Indpaedia - User contributions [en-gb]

Mammalia of India and Ceylon: Sterndale’s Natural History

2017-12-21T17:34:28Z

Phuntsog:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
|colspan="0"|<div style="font-size:100%">
This is an extract from <br/>

NATURAL HISTORY<br/>
OF THE<br/>
MAMMALIA OF INDIA<br/>
AND CEYLON.<br/>
<br/>
By<br/>
ROBERT A. STERNDALE,<br/>
F.R.G.S., F.Z.S., &c., <br/>
Author of "The Denizens Of The Jungle;" "The Afghan Knife;"<br/>
"Seonee, Or Camp Life In The Satpura Range," etc.<br/>
With 170 Illustrations by the Author, T. W Wood,<br/>
<br/>
CALCUTTA:<br/>
THACKER, SPINK, AND CO.<br/>
Bombay: Thacker And Co., Limited. London : W. Thacker And Co<br/>
1884.<br/>
</div>
|}
[[Category: India |I]]
[[Category: Sri Lanka|I]]
[[Category: Fauna|I]]

=Introduction=
In laying before the public the following history of the Indian
Mammalia, I am actuated by the feeling that a popular work on the
subject is needed, and would be appreciated by many who do not care
to purchase the expensive books that exist, and who also may be more
bothered than enlightened by over-much technical phraseology and
those learned anatomical dissertations which are necessary to the
scientific zoologist.

Another motive in thus venturing is, that the only complete history of Indian Mammalia is Dr. Jerdon's, which is exhaustive within the boundaries he has assigned to India proper ; but as he has excluded
Assam, Cachar, Tenasserim, Burmah, Arracan, and Ceylon, his book
is incomplete as a Natural History of the Mammals of British India.

I shall have to acknowledge much to Jerdon in the following pages, and it is to him I owe much encouragement, whilst we were together in the field during the Indian Mutiny, in the pursuit of the study to which
he devoted his life ; and the general arrangement of this work will be
based on his book, his numbers being preserved, in order that those who possess his ' Mammals of India ' may readily refer to the noted
species.

But I must also plead indebtedness to many other naturalists who
have left their records in the ' Journals of the Asiatic Society ' and other
publications, or who have brought out books of their own, such as Blyth,
Elhott, Hodgson, Sherwill, Sykes, Tickell, Hutton, Kellaart, Emerson
Tennent, and others; Col. McMaster's ' Notes on Jerdon,' Dr. Anderson's
' Anatomical and Zoological Researches,' Horsfield's ' Catalogue of the Mammalia in the Museum of the East India Company,' ' Dr. Dobson's
Monograph of the Asiatic Chiroptera,' the writings of Professors Martin
Duncan, Flowers, Kitchen Parker, Boyd Dawkins, Garrod, Mr. E. R.
Alston, Sir Victor Brooke and others ; the Proceedings and Journals of
the Zoological, Linnean, and Asiatic Societies, and the correspondence
in The Asian ; so that after all my own share is minimised to a few
remarks here and there, based on personal experience during a long
period of jungle life, and on observation of the habits of animals in their wild state, and also in captivity, having made a large collection of
living specimens from time to time.

As regards classification, Cuvier's system is the most popular, so I shall adopt it to a certain extent, keeping it as a basis, but engrafting on
it such modifications as have met with the approval of modern naturalists. For comparison I give below a synopsis of Cuvier's arrangement. I have placed Cetacea after Carnivora, and Edentata at the end. In
this I have followed recent authors as well as Jerdon, whose running
numbers I have preserved as far as possible for purposes of reference. Cuvier divides the Mammals into nine orders^ as follows. {The
examples I give ore Indian ones, except ici/icre stated otherioise)
:
—
Order I. —Bimana. Man.

Order II. —Quadrumana. Two families—ist. Apes and Monkeys ; 2nd, Lemurs.

Order III.—Carnaria. Three families—ist, Cheiroptera, Bats; 2nd,
Inscctivora, Hedgehogs, Shrews, Moles, Tupai^e, &c. ; 3rd, Carnivora : Tribe i, Plantigrades, Bears, Ailurus, Badger, Arctonyx ; 2, Digitigrades,
Martens, Weasels, Otters, Cats, Hysenas, Civets, Musangs, Mongoose,
Dogs, Wolves and Foxes. Order IV.—Marsupiata. Implacental Mammals peculiar to America and Austraha, such as Opossums, Dasyures, Wombats, and
Kangaroos. We have none in India,
Order V. —Rodentia. Squirrels, Marmots, Jerboas, Mole-Rats,
Rats, Mice, Voles, Porcupines, and Hares. Order VI. —Edentata, or toothless Mammals, either partially or
totally without teeth. Three families—ist, Tardigrades, the Sloths,
peculiar to America; 2nd, Effodientia, or Burrowers, of which the Indian
type is the Manis, but which includes in other parts of the world the Armadillos and Anteaters; 3rd, Monotreniata, Spiny Anteaters or Echidnas, and the Ornithorynchus.
Order VII.—Pachydermata, or thick-skinned Mammals. Three
families—ist. Proboscidians, Elephants; 2nd, Ordinary Pachyderms,
Rhinoceroses, Hogs ; 3rd, Solidiingiila, Horses.

Order VIII.—Ruminantia, or cud-chewing Mammals. Four fomilies —y^t, Hornless Pi/7ni7tants, C^emeXs, Musks; 2nd, Cervida, irno. horns
shed periodically. Deer; 3rd, Persistent horns. Giraffes ; 4th, Hollowhorned
Ruminants, Antelopes, Goats, Sheep and Oxen.
Order IX.—Cetacea. Three families—ist. Herbivorous Cetacea, Manatees, Dugongs ; 2nd, Ordinary Cetacea, Porpoises ; 3rd, Balanida;,
Whales.

Mammalia of India and Ceylon: Sterndale’s Natural History

2017-12-21T16:43:53Z

Phuntsog: Created page with "{| class="wikitable" |- |colspan="0"|<div style="font-size:100%"> This is an extract from <br/> NATURAL HISTORY<br/> OF THE<br/> MAMMALIA OF INDIA<br/> AND CEYLON.<b..."

{| class="wikitable"

|-

|colspan="0"|<div style="font-size:100%">

This is an extract from <br/>

NATURAL HISTORY<br/>

OF THE<br/>

MAMMALIA OF INDIA<br/>

AND CEYLON.<br/>

<br/>

By<br/>

ROBERT A. STERNDALE,<br/>

F.R.G.S., F.Z.S., &c., <br/>

Author of "The Denizens Of The Jungle;" "The Afghan Knife;"<br/>

"Seonee, Or Camp Life In The Satpura Range," etc.<br/>

With 170 Illustrations by the Author, T. W Wood,<br/>

<br/>

CALCUTTA:<br/>

THACKER, SPINK, AND CO.<br/>

Bombay: Thacker And Co., Limited. London : W. Thacker And Co<br/>

1884.<br/>

</div>

|}

[[Category: India |I]]

[[Category: Sri Lanka|I]]

[[Category: Fauna|I]

=Introduction=
In laying before the public the following history of the Indian
Mammalia, I am actuated by the feeling that a popular work on the
subject is needed, and would be appreciated by many who do not care
to purchase the expensive books that exist, and who also may be more
bothered than enlightened by over-much technical phraseology and
those learned anatomical dissertations which are necessary to the
scientific zoologist.

Another motive in thus venturing is, that the only complete history of Indian Mammalia is Dr. Jerdon's, which is exhaustive within the boundaries he has assigned to India proper ; but as he has excluded
Assam, Cachar, Tenasserim, Burmah, Arracan, and Ceylon, his book
is incomplete as a Natural History of the Mammals of British India.

I shall have to acknowledge much to Jerdon in the following pages, and it is to him I owe much encouragement, whilst we were together in the field during the Indian Mutiny, in the pursuit of the study to which
he devoted his life ; and the general arrangement of this work will be
based on his book, his numbers being preserved, in order that those who possess his ' Mammals of India ' may readily refer to the noted
species.

But I must also plead indebtedness to many other naturalists who
have left their records in the ' Journals of the Asiatic Society ' and other
publications, or who have brought out books of their own, such as Blyth,
Elhott, Hodgson, Sherwill, Sykes, Tickell, Hutton, Kellaart, Emerson
Tennent, and others; Col. McMaster's ' Notes on Jerdon,' Dr. Anderson's
' Anatomical and Zoological Researches,' Horsfield's ' Catalogue of the Mammalia in the Museum of the East India Company,' ' Dr. Dobson's
Monograph of the Asiatic Chiroptera,' the writings of Professors Martin
Duncan, Flowers, Kitchen Parker, Boyd Dawkins, Garrod, Mr. E. R.
Alston, Sir Victor Brooke and others ; the Proceedings and Journals of
the Zoological, Linnean, and Asiatic Societies, and the correspondence
in The Asian ; so that after all my own share is minimised to a few
remarks here and there, based on personal experience during a long
period of jungle life, and on observation of the habits of animals in their wild state, and also in captivity, having made a large collection of
living specimens from time to time.

As regards classification, Cuvier's system is the most popular, so I shall adopt it to a certain extent, keeping it as a basis, but engrafting on
it such modifications as have met with the approval of modern naturalists. For comparison I give below a synopsis of Cuvier's arrangement. I have placed Cetacea after Carnivora, and Edentata at the end. In
this I have followed recent authors as well as Jerdon, whose running
numbers I have preserved as far as possible for purposes of reference. Cuvier divides the Mammals into nine orders^ as follows. {The
examples I give ore Indian ones, except ici/icre stated otherioise)
:
—
Order I. —Bimana. Man.

Order II. —Quadrumana. Two families—ist. Apes and Monkeys ; 2nd, Lemurs.

