Chapter VII: Part 7

The Audhias are a well-known criminal tribe, whose headquarters is in the Fatehpur District. They say that they are Banias, and use the name Ajudhiabasi in speaking of themselves, and from their customs and criminal methods it seems not unlikely that they may originally have been an offshoot from the Ajudhiabasi Banias. They are now, however, perfectly distinct from this group, and any confusion between them would be very unjust to the latter. In northern India it is said that the Audhias deal largely in counterfeit coin and false jewellery, and never commit crimes of violence; [138] but in Bombay they have taken to housebreaking, though they usually select an empty house. [139] From their homes in the United Provinces they wander over Central India, the Central Provinces, Bengal and Bombay; they are said to avoid the Punjab and Sind owing to difficulties of working, and they have made it a caste offence to commit any crime in the Ganges-Jumna Doab, probably because this is their home. It is said also that if any one of them is imprisoned he is put out of caste. They wander about disguised as religious mendicants, Brahmans or Bairagis. They carry their bedding tied on their back with a cloth, and a large bag slung over the shoulders which contains food, cooking-vessels and other articles. Sometimes they pretend to be Banias and hawk about sweets and groceries, or one of the gang opens a shop, which serves as a rendezvous and centre for collecting information. [140] In the Districts where they reside they are perfectly well-behaved. They are well-to-do and to all appearance respectable in their habits. Their women are well-dressed with plenty of ornaments on their persons. They have no apparent means of support; they neither cultivate land nor trade; and all that appears on the surface is that most of the men and boys go off after the rains and return at the end of the cold weather. If asked how they support themselves they reply by begging. Their marriage rules are those of high-caste Hindus. They are divided into two classes, Unch or high and Nich or low, the former being of pure blood, and the latter the descendants of kept women. These are practically endogamous. A man may not have more than two wives. If a girl is detected in immorality before marriage, she is permanently excommunicated, and a married woman can be turned out by her husband on proof of adultery. A bridegroom-price is usually paid, the father of the bride visiting the bridegroom and giving him the money in secret. The dead are burnt, and Brahmans are duly fed. If a man has died through an accident or from cholera, smallpox, poison or leprosy, the corpse, if available, is at once consigned to the Ganges or other river, and during the course of the next twelve months a Mahabrahman is paid to make an image of the deceased in gram-flour, which is cremated with the usual rites. As in the case of the Ajudhiabasi Banias, the tribal deity of the Audhias is the goddess Devi. [141]

Bania, Asathi

_Bania, Asathi._--This subcaste numbers about 2500 persons in the Central Provinces, belonging principally to the Damoh and Jubbulpore Districts. They say that their original home was the Tikamgarh State in Bundelkhand. They do not rank very high, and are sometimes said to be the descendants of an Ahir who became a Bania. The great bulk are Hindus and a small minority Jains. It is told of the Asathis that they first bury their dead, in accordance presumably with a former practice, and then exhume and burn the bodies; and there is a saying--

Ardha jale, ardha gare
Jinka nam Asathi pare,

or, 'He who is an Asathi is half buried and half burnt.' But this practice, if it ever really existed, has now been abandoned.

Bania, Charnagri

_Bania, Charnagri, Channagri, Samaiya._--The Charnagris are a small Jain subcaste which numbered about 2500 persons in 1911, residing principally in the Damoh and Chhindwara Districts. They are the followers of one Taran Swami, who is said to have lived about five centuries ago. He preached against the worship of the images of the Jain Tirthakars, and said that this should be abandoned and only the sacred books be revered. The chief sacred place of the sect is Malhargarh in Gwalior State; here the tomb of their prophet is situated and there is also a large temple in which the Jain scriptures are enshrined. In the month of Phagun (February) a fair is held here, and Charnagris dance in the temples, holding lighted lamps in their hands. Nowadays the Charnagris also visit the ordinary Jain temples when their own are not available. They are practically all derived from Parwar Banias, and formerly would sometimes give their daughters to Parwars in marriage, but this practice is said to have stopped. Like other Bania subcastes, they are divided into Bisa and Dasa, or twenty and ten sections, the Dasa being of irregular descent. Intermarriage between the two sections occasionally occurs, and the Dasa will take food from the Bisa section, but the latter do not reciprocate except at caste feasts.

