Part 39

From the above argument it seems legitimate to deduce that the Kayasths formerly occupied a lower position in Hindu society. The Brahmans were no doubt jealous of them and, as Dr. Bhattacharya states, would not let them learn Sanskrit. [447] But when India became subject to foreign rulers the Kayasths readily entered their service, learning the language of their new employers in order to increase their efficiency. Thus they first learnt Persian and then English, and both by Muhammadans and English were employed largely, if not at first almost exclusively, as clerks in the public offices. It must be remembered that there were at this time practically only two other literate castes among Hindus, the Brahmans and the Banias. The Brahmans naturally would be for long reluctant to lower their dignity by taking service under foreign masters, whom they regarded as outcaste and impure; while the Banias down to within the last twenty years or so have never cared for education beyond the degree necessary for managing their business. Thus the Kayasths had at first almost a monopoly of public employment under foreign Governments. It has been seen also that it is only within about the last century that the status of the Kayasths has greatly risen, and it is a legitimate deduction that the improvement dates from the period when they began to earn distinction and importance under these governments. But they were always a literate caste, and the conclusion is that in former times they discharged duties to which literacy was essential in a comparatively humble sphere. "The earliest reference to the Kayasths as a distinct caste," Sir H. Risley states, "occurs in Yajnavalkya, who describes them as writers and village accountants, very exacting in their demands from the cultivators." The profession of patwari or village accountant appears to have been that formerly appertaining to the Kayasth caste, and it is one which they still largely follow. In Bengal it is now stated that Kayasths of good position object to marry their daughters in the families of those who have served as patwaris or village accountants. Patwaris, one of them said to Sir H. Risley, however rich they may be, are considered as socially lower than other Kayasths, e.g. Kanungo, Akhauri, Pande or Bakshi. Thus it appears that the old patwari Kayasths are looked down upon by those who have improved their position in more important branches of Government service. Kanungo, as explained, is a sort of head of the patwaris; and Bakshi, a post already noticed as held by a Kayasth in the Central Provinces, is the Muhammadan office of paymaster.

Similarly Mr. Crooke states that while the higher members of the caste stand well in general repute, the village Lala (or Kayasth), who is very often an accountant, is in evil odour for his astuteness and chicanery. In Central India, as already seen, they are Kanungos of Districts and patwaris of villages; and here again Malcolm states that these officials were the oldest settlers, and that the later comers, who held more important posts, did not intermarry with them. [448] In Gujarat the work of collecting the revenue in the Surat tract was entrusted to Kayasths. Till 1868, in the English villages, and up to the present time in the Baroda villages, the subdivisional accountants were mostly Kayasths. [449] In the Central Provinces the bulk of the patwaris in the northern Districts and a large proportion in other Districts outside the Maratha country are Kayasths. If the Kayasths were originally patwaris or village accountants, their former low status is fully explained. The village accountant would be a village servant, though an important one, and would be supported like the other village artisans by contributions of grain from the cultivators. This is the manner in which patwaris of the Central Provinces were formerly paid. His status would technically be lower than that of the cultivators, and he might be considered as a Sudra or a mixed caste.