Order III.—Carnaria. Three families—ist, Cheiroptera, Bats; 2nd,
Inscctivora, Hedgehogs, Shrews, Moles, Tupai^e, &c. ; 3rd, Carnivora : Tribe i, Plantigrades, Bears, Ailurus, Badger, Arctonyx ; 2, Digitigrades,
Martens, Weasels, Otters, Cats, Hysenas, Civets, Musangs, Mongoose,
Dogs, Wolves and Foxes. Order IV.—Marsupiata. Implacental Mammals peculiar to America and Austraha, such as Opossums, Dasyures, Wombats, and
Kangaroos. We have none in India,
Order V. —Rodentia. Squirrels, Marmots, Jerboas, Mole-Rats,
Rats, Mice, Voles, Porcupines, and Hares. Order VI. —Edentata, or toothless Mammals, either partially or
totally without teeth. Three families—ist, Tardigrades, the Sloths,
peculiar to America; 2nd, Effodientia, or Burrowers, of which the Indian
type is the Manis, but which includes in other parts of the world the Armadillos and Anteaters; 3rd, Monotreniata, Spiny Anteaters or Echidnas, and the Ornithorynchus.
Order VII.—Pachydermata, or thick-skinned Mammals. Three
families—ist. Proboscidians, Elephants; 2nd, Ordinary Pachyderms,
Rhinoceroses, Hogs ; 3rd, Solidiingiila, Horses.

Order VIII.—Ruminantia, or cud-chewing Mammals. Four fomilies —y^t, Hornless Pi/7ni7tants, C^emeXs, Musks; 2nd, Cervida, irno. horns
shed periodically. Deer; 3rd, Persistent horns. Giraffes ; 4th, Hollowhorned
Ruminants, Antelopes, Goats, Sheep and Oxen.
Order IX.—Cetacea. Three families—ist. Herbivorous Cetacea, Manatees, Dugongs ; 2nd, Ordinary Cetacea, Porpoises ; 3rd, Balanida;,
Whales.

Armenians in India, 1895

2017-11-30T14:42:08Z

Phuntsog: Created page with "This article is an extract from {| class="wikitable" |- |colspan="0"|<div style="font-size:100%"> '''THE TRIBES and CASTES of BENGAL.''' <br/> By H.H. RISLEY,<br/> INDIAN C..."

This article is an extract from
{| class="wikitable"
|-

|colspan="0"|<div style="font-size:100%">
'''THE TRIBES and CASTES of BENGAL.''' <br/>
By H.H. RISLEY,<br/>
INDIAN CIVIL SERVICE, OFFICIER D'ACADÉMIE FRANÇAISE. <br/>

Ethnographic Glossary. <br/>

CALCUTTA: <br/> ''Printed at the Bengal Secretariat Press.''<br/> 1891. .</div>
|}
NOTE 1: Indpaedia neither agrees nor disagrees with the contents of this article. Readers who wish to add fresh information can create a Part II of this article. The general rule is that if we have nothing nice to say about communities other than our own it is best to say nothing at all.

NOTE 2: While reading please keep in mind that all articles in this series have been scanned from a very old book. Therefore, footnotes have got inserted into the main text of the article, interrupting the flow. Readers who spot scanning errors are requested to report the correct spelling to the Facebook page, [http://www.facebook.com/Indpaedia Indpaedia.com]. All information used will be duly acknowledged.

[[Category:India|A]]
[[Category:Communities|A]]
=Armenians=
IN 1605 Shah 'Abbas invaded Armenia, and transferred 12,000 inhabitants of Julfa, on tbe Araxes, to the neighbourhood of Ispahan, where he allotted them land on the banks of the Zindarud, which subsequenty became the site of a town, since known as New Julfa. While Shah 'Abbas lived, he treated the settlers with remarkable liberality, advancing money without exacting interest, granting the free exercise of their religion, and permitting them to elect a "Kalan-tar." or headman, of their own. No Muhammadan was allowed to reside within the walls, and, as the murder of an Armenian could only be expiated by the rigorous law of retaliation, the inhabitants were respected, and favoured, by the Persians themselves. During the reign of Shah Hussain (1694-1722), however, many of these privileges were repealed, and the slayer of an Armenian was absolved from all punishment on payment of a load of corn. The prosperity of the settlement was destroyed by Shah Mahmud and the Afghans in 1722, but not until after a gallant though unavailing resistance.1

stone of one Khwajah Martinas, who died in 1611.1 It was, however, into Western India that Armenians chiefly congregated. In 1623 Pietro della Valle found the Dutch intermarrying with them; and in 1638 Mandelslo encountered Armenians in Surat and Gujarat. Tavernier,2 moreover, has preserved the name of one Corgia, brought up by Shah Jahan, an excellent wit and poet, much in the King's favour, who had conferred on him many fair commands, though he could never by threats or promises win him to turn Muhammadan. Bender, too, mentions Armenians in Delhi, who were ruining the inland trade of the Dutch by their competition.

If Mr. Glanius is to be relied on, a body of Armenian cavalry, celebrated for its horses and discipline, accompanied the army of Mir Jamlah, in 1662, when he invaded Assam.

Towards the end of the seventeenth century many Armenians resided at Chinsurah, and they possessed "a pretty good garden" opposite Calcutta.. During the latter days of Muhammadan rule the principal Armenian settlement in Bengal was at Saidabad, near Murshidabad, whence were annually exported valuable assortments of piece goods and raw silk.

The Armenians have always been distinguished as enterprising traders throughout Asia, and as early as 1690, when the East India Company was entering upon its marvellous career, Mr. Charnock received3 instructions to employ them to sell the annual shipments in the interior, and buy fine muslins and other valuable goods. The ostensible reason for this preference being that they could transact business with the native traders better than agents of the Company provided with a firman.3 In 1694, again, a proposal was made to the Armenians of Ispahan to sell the goods of the Company, or barter them for silk, money, and "Caramania wool;" but this project failed, as the Armenians themselves imported, by Aleppo, the goods of the Turkey Company. During the eighteenth century, the Armenian community in Bengal prospered, and, favoured by many special grants from the Imperial court, secured much of the inland trade of the province. Several individuals raised themselves to positions of eminence during the civil wars preceding the overthrow of the Mughal power. Coja (Khwajah) Gregory, better known as Gurghin Khan, commanded the artillery of Mir Qasim at the battle of Gheriah, in August, 1763; while his brother, Coja Petrus, or Petrus Arrathoon, was still more intimately connected with the early struggles of the Company, being as Gumastha, or agent, of both Sirajuddaulah, and Mir Qasim, mixed up with many of the intrigues of that eventful period. The latter survived till 1782, when he died, leaving great wealth. At this time the Armenians were often charged, but probably without sufficient reason, with being turbulent and crafty, and doing much injury by thwarting the policy of the English Company. In spite of this accusation, however, they were permitted to reside in Calcutta in 1758; but an order forbidding their dwelling in the smaller factories was in force as late as 1765. The Court of Directors, regarding this busy people as the pioneers of commerce, issued an order that whenever a certain number congregated together, an Armenian church should be built for them.

The history of the Armenian colony at Dacca has not been preserved. It is stated, on doubtful authority, that when Job Charnock returned to Calcutta in 1698, he invited the Armenian merchants in Dacca to settle in the new town; but the first authentic record is a time-worn tombstone in the old churchyard of Tezgaon, which marks the grave of one Avitis, an Armenian trader, who died on the 5th August, 1714. At the middle of the eighteenth century Armenians, as well as Europeans, were extensively engaged in the slave trade, and if we judge of the morality of the time by that described by one of their number, the standard was not a high one. In 1747 a rich Armenian died at Dacca without heirs, and to prevent the estate lapsing to the Nawab, the narrator consented to come forward as a son of the deceased. The perjury is justified on the plea that it prevented "wild beasts from eating the flesh of lambs."1

According to the census of 1866 there were 703 Armenians resident in Calcutta, while on the 6th April, 1876, they numbered 707. In 1872, again, the Armenian population of Bengal proper was only 875, and of that number 710 resided in and around Calcutta, and 113 in Dacca. Mr. I. G. Pogose, in 1870, estimated the Dacca Armenians at 107, of whom 36 were males, 23 females, and 48 children. The professions and occupations of the males were as follows: one was a priest, five landholders, three merchants, one a barrister, five shopkeepers, seven shopmen, and four Government servants. Until comparatively recent times no Armenian could hold land; but under the Muhammadan rule many were farmers of the revenue and executive officers.

The causes which have checked the growth of the Armenians in Eastern India have been recapitulated by a writer in the Calcutta Review,2 who points out that the early settlers were robust, energetic, and frugal men, devoting their whole time and thoughts to trade, while their descendants, lacking many of the peculiar traits of the race, have sadly degenerated. Separation from home influences, and association with alien races, effected a marked change of habits, and, resisting the introduction of European customs, they insensibly adopted many Indian ones. The indolence, moreover, induced by a hot, uncongenial climate, along with a rooted aversion to physical exertion, promoted habits of immorality and intemperance. Early marriages became fashionable, the offspring growing up sickly and tainted by disease. In-breeding still further impaired the race, and only those families who sought or brides in distant cities, or among immigrants from Persia, have inherited the muscular healthy constitutions of the parent stock. As late as a generation ago the Armenians of India were generally illiterate, being totally ignorant of European literature. They spoke and often read Armenian, they conversed fluently in Persian, Urdu, and Bengali; but they were unacquainted with the English language. Of late years, however, although Armenian is till the language of their homes, English is spoken universally, and an English education is considered indispensable. The English costume, too, is always worn, and the national dress is only seen on festive occasions.

The modern Armenian is proverbially hospitable, while his open-handed charity to the poor of all creeds, his benevolence, and sympathy for the destitute and unfortunate of his own faith, and his kindness to his native servants and acquaintances, excite the admiration of his fellow townsmen.

The Catholicos, or Patriarch, of the Armenian church resides at Echmadzin, in Russian Armenia. Not only is he the Primat, but his monastery is the centre where pilgrims join in fraternal union with their brethren of other lands, and from which the Chrism, or holy oil, is brought for the services of the church in the East. The Bishop of Julfa has jurisdiction over all the Armenian churches in India, and by him the priests are inducted, or translated. India has so few attractions for the priesthood, that livings in that country, it is said, can only be got by an offering of twenty Tomans, equivalent to ten guineas. The priests met with in India are always married men, whose wives and families remain at Julfa, as hostages for their return. Five years is the fixed period of their residence, but on application a transfer to another church is often obtained. The greatest objection to this system is, that new arrivals can only converse in Persian and Armenian, while their flock speak Armenian, rarely Persian. Having acquired the vernacular, they are transferred to Singapore, or China, where another language has to be learned, under the same discouraging circumstances.

