The tribes and castes of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, Volume 2 (of 4)

Chapter D (3)

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[Death ceremonies.] 8. The tribe appears to be in the transition stage between burial and cremation of the dead. In Oudh they bury: in Mirzapur they usually burn the corpse. The dead are cremated in the usual way on the bank of a neighbouring stream. After the cremation is over they pour some oil on their toe-rings, which they take off and warm over a fire and then return to the house of the deceased, where they sit silent for some time before dispersing. On the third day the chief mourner collects the ashes and throws them into running water, and plants near the stream a few stalks of reed grass (jhurai) as a receptacle for the vagrant spirit. Water is poured on this daily for ten days. On the tenth day is the Ghât ceremony when the clansmen shave each other, no barber being employed. Three balls (pinda) of flour are thrown into the water by the chief mourner, and he pours three handfuls of water on the ground in the name of the dead. While he does this he turns his hands backwards. No Brâhman is employed and the part of priest is taken by the sister’s son of the deceased (another survival of the matriarchate), [323] for which he receives as his fee an axe and a knife. After this the relations and members of the council sit round the chief mourner, and his sister’s husband (bahnoi) ties a turban on his head in proof that he has taken the place of his father.

[Ancestor worship.] 8. They are in great fear of the ghosts of the dead who appear in dreams and worry people if they are not propitiated. Their sacrifice is done at the Phagua (Holi) festival when a goat, fowl, and some spirits are offered to them. When people are sick they make vows to the sainted dead (purkha log), and, when they recover, make offerings to them. In Oudh they are beginning to get a low Brâhman to perform a sort of Srâddha.

[Religion.] 9. The Dharkârs call themselves Hindus but have a special pantheon of their own, the functions of which are exceedingly vague. Pahâr Pando is a sort of mountain god. Dûrasin is possibly a local development of Jarasandha, the deified King of Magadha. Banhiya Bîr (the hero of the arm—bânh) and Deonâth are deified tribal worthies. Angârmati Bhawâni (“the goddess of the blazing charcoal”) is a vague female divinity. Further north towards the Ganges they worship Birtiya, a vague deity who is apparently merely a guardian godling (Sans. vritti, “support, maintenance”), Dulha Deo, the god of marriage, and the five saints of Islâm (Pânchonpîr), especially Parihâr. Dulha Deo is worshipped on a Saturday in the light half of Kârttik or Baisâkh, when a castrated goat (khasi) is offered in the house and the worshippers consume the flesh. He is also propitiated with a loin-cloth dyed in turmeric: and when the worshipper puts this on he gets into a state of frenzy, shakes his head and announces oracles. If Dulha Deo is not worshipped he sends fever and sundry other diseases. The Pânchonpîr are worshipped with the sacrifice of a cock and cakes (rot); all who worship them keep a house shrine in their honour. In Oudh they worship Devi with an offering of a goat.

10. The more Southern Dharkârs worship the pantheon above described collectively every second or third year in the house. First they make a burnt sacrifice (hom) with butter and treacle, then offer a goat and cock, and pour spirits on the ground. Any one can do this worship, and no Brâhman or Baiga is employed. They worship the sainted dead at the Holi, Dasahra, and in the month of Kuâr. On these occasions they all get drunk and dance in a special way with rattling bangles (ghungru) attached to their ankles to the music of the tambourine (dafla) and the flute (bânsuli). Then they visit in procession the houses of the respectable people in the village, dance, and receive fees (phirihri). The usual allowance is a sieve (sûp) full of any kind of grain. They believe sunstroke to be due to the attack of Angârmati Bhawâni, who rides in her chariot through the sky in the hot weather. She is appeased on such occasions with a burnt offering (hom) and the sacrifice of a goat. All the collective godlings of their pantheon have their abode in a mud platform (chaura) erected in the dwelling house. Traces of tree worship are found in their adoration at marriages of a branch of the cotton tree which has the special name of Kalyâni or “the auspicious one.” Among the myriad ghosts which surround them they particularly fear the ghosts of drowned people (bûrna) who infest tanks where people have been drowned and push in unwary travellers.

11. Fields have also their special Bhûts, and the shrine of a person killed by a tiger (baghaut) is specially reverenced. Their special worship of the bamboo consists in their cutting one bamboo in the month of Aghan when the general cutting begins. This they bring home with marked respect and make a burnt offering (hom) before it with butter and treacle. After this bamboo-cutting and basket-making go on. The women tattoo themselves in the usual way: if they do not, Bhagwân brands them with a torch when they die. Friday is their lucky day, and on that day they commence bamboo-cutting. They have the usual meeting omens and the ordinary ideas about the quarters of the heavens. They believe in the demoniacal theory of disease. In such cases they get the Baiga to do a sacrifice to the collective village gods (deohâr): a goat or cock is the usual offering. In specially bad cases of illness the Baiga or Ojha is called in and recognises the particular Bhût, which causes trouble, by shaking about and counting some grains of barley in a sieve. When a person is attacked by the Evil Eye they get some cow-dung ashes, blow into it five times in the name of the sainted dead, and then rub it on the child. In very bad cases a special offering is made to the spirits of the dead (purkha log).

[Social customs.] 12. The women wear pewter anklets (pairi), glass or lac bangles (chûri) on the wrists, and brass rings (churla) on the upper arm, with a pewter ring on the big toe. They abandon this ring on widowhood, and, as has been seen in treating of the death ceremonies, it is supposed to have some mystic significance. On the toe next the big toe women wear a small pewter ring (chhutki). This is also taken off at widowhood. On their foreheads they wear spangles (tikuli), palm leaf ornaments (tarki) in the ears, and beads (guriya) round the neck. They swear by putting a bamboo on the head, and think that if they forswear themselves they lose their children and property. They have now prohibited eating beef and punish its use by excommunication: but this is quite recent, and hardly prevails generally among the less Hinduised branch of the tribe south of the Son. In Oudh some of them will not eat meat during the fortnight (pitrapaksha) sacred to the dead. They will not eat food cooked in butter (pakka khâna) if touched by a Chamâr, Dhobi, Patâri, Bhuiya, or Dom. They consider themselves much superior to the Doms, as they have abandoned the filthy habits common to the ordinary Doms. Food cooked in water (kachcha khâna) they will eat only if cooked by one of their own caste. They have the usual Dom prejudice against the Dhobi. They will not touch their younger brother’s wife, their wife’s elder sister or the mother (samdhin) of their sons’ or daughters’ wives and husbands. They use spirits and tobacco freely. Men and women eat apart; men first and women after them: but a very old woman is allowed to eat with the men. Seniors they salute in the pâêlagi form, and receive the blessing (asîs) in return. They are very hospitable and will borrow to entertain a guest. As a rule they treat women fairly well, but beat them if they misbehave themselves. They are respectful to the old. No Dharkâr was ever known to read or write. They have a very strong tribal council, and very seldom come before the courts. They work only in bamboo, not in reed (sentha). They make winnowing fans (sûp), baskets (dauri), boxes (petâra), betel boxes (bilahra), and red lead boxes (pauti). These in the villages are made always on grain wages, and it is only in towns that they are paid in cash.