5. The caste an offshoot from Brahmans.

As regards the origin of the Kayasths, the most probable hypothesis would seem to be that they were an offshoot of Brahmans of irregular descent. The reason for this is that the Kayasths must have learnt reading and writing from some outside source, and the Brahmans were the only class who could teach it them. The Brahmans were not disposed to spread the benefits of education, which was the main source of their power, with undue liberality, and when another literate class was required for the performance of duties which they disdained to discharge themselves, it would be natural that they should prefer to educate people closely connected with them and having claims on their support. In this connection the tradition recorded by Sir H. Risley may be noted to the effect that the ancestors of the Bengal Kayasths were five of the caste who came from Kanauj in attendance on five Brahmans who had been summoned by the king of Bengal to perform for him certain Vedic ceremonies. [450] It may be noted also that the Vidurs, another caste admittedly of irregular descent from Brahmans, occupy the position of patwaris and village accountants in the Maratha districts. The names of their subcastes indicate generally that the home of the Kayasths is the country of Hindustan, the United Provinces, and part of Bengal. This is also the place of origin of the northern Brahmans, as shown by the names of their most important groups. The Rajputs and Banias on the other hand belong mainly to Rajputana, Gujarat and Bundelkhand, and in most of this area the Kayasths are immigrants. It has been seen that they came to Malwa and Gujarat with the Muhammadans; the number of Kayasths returned from Rajputana at the census was quite small, and it is doubtful whether the Kayasths are so much as mentioned in Tod's Rajasthan. The hypothesis therefore of their being derived either from the Rajputs or Banias appears to be untenable. In the Punjab also the Kayasths are found only in small numbers and are immigrants. As stated by Sir H. Risley, both the physical type of the Kayasths and their remarkable intellectual attainments indicate that they possess Aryan blood; similarly Mr. Sherring remarks: "He nevertheless exhibits a family likeness to the Brahman; you may not know where to place him or how to designate him; but on looking at him and conversing with him you feel quite sure that you are in the presence of a Hindu of no mean order of intellect." [451] No doubt there was formerly much mixture of blood in the caste; some time ago the Kayasths were rather noted for keeping women of other castes, and Sir H. Risley gives instances of outsiders being admitted into the caste. Dr. Bhattacharya states [452] that, "There are many Kayasths in eastern Bengal who are called Ghulams or slaves. Some of them are still attached as domestic servants to the families of the local Brahmans, Vaidyas and aristocratic Kayasths. Some of the Ghulams have in recent times become rich landholders, and it is said that one of them has got the title of Rai Bahadur from Government. The marriage of a Ghulam generally takes place in his own class, but instances of Ghulams marrying into aristocratic Kayasth families are at present not very rare."

Further, the Dakshina Rarhi Kayasths affect the greatest veneration for the Brahmans and profess to believe in the legend that traces their descent from the five menial servants who accompanied the five Brahmans invited by king Adisur. The Uttara Rarhi Kayasths or those of northern Burdwan, on the other hand, do not profess the same veneration for Brahmans as the southerners, and deny the authenticity of the legend. It was this class which held some of the highest offices under the Muhammadan rulers of Bengal, and several leading zamindars or landholders at present belong to it. [453] It was probably in this capacity of village accountant that the Kayasth incurred the traditional hostility of one or two of the lower castes which still subsists in legend. [454] The influence which the patwari possesses at present, even under the most vigorous and careful supervision and with the liability to severe punishment for any abuse of his position, is a sufficient indication of what his power must have been when supervision and control were almost nominal. On this point Sir Henry Maine remarks in his description of the village community: "There is always a village accountant, an important personage among an unlettered population; so important indeed, and so conspicuous that, according to the reports current in India, the earliest English functionaries engaged in settlements of land were occasionally led, by their assumption that there must be a single proprietor somewhere, to mistake the accountant for the owner of the village, and to record him as such in the official register. [455] In Bihar Sir H. Risley shows that Kayasths have obtained proprietary right in a large area.