The position of an Armenian priest in India is an unenviable one. Separated from all his dearest ties, he finds himself in a small community stirred by the influences of strange races, and rival faiths, and dependent on the goodwill and liberality of his brethren. Services, beginning before daybreak, and lasting for six or seven hours, at which the congregation only attend towards the end; fasts twice every week, and during Lent continuing for weeks, tell upon the strongest constitutions. But the interest shown in the spiritual welfare of his flock, the sympathy shown to the sick and dying, and their moral, and generally blameless, lives, are the bonds which bind and endear them to their people.

The four great festivals of the Armenian church are the Nativity, Ascension, Annunciation, and that observed in honour of St. George. These festivals, as in the Greek church, are kept according to the old style; for instance, the Nativity, along with the Epiphany, on the 6th January. The Assumption, however, celebrated by the Greek and Latin churches on the 15th Ausgust, is commemmorated by the Armenian on the Sunday between the 12th and 18th of that month.

The dogmas, rites, and practices of the Armenian church in India1 are identical with those of the parent establishment, being uninfluenced by contact with other Christian churches, but several customs are followed which are not mentioned by writers on such matters. Thus, on the Assumption, raisins wrapped in coloured paper are distributed in the church; and until late years a large pile of dry grass was collected near the church door on Ash Wednesday, and at a certain part of the service the congregation, carrying lighted tapers, defiled out of the building, and set fire to it.

At Easter and Christmas, after service, the priest visits each household, presenting the goodman with a cake of unleavened bread, in return for which he receives a fee, and his attendants wine, sweetmeats, and dyed eggs. Although they disbelieve in the purgatory of the Roman Church, Armenians admit that the spirits of the dead remain till the Day of Judgment in Paradise, or a place of probation. During Christmas and Holy Week, therefore, incense and wax tapers are forwarded to the priest who performs a service at the grave of the deceased relatives. Armenians are forbidden, like the Jews and Muham-

1 For interesting particulars regarding this Christian Sect, see "Histoire, Dogmes, Traditions et Liturgie de l'Eglise Armenienne Orientale." Par E. Dulaurier, Paris, 1855.

madans, to eat blood or things strangled, and on Christmas and Easter the flesh eaten must have been killed by a Christian, and a godfather.

The public declaration of vows is one of the most solemn ceremonies of the Armenians. The person vowing presents the priest with two wax candles and two rupees for each pledge. Two gilt hands with the forefingers and thumbs united, the other fingers extended and adorned with jewels, being taken from the altar are dipped into holy water, and the lips of all present touched, whils the witness kneeling rests his forehead on the floor. The priest, after repeating certain prayers, holds the two hands over the people and blesses them.

Armenians esteem the "Little Gospel" as only second in value to the Bible itself, and are fond of detailing incidents recorded in it. This uncanonical scripture is the "Historia de Nativitate Mariae et de Infantia Salvatoris."1

Last century the Armenians observed many Persian, Bengali, and European customs. The dress of the men consisted of a Persian vest, or Jamah, fastened with a belt (Patka), and loose trousers. Their head-dress was a black brimless hat, about eight inches high. The costume of the women resembled that of the men, but the vests were longer. They wore the hair hanging down loose behind, adorned with strings of pearls, and other gems, and covered with a hat, called Kambhara. Moreover, their teeth were stained with Misi, the hands and feet with Menhdi. It was considered indecorous and improper for the women to speak to, or appear before men in public, and, like the Muhammadan wife, the Armenian had to endure great hardships when most requiring sympathy, the doors and windows of her room were carefully closed against evil spirits for forty days, a fire was kept burning on the threshold, and no one dared to enter the room till mustard seed had been cast on the embers. As a further protection the child was arrayed with strings of amulets and charms.

The amusements of the men were confined to kite-flying, in which pastime much money was lost and won, and to the fighting of rams and game cocks. Native music was, and still is, preferred to European, and dinner parties wound up with "Nach" dancing and singing. At meals tables were not used, but mats and carpets being spread, the guests squatted and ate with their fingers. The Armenian cuisine more nearly resembles that of the Muhammadans than the English, and at feasts the variety of dishes is so embarrassing that the etiquette requiring each guest to taste of every dish becomes positively dangerous.

''1 Giles' "Uncanonical Gospels." London, 1852.''

''1 "The Life and Adventures of Joseph Emin, and Armenian." London, 1792.''

''2 "The Armenian in London Physically considered," vol. xxx, June, 1858.''

''1 "J.A.S." of Bengal, August, 1874.''

''2 "Voyage," Liv. i, c. 7.''

''3 "Annals of the E.I. Company," iii, 88, 160.''

Armenian marriages are ordinarily negotiated by the parents, or guardians. A few days before the wedding the hands and feet of the bride are stained with Menhdi. The bridle trousseau, exhibited on a table, is blesssd by the priest, who takes two rings, dropping them into a glass of wine and consecrates it. The rings are then taken out and placed one on the ring finger of the bride, the other on that of the bridegroom. A portion of the wine being drunk by the bridegroom, he hands the glass to the bride, who tastes it. Sweetmeats wrapped in tinted paper, and a sherbet, known as "Gulab-nabat, are served to the guests..

The marriage ceremony in a few respects differs from that followed in Western Europe. For instance, before entering the church the pair, standing beneath the bell tower, plight their troth in the hearing of the priest, after which they kneel at the altar with their heads covered with veils. Throughout the service the sponsor holds a silver cross over the pair, and when the service ends the priest gives the bridegroom a belt and a cross, which are worn for three days, and can only be removed after the reading of certain prayers, until which time the marriage is not consummated.

As soon as an Armenian expires, the arms are crossed over the chest, and a wax taper being lighted, is placed at the head, while incense is burned in the room. The priest being informed of the death, orders the church bells to be tolled as an intimation to the friends. At the burial the priest, relatives, and friends follow on foot, while the coffin is preceded by persons carrying a cross and torches. The coffin is first of all placed beneath the campanile, and prayers being offered up, it is borne into the church and placed on a catafalque surrounded by tapers, where it remains until the appointed service is read.

In the room where the deceased expired a candle is kept constantly burning for forty days, while on the seventh and fortieth days, as well as on the anniversary of the death, a mass is celebrated in the church, and after the last service a feast, to which all relatives and friends are invited, is given, at which a peculiar kind of Pulao with raisins is handed round.

The future of the Armenian race in India is difficult to predict; but if the tendency to adopt English ideas and ways extends, it must overcome the contrary spirit still influencing the majority. In many respects the Jew and Armenian resemble one another. Cut off from the cradle of their religion and nationality they sojourn apart from the European, and exhibit few sympathies for the Hindu or Muhammadan. Each has preserved an ancient established religion which, ordinarily at least, debars the alien and Gentile from admission into its pale, and each is yearning for a spiritual and temporal supremacy in their original home. With such aspirations, however, it has become the habit with Armenians to educate their boys as English parents do, and so successfully has this been followed out, that several have in competition gained admission into the Army and Indian Civil Service. The education and position of the Armenian female, however, leaves much to be desired.

She is generally brought up with only a superficial knowledge of any language; she leads a secluded, uninteresting life, diversified by attendance at church, and by visits to her relatives, and her sympathies are neither cultivated nor encouraged. Until she is raised to an equality with her husband, and acquires those accomplishments which adorn her European sister, it cannot be predicated of the Armenians that the future is for them altogether bright and cheerful.
=Notes=

Vaisya

2017-11-30T14:36:40Z

Tiyars

2017-11-30T14:31:16Z

Tin-Walah

2017-11-30T14:22:49Z

Toil-Pal, Teli, Taili, Tailika, Tailka-Kara

2017-11-30T14:20:41Z

Tamboli, Tambuli

2017-11-30T14:16:52Z

Tanti, Tantuvaya

2017-11-30T04:54:43Z

This article is an extract from
{| class="wikitable"
|-

|colspan="0"|<div style="font-size:100%">
'''THE TRIBES and CASTES of BENGAL.''' <br/>
By H.H. RISLEY,<br/>
INDIAN CIVIL SERVICE, OFFICIER D'ACADÉMIE FRANÇAISE. <br/>

Ethnographic Glossary. <br/>

CALCUTTA: <br/> ''Printed at the Bengal Secretariat Press.''<br/> 1891. .</div>
|}
NOTE 1: Indpaedia neither agrees nor disagrees with the contents of this article. Readers who wish to add fresh information can create a Part II of this article. The general rule is that if we have nothing nice to say about communities other than our own it is best to say nothing at all.

NOTE 2: While reading please keep in mind that all articles in this series have been scanned from a very old book. Therefore, footnotes have got inserted into the main text of the article, interrupting the flow. Readers who spot scanning errors are requested to report the correct spelling to the Facebook page, [http://www.facebook.com/Indpaedia Indpaedia.com]. All information used will be duly acknowledged.

[[Category:India|T]]
[[Category:Communities|T]]
=Tanti, Tantuvaya=
This is one of the most interesting castes in Bengal. The produce of their looms has been celebrated from the earliest historical times, and the weavers have suffered more from the vicissitudes of the last century than any other class. According to their own traditions, they were brought from Maldah early in the seventeenth century, and settled in the new metrpolis of the province, receiving great encouragement from the Mughal Viceroys, and the ladies of the Delhi court, who obtained their beautiful muslins from Dacca.

Although "Dacca Muslins" have acquired a worldwide celebrity, the number of weavers at the present day in Eastern Bengal is small. In 1872 there were 358,689 Tantis in Bengal, of whom only 31,457, or 8 per cent, resided in the nine eastern districts, while nearly one-third belonged to the Midnapore district. In the Dacca district 8,906 persons were returned.