Bania, Dhusar

_Bania, Dhusar, Bhargava Dhusar._--The origin of this group is much disputed. They are usually classed as a subcaste of Bania, but claim to be Brahmans. They take their name from a hill called Dhusi or Dhosi, near Narnaul on the border of Alwar State. The title Bhargava signifies a descendant of Bhrigu, one of the famous eponymous Rishis or Brahmanical saints, to whom Manu confided his institutes, calling him his son. If this was their original name, it would show that they were Brahmans, but its adoption appears to be somewhat recent. Their claim to be Brahmans is, however, admitted by many members of that caste, and it is stated that they perform the functions of Brahmans in their original home in Rajputana. Mr. Burn wrote of them: [142] "In his book on castes published in 1872 Mr. Sherring does not refer to any claim to kinship with Brahmans, though in his description of Dhusar Banias he appears to include the people under consideration. Both the Dhusar Bhargavas and Dhusar Banias assert that Himu, the capable Vazir of Muhammad Shah Suri, belonged to their community, and such a claim by the former is if anything in favour of the view that they are not Brahmans, since Himu is variously described by Muhammadan writers as a corn-chandler, a weighman and a Bania. Colonel Dow in his history of Hindustan calls him a shopkeeper who was raised by Sher Shah to be Superintendent of Markets. It is not improbable that Himu's success laid the foundation for a claim to a higher position, but the matter does not admit of absolute proof, and I have therefore accepted the decision of the majority of the caste-committees and considered them as a caste allied to Brahmans." In the Punjab the Dhusars appear to be in some places Brahmans and in others Banias. "They take their food before morning prayer, contrary to the Hindu rule, but of late years they have begun to conform to the orthodox practice. The Brahman Dhusar marries with his caste-fellows and the Bania with Banias, avoiding always the same family (_gotra_) or one having the same family deity." [143] From the above accounts it would appear that the Dhusars may have originally been a class of Brahmans who took to trade, like the Palliwal Brahmans of Marwar, and have lost their position as Brahmans and become amalgamated with the Bania caste; or they may have been Banias, who acted as priests to others of the community, and hence claimed to be Brahmans. The caste is important and influential, and is now making every effort to recover or substantiate its Brahman status. One writer states that they combine the office aptitude and hard-heartedness to a debtor characteristic of the Bania. The Dhusars are rigid in the maintenance of the purity of their order and in the performance of Hindu ceremonies and duties, and neither eat meat nor drink any kind of spirit. In Delhi they were distinguished for their talent as singers, and cultivated a peculiar strain or measure, in which they were unsurpassed. [144] In the Central Provinces the Dhusars are a flourishing body, their leaders being Rai Bahadur Bihari Lal Khizanchi of Jubbulpore and Rai Sahib Seth Sundar Lal of Betul. They have founded the Bhargava bank of Jubbulpore, and shown considerable public spirit; to the latter gentleman's generosity a large part of the success of the recent debt-conciliation proceedings in the Betul District must be attributed.

Bania, Dosar

_Bania, Dosar, Dusra._ [145]--This subcaste numbers about 600 persons. The original name is Dusra or second, and the Dosar or Dusra are a section of the Ummar Banias, who were so called because they permit widows to make a second marriage. Their home is the Ganges-Jumna Doab and Oudh, and in the United Provinces they are classed as an inferior subcaste of the Ummars. Here they say that the Ummars are their elder brothers. In the Central Provinces they are said to be forming three local endogamous groups according as their homes were in the Doab, Oudh or the Allahabad country; and members of each of these marry among themselves. The Dosars say that they all belong to the Kashyap [146] _gotra_ or clan, but for the purpose of marriage they have territorial or titular exogamous sections; instances of these are Gangapari, a native of Oudh; Sagarah, a resident of Saugor; Makraha, a seller of _makka_ or maize, and Tamakhuha, a tobacco-seller. They pay a bridegroom-price, the full recognised amount of which is Rs. 211, either in cash or brass cooking-vessels. Those who cannot afford this sum give half of it or Rs. 105, and the poorest classes pay anything they can afford. The Dosars are Vaishnava Hindus and employ Sanadhya Brahmans as their priests. These Brahmans will take food without water from their clients, but they are an inferior class and are looked down upon by other Brahmans. The caste are mainly shopkeepers, and they deal in gold and silver ornaments, as well as grain, tobacco and all kinds of groceries.

Bania, Gahoi

_Bania, Gahoi._ [147]--This Hindu subcaste numbered nearly 7000 persons in 1911, belonging principally to the Saugor, Jubbulpore and Narsinghpur Districts. Their home is the Bundelkhand country, which these Districts adjoin, and they say that their original headquarters was at Kharagpur in Bundelkhand, whence they have spread over the surrounding country. They tell a curious story of their origin to the effect that once upon a time there was a certain schoolmaster, one Biya Pande Brahman, who could foretell the future. One day he was in his school with his boys when he foresaw that there was about to be an earthquake. He immediately warned his boys to get out of the building, and himself led the way. Only twelve of the boys had followed, and the others were still hesitating, when the earthquake began, the school fell in, and they were all buried in the ruins. The schoolmaster formed the boys who had escaped into one caste, calling them Gahoi, which is supposed to mean that which is left or the residue; and he determined that he and his descendants would be the priests of the new caste. At the weddings of the Gahois an image of the schoolmaster is painted on the house wall, and the bridegroom worships it with offerings of butter and flowers. The story indicates clearly that the Gahois are of mixed descent from several castes.

The subcaste has twelve _gotras_ or sections, and seventy-two _al_ or _anken_, which are subsections of the _gotras_. Several of the _al_ names appear to be of a titular or totemistic character, as Mor peacock, Sohania beautiful, Nagaria a drummer, Paharia a hillman, Matele the name of a village headman in Bundelkhand, Piparvania from the pipal tree, Dadaria a singer. The rule of exogamy is said to be that a man must not marry in his own _gotra_ nor in the _al_ of his mother or either grandmother. [148] Their weddings are held only at the bride's house, no ceremonies being performed at the bridegroom's; at the ceremony the bridegroom stands in the centre of the shed by the marriage-post and the bride walks seven times round him. At their weddings the Gahois still use the old rupees of the Nagpur kingdom for presents and payments to menials, and they hoard them up, when they can get them, for this special purpose. The rupee is sacred with the Bania, and this is an instance of the preservation of old accessories for religious ceremonies when they have been superseded in ordinary use. Polygamy is permitted, but is rare. The Gahois employ Bhargava Brahmans for their priests, and these are presumably the descendants of the schoolmaster who founded the caste. At the thirteenth-day feast after a death the Brahmans must be fed first before the members of the caste. On this occasion thirteen brass or earthen vessels are filled with flour, and a piece of money, and presented to thirteen Brahmans, while the family priest receives a bed and piece of cloth. The priests are said to be greedy, and to raise quarrels over the value of the presents given to them. At the Diwali festival the Gahois worship the implements of their trade, pen and ink, and their account-books. The Gahois are Vaishnava Hindus, and abstain from all flesh and alcoholic liquor. They trade in grain and groceries, and are bankers and moneylenders. They are considered to be cunning in business, and a proverb says that a Gahoi will deceive even his own father.

