. p. 210, footnote.

[160] _Hindus of Gujarat_, _loc. cit._, and _Bombay Gazetteer_, xvi. 45.

[161] _Tribes and Castes_, art. Oswal.

[162] _Bombay Gazetteer_, vol. xvii. p. 51.

[163] _Ibidem._

[164] Bhattacharya, _Hindu Castes and Sects_, p. 207.

[165] This article is based on papers by Mr. Pancham Lal, Naib-Tahsildar Sihora, and Munshi Kanhya Lal, of the Gazetteer office.

[166] See also notice of Benaikias in article on Vidur.

[167] _Bombay Gazetteer_, vol. xvii. p. 81.

[168] _Bombay Gazetteer_, _Hindus of Gujarat_, p. 99.

[169] _Ibidem._

[170] _Ibidem._ p. 98.

[171] _Merinda citrifolia_, see art. Alia.

[172] See article.

[173] This article is based principally on a _Monograph on the Banjara Clan_, by Mr. N. F. Cumberlege of the Berar Police, believed to have been first written in 1869 and reprinted in 1882; notes on the Banjaras written by Colonel Mackenzie and printed in the _Berar Census Report_ (1881) and the _Pioneer_ newspaper (communicated by Mrs. Horsburgh); Major Gunthorpe's _Criminal Tribes_; papers by Mr. M. E. Khare, Extra-Assistant Commissioner, Chanda; Mr. Narayan Rao, Tahr., Betul; Mr. Mukund Rao, Manager, Pachmarhi Estate; and information on the caste collected in Yeotmal and Nimar.

[174] Mr. Crooke's _Tribes and Castes_, art. Banjara, para. 1.

[175] _Berar Census Report_ (1881), p. 150.

[176] _Ibidem_, para. 2, quoting Dowson's Elliot, v. 100.

[177] Khan Bahadur Fazalullah Lutfullah Faridi in the _Bombay Gazetteer_ (_Muhammadans of Gujarat_, p. 86) quoting from General Briggs (_Transactions Bombay Literary Society_, vol. i. 183) says that "as carriers of grain for Muhammadan armies the Banjaras have figured in history from the days of Muhammad Tughlak (A.D. 1340) to those of Aurangzeb."

[178] Sir H. M. Elliot's _Supplemental Glossary_.

[179] _Monograph on the Banjara Clan_, p. 8.

[180] _Hindus of Gujarat_, p. 214 _et seq._

[181] _Rajasthan_, i. 602.

[182] _Ibidem_, ii. 570, 573.

[183] This custom does not necessarily indicate a special connection between the Banjaras and Charans, as it is common to several castes in Rajputana; but it indicates that the Banjaras came from Rajputana. Banjara men also frequently wear the hair long, down to the neck, which is another custom of Rajputana.

[184] _Jungle Life in India_, p. 517.

[185] _Berar Census Report_ (1881), p. 152.

[186] _Bombay Gazetteer, Hindus of Gujarat._

[187] _Letter on the Marathas_ (1798), p. 67, _India Office Tracts._

[188] _Army of the Indian Mughals_, p. 192.

[189] _Monograph_, p. 14, and _Berar Census Report_ (1881) (Kitts), p. 151.

[190] These are held to have been descendants of the Bhika Rathor referred to by Colonel Mackenzie above.

[191] See note 3, p. 168.

[192] General Briggs quoted by Mr. Faridi in _Bombay Gazetteer, Muhammadans of Gujarat_, p. 86.

[193] A. Wellesley (1800), quoted in Mr. Crooke's edition of _Hobson-Jobson_, art. Brinjarry.

[194] Cumberlege, _loc. cit._

[195] Cumberlege, pp. 28, 29.

[196] Elliot's _Races_, quoted by Mr. Crooke, _ibidem._

[197] Cumberlege, pp. 4, 5.

[198] Cumberlege, _l.c._

[199] This custom is noticed in the article on Khairwar.

[200] Cumberlege, p. 18.

[201] Mr. Hira Lal suggests that this custom may have something to do with the phrase _Athara jat ke gayi_, or 'She has gone to the eighteen castes,' used of a woman who has been turned out of the community. This phrase seems, however, to be a euphemism, eighteen castes being a term of indefinite multitude for any or no caste. The number eighteen may be selected from the same unknown association which causes the goat to be cut into eighteen pieces.

[202] _Ethnographic Notes in Southern India_, p. 344, quoting from Moor's _Narrative of Little's Detachment_.

[203] Cumberlege, p. 35.

[204] _Berar Census Report_, 1881.

[205] Cumberlege, p. 21.