DISTRIBUTION OF DHARKÂRS ACCORDING TO THE CENSUS OF 1891.

==============+=========+=========+=======+=======
Districts. |Bânsphor.|Benbansi.|Others.|Total.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~
Dehra Dûn | ... | ... | 13 | 13
Sahâranpur | ... | ... | 32 | 32
Allahâbâd | 198 | 986 | 4,050 | 5,234
Benares | ... | 1,559 | 323 | 1,882
Ghâzipur | ... | ... | 1 | 1
Gorakhpur | 102 | 3,588 | 1,538 | 5,228
Basti | 213 | 4,712 | 379 | 5,304
Azamgarh | 798 | 2,505 | 431 | 3,734
Lucknow | 28 | 1 | 40 | 69
Faizâbâd | 144 | 2,274 | 278 | 2,696
Gonda | ... | 1,311 | 485 | 1,796
Bahrâich | ... | 66 | 16 | 82
Sultânpur | 285 | 1,453 | 636 | 2,374
Partâbgarh | 37 | 555 | 602 | 1,194
+~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~
Total | 1,805 | 19,010 | 8,824 |29,639
==============+=========+=========+=======+=======

Dhobi., [324]—the washerman caste who take their name from the Hindi dhona (Sans. dhâv), to wash. Dhobis have no very distinct traditions of their origin. In Bihâr, according to Mr. Risley, [325] they trace their descent from Gâri Bhuiya—one of the local gods of that part of the country. Another account makes them out to be the offspring of a Kshatriya father and a Chamâr woman. In Mirzapur they name as their ancestor a personage named Râwat, and say that Mahâdeva and Pârvati, disgusted at the filth of the people of the world, created the Dhobi to keep their clothes clean in future. Mr. Nesfield suggests that “the washerman represents an impure caste, but is many degrees higher than that of the Bhangi, from whom he has sprung. Both are descended from the Dom, whose sole wealth, according to Manu, must be dogs and asses. The Indian washerman has always been associated with the indigenous ass, which carries the soiled clothes down to the bank of the river or tank, and takes them back clean to the house. No Hindu of any caste, even the lowest, will wash his own clothes, and so the Dhobi has been formed into a caste which shall bear the impurities of all.” Mr. Risley disputes this connection of Doms and Dhobis through the common use of the donkey on various grounds. “In the first place the use of donkeys by the Dhobi caste is so far from being universal that it has given rise to the formation of a slightly inferior sub-caste called Gadhaiya. Secondly, beyond the highly conjectural identification of the Doms with the Chandâls spoken of by Manu, there is nothing to show that the Doms have the faintest partiality for the donkey. On the contrary the Magahiya Doms of Bihâr will not touch a donkey and regard the Dhobi with very special aversion.” It does not appear necessary to connect the Dhobi with either the Dom or Bhangi in order to account for the low social rank which he holds. One of his chief tasks, except among the Dravidian tribes who do the work themselves, is to wash the clothing of women after child-birth, and his association with blood of this kind, which is particularly abhorred, stamps him as specially impure. Like the Kumhâr he keeps asses; but every Dhobi does not necessarily do so, and may use oxen for carrying clothes to and from the river.

[Internal Organisation.] 2. Like many castes of the same social grade Dhobis assert that there are seven endogamous divisions or sub-castes. Thus Sir H. M. Elliot gives the sub-castes as Kanaujiya, Magahiya, Pagahiya, Belwâr, Bâtham, and Sribâtham (who take their name from Srâvasti) and Bharka. The last Census gives eleven—Ajudhyabâsi, Bais, Chithoriya, Deswâr, Kaithiya, Kanaujiya, Kathariya, Mathuriya, Purbiya or Purabiya, and Sribâstab. A list from Mirzapur gives them as Kanaujiya, Belwâr, Magahiya, Sribâstab, Musalmân Dhobi, Baiswâra, and Bhojpuriya. Another from Agra gives—Mathuriya, Bharka, Mârwâri, Purbiya, and Purbiya Kampu. In Bareilly we find Kathariya, Dehliwâla, Kampûwâla, and Musalmân. All these are endogamous. Their rule of exogamy, as stated by them, at Mirzapur is that they will not marry in the family of their maternal uncle, father’s sister or their own family (kul) as long as any connection by marriage is remembered. The complete Census Return shows no less than 925 sub-divisions of the Hindu and 216 of the Muhammadan branch. Of these the most important locally are the Chauhân, Chhonkar and Gaur of Muzaffarnagar, the Chhonkar of Meerut, the Purabiya of Agra, the Deswâli of Farrukhâbâd, the Sakarwâr of Mainpuri, the Bakhar, Jalchhatri, Magadhiya, Mangasha and Pâthak of Bareilly, the Râjput of Morâdâbâd, the Bhadauriya, Jalkhatri, and Mahadwâr of Shâhjahânpur, the Deswâli and Purbiya of Pilibhît, the Amethiya and Belwâr of Cawnpur, the Mâthur of Fatehpur, the Belwâr and Mâthur of Bânda, the Dakkhinâha, Sarwariya and Uttarâha of Basti, the Dakkhinâha, Deswâli, Sarwariya and Uttarâha of Azamgarh, the Purabiya of Lucknow, the Jalpachhar, Magaraha and Sarwariya of Râê Bareli, the Jaiswâr of Faizâbâd, the Ujjaini of Gonda, the Bahrâichiya of Bahrâich, the Jaiswâr of Sultânpur, and the Mangaraha of Bârabanki.