The Tantis of the city of Dacca, who form the richest and most important body, have separated into two Sreni, or associations, called Bara-bhagiya, or Jhampaniya, from the "Jhampan," or sedan chair in which the bridegroom sits, and Chhota-bhagiya, of Kayath origin, who becoming weavers were expelled from their caste. The former number at least ten to one of the latter.

The gotras of the Bara-bhagiya are�

''Bharadvaja, Aliman,''
''Parasara, Sandilaya,''
''Gautama, Vyasa,''
''Madhu Kuliya, Kasyapa,''
''Kulya Rishi, Savarna,''
''Agastya Rishi, Magi.''
Baisakh is the name assumed by all, although the designation was originally taken by rich persons, who had given up weaving and become cloth merchants. A few titles inherited from their forefathers, employed as weavers in the Aurang, or Company's factory, are still preserved: "Jachandar," appraiser; "Muhkim," supervisor; "Dalal," broker; and "Sirdar," are the most common. Family nicknames are perhaps oftener met with than in any other caste, and households, called Mesha (sheep) and Chhagri (goat), are well known to the citizens, having, it is supposed, been acquired because their ancestors had accidentally killed these animals.

With few exceptions Tantis are Vaishnavas, being probably the most obsequious disciples of the Khardah Gosains. They have no Panchait, and no headman, but the rich guide and instruct their poorer brethren, while the trade interests of the caste are secured by the supervision of powerful Dals, or guilds, presided over by a Dalpati, or director.

Although he holds a degraded position in Bihar, the Tanti has had sufficient influence in Bengal to raise himself to the grade of clean Sudra, having the same Purohit as the Nava-Sakha. The purity of a Tanti depends on the quality of the starch used in weaving. The Sudra weaver prepares starch from parched rice boiled in water, or "Kai," which is not according to Hindu ideas, "Ento," or, as Muhammadans call it, "Jhutha," leavings. Impure weavers, as the Jogis, make starch (Mar) by merely boiling rice, a process that is considered utterly abhorrent.

A peculiar subdivision of outcaste Tantis belonging to a Magi Sreni reside in Mag Bazar, a suburb of Dacca, who, though excommunicated for the same reasons as the Magi Kumars, conform to all the customs of the Sudra Tanti.

The Dacca Tantis have always been celebrated for the magnificent procession which parades the streets of the city on the Janmashtami, or birthday of their god Krishna, in Bhadra (Aug.-Sept.). As long as a Nawab lived at Dacca, his troopers and band led the pageant, and at the present day, though divested of many of its attractions, it is still the most popular exhibition in Eastern Bengal. For many generations the Dacca weavers have resided in two quarters of the city, Tanti Bazar and Nawabpur, and on the day following the birthday of Krishna a procession issues from each of these quarters, and perambulates, the streets. In 1853 the processsons met, and a faction fight ensued. In 1855 the Government ordered that for the future they should never be permitted to come out on the same day, and each quarter, therefore, takes precedence on alternate years, the peace of the city having been so far assured.

Krishna is worshipped by the Tanti Bazar section under the form of Murali Mohan; by the Nawabpur, as the Saligram, or Lukhi Narayana.

At the present day the processsons are preceded by a string of elephants, and a "Panja," or model of a hand, presented by a former Nawab, is borne aloft as at the Muharram pageant.

The peculiar part of the cavalcade, however, are the "Misls," or raised platforms, carried on men's shoulders. On these are placed images of Hindu gods, figures, and often caricatures of local celebrities. On others are Nach girls and buffoons reciting comic songs, and bandying chaff with the crowd. In fact, the anniversary and the show have come to be regarded as the occasion of a holiday, when thousands of villagers throng the city bent on pleasure and amusement, which are more considered than the deity in whose honour it is held.

There is, however, another class of Tantis settled in Eastern Bengal, quite distinct from the city weavers, claiming to be the descendants of the original Tantis of Bengal, who supplied the people with cotton fabrics for ages before the reign of Jahangir. Although assuming a superiority over the Baisakhs, which is not conceded, there can be little doubt that these Banga Tantis were earlier settlers in Bengal than their rivals.

The Banga Tantis observe with especial pomp the Kamadeva Pujah, or worship of the Indian Cupid, which, though generally neglected in Bengal, and entirely omitted by the Jhampaniya Tantis, is still kept up in Bhowal, Kamrup, and the districts bordering on that country. It is undoubtedly a worship of earlier origin than that of Krishna. On the Madana Chaturdasi, or fourteenth day of the waxing moon of Chait (March-April), the festival is held, but it does not last for seven days as formerly. The Purohit officiates, no victims being sacrificed.

The Banga Tantis, moreover, celebrate the Janmashtami, but in a different way from the Baisakhs. Two boys, gorgeously dressed, representing Krishna and his foster-father, Nanda Gop, are carried about in great state, and with much discordant noise.

The Visvakarma worship is observed on the usual day, and, as with the Baisakhs, the loom, shuttle, and other implements of weaving are adored.

The Banga Tantis are chiefly settled at Dhamrai, an old town about twenty miles north of Dacca, where they occupy about two hundred and fifty houses. Their bridal dresses are white, and not of red or other coloured silk, as with the Dacca weavers. They manufacture the native "Sari," and "Chadar," as well as Doriya and Nau-batti muslins, which are sent to Dacca to be embroidered. At Dhamrai the famous female spinners (Katani), who wind the fine native thread, are still found, but in no other part of Eastern Bengal. In illustration of the delicate touch of these spinners, the story goes, that one of them wound eighty-eight yards of thread on a reel which only weighed one "Rati," or two grains. Nowadays a Rati of the finest thread equals seventy yards, which proves that either a coarser cotton is grown, or the women have lost their delicate sensibility of touch.

The Chhota-bhagiya, or Kayath Tantis, formerly goldsmiths, took to weaving as a more profitable trade, and now eat with, and visit the Baisakhs, although they do not reciprocate the politeness. The richer families having always adopted the prerogatives of the Kayaths, have been recognised, and if wealthy, receive wives from them. At present only from twenty to twenty-five houses in Dacca are occupied by them, and several households work as goldsmiths, bankers, and engravers (Naqqash).

Five different sorts of cloth were manufactured by the Dacca Tantis in their palmy days, but the art of making the finer qualities has been lost. The five varieties were�

1. Malmal. Muslins of the first quality included the "Abrawan,"1 "Tanzib," and "Malmal" made of Desi cotton or Kapas; of the second quality were the "Shabnam," "Khacah," "Jhuna," "Sarkar 'Ali," "Ganga Jal," and "Terindam,"2 of the third were the coarser muslins, collectively called "Baftah," comprising "Hammam," "Dimti" (?Dimyati), "San," "Jangal Khacah," and "Gala-band."
2. Doriya, striped and ribbed muslins, such as "Raj-kot," "Dakhan," Padshahi-dar," "Kunti-dar," "Kaghazi," and "Kela-pat."
3. Char-Khanah, checkered muslins, such as "Nandan-shahi," "Anar-dana," "Kabutar-khopi," "Sa-Kutta," "Bachha-dar," and "Kunti-dar."
4 Jamdani, by the early European traders called "Nain-sukh,"3 or embroidered muslins. The different sorts are distinguished by the coloured flowers, sprigs (Buti), or network pattern on them. The commonest are "Shah-barga-buti," "Chawal," "Mel," "Tirchha," and "Dubli-jal."
5. Kashida, or Chikan, muslins embroidered with Muga, or Tasar silk, generally dyed red, blue, or yellow. The commoner ones are "Kataw-Rumi," "Naubatti" or "Naubati," "Yahudi," "Azizullah," and "Samundar Lahar."

The common Dhoti, Chadar, and Orhni, or wrapper with a coloured or embroidered end, were always regarded as distinct

1 Abrawan, literally running water, was solely made for the Delhi Zananah, and the follwoing stories regarding its gossamer-like texture are still told by the natives. A daughter of Aurangzib, one day on entering the room, was reburked for wearing immodest drapery, but justified her conduct on the plea that she was wearing seven suits (Jama). Again, in the reign of 'Ali Vardi Khan (1742-56), a Dacca Tanti was flogged, and banished from the city for not preventing his cow from eating up a web of Abrawan, which had been laid out to bleach on the grass.

''2 Probably from Arabic Tarah, mode, and Persian Andam, figure.''

''3 Nayana-Sukha, pleasing to the eye.''

from the foregoing being woven at their homes by weavers of various castes.

On glancing over the preceding list one is struck by the predominance of Arabic, Persian, and Hindi words, and the rarity of Sanskrit and Bengali.

That weaving, like other native arts, was known in Hindustan prior to the foundation of the Bengal kingdom is beyond a doubt, and that the earlier settlers brought it with them into the Delta is likely, but it would seem that either the names given by the dominant Muhammadans displaced the native ones, or that the liberal Mussulman rulers stimulated, it may be developed, the manufacture of the finer sorts of mslins. That the inhabitants of Bengal at an early period made cotton cloth of wondrous fineness is undoubted, for the two Muhammadan travellers of the ninth century mention that in an Indian country called Rahmi1 were woven cotton garments "so fine that they may be drawn through a ring of middling size." Unfortunately we possess no further evidence until A.D. 1506, three hundred years after the Muhammadan conquest, when the Roman Vartomannus2 visited the fabled city of Bengalla, where the finest cotton and silk in all the world was produced, and whence yearly sailed fifty ships laden with cotton and silk goods. The earliest traveller, however, who gives us the names of the fine cotton fabrics of Bengal, is the Arab author of the "Muhit," written in 1554.3 He mentions among the goods exported from Chittagong by his countrymen a fine cloth (Chautar), muslin sashes, called Malmal, the finest being known as Malmali Shahi, terms which are Hindi and Persian. Furthermore, when Caesar Frederick visited Chittagong (1563-81), "bombast cloth of every sort" was exported thence. After his day the authorities are numerous, and names identical with those in use in the present day are cited.

The conjecture that the Muhammadans merely developed an already flourishing trade is strengthened by the fact that the terms in use by the Dacca weavers for the warp, woof, shuttle, and loom generally are Sanskrit, while later improvements, such as the Shana, or reed, the Charkha, or spinning wheel, and the Dafti, or reed frame, are Persian.