Bania, Golapurab

_Bania, Golapurab, Golahre._--This Jain subcaste numbers about 6000 persons in the Central Provinces, and belongs mainly to the Saugor, Damoh and Narsinghpur Districts. Its distribution is nearly the same as that of the Gahois, and it is probably also a Bundelkhand group. The Golapurabs are practically all Digambari Jains with a small Hindu minority. In some localities they intermarry with Parwar Banias who are also Digambari Jains; and they will take food cooked without water from the Nema subcaste who are Hindus. According to one story the Golapurabs were the offspring of a Purabia, that is probably a Bais Rajput, by a kept woman of the Ahir caste. This fits in very well with the name, as Golak means a bastard, and the termination _purab_ would be from Purabia; but it is probably the name which has given rise to the story, or at any rate to the supposed descent from a Purabia. In the United Provinces a small subcaste of Bania called Golahre exists, belonging to the Jhansi District, that is the country of the Golapurabs, and Jain by religion. There is no doubt that this group is the same as the Golapurabs, and Mr. Crooke derives [149] the name from _gola_, a grain-mart, which seems more probable than the derivation suggested above. But it is an interesting fact that there is also a caste of cultivators called Golapurab in the United Provinces, found only in the Agra District. It is suggested that these people are the illegitimate offspring of Sanadhya Brahmans, with whom they appear to be closely connected. From their sept-names, however, which include those of several Rajput clans and also some titular terms of a low-caste type, Mr. Crooke thinks their Brahmanical origin improbable. It is noticeable that these Golapurabs though a cultivating caste have, like the Banias, a subcaste called Dasa, comprising persons of irregular descent; they also prohibit the remarriage of widows, and abstain from all flesh and from onions and garlic. Such customs are peculiar in a cultivating caste, and resemble those of Banias. It seems possible that a detailed investigation might give ground for supposing that both the Golahre and Golapurab subcastes of Banias in the United and Central Provinces respectively are connected with this cultivating caste of Golapurabs. The latter might have abandoned the Jain religion on taking to cultivation, as a Jain cannot well drive the plough, which involves destruction of animal life; or the Bania section might have adopted Jainism in order to obtain a better social position and differentiate themselves from the cultivators. Unfortunately no detailed information about the Golapurabs of the Central Provinces is available, from which the probability or otherwise of this hypothesis could be tested.

Bania, Kasarwani

_Bania, Kasarwani_. [150]--This Hindu subcaste numbers about 6500 persons in the Central Provinces, who belong mainly to Saugor, Jubbulpore and the three Chhattisgarh Districts. The name is probably derived from _kansa_, bell-metal, as these Banias retail brass and bell-metal vessels. The Kasarwanis may therefore not improbably be an occupational group formed from persons who engaged in the trade, and in that case they may be wholly or partly derived from the Kasars and Tameras, the castes which work in brass, copper and bell-metal. The Kasarwanis are numerous in Allahabad and Mirzapur, and they may have come to Chhattisgarh from Mirzapur, attracted by the bell-metal industries in Ratanpur and Drug. In Saugor and also in the United Provinces they say that they came from Kara Manikpur several generations ago. If the selling of metal vessels was their original calling, many, or the majority of them, have now abandoned it, and deal in grain and groceries, and lend money like other Banias. The Kasarwanis do not observe the same standard of strictness as the good Bania subcastes in their social rules. They eat the flesh of goats, sheep, birds and fish, though they abstain from liquor. They permit the remarriage of widows and divorce; and women who have been divorced can marry again in the caste by the same rite as widows. They also allow the exchange of girls in marriage between two families. They do not as a rule wear the sacred thread. Their priests are Sarwaria Brahmans, and these Brahmans and a few Bania subcastes, such as the Agarwalas, Umres and Gahois, can take food cooked without water from them, but other Brahmans and Rajputs will not take any kind of food. Matches are arranged in the presence of the head of the caste _panchayat_, who is known as Chaudhri. The parents on each side give their consent, and in pledge of it six pice (farthings) are taken from both of them, mixed together and given to their family priests and barbers, four pice to the priests and two to the barbers. The following is a local derivation of the name; the word _kasar_ means more or the increase, and _bhata_ means less; and _Hamara kya kasar bhata?_ means 'How does my account stand?' Hence Kasarbani is one who keeps accounts, that is a Bania.

Bania, Kasaundhan

_Bania, Kasaundhan._--This subcaste numbers about 5500 persons in the Central Provinces and is returned principally from the Bilaspur, Raipur and Jubbulpore Districts. The name is derived [151] by Mr. Crooke from _kansa_, bell-metal, and _dhana_, wealth, and it would appear that the Kasaundhans like the Kasarwanis are an occupational group, made up of shopkeepers who dealt in metal vessels. Like them also the Kasaundhans may have originally been constituted from the metal-working castes, and indeed they may be only a local branch of the Kasarwanis, though no information is available which would decide this point. In the United Provinces both the Kasarwanis and Kasaundhans are divided into the Purbia or eastern and Pachhaiyan or western subcastes. Dharam Das, the great disciple of Kabir, who founded the Kabirpanthi sect in the Central Provinces, was a Kasaundhan Bania, and the Kabirpanthi Mahants or high-priests of Kawardha are of this caste. It is probable that a good many of the Kasaundhan Banias in Bilaspur and Raipur belong to the Kabirpanthi sect. The remainder are ordinary Hindus.