[Marriage ceremonies.] 3. To the east of the Province the age for marriage is twelve for girls and fourteen for boys. A match maker (agua) at the request of the girl’s father looks out for a suitable match. When the auspicious time (sa’at) has been fixed by the Brâhman, he casts the horoscopes (gauna girâna), and when these are found to correspond, the parents meet and the rite of kori katori is performed. In this the girl’s father fills a glass full of liquor, puts into it a silver coin and passes it over to the boy’s father with the words Râm! Râm! When he has drunk he hands it back to the girl’s father, who also drinks out of it, and then liquor is served to the clansmen present. This constitutes the betrothal (mangni). Then a Brâhman is called in for the dhân pân. In this the girl’s father takes one ser of paddy, two packets of betel and two betel-nuts. Both fathers hold a cloth in their hands. The Brâhman first throws one packet of betel and one betel-nut into the cloth where it is held by the boy’s father, and does the same for the girl’s father. He next throws a handful of paddy five times into each side of the cloth. Both parents tie this up, and it is parched and used for throwing over the pair at the wedding. Then the Brâhman explains to both the fathers the lucky days for the collection of the sacred earth (matmangara) and for the anointing (tel hardi), and the proper date for the wedding. For this service each gives the Brâhman a pice and a ration of uncooked grain. The girl is feasted that night and returns home the following morning.

4. On the day of the matmangara the women assemble and sing after they have anointed their heads with oil. Then the sacred earth is collected in the way already described in the case of the Bhuiyas. On the day of the anointing five men of the tribe erect the marriage pavilion in the usual manner. The barber’s wife rubs the boy with a sprig of dûb grass soaked in oil and turmeric. No Brâhman attends. On the bhatwân day the clansmen are fed on rice and pulse, and at night they get drunk and sing the song known as birha. When the bridegroom, dressed in his wedding garments, starts with his procession, he is carried out as far as the door in the arms of his brother-in-law. When he gets outside the village his wedding clothes are taken off, and he does the rest of the journey on foot until he approaches the house of the bride, when he is dressed again. His brother-in-law again carries him in his arms to the door of the bride’s house, where the wave ceremony (parachhan) is done by his future mother-in-law, who moves a rice pounder, sieve and a lota full of water round his head. During this time a Dhârhi plays the mridang or double drum, and the women beat earthen saucers (thiliya) with pieces of stone. Then men sing the birha and the women the lâchâri songs. The wedding party then retire to the reception place (janwânsa) where all the clansmen assemble. There some food is sent for the bridegroom from the bride. Then the bridegroom and another boy who acts as his best man (shâhbâla) eat together. This food is brought by the girl’s brother-in-law, who receives one anna as his perquisite. Then the clansmen have a drink and salute each other. When the lucky time arrives for the marriage, they take the bridegroom to the pavilion and seat him on a stool facing the east. The friends sit on each side. A piece of mango wood is lighted and some clarified butter dropped on it with mango leaves (tallo). The men recite the auspicious marriage songs (sumangala swâha) and then the bride is brought into the pavilion by her sister or sister-in-law and she knots together the clothes of the pair. Then the bride’s father washes the great toes of the pair in a tray full of Ganges water, which he drinks, and throws a little of the water on his head. Then behind the shelter of a sheet which is held up before them the boy applies red lead to the parting of the girl’s hair, and they walk five times round the marriage pavilion. The boy’s elder brother throws parched rice over them, and puts a necklace round the bride’s neck. Then her sister-in-law escorts the pair into the retiring room (kohabar) and makes them bow to the family god. After this the boy’s wedding crown is removed and he returns to the wedding party.

5. Next comes the wedding feast (byâh ka bhât). Unmarried boys among Dhobis do not eat boiled rice (bhât). They taste it first after they are married. The next day the bride goes off with her husband. On the third day is the panwpheri, when, if the two houses are near, the bride goes alone back to her father’s house and comes home by herself to her husband. Widows are married in the ordinary way by the sagâi or dharauna form and the levirate is allowed, but it is not compulsory on the widow to take the younger brother of her late husband.

[Birth and death ceremonies.] 6. The ceremonies at birth and death are of the usual type common among tribes of the same social standing. The ceremonial shaving (mûnran) is not usually done unless the parents have been blessed with a son in answer to a vow (manauti).

[Religion.] 7. Dhobis usually worship the Pânchonpîr and Devi. They are much given to the worship of ghosts, one of whom named Ghatoriya has a great reputation in Bundelkhand. They have a very strong tribal council and are very severe on breaches of caste custom. They rank of course very low in the social scale, and no respectable Hindu will take anything from their hands. He is the subject of many proverbs:

Nai dhobiniya aweli,
Chirkutwe sâbun laweli.

“The new washerwoman will apply soap even to rags.” “A new broom sweeps clean.” Dhobi par Dhobi base, tab kapre par sâbun pare. “When many Dhobis compete, then only does soap reach the clothes.” [326]

DISTRIBUTION OF DHOBIS ACCORDING TO THE CENSUS OF 1891.