The decline of the cotton trade of Eastern Bengal has been sketched by a former resident of Dacca, Mr. James Taylor,4

''1 Rahmi, however, may not be Bengal, but as it was the country of elephants, of a shell currency,and of the"Karkandan," or unicorn (rhinoceros), the assumption is not altogether groundless. Elliot's "History of India, vol. i, 361.''

''2 "Ludovici Vartomanni Navigatio," p. 259.''

''3 Journal " A S. of Bengal," vol. v, 467.''

''4 "A Descriptive and Historical Account of the Cotton Manufacture of Dacca, in Bengal," by a former resident of Dacca. London, 1851.''

while much curious information is contained in Mr. Bolt's "Considerations," and in the works of Edmund Burke. Under the Mughal government, and even as late as the Nawabship of 'Ali Vardi Khan (1742-56), the weavers manufactured in perfect liberty, and the enterprising among them advanced money to promote the trade, but with Siraj-ud-daulah (1756-7) the decadence began, and, during his eventful reign, seven hundred families of weavers left their homes at Jagalbari, in Mymensingh, owing to oppression, and emigrated to other districts. Before 1765, when the English obtained the Diwani of Bengal, bullion was regularly imported from Europe to meet the requirements of the traders, but after that day advances were made from the provincial treasuries to buy the annual stock, or "investment." This gave a new and unprecedented stimulus to weaving, and in 1787, the most prosperous year on record, the estimated prime cost of the cloths entered at the custom house of Dacca amounted to fifty lakhs of rupees, or 625,000l. This prosperity, however, was very deceptive, being founded on injustice and intolerable oppression. The first decline may be traced to the rapacity of the "Banyans" and Gomastas, who arbitrarily decided the quantity of goods each weaver was to deliver, the prices he was to receive, while his name being entered oa a register, he was not permitted to work for anyone but his own Gomasta. When the annual supply was ready the Gomasta held a bazar at which the Jachandar, or appraiser, fixed the price of the goods, but the rascality, Mr. Bolts says,1 was beyond imagination, and the prices were often fifteen per cent, often forty, below the market rate.

The deplorable condition of the weavers in 1773 is depicted in the following extract from a letter written by Mr. Rouse, the chief of Dacca.2 "The weavers are in general a timid, helpless people; many of them poor to the utmost degree of wretchedness, incapable of keeping accounts, industrious as it were by instinct, unable to defend themselves if oppressed, and satisfied if with continual labour they derive from the fair dealing and humanity of their employer a moderate subsistence for their families."

The following incident that occurred in 1767 gives a vivid idea of the state of matters in Dacca at that period. Mr. Thomas Kelsall, chief of Dacca, being informed that a certain weaver, Krishna Pal Kumar, was suspected of selling muslins to the French factory, ordered him to be seized, but he found shelter with the French. His relatives, however, were imprisoned and beaten, and their houses pillaged. Upon this the weaver gave himself up to the Diwan, Bhikam Lal Thakur, who ordered him to be flogged, after which he was confined in the factory for eleven days, during which time the Peons fleeced him of forty-nine rupees and two pieces of cloth. By Mr. Kelsall's order his head was shaved, his face blackened "with lime and ink," and being mounted on an ox,1 he was paraded through Nawabpur, where the brokers and Paikars lived. After three more days the accused was forwarded to the Nawab for trial, who, finding no fault, discharged him.

This hateful system was at last swept away, and the weavers for a short time enjoyed comparative freedom of trade, and unusual prosperity; but in 1769 Arkwright obtained his patent, in 1779 Crompton invented the mule, and the cotton manufactures of Lancashire have gradually driven the finer and less durable fabrics of the Bengali weavers out of the market, and all but annihilated the trade.

''1 "Considerations," part i, 193.''

''2 Burke's Works (Bohn's Edition), iv, 73.''

==(a)Hindustani Tantis==

The Hindustani, or Mungirya, weavers are very common in Dacca, where they comprehend a large proportion of the "Mothias," or coolies, street porters, pankha pullers, gardeners, aud packers of jute while at home they are weavers and cultivators.

Two divisions are met with, the Kanaujiya and Tirhutiya; the former the more numerous, being of higher rank than the latter, who are despised and shut out from all social intercourse.

In Bihar the Tanti is unclean; in Dacca he is included among the Nava Sakha.

The Kanaujiya have one gotra, the Kasyapa. They worship "Maha-maya," or Durga, in fulfilment of vows, keeping the ninth and tenth days of the Durga Pujah as holydays, consecrated to her. On a certain date in Kartik, they proceed to an open plain, and sacrifice a male goat to Kali, a "Khaci" to Madhu Kunwar, who, they say, was a Tanti.

On the sixth day after a birth the Chhathi is held, and on the twelfth the mother goes to the well, smears red lead on the edge in the name of Kamals (Lakshmi), then draws water and carries it within doors, when she is pronounced clean.

The Tirhutiya, degraded by carrying palanquins, and by acting as musicians at their homes, collect in Dacca during the jute season, and are remarkable for their squalor and stupidity. They also work as syces, gardeners, boatmen and musicians.

''1 A donkey was the animal usualy employed, but it does not live in the camp climate of Dacca. This punishment is called by the Hindus "Gadhe par charhana; " by the Muhammadans "Tashhir."''

Flesh and fish are eaten by them, and each time spirits are drunk a few drops are offered to Mahadeva. All belong to one gotra, the Parasara. A Hindustani Brahman officiates at religious ceremonies, and the Guru is usually a Sannyasi. The title of Brahman is conferred on the sister's son (Bhanja), and great deference is paid him, although through ignorance unable to preside at the family assembly.

Kali, durga, and Mahadeva are worshipped, but the majority follow the teaching of one Buddh Ram, a Mochi of Tirhut, who founded a sect, differing in some slight respects from that of Nanak Shah. They observe few caste usages, but many superstitious rites, such as burning "Ghi" in a lamp and adding rosin, in execution of vows.

The Levirate marriage is still lawful, and the purificatory ceremonies performed on the twelfth day are the same as those of the Kanaujiya. The wedding expenses are borne by the bridegroom, and the bride is carried with much parade in a palanquin, enclosed with curtains (Mihaffa).

In Tirhut Tantis weave, grow opium, and cultivate the soil.

With both classes of Tantis, the headman, Sirdar, or Mahto, is a very important personage, who accepts contracts, acts as purveyor, and keeps all accounts.
=Notes=

Sutar, Sutradhara

2017-11-30T04:48:12Z

Sunri, Saundika, Sundaka

2017-11-30T04:44:52Z

Silari

2017-11-30T04:41:11Z

Sekri

2017-11-30T04:37:15Z

Sarwaria Brahmans

2017-11-30T04:35:24Z

Sankhari, Sankha-Kara

2017-11-30T04:33:12Z

Raut, Rawat

2017-11-30T04:28:02Z

Parasara Das

2017-11-30T04:24:59Z

Pachak, Pachaka

2017-11-30T04:22:48Z

Nar, Nata, Nartaka, Nataka

2017-11-30T04:20:06Z

Napit, Napita, Nai

2017-11-30T04:17:17Z

Malakara, Malakar, Mali

2017-11-30T04:13:08Z

Maithila Brahman, Maithil Brahmin

2017-11-30T04:10:20Z

Madhu-Napit

2017-11-30T04:08:06Z

Kurmi, Kumbi, Kunbi

2017-11-30T04:04:59Z

Kumar, Kumbhakara, Kumhar

2017-11-30T04:01:11Z

File:KICHAK1.png

2017-11-29T12:41:42Z

Phuntsog:

File:KICHAK.png

2017-11-29T12:41:23Z

Phuntsog:

Kichak, Kichaka

2017-11-29T12:40:57Z

Khatri, Chhatri

2017-11-29T12:34:50Z

File:KKKK.png

2017-11-29T12:31:56Z

Phuntsog:

Hindustani Kayaths

2017-11-29T12:31:35Z

File:KKK.png

2017-11-29T12:31:22Z

Phuntsog:

File:KK2.png

2017-11-29T12:30:56Z

Phuntsog:

File:KK1.png

2017-11-29T12:30:05Z

Phuntsog:

File:K K.png

2017-11-29T12:29:38Z

Phuntsog:

Kayastha, Kayath, Kait

2017-11-29T12:29:02Z

Phuntsog: /* Kayastha, Kayath, Kait */

This article is an extract from
{| class="wikitable"
|-

|colspan="0"|<div style="font-size:100%">
'''THE TRIBES and CASTES of BENGAL.''' <br/>
By H.H. RISLEY,<br/>
INDIAN CIVIL SERVICE, OFFICIER D'ACADÉMIE FRANÇAISE. <br/>

Ethnographic Glossary. <br/>

CALCUTTA: <br/> ''Printed at the Bengal Secretariat Press.''<br/> 1891. .</div>
|}
NOTE 1: Indpaedia neither agrees nor disagrees with the contents of this article. Readers who wish to add fresh information can create a Part II of this article. The general rule is that if we have nothing nice to say about communities other than our own it is best to say nothing at all.

NOTE 2: While reading please keep in mind that all articles in this series have been scanned from a very old book. Therefore, footnotes have got inserted into the main text of the article, interrupting the flow. Readers who spot scanning errors are requested to report the correct spelling to the Facebook page, [http://www.facebook.com/Indpaedia Indpaedia.com]. All information used will be duly acknowledged.

[[Category:India|K]]
[[Category:Communities|K]]
=Kayastha, Kayath, Kait=
The origin of this important caste is unknown, and all attempts to explain how and when it rose have been fruitless. In one part of the country the members claim to be of higher rank than the Sudras, and repudiate that title; but in Bengal they are classified immediately below the Baidya caste, with whom they live on terms of great jealousy. If we accept Karana,1 which means "a man of mixed race," as synonymous with Kayath, the caste is descended from a Brahman father and a mother of the class next beneath it in rank; but according to other authorities it is the issue of a Kshetriya father and a Vaisya mother. The Kaits, however, are better pleased to have their parentage doubtful than to be the reputed offspring of such an ignoble stock.