[206] The following instance is taken from Mr. Balfour's article, 'Migratory Tribes of Central India,' in _J. A. S. B._, new series, vol. xiii., quoted in Mr. Crooke's _Tribes and Castes_.

[207] From the Sanskrit Hatya-adhya, meaning 'That which it is most sinful to slay' (Balfour).

[208] _Monograph_, p. 12.

[209] _Asiatic Studies_, i. p. 118 (ed. 1899).

[210] Cumberlege, p. 23 _et seq._ The description of witchcraft is wholly reproduced from his _Monograph_.

[211] His motive being the fine inflicted on the witch's family.

[212] The fruit of _Buchanania latifolia_.

[213] _Ethnographic Notes in Southern India_, p. 507, quoting from the Rev. J. Cain, _Ind. Ant._ viii. (1879).

[214] _Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies_, p. 70.

[215] _Monograph_, p. 19.

[216] The Patwas are weavers of silk thread and the Nunias are masons and navvies.

[217] An impure caste of weavers, ranking with the Mahars.

[218] _Semecarpus Anacardium._

[219] Malcolm, _Memoir of Central India_, ii. p. 296.

[220] Cumberlege, p. 16.

[221] Small double shells which are still used to a slight extent as a currency in backward tracts. This would seem an impossibly cumbrous method of carrying money about nowadays, but I have been informed by a comparatively young official that in his father's time, change for a rupee could not be had in Chhattisgarh outside the two principal towns. As the cowries were a form of currency they were probably held sacred, and hence sewn on to clothes as a charm, just as gold and silver are used for ornaments.

[222] _Jungle Life in India_, p. 516.

[223] Brewer's _Dictionary of Phrase and Fable_ contains the following notice of horns as an article of dress: "Mr. Buckingham says of a Tyrian lady, 'She wore on her head a hollow silver horn rearing itself up obliquely from the forehead. It was some four inches in diameter at the root and pointed at the extremity. This peculiarity reminded me forcibly of the expression of the Psalmist: "Lift not up your horn on high; speak not with a stiff neck. All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off, but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted" (Ps. lxxv. 5, 10).' Bruce found in Abyssinia the silver horns of warriors and distinguished men. In the reign of Henry V. the horned headgear was introduced into England and from the effigy of Beatrice, Countess of Arundel, at Arundel Church, who is represented with the horns outspread to a great extent, we may infer that the length of the head-horn, like the length of the shoe-point in the reign of Henry VI., etc., marked the degree of rank. To cut off such horns would be to degrade; and to exalt and extend such horns would be to add honour and dignity to the wearer." Webb (_Heritage of Dress_, p. 117) writes: "Mr. Elworthy in a paper to the British Association at Ipswich in 1865 considered the crown to be a development from horns of honour. He maintained that the symbols found in the head of the god Serapis were the elements from which were formed the composite head-dress called the crown into which horns entered to a very great extent." This seems a doubtful speculation, but still it may be quite possible that the idea of distinguishing by a crown the leader of the tribe was originally taken from the antlers of the leader of the herd. The helmets of the Vikings were also, I believe, decorated with horns.

[224] _Monograph_, p. 40.

[225] _Melia indica._

[226] Author of the _Nimar Settlement Report_.

[227] _Sesamum._

[228] _Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies_, p. 21.

[229] _Report on the Badhak or Bagri Dacoits_, p. 310.

[230] Colonel Mackenzie's notes.

[231] Mr. W. F. Sinclair, C.S., in _Ind. Ant._ iii. p. 184 (1874).

[232] _Notes on Criminal Tribes frequenting Bombay, Berar and the Central Provinces_ (Bombay, 1882).

[233] _Berar Census Report_ (1881), p. 151.

[234] This notice is compiled principally from a good paper by Mr. M. C. Chatterji, retired Extra Assistant Commissioner, Jubbulpore, and from papers by Professor Sada Shiva Jai Ram, M.A., Government College, Jubbulpore, and Mr. Bhaskar Baji Rao Deshmukh, Deputy Inspector of Schools, Nagpur.

[235] Sherring, _Hindu Tribes and Castes_, i. p. 330. Nesfield, _Brief View_, p. 15. _N.W.P. Census Report_ (1891), p 317.

[236] The name of a superior revenue office; under the Marathas, now borne as a courtesy title by certain families.

[237] _Tribes and Castes of Bengal_, art. Agarwal.

[238] _Tribes and Castes of Bengal_, art. Barui.

[239] Blochmann, _Ain-i-Akbari_, i. p. 72, quoted in Crooke's _Tribes and Castes_, art. Tamboli.