==============+======+=====+======+===+=====+======+=======+======+======+===+======+=======+======+======= Districts. | Ajudhiyabâsi. | | Bais. | | | Bâtham. | | | | Chithoriya. | | | | | Deswâr. | | | | | | Kaithiya. | | | | | | | Kanaujiya. | | | | | | | | Kathariya. | | | | | | | | | Mathuriya. | | | | | | | | | | Purbiya. | | | | | | | | | | | Sribâstab. | | | | | | | | | | | | Others. | | | | | | | | | | | | | Musalmân Dhobis. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Total. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~+~~~~~+~~~~~~+~~~+~~~~~+~~~~~~+~~~~~~~+~~~~~~+~~~~~~+~~~+~~~~~~+~~~~~~~+~~~~~~+~~~~~~~ Dehra Dûn | ... | ... | ... |...| ...| ...| 629| ...| ...|...| ...| 719| 313| 1,661 Sahâranpur | ... | ... | ... |...| ...| ...| 211| ...| ...|...| ...| 3,652| 4,340| 8,203 Muzaffarnagar | ... | ... | 12|...| ...| ...| ...| ...| ...|...| ...| 821| 5,413| 6,246 Meerut | ... | ... | ... |...| ...| ...| ...| ...| ...|...| ...| 2,110| 8,684| 10,794 Bulandshahr | ... | ... | ... |...| ...| ...| 19| 60| 186|...| ...| 7,982| 1,906| 10,153 Aligarh | ... | ... | ... |...| ...| ...| ...| ...| 4,665|...| ...| 10,015| 1,187| 15,867 Mathura | ... | ... | 609| 1| 347| ...| 109| 105| 1,488|...| ...| 4,031| 1,046| 7,736 Agra | ... | ... | 2,951| 38|1,229| ...| 264| ...| 2,380|648| ...| 4,998| 675| 13,183 Farrukhâbâd | ... | 142| 1,491|...| ...| 4,435| 2,866| 76| 115|...| 142| 3,031| 239| 12,537 Mainpuri | ... | 129| 1,208| 11| ...| 2,621| 297| ...| 5,523|...| ...| 3,674| 18| 13,481 Etâwah | ... | ... | 7,198|...| ...| 920| 319| ...| 510|...| 88| 2,480| 3| 11,518 Etah | ... | ... | 6|138| ...| 645| 15| 7| 9,781|...| ...| 1,406| 379| 12,377 Bareilly | ... | ... | ... |...| ...| ...| 113| 8,604| ...|...| ...| 9,546| 3,838| 22,101 Bijnor | ... | ... | ... |...| ...| ...| 152| ...| ...|...| ...| 1,445| 7,030| 8,627 Budâun | ... | ... | ... |...| ...| 95 | 37| 715| 8,110|...| ...| 2,400| 4,174| 15,531 Morâdâbâd | ... | ... | ... |...| ...| ...| 17| ...| 884|...| ...| 5,967| 7,384| 14,252 Shâhjahânpur | ... | 107| 8,470|...| ...| 390| 1,384| 382| 1,760|...| 376| 6,427| 325| 19,571 Pilibhît | ... | 60| 1,563|...| ...| ...| 1,621| 293| 734|...| 571| 4,819| 314| 9,975 Cawnpur | ... | 39| 8,202|...| ...| 125| 1,528| 47| ...|...| 2,173| 5,170| 117| 17,401 Fatehpur | ... | 276| 4,740|...| ...| ...| 105| ...| ...|...| 1,645| 1,795| 708| 9,269 Bânda | ... | ...| 2,159|...| ...| ...| 15| ...| ...|...| 5,506| 1,057| 172| 8,909 Hamîrpur | ... | 249| 182|...| ...| ...| 7| ...| 10|...| 5,806| 1,698| 377| 8,329 Allahâbâd | ... | ...| 9,195|...| ...| ...| 4,840| ...| ...|...| 809| 5,715| 715| 21,274 Jhânsi | ... | ...| 4,314|...| ...| ...| 315| ...| 25|...| 637| 1,250| 15| 6,556 Jâlaun | ... | 14| 4,443|...| ...| ...| 9| ...| ...|...| 108| 1,667| 144| 6,385 Lalitpur | ... | 20| 3,771|...| ... | ...| 1| ...| ...|...| ...| 625| ...| 4,417 Benares | ... | ... | ... |...| ... | ...| 6,878| ...| ...|...| ...| 344| 818| 8,040 Mirzapur | ... | ... | ... |...| ... | 442| 9,044| ...| ...|...| ...| 2,308| 672| 12,466 Jaunpur | ... | ... | ... |...| ... | ...| ...| ...|12,776|...| ...| 1,783| 1,080| 15,639 Ghâzipur | ... | ... | ... |...| ... | ...| 7,076| ...| ...|...| ...| 396| 1,250| 8,722 Ballia | ... | ... | ... |...| ... | ...| 7,947| ...| ...|...| ...| 280| 6| 8,233 Gorakhpur | 117| ... | ... |...| ... | ...| 37,238| ...| ...|...| ...| 9,174| 2,971| 49,500 Basti | 4,128| ... | ... |...| ... | ...| 17,425| ...| ...|...| ...| 12,367| 1,795| 35,715 Azamgarh | ... | ... | ... | 22| ... | ...| 14,071| ...| 68|...| ...| 1,115| 2,212| 14,488 Kumâun | ... | ... | ... |...| ... | ...| 11| ...| ...|...| ...| 195| ...| 206 Garhwâl | ... | ... | ... |...| ... | ...| ...| ...| ...|...| ...| 32| 29| 61 Tarâi | ... | ... | ... |...| ... | ...| 38| 1,258| ...|...| ...| 526| 2,096| 3,918 Lucknow | 140| 82| 1,034|...| ... | ...| 2,052| ...| ...|...| 2,092| 6,624| 769| 12,793 Unâo | ... | 447| 1,781|...| ... | ...| 1,991| ...| ...|...| 7,784| 3,828| 311| 16,142 Râê Bareli | 24| 33| 1,098|...| ... | 62| 3,258| 43| 1,715|...| ...| 6,408| 474| 13,115 Sîtapur | 318| ...| 5,558|...| ... | ...| 1,143| 27| 81|...| 3,768| 8,616| 889| 20,400 Hardoi | ... | ...|14,628|...| ... | ...| 497| ...| ...|...| ...| 3,955| 452| 19,532 Kheri | 27| 19| 8,874| 71| ... | 74| 499| 126| 5|...| 347| 3,017| 1,755| 16,814 Faizâbâd | 1,094| ... | 14|...| ... | ... | 12,698| ... | ... |...| 141| 2,632| 638| 17,217 Gonda | 6,619| ... | ... |...| ... | 283| 1,906| ... | ... |...| ... | 14,377| 2,450| 25,635 Bahrâich | 2,958| 2| 428|...| ... | ... | 2,634| ... | ... |...| 259| 9,476| 3,469| 19,226 Sultânpur | 165| 54| 1,163|...| ... | ... | 6,612| ... | ... |...| 674| 3,951| 1,319| 13,938 Partâbgarh | ... | ... | ... |...| ... | ... | 2,632| ... | ... |...| 862| 5,557| 1,385| 10,436 Bârabanki | 19| 78| 370|...| ... | ... | 7,200| ... | ... |...| 763| 6,124| 2,591| 17,145 +~~~~~~+~~~~~+~~~~~~+~~~+~~~~~+~~~~~~+~~~~~~~+~~~~~~+~~~~~~+~~~+~~~~~~+~~~~~~~+~~~~~~+~~~~~~~ Total |15,609|1,751|95,462|281|1,576|10,092|157,723|11,693|50,816|648|36,551|197,585|78,947|658,734 ==============+======+=====+======+===+=====+======+=======+======+======+===+======+=======+======+=======

Dhuniya, Dhuna (Hindi dhunna, “to card:” Sans. dhu, “to agitate”), the cotton-carding caste. Other names for them are Behna (Sans. vija, “seed”), who is properly the man who removes the cotton seed from the fibre; Katera (kâtna “to spin”), Kandera (Sans. karsha, “dragging,” kâra, “doer”); if he is a Muhammadan or the speaker a pedant he is called Naddâf, which in Arabic means “separator.” There are some Hindus who carry on this occupation; but most of them are Muhammadans, and these alone find an entry in the returns of the last Census.