Bania, Khandelwal

_Bania, Khandelwal._--This subcaste numbers about 1500 persons in the Central Provinces; they are most numerous in the Hoshangabad and Amraoti Districts, but are scattered all over the Province. They take their name from the town of Khandela in the Jaipur State of Rajputana, which was formerly the capital of the Shekhawati federation. There is also a Khandelwal subcaste of the Brahman caste, found in the United Provinces. [152] Mr. Bhattacharya says of them: [153] "The Khandelwal Banias are not inferior to any other division of the caste either in wealth or refinement. There are both Vaishnavites and Jains among them, and the Vaishnavite Khandelwals wear the sacred thread. The millionaire Seths of Mathura are Khandelwal Banias."

Bania, Lad

_Bania, Lad._--This subcaste numbers about 5000 persons in the Central Provinces, being settled in Nimar, Nagpur and all the Berar Districts. The Lad Banias came from Gujarat, and Lad is derived from Lat-desh, the old name for Gujarat. Like other Banias they are divided into the Bisa and Dasa groups or twenties and tens, the Dasa being of irregular descent. Their family priests are Khedawal Brahmans, and their caste deity is Ashapuri of Ashnai, near Petlad. Lad women, especially those of Baroda, are noted for their taste in dress. The Lad Banias are Hindus of the Vallabhacharya sect, who worship Krishna, and were formerly addicted to sexual indulgence. [154]

Bania, Lingayat

_Bania, Lingayat._--The Lingayat Banias number nearly 8000 persons in the Central Provinces, being numerous in Wardha, Nagpur and all the Berar Districts. A brief account of the Lingayat sect has been given in a separate article. The Lingayat Banias form a separate endogamous group, and they do not eat or intermarry either with other Banias or with members of other castes belonging to the Lingayat sect. But they retain the name and occupation of Banias. They have five subdivisions, Pancham, Dikshawant, Chilliwant, Takalkar and Kanade. The Pancham or Panchamsalis are the descendants of the original Brahman converts to the Lingayat sect. They are the main body of the community and are initiated by what is known as the eight-fold sacrament or _eshta-varna_. The Dikshawant, from _diksha_ or initiation, are a subdivision of the Panchamsalis, who apparently initiate disciples like the Dikshit Brahmans. The Takalkar are said to take their name from a forest called Takali, where their first ancestress bore a child to the god Siva. The Kanade are from Canara. The meaning of the term Chilliwant is not known; it is said that a member of this subcaste will throw away his food or water if it is seen by any one who is not a Lingayat, and they shave the whole head. The above form endogamous subcastes. The Lingayat Banias also have exogamous groups, the names of which are mainly titular, of a low-caste type. Instances of them are Kaode, from _kawa_ a crow, Teli an oil-seller, Thubri a dwarf, Ubadkar an incendiary, Gudkari a sugar-seller and Dhamankar from Dhamangaon. They say that the _maths_ or exogamous groups are no longer regarded, and that marriage is now prohibited between persons having the same surname. It is stated that if a girl is not married before adolescence she is finally expelled from the caste, but this rule has probably become obsolete. The proposal for marriage comes from either the boy's or girl's party, and sometimes the bridegroom receives a small sum for his travelling expenses, while at other times a bride-price is paid. At the wedding, rice coloured red is put in the hands of the bridegroom and juari coloured yellow in those of the bride. The bridegroom places the rice on the bride's head and she lays the juari at his feet. A dish full of water with a golden ring in it is put between them, and they lay their hands on the ring together under the water and walk five times round a decorative little marriage-shed erected inside the real one. A feast is given, and the bridal couple sit on a little dais and eat out of the same dish. The remarriage of widows is permitted, but the widow may not marry a man belonging to the section either of her first husband or of her father. Divorce is recognised. The Lingayats bury the dead in a sitting posture with the _lingam_ or emblem of Siva, which has never left the dead man during his lifetime, clasped in his right hand. Sometimes a platform is made over the grave with an image of Siva. They do not shave the head in token of mourning. Their principal festival is Shivratri or Siva's night, when they offer the leaves of the bel tree and ashes to the god. A Lingayat must never be without the _lingam_ or phallic sign of Siva, which is carried slung round the neck in a little case of silver, copper or brass. If he loses it, he must not eat, drink nor smoke until he finds it or obtains another. The Lingayats do not employ Brahmans for any purpose, but are served by their own priests, the Jangams, [155] who are recruited both by descent and by initiation from members of the Pancham group. The Lingayat Banias are practically all immigrants from the Telugu country; they have Telugu names and speak this language in their homes. They deal in grain, cloth, groceries and spices.