[240] _Rajasthan_, ii. p. 210.

[241] _Ficus glomerata._

[242] _Hindu Castes_, i. p. 316.

[243] _Tribes and Castes of Bengal_, art. Bari.

[244] Vishnu.

[245] Sherring, _Tribes and Castes_, i. pp. 403, 404.

[246] This article is compiled from papers by Mr. W. N. Maw, Deputy Commissioner, Damoh, and Murlidhar, Munsiff of Khurai in Saugor.

[247] _Bombay Gazetteer_, xvii. p. 108.

[248] About 100 lbs.

[249] Compiled from papers by Mr. Ram Lal, B. A., Deputy Inspector of Schools, Saugor; Mr. Vishnu Gangadhar Gadgil, Tahsildar, Narsinghpur; Mr. Devi Dayal, Tahsildar, Hatta; Mr. Kanhya Lal, B. A., Deputy Inspector of Schools, Betul; Mr. Keshava Rao, Headmaster, Middle School, Seoni; and Bapu Gulab Singh, Superintendent, Land Records, Betul.

[250] Chapter x. 37, and Shudra Kamlakar, p. 284.

[251] A Vaideha was the child of a Vaishya father and a Brahman mother.

[252] Based on a paper by Rao Sahib Dhonduji, retired Inspector of Police, Akola, and information collected by Mr. Aduram Chaudhri of the Gazetteer office.

[253] Mr. Marten's _C. P. Census Report_ (1911), p. 212.

[254] This article is based on papers by Mr. A. K. Smith, C.S., Mr. Khande Rao, Superintendent of Land Records, Raipur, and Munshi Kanhiya Lal, of the Gazetteer office.

[255] _Tribes and Castes of Bengal_, art. Beldar.

[256] _The Castes and Tribes of Southern India_, art. Odde.

[257] _Akola District Gazetteer_ (Mr. C. Brown), pp. 132, 133.

[258] _Amraoti District Gazetteer_ (Messrs. Nelson and Fitzgerald), p. 146.

[259] See article on Badhak.

[260] Kennedy, p. 247.

[261] Crooke, art. Beria.

[262] The following particulars are taken from a note by Mr. K. N. Date, Deputy Superintendent, Reformatory School, Jubbulpore.

[263] This article is based principally on a paper by Panna Lal, Revenue Inspector, Bilaspur, and also on papers by Mr. Syed Sher Ali, Naib-Tahsildar, Mr. Hira Lal and Mr. Aduram Chaudhri of the Gazetteer office.

[264] For the meaning of the term Baiga and its application to the tribe, see also article on Bhuiya.

[265] It is or was, of course, a common practice for a husband to cut off his wife's nose if he suspected her of being unfaithful to him. But whether the application of the epithet to the goddess should be taken to imply anything against her moral character is not known.

[266] This article is mainly compiled from a paper by Pyare Lal Misra, Ethnographic Clerk.

[267] _Bombay Gazetteer_ (Campbell), xviii. p. 464.

[268] The following particulars are taken from Colonel Portman's _Report on the Bhamtas of the Deccan_ (Bombay, 1887).

[269] Portman, _loc. cit._

[270] _Bombay Gazetteer_ (Campbell), xviii. p. 465.

[271] This article contains some information from a paper by Mr. Gopal Parmanand, Deputy Inspector of Schools, Saugor.

[272] _Memoirs of the Races of the N.W.P._ vol. i. p. 35.

[273] _Tribes and Castes_, art. Bharbhunja.

[274] See article on Kurmi. The remainder of this section is taken from Mr. Gopal Parmanand's notes.

[275] _Ibidem._

[276] _Tribes and Castes of Bengal_, art. Kandu.

[277] This article is compiled from notes taken by Mr. Hira Lal, Assistant Gazetteer Superintendent in Jubbulpore, and from a paper by Ram Lal Sharma, schoolmaster, Bilaspur.

[278] _Tribes and Castes of the N.W.P._, art. Bhar.

[279] _C.P. Census Report_, 1881, p. 188.

[280] _Dhaya_ means the system of shifting cultivation, which until prohibited was so injurious to the forests.

[281] _Tribes and Castes of Bengal_, art. Brahman.

[282] Art. Bhat.

[283] Malcolm, _Central India_, ii. p. 132.

[284] _Rajasthan_, ii. p. 406.

[285] Malcolm, ii. p. 135.

[286] _Rajasthan_, ii. pp. 133, 134.

[287] Great King, the ordinary method of address to Brahmans.

[288] _Rajasthan_, ii. p. 175.

[289] _Rasmala_, ii. pp. 261, 262.

[290] See later in this article.