[The Hindu Dhuniyas.] 2. To the west of the Province the Hindu Dhuniyas claim to be of Râjput origin. They are divided into five endogamous sub-castes—Chauhân and Bargûjar, which are well-known Râjput septs; and the Dhakeri, Bargali and Chhunkari, which take their names from the dhâk tree (butea frondosa), the bar (Ficus Indica), and the chhonkar (prosopis spicigera), all of which are sacred trees and regarded with special respect by those Dhuniyas who take their names from them. This idea is probably of totemistic origin. The sub-castes are endogamous, and though there does not appear to be any regular formula of exogamy, marriage is usually forbidden in the families of the uncles and aunts on both sides. Their marriage, birth, and death customs are of the usual type common to low castes in the same social grade. Their deities are Mâta, the small-pox goddess, Mîrân Sâhib, the saint of Amroha, Châmar, Devi, and the Ganges. They employ Brâhmans in their religious ceremonies and perform the srâddha for deceased ancestors. They drink spirits and eat the flesh of goats, sheep and fish, but not beef, pork, fowls, or carrion.

[The Muhammadan Dhuniyas.] 3. These were recorded in the general Census Report under only one main sub-caste, the Mansûri, who take their name from a tribal saint, Khwâja Mansûr, of whom they can give no account, save that he was a faqîr of wondrous piety, who had the power of working miracles. He is believed to have been a native of Rûm or Constantinople, and to have accompanied the Dhuniyas when they entered the country in the train of the early Muhammadan invaders. To the east of the Province they call themselves Sunni Muhammadans, but they have retained in their domestic ceremonies many of the forms of the Hindu ritual of the lower castes from which most of them are probably converts. Thus they collect the sacred earth (matmangara) at marriages, carry out the night watch (ratjaga) before marriage, and there is a distinct survival of marriage by capture in the observance by which the bride, when the bridegroom arrives at the house for the marriage, is furnished with a small stick with which she gives him two or three slight blows on the head as he enters the door. The marriage service is read by the Qâzi if the parties are well-off; by the Dafâli if they are poor. At death if there is an educated Muhammadan present he reads the Fâtiha; but this is not indispensable. They are usually worshippers of the Pânchonpîr, and they have one special usage, known as the Piyâla or “cup,” when on a Tuesday in the month of Aghan the men and women go to the riverside and offer up some spirits and sweetmeats to Sahjamâi, one of the quintette of the Pânchonpîr; this is consumed by the Dafâli who acts as priest. They spend the whole night by the river listening to the songs sung in honour of the goddess by the Dafâli.

4. The complete Census Returns show 152 sections of the Muhammadan branch of the tribe. Many of them are local terms, such as the Ajudhyabâsi, Audhiya, Bahrâichi, Baksariya, Gangapâri, Mathuriya, Purabiya; others are taken from well-known castes or septs, such as the Baheliya, Banjâra, Bargûjar, Chauhân, Dhângar, Gaur, Gorakhi, Gûjar, Kharebindi, Madâri, Mukeri, Naddâf, Panwâr, Pathân, Râjput, Râthaur, Râwat; others are purely Muhammadan in form as Ansâri, Châryâri, Jalâli, Khwâja-mahar, Khwâja-mansûri, Khwâja-Muhammadi, Khwâja-Sarâi, Muhammad Hanfi, Muhammadi, Momîn, Sayyid, Shâhmansûri, Shaikh Shiah, Sunni, Turkiya, and Usmâni.

[Occupation.] 5. The primary business of the Dhuniya is the carding or rather scutching of cotton. This is done by subjecting it to the vibration produced by a bow string (dhanuhi, Sanskrit, dhanus). The bow is usually suspended from the roof so as to hang at a convenient height above the pile of loose cotton. The string is then twanged with a wooden catch so as to strike a small portion of the cotton, the fibre of which is scattered by the impact and thrown off in an uniform condition of soft fluff. At the same time any dirt which is entangled in the fibre falls out and the clean cotton is made up into balls, some of which are passed on to the spinner and some are used for the padding of quilts and wraps (razâi, lihâf) and the warm-padded garments used in the cold weather. The Dhuniya also sometimes keeps a small shop where he sells thread and various articles, such as pewter bangles, forehead spangles, and similar things. Another trade which he often follows is the making of the little charcoal balls (tikiya) used for lighting the tobacco in the huqqa.

[Nâmdeo, the saint.] 6. The Dhuniyas have in Nâmdeo Bhagat a tribal saint who is much respected by them. He is said to have been born in Mârwâr in A.D. 1443 and to have flourished in the time of Sikandar Lodi (1488–1512). According to one account he was a Mahratta and was born at Pandharpur, in the Dakkhin. “He is said to have been persecuted by the Musalmâns, who tried to persuade him to repeat the words Allâh! Allâh! instead of his favourite Râm! Râm! but by a variety of astonishing miracles he escaped from their hands. After a considerable amount of travelling to and fro, he at last settled in the village of Ghumân, in the Batâla Tahsîl of the Gurdâspur District, where he died. A shrine, known as the Darbâr, was erected in his honour in Ghumân, and on the Sankrânt day of every Mâgh a crowded fair is held there in his honour. His followers can scarcely be said to constitute a sect. They are almost entirely Chhimbas (the Dhuniyas of these Provinces) or Dhobis by caste. Their founder appears to have stoutly resisted the pretensions of Muhammadanism, and was looked as a follower of Râmchandra, but his Hinduism was by no means of the ordinary type. He taught emphatically the unity of God and the uselessness of ceremonial, and his doctrines would appear to have approached fairly close to those of Nânak and the Eastern Sikhs; and several of his poems are included in the Sikh Adi Granth. At any rate the followers of Bâba Nâmdeo are very largely Sikhs by religion, and they are said, whether Sikhs or Hindus by religion, to hold the Granth in reverence and to follow many Sikh customs. They have no distinctive worship of their own.” [327]

DISTRIBUTION OF THE DHUNIYAS ACCORDING TO THE CENSUS OF 1891.