Bania, Maheshri

_Bania, Maheshri._--This important subcaste of Banias numbered about 14,000 persons in the Central Provinces in 1911, of whom 8000 belonged to the Berar Districts, and the remainder principally to Hoshangabad, Nimar, Wardha and Nagpur. The name is said to be derived from Maheshwar, an ancient town on the Nerbudda, near Indore, and one of the earliest Rajput settlements. But some of them say that their original home is in Bikanir, and tell a story to the effect that their ancestor was a Raja who was turned into stone with his seventy-two followers by some ascetics whose devotions they had interrupted in the forest. But when their wives came to commit _sati_ by the stone figures the god Siva intervened and brought them to life again. He told them to give up the profession of arms and take to trade. So the seventy-two followers were the ancestors of the seventy-two _gotras_ or sections of the Maheshris, and the Raja became their tribal _Bhat_ or genealogist, and they were called Maheshri or Maheswari, from Mahesh, a name of Siva. In Gujarat the term Maheshri or Meshri appears to be used for all Banias who are not Jains, including the other important Hindu subcastes. [156] This is somewhat peculiar, and perhaps tends to show that several of the local subcastes are of recent formation. But though they profess to be named after Siva, the Maheshris, like practically all other Hindu Banias, are Vaishnava by sect, and wear the _kunti_ or necklace of beads of basil. A small minority are Jains. It is to be noticed that both the place of their origin, an early Rajput settlement of the Yadava clan, and their own legend tend to show that they were derived from the Rajput caste; for as their ancestors were attendants on a Raja and followed the profession of arms, which they were told to abandon, they could be none other than Rajputs. The Maheshris also have the Rajput custom of sending a cocoanut as a symbol of a proposal of marriage. In Nimar the Maheshri Banias say they belong to the Dhakar subcaste, a name which usually means illegitimate, though they themselves explain that it is derived from a place called Dhakargarh, from which they migrated. As already stated they are divided into seventy-two exogamous clans, the names of which appear to be titular or territorial. It is said that at their weddings when the bridegroom gets to the door of the marriage-shed, the bride's mother ties a scarf round his neck and takes hold of his nose and drags him into the shed. Sometimes they make the bridegroom kneel down and pay reverence to a shoe as a joke. They do not observe the custom of the _pangat_ or formal festal assembly, which is usual among Hindu castes; according to this, none can begin to eat until all the guests have assembled, when they all sit down at once. Among the Maheshris the guests sit down as they come in, and are served and take their food and go. They only have the _pangat_ feast on very rare occasions. The Maheshris are one of the richest, most enterprising and influential classes of Banias. They are intelligent, of high-bred appearance, cleanly habits and courteous manners. The great bankers, Sir Kasturchand Daga of Kamptee, of the firm of Bansi Lal Abirchand, and Rai Bahadur Seth Jiwan Das and Diwan Bahadur Seth Ballabh Das, of Jubbulpore, belong to this subcaste.

Bania, Nema

_Bania, Nema._--This subcaste numbers nearly 4000 persons, the bulk of whom reside in the Saugor, Damoh, Narsinghpur and Seoni Districts. The Nemas are most largely returned from Central India, and are probably a Bundelkhand group; they will eat food cooked without water with Golapurab Banias, who are also found in Bundelkhand. They are mainly Hindus, with a small minority of Jains. The origin of the name is obscure; the suggestion that it comes from Nimar appears to be untenable, as there are very few Nemas in that District. They say that when Parasurama was slaying the Kshatriyas fourteen young Rajput princes, who at the time were studying religion with their family priests, were saved by the latter on renouncing their Kshatriya status and declaring themselves to be Vaishyas. These fourteen princes were the ancestors of the fourteen _gotras_ of the Nema subcaste, but the _gotras_ actually bear the names of the fourteen Rishis or saints who saved their lives. These sections appear to be of the usual Brahmanical type, but marriage is regulated by another set of fifty-two subsections, with names which are apparently titular or territorial. Like other Bania groups the Nemas are divided into Bisa and Dasa subdivisions or twenties and tens, the Bisa being of pure and the Dasa of irregular descent. There is also a third group of Pacha or fives, who appear to be the offspring of kept women. After some generations, when the details of their ancestry are forgotten, the Pachas probably obtain promotion into the Dasa group. The Bisa and Dasa groups take food together, but do not intermarry. The Nemas wear the sacred thread and apparently prohibit the remarriage of widows. The Nemas are considered to be very keen business men, and a saying about them is, "Where a sheep grazes or a Nema trades, what is there left for anybody else?"

Bania, Oswal

_Bania, Oswal._--This is perhaps the most important subdivision of the Banias after the Agarwala. The Oswals numbered nearly 10,000 persons in the Central Provinces in 1911, being found in considerable numbers in all the Berar Districts, and also in Nimar, Wardha and Raipur. The name is derived from the town of Osia or Osnagar in Marwar. According to one legend of their origin the Raja of Osnagar had no son, and obtained one through the promise of a Jain ascetic. The people then drove the ascetic from the town, fearing that the Raja would become a Jain; but Osadev, the guardian goddess of the place, told the ascetic, Sri Ratan Suri, to convert the Raja by a miracle. So she took a small hank (_puni_) of cotton and passed it along the back of the saint, when it immediately became a snake and bit Jaichand, the son of the Raja, in the toe, while he was asleep beside his wife. Every means was tried to save his life, but he died. As his corpse was about to be burnt, the ascetic sent one of his disciples and stopped the cremation. Then the Raja came with the body of his son and stood with hands clasped before the saint. He ordered that it was to be taken back to the place where the prince had been bitten, and that the princess was to lie down beside it as before. At midnight the snake returned and licked the bite, when the prince was restored to life. Then the Raja, with all his Court and people, became a Jain. He and his family founded the _gotra_ or section now known as Sri Srimal or most noble; his servants formed that known as Srimal or excellent, while the other Rajputs of the town became ordinary Oswals. When the Brahmans of the place heard of these conversions they asked the saint how they were to live, as all their clients had become Jains. The saint directed that they should continue to be the family priests of the Oswals and be known as Bhojak or 'eaters.' Thus the Oswals, though Jains, continue to employ Marwari Brahmans as their family priests. Another version of the story is that the king of Srimali [157] allowed no one who was not a millionaire to live within his city walls. In consequence of this a large number of persons left Srimal, and, settling in Mandovad, called it Osa or the frontier. Among them were Srimali Banias and also Bhatti, Chauhan, Gahlot, Gaur, Yadava, and several other clans of Rajputs, and these were the people who were subsequently converted by the Jain ascetic, Sri Ratan Suri, and formed into the single caste of Oswal. [158] Finally, Colonel Tod states that the Oswals are all of pure Rajput descent, of no single tribe, but chiefly Panwars, Solankis and Bhattis. [159] From these legends and the fact that their headquarters are in Rajputana, it may safely be concluded that the Oswal Banias are of Rajput origin.