The word Kayath is generally derived from the Sanskrit Kaya, a body, because the progenitor of the clan is said to have sprang from the body of Brahma, yet it is probable that Kayath was simply a man's and not a tribal name.

The Kayaths of Bengal are believed to be descended from five persons who served the five Brahmans brought from Kanauj by Adisura in the ninth century. The names of the five servants were�

''Dasaratha Bosu, Kali Das Mittra,''

''Makaranda Ghose, Purushottama Datta.''

''Virata, or Sukdeo Guha,''
A tradition survives, that after celebrating the "Putreshti Jagya," for which their masters had been summoned, the Kayaths returned to Kanauj, but were repudiated as outcasts by their brethren, upon which they came back to Bengal with two other members of their clan, named Nag and Nath, and settled at Pancha-Sara in Bikrampur.

The Kayaths of Bengal are subdivided into four great tribes, who formerly had no connection with one another, although all were engaged in the same profession, but of late years the causes of separation having been removed, individuals belonging to allied tribes intermarry.

The four tribes are�

''Uttar Rarh, Bangaja,''

''Dakhin-Rarhi, Varendra.''

The distribution of the tribes is as follows:�

The Uttar-Rarhi are met with in the districts of Birbhum, Burdwan, Murshidabad, parts of Rangpur, Dinajpur, Hughli, and Jessore. The Dakhin-Rarhi are massed in Burdwan,Hughli, Midnapur, 24 Pergunnahs, Jessore, Kishnaghur, and parts of Baqirganj, while in Dacca only two families reside. The Bangaja are established in Baqirganj, Jessore, 24 Pergunnahs, Dacca, Farridpur, western part of Mymensingh, eastern part of Pubna, and in several villages of the Bograh district. The Varendra are settled in Rajshahi, Pubna, Maldah, bograh, Dinajpur, as well as here and there throughout Farridpur, Jessore, and Kishnaghur.

The second and third tribes are so closely allied that the same gotras are common to both, and of late years they have been fast amalgamating: but the first and fourth, having no Kulins, are more conservative of old party customs. In Eastern Bengal the Bangaja tribe includes nine-tenths of the whole Kayath caste, while the remainder belong to the Dakhin Rarhi. The following remarks will therefore be confined to the former.

The Bangaja Kayaths have Ghataks of their own, residing at Edilpur, in Baqirganj, from whom the account of the various subdivisions has been obtained. The Ghatak registers go back twenty-three generations, to the fourteenth century, when the Muhammadans had conquered the most important part of Bengal. It is probable, however, that the occurrences of a later age have been embellished by the traditions of an earlier, and that the present organisation of this great tribe was the work of a reformer who lived long after the reigns of Adisura and Ballal Sen. Whoever reorganised the tribe, he gave the rank of Kulin to the four families of�

''Vasu or Bosu, Guha,''

''Ghosa, Mittra;''
while to Datta, who was of a proud and independent spirit, refusing to be the slave of any Brahman, was allotted only a half Kul. On the other hand, Dutt, Nag, Nath, and a family of bondsmen, called Dasa, were enrolled as Madhalya, or intermediate, Kayaths, with whom the Kulins may marry without loss of rank.

The following is a list of the gotras of the Kulin and Madhalya Kayaths, but the correct order of precedence is a subject of interminable dispute and heart-burning:�
[[File:K K.png||frame|500px]]
[[File:KK1.png||frame|500px]]
The four families next in order are designated Maha-patra:�

[[File:KK2.png||frame|500px]]
Next below these are fifteen families, who by giving their daughters in marriage to Kulins, can raise themselves to the grade of Maha-patra, but a marriage of this nature brings a certain amount of discredit on the family of the bridegroom. The fifteen are�

[[File:KKK.png||frame|500px]]
Their gotras, being the same as those of the higher grades, do not require mention.

Regarding the still lower grades, different lists and names are given. According to some, they number seventy-two, but the "Samaj," or council of the Bangaja, only recognise thirty-two, while the larger number is met with among the Dakhin Rarhi Kayaths. The thirty-two grades are of very low birth, and Kulins who intermarry with them lose much, if not all, of their family prestige. The following names are not often met with nowadays, but a few are familiar to residents:�

[[File:KKKK.png||frame|500px]]
''1 In Midnapore Kayasths still describe themselves as Karana.''

The higher grades of Kayaths will only eat with these when paid for so doing. Many of them are writers and educated men, but others are poor and illiterate peasants.

According to the census returns the Kayath caste numbers 1,160,478 individuals, a large proportion of whom are residents of the nine districts of Eastern Bengal. It is likewise remarkable that they are most numerous in Bqirganj (125,164), Mymensingh (105,537), Dacca (102,084), and Midnapore (101,663) districts, on the outer borders of the province, a circumstance that either indicates a descent from mixed races, or a special aptitude for development on the confines of advancing civilization. It must, however, be borne in mind that the term Kayath is often used by the lower classes of Bengal as the equivalent of Sudra.

The Kayath caste is the most intellectual, and best educated in Bengal. Although of doubtful parentage it has from the earliest historical period been an ambitious and prosperous community, which even under Muhammadan rule held most of the financial and revenue appointments throughout India; and since the English occupation of the country has almost secured the whole of the subordinate Government offices. At present. they are as skilful penmen, and as good English scholars as they were formerly Persian. Furthermore, there is perhaps more of a clannish spirit among them than among any other caste of Bengal.

Sir George Campbell describes the Kayaths as "decidedly dark, generally thin, spare men, and on the average short, with often sharp weasel-like features, small and quite low-Aryan." In Dacca the Kayaths are of a deeper brown colour than the Kulin Brahmans, but every shade of brown may be met with. Some are large powerful men, but after thirty-five they become fat and sleek-headed, and generally indolent. Their undoubted talents are too often expended on chicanery and legal quibbles, and it is very rare to find in Eastern Bengal any highly educated men who love literature for its own sake, not for the favours it bestows. It may be safely said, that every Kayath can read and write Bengali, that a large majority are well versed in English, as taught in the schools, and that a few are acquainted with Sanskrit. It is, however, very seldom that a Kayath is found who can read Persian, as that language is deemed of little value by the Hindus of Bengal, and it is rare indeed for a Hindu boy to attend the Persian class at college.

It is a melancholy fact that this clever and rising caste should always have been extravagant and dissipated. None of the large Zamindars of Eastern Bengal are Kayaths, and few families are, as regards wealth, on an equality with the Brahman and Baidya houses. Many reasons are given in explanation of this anomaly. Kayaths held almost all the lucrative posts under the Muhammadan rulers of Bengal, were farmers of the revenue, and were not often credited with tender feelings or conscientious doubts. As was said of them by a Muhammadan, who knew them well, they were like a sponge, imbibing what they could on all occasions, but parting with their plunder as readily as it does when squeezed. Whenever a revenue officer was reported to have accumulated wealth, he received a summons to Murshidabad, and was compelled to give up all that he had, or become a Muhammadan. In former days, moreover, the rank of a Kayath depended much on the number of slaves he retained, and wonderful stories are told of the swarms of dependants belonging to the old families. Their marriage ceremonies, likewise, and their religious rites, have always been accompanied by more ostentation and lavish expenditure than with other castes. Dissolute and intemperate habits were natural consequences of an uncertain position. Rich to-day, they, might be beggars to-morrow, and the savings of years might be swept away by a word from the Nawab. But, even after a century of peace and security, the Kayaths are the same improvident people they were under the Mughal dynasty.

The Sakta worship generates drunkards, and no one can be a devoted worshipper without drinking spirits to a fearful extent. While the doctrines of Chaitanya have united almost all the artisan and agricultural castes in a common faith, the immoral Sakta ritual is observed by the three highest and most intelligent of the Hindu castes, namely, the Brahman, Baidya, and Kayath. All Kulin Kayaths, and three-fourths of the other subdivisions, follow the Sakta worship, and one-half of these celebrate the "Vahmachari Achar," or Chakra rites. By this, intoxication is legalised and made a religious duty, while obscenity is countenanced and enforced. English education has not as yet reformed them, and probably at no former period was intoxication so universal and habitual as at the present day.

These strictures, true of the caste collectively, are unjust towards many of the most philanthropic and excellent native gentlemen to be met with in Bengal, who lament the degradation of their brethren, and do their utmost to stem the torrent of unbelief and immorality which is destroying the noblest qualities of their countrymen. As yet their endeavours have proved ineffectual, but it is for the rising generation to realize their position, to denounce the vices of their brethren, and to assume the lead in the advancement and in the civilization of their countrymen.

A Kulin Kayath family is almost as exclusive as that of a Kulin Brahman, and it is equally dependent on the Ghatak for the preservation of its station and purity. A member of this class can only retain his rank by marrying the daughter of a Kulin, or by giving his son or daughter in marriage to a Kulin family. Should any family during three generations neglect to form an alliance with another Kulin family its patrician dignity is lost: but a single, or even a second, mesalliance does not lower the credit of the house. Families who have always intermarried with Kulins are called "Ganga-tirtha" Kulins, being regarded as the purest.

When a Kulin Kayath is degraded, he never can regain the position he has lost, but his descendants, by marrying Kulins, thenceforward become known as "Kulaja." Finally, should a Kulin marry a daughter of the Kulaja or Madhalya classes, he continues to preserve his respectability. This union is called "Visrama-sthan." Adopted children, moreover, do not acquire the position of the person adopting them.

Like other clean Sudra castes who follow the Sakta ritual, the Kulin Kayath has a private temple, or sacred nook, where a Siva-linga is erected, and daily worship performed by the head of the household. All Kayaths, except those of the Vaishnava sect, observe the Sri Panchami, or "Dawat Pujah," on the fifth of the waxing moon in Magh (January-February). This festival is held in honour of Sarasvati, the goddess of learning, who, strange to say, is regarded by both Kayaths and prostitutes as their patron deity. On this day the courts and all offices are closed, as no Hindu penman will use pen and ink, or any writing instrument, except a pencil, on that day. When work is resumed a new inkstand and pen must be used, and the penman must write nothing until he has several times transcribed the name of the goddess Durga, with which all Hindu epistolary correspondence begins. Kayaths are expected to spend the holiday in meditating on the goddess Sarasvati after they have observed certain religious rites, and sacrificed a kid to Kali or Durga; but in reality they spend it in immorality and dissipation, for which reasons the "goddess of learning " has in some way come to be regarded as the tutelary deity of the "Peshahgar." On this day the Kayath must taste of a Hilsa fish, whatever its price, while from the Sri Panchami festival in January to the Vijaya Dasami in September or October, fish must be eaten daily; but from the last to the first month it must not be touched. This curious custom, probably founded on some hygienic superstition, is often reversed by Bengali Kayaths.