==============+========+=======+=======
Districts. |Mansûri.|Others.|Total.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~
Dehra Dûn | ... | 179| 179
Sahâranpur | ... | 2,799| 2,799
Muzaffarnagar | ... | 3,013| 3,013
Meerut | ... | 4,422| 4,422
Bulandshahr | ... | 1,500| 1,500
Aligarh | 1,330 | 5,041| 6,371
Mathura | ... | 64| 64
Agra | 11 | 399| 410
Farrukhâbâd | 1 | 7,329| 7,330
Mainpuri | ... | 3,263| 3,263
Etâwah | 51 | 3,737| 3,788
Etah | ... | 4,525| 4,525
Bareilly | 1,520 | 11,708| 13,228
Bijnor | ... | 11,056| 11,056
Budâun | 44 | 1,808| 1,852
Morâdâbâd | ... | 7,862| 7,862
Shâhjahânpur | 118 | 8,589| 8,707
Pilibhît | 15 | 5,932| 5,947
Cawnpur | 126 | 8,383| 8,509
Fatehpur | 1,639 | 3,756| 5,395
Bânda | 2,681 | 4,724| 7,405
Hamîrpur | ... | 8,341| 8,341
Allahâbâd | 2,238 | 15,841| 18,079
Jhânsi | 228 | 4,374| 4,602
Jâlaun | 70 | 2,894| 2,964
Lalitpur | ... | 1,116| 1,116
Benares | 703 | 4,553| 5,256
Mirzapur | 372 | 6,003| 6,375
Jaunpur | 11,710 | 2,049| 13,759
Ghâzipur | 2,055 | 2,318| 4,373
Ballia | 608 | 3,042| 3,650
Gorakhpur | 30,520 | 9,949| 40,469
Basti | 28,559 | 1,024| 29,583
Azamgarh | 2,256 | 17,428| 19,684
Tarâi | ... | 1,745| 1,745
Lucknow | 1,460 | 4,186| 5,646
Unâo | 566 | 7,344| 7,910
Râê Bareli | 115 | 9,035| 9,150
Sîtapur | 5,845 | 7,749| 13,594
Hardoi | 50 | 10,708| 10,758
Kheri | 511 | 11,127| 11,638
Faizâbâd | 1 | 12,787| 12,788
Gonda | 699 | 12,264| 16,963
Bahrâich | 1,096 | 15,037| 16,133
Sultânpur | ... | 7,909| 7,909
Partâbgarh | 258 | 7,369| 7,627
Bârabanki | 1,064 | 13,186| 14,250
+~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~
Total | 98,520 |303,467|401,987
==============+========+=======+=======

Dhûsar; Dhûnsar, [328] a tribe usually classed as a sub-caste of Banyas, but who claim a higher origin than the ordinary Vaisyas. They take their name from a hill called Dhûsi or Dhosi, near Nârnaul, on the borders between Alwar and British territory. There their ancestor Chima or Chimand Rishi is said to have performed his devotions. This Rishi is said to have married a daughter of the Râja of Kâshi or Benares. Their head-quarters in Western India are Rewâri, in Gurgâon. Their pretensions to Brâhmanical origin are admitted by Brâhmans themselves, and they are now usually known as Bhârgava or “descendants of Bhrigu,” who was one of the Prajapatis or great Rishis, and is regarded as the founder of the race of the Bhrigus or Bhârgavas, in which were born Jamadagni and Parasurâma. Manu calls him son, and says that he confides to him his Institutes. According to the Mahâbhârata he officiated at Daksha’s celebrated sacrifice, and had his beard pulled out by Siva. The same authority also tells the following story:—“It is related of Bhrigu that he rescued the sage Agastya from the tyranny of King Nahusha, who had obtained superhuman power. Bhrigu crept into Agastya’s hair to avoid the potent glance of Nahusha, and when that tyrant attached Agastya to his chariot and kicked him on the head to make him move, Bhrigu cursed Nahusha and he was turned into a serpent. Bhrigu on Nahusha’s supplication, limited the duration of the curse.” [329]

2. In the hills they appear to be in some places Banyas and in others Brâhmans. “They take their food before morning prayer, contrary to the usual Hindu custom. Of late years, however, they have begun to adopt the more orthodox custom. They do not eat animal or other prohibited food, and do not drink spirits. They worship the orthodox deities and consider Brahma, Siva and Vishnu the same God under different forms. The Brâhman Dhûsar marries among his caste fellows, and the Banya with Banyas, avoiding always the same family (gotra) or one having the same family deity.” [330] The only sections shown in the Census Returns are Kâns and Mâhur.

3. In the plains their traditions vary. According to one account they were driven from their original home, Kashmîr, by the tyranny of their rulers, and settled in Delhi. In Benares they fix on Delhi as their home. Those in Mathura have emigrated from Gurgâon and have acquired considerable property and influence. “They combine the office aptitude of the Kâyasth with the keen scent for money-making and the flinty hard-heartedness to a debtor characteristic of a Banya. They are consequently mostly hard landlords and wealthy men. They are the hereditary Qânûngos of Mathura and Chhâta.” [331]

4. Dhûsars are all Vaishnavas, and in these Provinces at least none of them are Sarâogis. They regulate their lives by the most orthodox rules of Hinduism and are particularly careful in the observance of Hindu ceremonies. They are a rising, ambitious, thriving class, excellent clerks and men of business. They are also noted for their skill in music.

5. The Bhârgava Sabha of Jaypur has supplied an account of the caste which represents that the Dhûsars were formerly family priests (Purohit) of various Râjas, but they now, since the Muhammadan invasions, have discontinued these functions. Other usages (âchâr) they practise like Brâhmans. Only those who are noted for Sanskrit learning are known by the title Pandit. Like other Brâhmans they worship the Rishis, from whom these eponymous gotras are derived. Some do the oblation (tarpana) daily: others at the Pitrapaksha, or fortnight devoted to the dead. They worship the ordinary Pâncha Devata or five greater gods.