The large majority of the Oswals are Jain by religion, but a few are Vaishnava Hindus. Intermarriage between the Hindu and Jain sections is permitted. Like the Agarwalas, the Oswals are divided into Bisa, Dasa and Pacha sections or twenties, tens and fives, according to the purity of their lineage. The Pacha subcaste still permit the remarriage of widows. The three groups take food together but do not intermarry. In Bombay, Dasa Oswals intermarry with the Dasa groups of Srimali and Parwar Banias, [160] and Oswals generally can marry with other good Bania subcastes so long as both parties are Jains. The Oswals are divided into eighty-four _gotras_ or exogamous sections for purposes of marriage, a list of which is given by Mr. Crooke. [161] Most of these cannot be recognised, but a few of them seem to be titular, as Lorha a caste which grows hemp, Nunia a salt-refiner, Seth a banker, Daftari an office-boy, Vaid a physician, Bhandari a cook, and Kukara a dog. These may indicate a certain amount of admixture of foreign elements in the caste. As stated from Benares, the exogamous rule is that a man cannot marry in his own section, and he cannot marry a girl whose father's or mother's section is the same as that of either his father or mother. This would bar the marriage of first cousins.

Though Jains the Oswals perform their weddings by walking round the sacred fire and observe certain Hindu rites, including the worship of the god Ganpati. [162] They also revere other Hindu deities and the sun and moon. The dead are burnt, but they do not observe any impurity after a death nor clean the house. On the day after the death the mourning family, both men and women, visit Parasnath's temple, and lay one seer (2 lbs.) of Indian millet before the god, bow to him and go home. They do not gather the ashes of the dead nor keep the yearly death-day. Their only observance is that on some day between the twelfth day after a death and the end of a year, the caste-people are treated to a dinner of sweetmeats and the dead 'are then forgotten.' [163] The Oswals will take food cooked with water (_katchi_) only from Brahmans, and that cooked without water (_pakki_) from Agarwala and Maheshri Banias. In the Central Provinces the principal deity of the Oswals is the Jain Tirthakar Parasnath, and they spend large sums in the erection of splendid temples. The Oswals are the most prominent trading caste in Rajputana; and they have also frequently held high offices, such as Diwan or minister, and paymaster in Rajput States. [164]

Bania, Parwar

1. Origin.

_Bania, Parwar._ [165]--This Jain subcaste numbered nearly 29,000 persons in 1911. They belong almost entirely to the Jubbulpore and Nerbudda Divisions, and the great bulk are found in the Saugor, Damoh and Jubbulpore Districts. The origin of the Parwars and of their name is not known, but there is some reason to suppose that they are from Rajputana. Their women wear on the head the _bij_, a Rajputana ornament, and use the _charu_, a deep brass plate for drinking, which also belongs there. Their songs are said to be in the Rajasthani dialect. It seems likely that the Parwars may be identical with the Porawal subcaste found in other Provinces, which, judging from the name, may belong to Rajputana. In the northern Districts the Parwars speak Bundeli, but in the south their language is said to be Marwari.

2. Subdivisions.

Among the Parwars the Samaiya or Channagri form a separate sectarian Jain group. They do not worship the images of the Jain Tirthakars, but enshrine the sacred books of the Jains in their temples, and worship these. The Parwars will take daughters in marriage from the Channagris, and sometimes give their daughters in consideration of a substantial bride-price. Among the Parwars themselves there is a social division between the Ath Sake and the Chao Sake; the former will not permit the marriage of persons related more nearly than eight degrees, while the latter permit it after four degrees. The Ath Sake have the higher position, and if one of them marries a Chao Sake he is degraded to that group. Besides this the Parwars have an inferior division called Benaikia, which consists of the offspring of irregular unions and of widows who have remarried. Persons who have committed a caste offence and cannot pay the fine imposed on them for it also go into this subcaste. The Benaikias [166] themselves are distributed into four groups of varying degrees of respectability, and families who live correctly and marry as well as they can tend to rise from one to the other until after several generations they may again be recognised as Parwars proper.

3. Exogamy.

The Parwars have twelve _gotras_ or main sections, and each _gotra_ has, or is supposed to have, twelve _muls_ or subsections. A Parwar must not marry in his own _gotra_ nor in the _mul_ of his mother, or any of his grandmothers or greatgrandmothers. This practically bars marriage within seven degrees of relationship. But a man's sister and daughter may be married in the same family, and even to two brothers, and a man can marry two sisters.

4. Marriage customs.

As a rule no bride-price is paid, but occasionally an old man desiring a wife will give something substantial to her father in secret. There are two forms of marriage, called Thinga and Dajanha; in the former, women do not accompany the wedding procession, and they have a separate marriage-shed at the bridegroom's house for their own celebrations; while in the latter, they accompany it and erect such a shed at the house in the bridegroom's village or town where they have their lodging. Before the wedding, the bridegroom, mounted on a horse, and the bride, carried in a litter, proceed together round the marriage-shed. The bridegroom then stands by the sacred post in the centre and the bride walks seven times round him. In the evening there was a custom of dressing the principal male relatives of the bridegroom in women's clothes and making them dance, but this is now being discarded. On the fifth day is held a rite called Palkachar. A new cot is provided by the bride's father, and on it is spread a red cloth. The couple are seated on this with their hands entwined, and their relations come and make them presents. If the bridegroom catches hold of the dress of his mother- or father-in-law, they are expected to make him a handsome present. In other respects the wedding follows the ordinary Hindu ritual. Widow-marriage and divorce are forbidden among the Parwars proper, and those who practise them go into the lower Benaikia group.