As much as a thousand, and occasionally two thousand, rupees are paid by a bride's father to a Kulin Kayath at his marriage, but formerly either fourteen or twenty-one rupees were the recognised sums given, and even now, the formality is gone through of asking the bride's father if he has received that amount, although it is not the custom to accept it. In old families the Purohit officiates at the marriage service, and before ir a fast is observed, during which Kali is worshipped.

The chief strength of the Brahmo Samaj lies in the ranks of the Kayaths, and every Kayath boy attending the Government college becomes a member of this new sect. These boys are necessarily outcasted, and unless their parents cease to associate with them, expulsion befalls the whole family. On returning home a Brahmo boy is not permitted to enter his father's house, but is fed and entertained by himself in an outhouse. In Dacca a few Brahmo households exist, the males and females of which have become Brahmos and Brahmikas, but a few faint-hearted individuals, Brahmos in Dacca, are Hindus at their homes. There is reason for anticipating that the whole caste will very soon become Brahmos. The Kayaths have time on their side, and are confident that Brahmoism is the destined religion of the Hindus, and that the Crescent will go down before the hosts of Deism. Great rejoicings were lately made on the occasion of the conversion of Zahiruddin of Sunnargaon, a student of the Dacca college. He was secretly made a Brahmo, and named Jai Narayana. Subsequently he became a "Prakash," or perfect Brahmo, receiving the title of Jala Dhar Babu, which entitled him to eat and drink with the Kayaths.

Throughout the eastern districts of Bengal there is a very numerous body of natives called Ghulam, or slave, Kayaths, and also known as Shiqdar, or Bhandari. Their existence as an adjunct, or graft, of the Kayath stock is both interesting and peculiar, and would appear to explain the obscure and hetero-geueous character of the main stem. The Ghulam Kayaths are descended from individuals belonging to clean Sudra castes, who sold themselves, or were sold, as slaves to Kayath masters. It is stoutly denied that anyone belonging to an unclean tribe was ever purchased as a slave, yet it is hard to believe that this never occurred. The physique of the low and impure races has always been better than that of the pure, and on account of their poverty and low standing a slave could at any time be more easily purchased from amongst them. However this may be, it is an undoubted fact that any Ghulam Kayath could, and can, even at the present day, if rich and provident, raise himself by intermarriage as high as the Madhalya grade, and obtain admission among the "Bhadra-lok," or gentry of his countrymen.

For the following translation of a deed of sale I am indebted to the late Babu Brijo Sundar Mittra, a scion of one of the oldest and most respected Kayath families of Dacca:�

"I, Ram Kisto Pal, son of Tula Ram Pal, and grandson of Ram Deva Pal, do hereby execute this deed of sale.

"Owing to the debts incurred at my marriage, and which I am unable to pay, I, in my proper mind, and of my own free will, sell myself to you on my receiving a sum of Purojonodoho-masi1 rupees twenty-five, and I and my descendants will serve you as slaves as long as we are given subsistence allowance and clothing, you, your sons, and grandsons shall make us work as slaves, and have power to sell, or make a gift of us to others. On these conditions I execute this bond.

"Dated 19th Kartik, 1201 B.S. (November, 1794)."

Although slavery is illegal, and has been so for many years, the buying and selling of domestic slaves still goes on, and it may be safely said that there is hardly a family of any distinction which has not several Bhandaris on its establishment. The life of the Nafr, or Shahna, as the slave is called in other parts of the country, is most congenial to the Bengali. With rare exceptions he is kindly treated, and in return he regards the welfare and happiness of each member of the family as inseparable from his own. Owing to the deaths of their masters many thousands are scattered throughout Bengal, who are found working at all trades, and do not consider themselves degraded by holding a plough or wielding a mattock. In Bikrampur they are often boatmen, while in Dacca Kayaths are employed as confectioners, coolies, brasiers, shopkeepers, and venders of Pan and Indian hemp.

Brahmans, Baidyas, Sahas, and Banyas possess slaves, but none of these castes have ever permitted their servants to rise in rank, or assume an equality with their masters. It is suggested by the Kayaths that the Ghulam Kayaths of the present day are the descendants of the tribe resident in Bengal before the advent of the Kanauj families; but this conjecture is erroneous, for not only are individuals being added even now to the servile branch, but admissions such as that of Ram Kisto Pal, the subject of the deed of sale (who was a Teli by caste), can be proved by existing documents.

The honorary titles borne by the Kayath families are numerous. The most common are Biswas, Bhumika, Dhali, Majumdar, Qanungo, Mahalla-nawiz, Pattadar, Shiqdar, Niyogi, Mustaufi, and Mushrif. Besides these official distinctions, the Rajas of Chandradwip conferred others, such as Dasta-dar, Thakurta, and Muncif, which are borne by Guha and Ghose families at the present day, From these titles we learn that formerly the Bengali Kayath wielded other weapons than the pen, and that while some fought in the ranks as shield-bearing (Dhali) soldiers, others commanded as brigadiers (Dastadar).

In olden times the most famous Kayath family in Bengal was the "Banga Adhikari," which gave for many generations the Qanungoes, or finance ministers, to the province. Their residence was in Dacca so long as the seat of government was there, and a bazar near their mansion is still named Rai Bazar. A private idol, known as Sama Rai, has for two centuries been maintained by the rent of a piece of land. Early in the eighteenth century the family removed to Murshidabad, where its representatives still reside.

The leading Kulin Kayath family of Dacca is the family of Bose, or, as they prefer calling themselves, Bose-Thakurs, of Bose-nagar in Bikrampur. The founder of the house was Devi Das Bose, Qanungo of the Nawarah Mahall, whose Muharrir, or clerk, was Krishna Jivana Majumdar, father of the celebrated Rajah Raj Bullabh. An old building at Bose-nagar still bears an inscription put up by the builder, Devi Das, with the date A.H. 1087 (1676).1

The oldest and most respected house among the Bangaja Kayaths, however, is that of Chandradwip. For seventeen generations the family has dwelt in Baqirganj, and its head has always been the Samaj-pati or president of the caste.2

''1 Mr. J.D. Ward, C.S. suggests the following reading and interpretation: Pura (full), jana, or gana, daha (ten), masha. Each rupee was to value ten full machas. A "masha" equalled 17 3/8 grains, and a rupee ten mashas.''

=Notes=

Kayastha, Kayath, Kait

2017-11-29T12:27:15Z

This article is an extract from
{| class="wikitable"
|-

|colspan="0"|<div style="font-size:100%">
'''THE TRIBES and CASTES of BENGAL.''' <br/>
By H.H. RISLEY,<br/>
INDIAN CIVIL SERVICE, OFFICIER D'ACADÉMIE FRANÇAISE. <br/>

Ethnographic Glossary. <br/>

CALCUTTA: <br/> ''Printed at the Bengal Secretariat Press.''<br/> 1891. .</div>
|}
NOTE 1: Indpaedia neither agrees nor disagrees with the contents of this article. Readers who wish to add fresh information can create a Part II of this article. The general rule is that if we have nothing nice to say about communities other than our own it is best to say nothing at all.

NOTE 2: While reading please keep in mind that all articles in this series have been scanned from a very old book. Therefore, footnotes have got inserted into the main text of the article, interrupting the flow. Readers who spot scanning errors are requested to report the correct spelling to the Facebook page, [http://www.facebook.com/Indpaedia Indpaedia.com]. All information used will be duly acknowledged.

[[Category:India|K]]
[[Category:Communities|K]]
=Kayastha, Kayath, Kait=
The origin of this important caste is unknown, and all attempts to explain how and when it rose have been fruitless. In one part of the country the members claim to be of higher rank than the Sudras, and repudiate that title; but in Bengal they are classified immediately below the Baidya caste, with whom they live on terms of great jealousy. If we accept Karana,1 which means "a man of mixed race," as synonymous with Kayath, the caste is descended from a Brahman father and a mother of the class next beneath it in rank; but according to other authorities it is the issue of a Kshetriya father and a Vaisya mother. The Kaits, however, are better pleased to have their parentage doubtful than to be the reputed offspring of such an ignoble stock.

The word Kayath is generally derived from the Sanskrit Kaya, a body, because the progenitor of the clan is said to have sprang from the body of Brahma, yet it is probable that Kayath was simply a man's and not a tribal name.

The Kayaths of Bengal are believed to be descended from five persons who served the five Brahmans brought from Kanauj by Adisura in the ninth century. The names of the five servants were�

''Dasaratha Bosu, Kali Das Mittra,''

''Makaranda Ghose, Purushottama Datta.''

''Virata, or Sukdeo Guha,''
A tradition survives, that after celebrating the "Putreshti Jagya," for which their masters had been summoned, the Kayaths returned to Kanauj, but were repudiated as outcasts by their brethren, upon which they came back to Bengal with two other members of their clan, named Nag and Nath, and settled at Pancha-Sara in Bikrampur.

The Kayaths of Bengal are subdivided into four great tribes, who formerly had no connection with one another, although all were engaged in the same profession, but of late years the causes of separation having been removed, individuals belonging to allied tribes intermarry.

The four tribes are�

''Uttar Rarh, Bangaja,''

''Dakhin-Rarhi, Varendra.''