6. The success of the Kayasths and their present position.

It may be hoped that the leading members of the Kayasth caste will not take offence, because in the discussion of the origin of their caste, one of the most interesting problems of Indian ethnology, it has been necessary to put forward a hypothesis other than that which they hold themselves. It would be as unreasonable for a Kayasth to feel aggrieved at the suggestion that centuries ago their ancestors were to some extent the offspring of mixed unions as for an Englishman to be insulted by the statement that the English are of mixed descent from Saxons, Danes and Normans. If the Kayasths formerly had a comparatively humble status in Hindu society, then it is the more creditable to the whole community that they should have succeeded in raising themselves by their native industry and ability without adventitious advantages to the high position in which by general admission the caste now stands. At present the Kayasths are certainly the highest caste after Brahman, Rajput and Bania, and probably in Hindustan, Bengal and the Central Provinces they may be accounted as practically equal to Rajputs and Banias. Of the Bengal Kayasths Dr. Bhattacharya wrote: [456] "They generally prove equal to any position in which they are placed. They have been successful not only as clerks but in the very highest executive and judicial offices that have yet been thrown open to the natives of this country. The names of the Kayastha judges, Dwarka Nath Mitra, Ramesh Chandra Mitra and Chandra Madhava Ghose are well known and respected by all. In the executive services the Kayasths have attained the same kind of success. One of them, Mr. R. C. Dutt, is now the Commissioner of one of the most important divisions of Bengal. Another, named Kalika Das Datta, has been for several years employed as Prime Minister of the Kuch Bihar State, giving signal proofs of his ability as an administrator by the success with which he has been managing the affairs of the principality in his charge." In the Central Provinces, too, Kayasth gentlemen hold the most important positions in the administrative, judicial and public works departments, as well as being strongly represented in the Provincial and subordinate executive services. And in many Districts Kayasths form the backbone of the ministerial staff of the public offices, a class whose patient laboriousness and devotion to duty, with only the most remote prospects of advancement to encourage them to persevere, deserve high commendation.

7. Subcastes.

The northern India Kayasths are divided into the following twelve subcastes, which are mainly of a territorial character:

(a) Srivastab. (b) Saksena. (c) Bhatnagar. (d) Ambastha or Amisht. (e) Ashthana or Aithana. (f) Balmik or Valmiki. (g) Mathur. (h) Kulsreshtha. (i) Suryadhwaja. (k) Karan. (l) Gaur. (m) Nigum.

(a) The Srivastab subcaste take their name from the old town of Sravasti, now Sahet-Mahet, in the north of the United Provinces. They are by far the most numerous subcaste both there and here. In these Provinces nearly all the Kayasths are Srivastabs except a few Saksenas. They are divided into two sections, Khare and Dusre, which correspond to the Bisa and Dasa groups of the Banias. The Khare are those of pure descent, and the Dusre the offspring of remarried widows or other irregular alliances.

(b) The Saksena are named from the old town of Sankisa, in the Farukhabad District. They also have the Khare and Dusre groups, and a third section called Kharua, which is said to mean pure, and is perhaps the most aristocratic. A number of Saksena Kayasths are resident in Seoni District, where their ancestors were settled by Bakht Buland, the Gond Raja of Deogarh in Chhindwara. These constituted hitherto a separate endogamous group, marrying among themselves, but since the opening of the railway negotiations have been initiated with the Saksenas of northern India, with the result that intermarriage is to be resumed between the two sections.

(c) The Bhatnagar take their name from the old town of Bhatner, near Bikaner. They are divided into the Vaishya or Kadim, of pure descent, and the Gaur, who are apparently the offspring of intermarriage with the Gaur subcaste.

(d) Ambastha or Amisht. These are said to have settled on the Girnar hill, and to take their name from their worship of the goddess Ambaji or Amba Devi. Mr. Crooke suggests that they may be connected with the old Ambastha caste who were noted for their skill in medicine. The practice of surgery is the occupation of some Kayasths. [457] It is also supposed that the names may come from the Ameth pargana of Oudh. The Ambastha Kayasths are chiefly found in south Bihar, where they are numerous and influential. [458]

(e) Ashthana or Aithana. This is an Oudh subcaste. They have two groups, the Purabi or eastern, who are found in Jaunpur and its neighbourhood, and the Pachhauri or western, who live in or about Lucknow.

(f) Balmik or Valmiki. These are a subcaste of western India. Balmik or Valmik was the traditional author of the Ramayana, but they do not trace their descent from him. The name may have some territorial meaning. The Valmiki are divided into three endogamous groups according as they live in Bombay, Cutch or Surat.