5. Religion: Hindu observances.

The Parwars are practically all Jains of the Digambari sect. They build costly and beautiful temples for their Tirthakars, especially for their favourite Parasnath. They have also many Hindu practices. They observe the Diwali, Rakshabandhan and Holi festivals; they say that at the Diwali the last Tirthakar Mahavira attained beatitude and the gods rained down jewels; the little lamps now lighted at Diwali are held to be symbolic of these jewels. They tie the threads round the wrist on Rakshabandhan to keep off evil spirits. They worship Sitala Devi, the Hindu goddess of smallpox, and employ Brahmans to choose names for their children and fix the dates of their wedding and other ceremonies, though not at the ceremonies themselves.

6. Disposal of the dead.

The caste burn the dead, with the exception of the bodies of young children, which are buried. The corpse is sometimes placed sitting in a car to be taken to the cremation ground, but often laid on a bier in the ordinary manner. The sitting posture is that in which all the Tirthakars attained paradise, and their images always represent them in this posture. The corpse is naked save for a new piece of cloth round the waist, but it is covered with a sheet. The Jains do not shave their hair in token of mourning, nor do they offer sacrificial cakes to the dead. When the body is burnt they bathe in the nearest water and go home. Neither the bearers nor the mourners are held to be impure. Next day the mourning family, both men and women, visit Parasnath's temple, lay two pounds of Indian millet before the god and go home. [167] But in the Central Provinces they whitewash their houses, get their clothes washed, throw away their earthen pots and give a feast to the caste.

7. Social rules and customs.

The Parwars abstain from eating any kind of flesh and from drinking liquor. They have a _panchayat_ and impose penalties for offences against caste rules like the Hindus. Among the offences are the killing of any living thing, unchastity or adultery, theft or other bad conduct, taking cooked food or water from a caste from which the Parwars do not take them, and violation of any rule of their religion. To get vermin in a wound, or to be beaten by a low-caste man or with a shoe, incidents which entail serious penalties among the Hindus, are not offences with the Parwars. When an offender is put out of caste the ordinary deprivation is that he is not allowed to enter a Jain temple, and in serious cases he may also not eat nor drink with the caste. The Parwars are generally engaged in the trade in grain, _ghi_, and other staples. Several of them are well-to-do and own villages.

Bania, Srimali

_Bania, Srimali._--This subcaste takes its name from the town of Srimal, which is now Bhinmal in Marwar. They numbered 600 persons in the Central Provinces in 1911, most of whom belonged to the Hoshangabad District. More than two-thirds were Hindus and the remainder Jains. Colonel Tod writes of Bhinmal and an adjoining town, Sanchor: "These towns are on the high road to Cutch and Gujarat, which has given them from the most remote times a commercial celebrity. Bhinmal is said to contain about 1500 houses and Sanchor half that number. Very wealthy _mahajans_ or merchants used to reside here, but insecurity both within and without has much injured these cities." From Bhinmal the Srimalis appear to have gone to Gujarat, where they are found in considerable numbers. Their legend of origin is that the goddess Lakshmi created from a flower-garland 90,000 families to act as servants to the 90,000 Srimali Brahmans, and these were the ancestors of the Srimali Banias. [168] Both the Jain and Hindu sections of the Srimali Banias employ Srimali Brahmans as priests. Like other classes of Banias, the Srimali are divided into two sections, the Bisa and Dasa, or twenty and ten, of which the Bisa are considered to be of pure and the Dasa of somewhat mixed descent. In Gujarat they also have a third territorial group, known as Ladva, from Lad, the old name of Gujarat. All three subdivisions take food together but do not intermarry. [169] The two highest sections of the Oswal Banias are called Sri Srimal and Srimal, and it is possible that further investigation might show the Srimals and Oswals to have been originally of one stock.

Bania, Umre

_Bania, Umre._--This Hindu subcaste belongs to Damoh and Jubbulpore. They are perhaps the same as the Ummar Banias of the United Provinces, who reside in the Meerut, Agra and Kumaon Divisions. The name Umre is found as a subdivision of several castes in the Central Provinces, as the Telis and others, and is probably derived from some town or tract of country in northern or central India, but no identification has been made. Mr. Bhimbhai Kirparam states that in Gujarat the Ummar Banias are also known as Bagaria from the Bagar or wild country, comprised in the Dongarpur and Pertabgarh States of Rajputana, where considerable numbers of them are still settled. Their headquarters is at Sagwara, near Dongarpur. [170] In Damoh the Umre Banias formerly cultivated the _al_ plant, [171] which yielded a well-known dye, and hence they lost caste, as in soaking the roots of the plant to extract the dye the numerous insects in them are necessarily destroyed. The Dosar subcaste [172] are a branch of the Umre, who allow widow-remarriage.

Banjara

List of Paragraphs

1. _Historical notice of the caste._
2. _Banjaras derived from the Charans or Bhats._
3. _Charan Banjaras employed with the Mughal armies._
4. _Internal structure._
5. _Minor subcastes._
6. _Marriage: betrothal._
7. _Marriage._
8. _Widow-remarriage._
9. _Birth and death._
10. _Religion: Banjari Devi._
11. _Mithu Bhukia._
12. _Siva Bhaia._
13. _Worship of cattle._
14. _Connection with the Sikhs._
15. _Witchcraft._
16. _Human sacrifice._
17. _Admission of outsiders: kidnapped children and slaves._
18. _Dress._
19. _Social customs._
20. _The Naik or headman. Banjara dogs._
21. _Criminal tendencies of the caste._
22. _Their virtues._