The main saints of the creed are Charandâsji, Navaldâsji and Nârâyandâsji, who flourished at Delhi, Mathura and Bindraban, respectively.

6. Their gotras are—

(1) Vid or Bandlas, with the Pravaras, Bhârgava, Chivan, Aptvân,
Aurab, Bayidît.
(2) Bâchhlas or Vatsa, with Pravaras, Bhârgava, Chivan, Aptvân,
Aurab, and Jâmdagna.
(3) Bâchhlas or Vatsa, with Pravaras, Bâchhal, Arjuna and Batsat.
(4) Kâsib or Kâship with Pravaras, Kâship, Kutsa, Bhârgava, Chivan,
Aptvân, Aurab, Jâmdagna.
(5) Gârglas or Gâglas, with Pravaras, Gârgal, Dhriti, Mândava,
Chivan, Vaishama, or Vinait.
(6) Kutsa or Kuchlas, with Pravaras, Kutsa, Aurab, Jâmdagna.
(7) Gâlas or Golas, with Pravaras, Bhârgava, Chivan, and Jâmdagna.
All follow the ritual of the Yajur Veda. They claim to belong to
the Pancha Gauda stock. They are invested with the Brâhmanical cord
in the ordinary way. Each family has its own household god (Kula
devata).

DISTRIBUTION OF THE DHÛSARS BY THE CENSUS OF 1891.[332]

Dikhit; Dikhshit (Sans. dikhshita, “initiated, consecrated”), a functional division of Brâhmans.—“The priest specially employed to initiate a Hindu boy into the performance of his religious duties, and to give him the second birth is called a Dikhshit. The word is simply a corruption of Dikhshitri, “one who initiates.” It is only boys of the upper castes, that is those who are called “the twice-born” (dvija) who are entitled to the privilege of Diksha. But Brâhmanism has for the last thousand years and more been steadily descending into lower and lower strata of the population, absorbing one indigenous tribe after another; and hence the possession of this privilege cannot now be considered a mark of twice-born ancestry. The orthodox age for undergoing the rite of diksha is on the completion of the seventh year. The Hindu book of ceremonies, known as Karam Kand, calls it the eighth, but the figure is raised to eight by counting the nine months preceding birth as an additional year. At the present day the orthodox age is not always observed, and a boy can be initiated a year or two after if it suits the convenience of the parents to postpone incurring the expenditure which these rites entail. A boy, whatever his parentage may be, is not a full Hindu until the diksha has been performed. Up till then he is little better than a Sûdra or unregenerated person. But on and after that day he incurs the religious responsibilities to which his parents have all along intended to dedicate him, as a Christian boy does by the double rite of baptism and confirmation. Girls are never initiated as boys are; and thus a high caste woman who marries a man of the Sûdra rank cannot but become a Sûdra herself. This, I suspect, is the real explanation of the abhorrence felt by Hindus to a woman being married into a caste lower than her own. The same abhorrence has never been felt to a “twice-born” man marrying or cohabiting with a Sûdra woman; for the woman can rise to the rank of her husband, but as she has never been initiated she cannot raise the husband to her own. Thus in Manu’s Code a Brâhman was allowed to take a Sûdra woman into his house; but if a Sûdra man married a Brâhman woman, the son became a Chandâla, a sinful and abominable wretch.

2. “The entire ceremony of diksha lasts some eight or nine days. Throughout those days the boy is put upon a very strict diet, and undergoes a vigorous course of ablutions. He is bathed regularly at certain hours; after the bath mustard and oil are rubbed all over his body, and he then undergoes a second bath to wash them all off again. All this time he should wear nothing, day or night, but a string of the sacred grass called kusa, which is tied round his waist and to which a narrow cloth, called langoti, is attached, fastened between the legs before and behind. Meanwhile the usual homa offerings are thrown on the sacred fire by priests of the Hotri class, who have been summoned for this purpose. When the last and the greatest of the homa offerings has been made, the sacred thread (upavîta, janeû) is thrown over the left shoulder of the boy by the Dikshit, and the first act of the initiation is completed. The Dikshit then throws a cloth over his own and the boy’s head, and under cover of this cloth he instils into his ear (in the undertone so that no profane ears may catch what he says) the Gâyatri and all the other sacred verses which a Hindu should utter on stated occasions every day of his life. The repetition of all these verses, and especially the Gâyatri, which is repeated first, constitutes the closing ceremony by which the boy is formally initiated into the rites of Hinduism. The boy must have heard and seen something of these rites beforehand through living with his parents; but until he has been formally initiated, and this by a Brâhman competent to discharge the office, he is a mere heathen. For some weeks after the conclusion of the ceremony the Dikshit remains with the novitiate so as to help him to perform the several daily rites and make him sufficiently perfect to be left to himself; and after leaving him he continues to be his spiritual adviser for the rest of his life whenever such advice may be required.” [333] The rite is obviously analogous to the similar initiatory ceremonies which prevail among various primitive races. [334]

Dikhit; Dikhshit (Sans. dikhshita, “initiated, consecrated”), a powerful sept of Râjputs.—The traditions of the sept [335] relate that they are descended from the Sûrajbansi Râjas who for fifty-one generations ruled over Ajudhya. In the fifty-first generation from Ikshwâku, Râja Durgavâhu left Ajudhya and emigrated to Gujarât, where his descendants took the title of Durgbans after their founder. In the twenty-fourth generation from him Kalyân Sâh Durgbans went to pay homage to Râja Vikramaditya, the great King of Ujjain, the supreme monarch of India. From him (about 50 B.C.) he received the title of Dikhit, which his descendants bore instead of Durgbans. For many years they remained stationary in Gujarât, and at the time when the kingdom of Kanauj was at its zenith Balbhadra Dikhit took service with the Râthaur Râja, and his grandson Jaswant saw the death of the Râja of Kanauj and the destruction of the power and family of his benefactor. The name of Balbhadra’s father was Samapradhân, which is a singular name for a Râjput, and suggests a reason why the Dikhits do not rank so high in the precedence table as they ought to do if their tradition was correct. Pradhân was the old name for a Registrar (Qânûngo), which office was only given to Kâyasths. There may be some intermixture of Kâyasth blood which spoils the purity of their Sûrajbans descent. It is curious that in the two sets of villages bordering on old Dikhtiyâna and now held by Dikhits, there are traditions that the land once belonged to Kâyasths, who, when hard pressed by their enemies, obtained help from the Dikhits by ceding part of their villages to them. If the above hypothesis be true, the Kâyasths in this case only called in their own distant kindred. Jaswant Sinh had four sons, the eldest of whom remained in Samoni, and his descendants possess the estate to this day. The second, Udhaybhân, migrated into Oudh and colonized the district of Dikhtiyâna. The third, Banwâri, went still further north, crossing the Ghâgra and Râpti, and, choosing a safe retreat in the sub-Himalayan forests, founded there the great Sirnet Râj of Bânsi. The fourth, Khairâj, migrated to the east, and, settling down in the district of Partâbgarh, took the town of Bilkhar, whence his descendants are known as Bilkhariyas. The further fortunes of the sept are given in great detail by Sir C. Elliott.