(g) The Mathur subcaste are named after Mathura or Muttra. They are also split into the local groups Dihlawi of Delhi, Katchi of Cutch and Lachauli of Jodhpur.

(h) The Kulsreshtha or 'well-born' Kayasths belong chiefly to the districts of Agra and Etah. They are divided into the Barakhhera, or those of twelve villages, and the Chha Khera of six villages.

(i) The Suryadhwaja subcaste belong to Ballia, Ghazi-pur and Bijnor. Their origin is obscure. They profess excessive purity, and call themselves Sakadwipi or Scythian Brahmans.

(k) The Karan subcaste belong to Bihar, and have two local divisions, the Gayawale from Gaya, and the Tirhutia from Tirhut.

(l) The Gaur Kayasths, like the Gaur Brahmans and Rajputs, apparently take their name from Gaur or Lakhnauti, the old kingdom of Bengal. They have the Khare and Dusre subdivisions, and also three local groups named after Bengal, Delhi and Budaun.

(m) The Nigum subcaste, whose name is apparently the same as that of the Nikumbh Rajputs, are divided into two endogamous groups, the Kadim or old, and the Unaya, or those coming from Unao. Sometimes the Unaya are considered as a separate thirteenth subcaste of mixed descent.

8. Exogamy.

Educated Kayasths now follow the standard rule of exogamy, which prohibits marriage between persons within five degrees of affinity on the female side and seven on the male. That is, persons having a common grandparent on the female side cannot intermarry, while for those related through males the prohibition extends a generation further back. This is believed to be the meaning of the rule but it is not quite clear. In Damoh the Srivastab Kayasths still retain exogamous sections which are all named after places in the United Provinces, as Hamirpur ki baink (section), Lucknowbar, Kashi ki Pande (a wise man of Benares), Partabpuria, Cawnpore-bar, Sultanpuria and so on. They say that the ancestors of these sections were families who came from the above places in northern India, and settled in Damoh; here they came to be known by the places from which they had immigrated, and so founded new exogamous sections. A man cannot marry in his own section, or that of his mother or grandmother. In the Central Provinces a man may marry two sisters, but in northern India this is prohibited.

9. Marriage customs.

Marriage may be infant or adult, and, as in many places husbands are difficult to find, girls occasionally remain unmarried till nearly twenty, and may also be mated to boys younger than themselves. In northern India a substantial bridegroom-price is paid, which increases for a well-educated boy, but this custom is not so well established in the Central Provinces. However, in Damoh it is said that a sum of Rs. 200 is paid to the bridegroom's family. The marriage ceremony is performed according to the proper ritual for the highest or Brahma form of marriage recognised by Manu with Vedic texts. When the bridegroom arrives at the bride's house he is given sherbet to drink. It is said that he then stands on a pestle, and the bride's mother throws wheat-flour balls to the four points of the compass, and shows the bridegroom a miniature plough, a grinding pestle, a churning-staff and an arrow, and pulls his nose. The bridegroom's struggles to prevent his mother-in-law pulling his nose are the cause of much merriment, while the two parties afterwards have a fight for the footstool on which he stands. [459] An image of a cow in flour is then brought, and the bridegroom pierces its nostrils with a little stick of gold. Kayasths do not pierce the nostrils of bullocks themselves, but these rites perhaps recall their dependence on agriculture in their capacity of village accountants.

After the wedding the bridegroom's father takes various kinds of fruit, as almonds, dates and raisins, and fills the bride's lap with them four times, finally adding a cocoanut and a rupee. This is a ceremony to induce fertility, and the cocoanut perhaps represents a child.