1. Historical notice of the caste.

_Banjara, Wanjari, Lahana, Mukeri_. [173]--The caste of carriers and drivers of pack-bullocks. In 1911 the Banjaras numbered about 56,000 persons in the Central Provinces and 80,000 in Berar, the caste being in greater strength here than in any part of India except Hyderabad, where their total is 174,000. Bombay comes next with a figure approaching that of the Central Provinces and Berar, and the caste belongs therefore rather to the Deccan than to northern India. The name has been variously explained, but the most probable derivation is from the Sanskrit _banijya kara_, a merchant. Sir H. M. Elliot held that the name Banjara was of great antiquity, quoting a passage from the Dasa Kumara Charita of the eleventh or twelfth century. But it was subsequently shown by Professor Cowell that the name Banjara did not occur in the original text of this work. [174] Banjaras are supposed to be the people mentioned by Arrian in the fourth century B.C., as leading a wandering life, dwelling in tents and letting out for hire their beasts of burden. [175] But this passage merely proves the existence of carriers and not of the Banjara caste. Mr. Crooke states [176] that the first mention of Banjaras in Muhammadan history is in Sikandar's attack on Dholpur in A.D. 1504. [177] It seems improbable, therefore, that the Banjaras accompanied the different Muhammadan invaders of India, as might have been inferred from the fact that they came into the Deccan in the train of the forces of Aurangzeb. The caste has indeed two Muhammadan sections, the Turkia and Mukeri. [178] But both of these have the same Rajput clan names as the Hindu branch of the caste, and it seems possible that they may have embraced Islam under the proselytising influence of Aurangzeb, or simply owing to their having been employed with the Muhammadan troops. The great bulk of the caste in southern India are Hindus, and there seems no reason for assuming that its origin was Muhammadan.

2. Banjaras derived from the Charans or Bhats.

It may be suggested that the Banjaras are derived from the Charan or Bhat caste of Rajputana. Mr. Cumberlege, whose _Monograph_ on the caste in Berar is one of the best authorities, states that of the four divisions existing there the Charans are the most numerous and by far the most interesting class. [179] In the article on Bhat it has been explained how the Charans or bards, owing to their readiness to kill themselves rather than give up the property entrusted to their care, became the best safe-conduct for the passage of goods in Rajputana. The name Charan is generally held to mean 'Wanderer,' and in their capacity of bards the Charans were accustomed to travel from court to court of the different chiefs in quest of patronage. They were first protected by their sacred character and afterwards by their custom of _traga_ or _chandi_, that is, of killing themselves when attacked and threatening their assailants with the dreaded fate of being haunted by their ghosts. Mr. Bhimbhai Kirparam [180] remarks: "After Parasurama's dispersion of the Kshatris the Charans accompanied them in their southward flight. In those troubled times the Charans took charge of the supplies of the Kshatri forces and so fell to their present position of cattle-breeders and grain-carriers...." Most of the Charans are graziers, cattle-sellers and pack-carriers. Colonel Tod says: [181] "The Charans and Bhats or bards and genealogists are the chief carriers of these regions (Marwar); their sacred character overawes the lawless Rajput chief, and even the savage Koli and Bhil and the plundering Sahrai of the desert dread the anathema of these singular races, who conduct the caravans through the wildest and most desolate regions." In another passage Colonel Tod identifies the Charans and Banjaras [182] as follows: "Murlah is an excellent township inhabited by a community of Charans of the tribe Cucholia (Kacheli), who are Bunjarris (carriers) by profession, though poets by birth. The alliance is a curious one, and would appear incongruous were not gain the object generally in both cases. It was the sanctity of their office which converted our _bardais_ (bards) into _bunjarris_, for their persons being sacred, the immunity extended likewise to their goods and saved them from all imposts; so that in process of time they became the free-traders of Rajputana. I was highly gratified with the reception I received from the community, which collectively advanced to meet me at some distance from the town. The procession was headed by the village elders and all the fair Charanis, who, as they approached, gracefully waved their scarfs over me until I was fairly made captive by the muses of Murlah! It was a novel and interesting scene. The manly persons of the Charans, clad in the flowing white robe with the high loose-folded turban inclined on one side, from which the _mala_ or chaplet was gracefully suspended; and the _naiques_ or leaders, with their massive necklaces of gold, with the image of the _pitriswar_ (_manes_) depending therefrom, gave the whole an air of opulence and dignity. The females were uniformly attired in a skirt of dark-brown camlet, having a bodice of light-coloured stuff, with gold ornaments worked into their fine black hair; and all had the favourite _churis_ or rings of _hathidant_ (elephant's tooth) covering the arm from the wrist to the elbow, and even above it." A little later, referring to the same Charan community, Colonel Tod writes: "The _tanda_ or caravan, consisting of four thousand bullocks, has been kept up amidst all the evils which have beset this land through Mughal and Maratha tyranny. The utility of these caravans as general carriers to conflicting armies and as regular tax-paying subjects has proved their safeguard, and they were too strong to be pillaged by any petty marauder, as any one who has seen a Banjari encampment will be convinced. They encamp in a square, and their grain-bags piled over each other breast-high, with interstices left for their matchlocks, make no contemptible fortification. Even the ruthless Turk, Jamshid Khan, set up a protecting tablet in favour of the Charans of Murlah, recording their exemption from _dind_ contributions, and that there should be no increase in duties, with threats to all who should injure the community. As usual, the sun and moon are appealed to as witnesses of good faith, and sculptured on the stone. Even the forest Bhil and mountain Mair have set up their signs of immunity and protection to the chosen of Hinglaz (tutelary deity); and the figures of a cow and its _kairi_ (calf) carved in rude relief speak the agreement that they should not be slain or stolen within the limits of Murlah."