2. The Dikhtiyâna territory is said to have extended from the borders of Baiswâra on the east, to Sandi Pâli on the west, and from the Gomati to the Ganges, including fourteen parganas. Whatever be their claim to an extensive dominion in the west, there can be no doubt that during this period the Dikhit Râja held a very high position in the country, and that this was the time when Dikhtiyâna became famous as a geographical expression. The list of marriages preserved by the bard proves this, containing, as it does, the names of the daughters of the Jângra Râja of Dhaurahra, the Bachgoti of Korar, the Gautam of Argal, the Bandhalgoti of Garh Amethi, and the Bisen of Mânikpur. With an Oudh Râjput it is always an object of ambition to marry his daughters into a family of a higher rank and position than his own, whatever the attendant expense may be. The chiefs of Eastern Oudh make it their ambition to marry their daughters only into the great Kachhwâha and Chauhân clans of Mainpuri and Etâwah; that they should have chosen the Râja of Dikhtiyâna for their son-in-law is a proof that at that time his rank and influence were as great as those of the older Western Râjas are now.

[The Dikhits of the North-west Provinces.] 3. The sept in pargana Pachotar of Ghâzipur [336] is called from the country they occupy Pachtoriya. They claim to be Sûrajbansis of Ajudhya, whence they emigrated to Gujarât. The Ghâzipur branch say that they came from Bulandshahr about twenty generations ago, and now occupy nearly the whole of the Pachotar pargana. In Azamgarh [337] they have been dispossessed of most of their property by the Birwârs. There is another Azamgarh sept known as Dikhitwâr, who are probably their kindred. They say that their ancestors came from somewhere in the west and occupied untenanted land, where the sept now resides. According to Sir H. M. Elliot, they give their daughters in marriage to the Sombansi, Raghubansi, Gaharwâr, and Bais, and take brides from the Sengar, Donwâr, and Kausik septs. In Oudh they have recently been allied only with neighbouring clans—Sengar, Sakarwâr, Raikwâr, Janwâr, etc., and infanticide used to be the general rule of the sept.

[Marriage connections.] 4. In Unâo the Dikhits generally give brides to the Chauhân, Bhadauriya, Kachhwâha, Sengar, and Râthaur septs beyond the Ganges, and occasionally to the Panwâr: they generally marry their sons in the Janwâr, Bisen, Mahror, Gautam or Chauhân septs of the district, Sombansi, Raghubansi, Amethiya, Gaharwâr, Kath, Bais, Gahlot, Panwâr, or Solankhi septs.

DISTRIBUTION OF THE DIKHIT RÂJPUTS ACCORDING TO THE CENSUS OF 1891.

Diwâna, “those possessed of an evil spirit (dev, div), mad”,—a term applied in these Provinces to an order of Muhammadan faqîrs, who have not been separately enumerated in the returns of the last Census.

In the Panjâb they are Hindus, wear uncut hair, a necklace of shells, and a large feather in their turbans. There is a considerable colony of them in connection with the shrine of the saint Qâsim Sulaimâni, near the fort of Chunâr, in the Mirzapur district.

2. Those at Chunâr call themselves the disciples of one Jamâl Diwâna. Boys are usually initiated into the order at the age of twelve. His friends take the candidate to the head faqîr of the order, who says,—“Are you ready to drink of my cup (piyâla) and obey me in all things?” If he agrees five articles of dress of an ochre colour are prepared for him, viz., a head covering (pheta), a robe (kafani), a neck handkerchief (guluband), and waist cloths (lung, langot). A barber is sent for and his head completely shaved; he is bathed and invested with the garments of the order. Then the Murshid or preceptor sits facing the north, and the Murîd or disciple opposite him. An earthen cup containing one and-a-quarter sers of sharbat made of sugar and water is brought. First the Murshid recites the Dârûd or benediction and drinks a little. Then he passes it to the Murîd, who drinks, and while doing so keeps his eyes fixed on the Murshid. During this part of the rite he must not even wink. The Murshid then says to him,—“I am now responsible for your sins. Take care and fix your attention on me. Do not close your eyes.” When he has drank the draught the Murshid gives him a necklace made of jaitun wood or of earth from Makka known as khâk safa or of the seed of the Canna Indica (‘aqîq’ l-bahr), a handkerchief of ochre-coloured cloth, a thin walking stick made of the wood of the peach tree (âru), and a wooden begging bowl (kajkol). With this he begs from all the company. He also receives a wooden scraper (phâora), which he ties to his waist. This over, he salutes the other members of the order present in the word Miyân; and they reply Haqq Miyân. When he is thus initiated he gets a station (takya), and the Sajjâda-nashin or Abbot gives him daily for his food two cakes in the morning and three in the evening with some pulse. If the disciple does not care to live in the Dargâh or head-quarters of the order, he can remain with his friends by leave of the Murshid. Those who live in the Dargâh remain celibate; if they live with their friends they can marry.

[Domestic rites.] The non-celibate members of the order marry according to the regular Musalmân formula. The dowry (mahr) is generally fixed at fifty-one thousand rupees. Women in child-birth are secluded for forty days; a fire is kept lighting in the room—and she is watched by her female friends, a custom known as Qâzi Sâhib ki chauki. In their death customs they conform to the usual Muhammadan ritual.

4. The Diwânas are a useless set of beggars and not held in much estimation by any one.

Dogar,—a Panjâbi tribe who have emigrated in small numbers into the western districts of these Provinces. Of them Mr. Brandreth writes in his Fîrozpur Settlement Report [338]:—

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The tribes and castes of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, Volume 2 (of 4)Chapter D (3)

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