10. Marriage songs.

The following are some specimens of songs sung at weddings. The first is about Rama's departure from Ajodhia when he went to the forests:

Now Hari (Rama) has driven his chariot forth to the jungle. His father and mother are weeping. Kaushilya [460] stood up and said, 'Now, whom shall I call my diamond and my ruby?' Dasrath went to the tower of his palace to see his son; As Rama's chariot set forth under the shade of the trees, he wished that he might die. Bharat ran after his brother with naked feet. He said, 'Oh brother, you are going to the forest, to whom do you give the kingdom of Oudh?' Rama said, 'When fourteen years have passed away I shall come back from the jungles. Till then I give the kingdom to you.'

The following is a love dialogue:

Make a beautiful garden for me to see my king. In that garden what flowers shall I set? Lemons, oranges, pomegranates, figs. In that garden what music shall there be? A tambourine, a fiddle, a guitar and a dancing girl. In that garden what attendants shall there be? A writer, a supervisor, a secretary for writing letters. [461]

The next is a love-song by a woman:

How has your countenance changed, my lord? Why speak you not to your slave? If I were a deer in the forest and you a famous warrior, would you not shoot me with your gun? If I were a fish in the water and you the son of a fisherman, would you not catch me with your drag-net? If I were a cuckoo in the garden and you the gardener's son, would you not trap me with your liming-stick?

The last is a dialogue between Radha and Krishna. Radha with her maidens was bathing in the river when Krishna stole all their clothes and climbed up a tree with them. Girdhari is a name of Krishna:

R. You and I cannot be friends, Girdhari; I am wearing a silk-embroidered cloth and you a black blanket.

You are the son of old Nand, the shepherd, and I am a princess of Mathura.

You have taken my clothes and climbed up a kadamb tree. I am naked in the river.

K. I will not give you your clothes till you come out of the water.

R. If I come out of the water the people will laugh and clap at me. All my companions seeing your beauty say, 'You have vanquished us; we are overcome.'

11. Social rules.

Polygamy is permitted but is seldom resorted to, except for the sake of offspring. Neither widow-marriage nor divorce are recognised, and either a girl or married woman is expelled from the caste if detected in a liaison. A man may keep a woman of another caste if he does not eat from her hand nor permit her to eat in the chauk or purified place where he and his family take their meals. The practice of keeping women was formerly common but has now been largely suppressed. Women of all castes were kept except Brahmans and Kayasths. Illegitimate children were known as Dogle or Surait and called Kayasths, ranking as an inferior group of the caste. And it is not unlikely that in the past the descendants of such irregular unions have been admitted to the Dusre or lower branch of the different subcastes.

12. Birth customs.

During the seventh month of a woman's pregnancy a dinner is given to the caste-fellows and songs are sung. After this occasion the woman must not go outside her own village, nor can she go to draw water from a well or to bathe in a tank. She can only go into the street or to another house in her own village.

On the sixth day after a birth a dinner is given to the caste and songs are sung. The women bring small silver coins or rupees and place them in the mother's lap. The occasion of the first appearance of the signs of maturity in a girl is not observed at all if she is in her father's house. But if she has gone to her father-in-law's house, she is dressed in new clothes, her hair after being washed is tied up, and she is seated in the chauk or purified space, while the women come and sing songs.

13. Religion.

The Kayasths venerate the ordinary Hindu deities. They worship Chitragupta, their divine ancestor, at weddings and at the Holi and Diwali festivals. Twice a year they venerate the pen and ink, the implements of their profession, to which they owe their great success. The patwaris in Hoshangabad formerly received small fees, known as diwat puja, from the cultivators for worshipping the ink-bottle on their behalf, presumably owing to the idea that, if neglected, it might make a malicious mistake in the record of their rights.

14. Social customs.

The dead are burnt, and the proper offerings are made on the anniversaries, according to the prescribed Hindu ritual. Kayasth names usually end in Prasad, Singh, Baksh, Sewak, and Lala in the Central Provinces. Lala, which is a term of endearment, is often employed as a synonym for the caste. Dada or uncle is a respectful term of address for Kayasths. Two names are usually given to a boy, one for ceremonial and the other for ordinary use.