The distribution of the tribes is as follows:�

The Uttar-Rarhi are met with in the districts of Birbhum, Burdwan, Murshidabad, parts of Rangpur, Dinajpur, Hughli, and Jessore. The Dakhin-Rarhi are massed in Burdwan,Hughli, Midnapur, 24 Pergunnahs, Jessore, Kishnaghur, and parts of Baqirganj, while in Dacca only two families reside. The Bangaja are established in Baqirganj, Jessore, 24 Pergunnahs, Dacca, Farridpur, western part of Mymensingh, eastern part of Pubna, and in several villages of the Bograh district. The Varendra are settled in Rajshahi, Pubna, Maldah, bograh, Dinajpur, as well as here and there throughout Farridpur, Jessore, and Kishnaghur.

The second and third tribes are so closely allied that the same gotras are common to both, and of late years they have been fast amalgamating: but the first and fourth, having no Kulins, are more conservative of old party customs. In Eastern Bengal the Bangaja tribe includes nine-tenths of the whole Kayath caste, while the remainder belong to the Dakhin Rarhi. The following remarks will therefore be confined to the former.

The Bangaja Kayaths have Ghataks of their own, residing at Edilpur, in Baqirganj, from whom the account of the various subdivisions has been obtained. The Ghatak registers go back twenty-three generations, to the fourteenth century, when the Muhammadans had conquered the most important part of Bengal. It is probable, however, that the occurrences of a later age have been embellished by the traditions of an earlier, and that the present organisation of this great tribe was the work of a reformer who lived long after the reigns of Adisura and Ballal Sen. Whoever reorganised the tribe, he gave the rank of Kulin to the four families of�

''Vasu or Bosu, Guha,''

''Ghosa, Mittra;''
while to Datta, who was of a proud and independent spirit, refusing to be the slave of any Brahman, was allotted only a half Kul. On the other hand, Dutt, Nag, Nath, and a family of bondsmen, called Dasa, were enrolled as Madhalya, or intermediate, Kayaths, with whom the Kulins may marry without loss of rank.

The following is a list of the gotras of the Kulin and Madhalya Kayaths, but the correct order of precedence is a subject of interminable dispute and heart-burning:�
[[File:KK.png||frame|500px]]
[[File:KK1.png||frame|500px]]
The four families next in order are designated Maha-patra:�

[[File:KK2.png||frame|500px]]
Next below these are fifteen families, who by giving their daughters in marriage to Kulins, can raise themselves to the grade of Maha-patra, but a marriage of this nature brings a certain amount of discredit on the family of the bridegroom. The fifteen are�

[[File:KKK.png||frame|500px]]
Their gotras, being the same as those of the higher grades, do not require mention.

Regarding the still lower grades, different lists and names are given. According to some, they number seventy-two, but the "Samaj," or council of the Bangaja, only recognise thirty-two, while the larger number is met with among the Dakhin Rarhi Kayaths. The thirty-two grades are of very low birth, and Kulins who intermarry with them lose much, if not all, of their family prestige. The following names are not often met with nowadays, but a few are familiar to residents:�

[[File:KKKK.png||frame|500px]]
''1 In Midnapore Kayasths still describe themselves as Karana.''

The higher grades of Kayaths will only eat with these when paid for so doing. Many of them are writers and educated men, but others are poor and illiterate peasants.

According to the census returns the Kayath caste numbers 1,160,478 individuals, a large proportion of whom are residents of the nine districts of Eastern Bengal. It is likewise remarkable that they are most numerous in Bqirganj (125,164), Mymensingh (105,537), Dacca (102,084), and Midnapore (101,663) districts, on the outer borders of the province, a circumstance that either indicates a descent from mixed races, or a special aptitude for development on the confines of advancing civilization. It must, however, be borne in mind that the term Kayath is often used by the lower classes of Bengal as the equivalent of Sudra.

The Kayath caste is the most intellectual, and best educated in Bengal. Although of doubtful parentage it has from the earliest historical period been an ambitious and prosperous community, which even under Muhammadan rule held most of the financial and revenue appointments throughout India; and since the English occupation of the country has almost secured the whole of the subordinate Government offices. At present. they are as skilful penmen, and as good English scholars as they were formerly Persian. Furthermore, there is perhaps more of a clannish spirit among them than among any other caste of Bengal.

Sir George Campbell describes the Kayaths as "decidedly dark, generally thin, spare men, and on the average short, with often sharp weasel-like features, small and quite low-Aryan." In Dacca the Kayaths are of a deeper brown colour than the Kulin Brahmans, but every shade of brown may be met with. Some are large powerful men, but after thirty-five they become fat and sleek-headed, and generally indolent. Their undoubted talents are too often expended on chicanery and legal quibbles, and it is very rare to find in Eastern Bengal any highly educated men who love literature for its own sake, not for the favours it bestows. It may be safely said, that every Kayath can read and write Bengali, that a large majority are well versed in English, as taught in the schools, and that a few are acquainted with Sanskrit. It is, however, very seldom that a Kayath is found who can read Persian, as that language is deemed of little value by the Hindus of Bengal, and it is rare indeed for a Hindu boy to attend the Persian class at college.

It is a melancholy fact that this clever and rising caste should always have been extravagant and dissipated. None of the large Zamindars of Eastern Bengal are Kayaths, and few families are, as regards wealth, on an equality with the Brahman and Baidya houses. Many reasons are given in explanation of this anomaly. Kayaths held almost all the lucrative posts under the Muhammadan rulers of Bengal, were farmers of the revenue, and were not often credited with tender feelings or conscientious doubts. As was said of them by a Muhammadan, who knew them well, they were like a sponge, imbibing what they could on all occasions, but parting with their plunder as readily as it does when squeezed. Whenever a revenue officer was reported to have accumulated wealth, he received a summons to Murshidabad, and was compelled to give up all that he had, or become a Muhammadan. In former days, moreover, the rank of a Kayath depended much on the number of slaves he retained, and wonderful stories are told of the swarms of dependants belonging to the old families. Their marriage ceremonies, likewise, and their religious rites, have always been accompanied by more ostentation and lavish expenditure than with other castes. Dissolute and intemperate habits were natural consequences of an uncertain position. Rich to-day, they, might be beggars to-morrow, and the savings of years might be swept away by a word from the Nawab. But, even after a century of peace and security, the Kayaths are the same improvident people they were under the Mughal dynasty.

The Sakta worship generates drunkards, and no one can be a devoted worshipper without drinking spirits to a fearful extent. While the doctrines of Chaitanya have united almost all the artisan and agricultural castes in a common faith, the immoral Sakta ritual is observed by the three highest and most intelligent of the Hindu castes, namely, the Brahman, Baidya, and Kayath. All Kulin Kayaths, and three-fourths of the other subdivisions, follow the Sakta worship, and one-half of these celebrate the "Vahmachari Achar," or Chakra rites. By this, intoxication is legalised and made a religious duty, while obscenity is countenanced and enforced. English education has not as yet reformed them, and probably at no former period was intoxication so universal and habitual as at the present day.

These strictures, true of the caste collectively, are unjust towards many of the most philanthropic and excellent native gentlemen to be met with in Bengal, who lament the degradation of their brethren, and do their utmost to stem the torrent of unbelief and immorality which is destroying the noblest qualities of their countrymen. As yet their endeavours have proved ineffectual, but it is for the rising generation to realize their position, to denounce the vices of their brethren, and to assume the lead in the advancement and in the civilization of their countrymen.

A Kulin Kayath family is almost as exclusive as that of a Kulin Brahman, and it is equally dependent on the Ghatak for the preservation of its station and purity. A member of this class can only retain his rank by marrying the daughter of a Kulin, or by giving his son or daughter in marriage to a Kulin family. Should any family during three generations neglect to form an alliance with another Kulin family its patrician dignity is lost: but a single, or even a second, mesalliance does not lower the credit of the house. Families who have always intermarried with Kulins are called "Ganga-tirtha" Kulins, being regarded as the purest.

When a Kulin Kayath is degraded, he never can regain the position he has lost, but his descendants, by marrying Kulins, thenceforward become known as "Kulaja." Finally, should a Kulin marry a daughter of the Kulaja or Madhalya classes, he continues to preserve his respectability. This union is called "Visrama-sthan." Adopted children, moreover, do not acquire the position of the person adopting them.

Like other clean Sudra castes who follow the Sakta ritual, the Kulin Kayath has a private temple, or sacred nook, where a Siva-linga is erected, and daily worship performed by the head of the household. All Kayaths, except those of the Vaishnava sect, observe the Sri Panchami, or "Dawat Pujah," on the fifth of the waxing moon in Magh (January-February). This festival is held in honour of Sarasvati, the goddess of learning, who, strange to say, is regarded by both Kayaths and prostitutes as their patron deity. On this day the courts and all offices are closed, as no Hindu penman will use pen and ink, or any writing instrument, except a pencil, on that day. When work is resumed a new inkstand and pen must be used, and the penman must write nothing until he has several times transcribed the name of the goddess Durga, with which all Hindu epistolary correspondence begins. Kayaths are expected to spend the holiday in meditating on the goddess Sarasvati after they have observed certain religious rites, and sacrificed a kid to Kali or Durga; but in reality they spend it in immorality and dissipation, for which reasons the "goddess of learning " has in some way come to be regarded as the tutelary deity of the "Peshahgar." On this day the Kayath must taste of a Hilsa fish, whatever its price, while from the Sri Panchami festival in January to the Vijaya Dasami in September or October, fish must be eaten daily; but from the last to the first month it must not be touched. This curious custom, probably founded on some hygienic superstition, is often reversed by Bengali Kayaths.

As much as a thousand, and occasionally two thousand, rupees are paid by a bride's father to a Kulin Kayath at his marriage, but formerly either fourteen or twenty-one rupees were the recognised sums given, and even now, the formality is gone through of asking the bride's father if he has received that amount, although it is not the custom to accept it. In old families the Purohit officiates at the marriage service, and before ir a fast is observed, during which Kali is worshipped.

The chief strength of the Brahmo Samaj lies in the ranks of the Kayaths, and every Kayath boy attending the Government college becomes a member of this new sect. These boys are necessarily outcasted, and unless their parents cease to associate with them, expulsion befalls the whole family. On returning home a Brahmo boy is not permitted to enter his father's house, but is fed and entertained by himself in an outhouse. In Dacca a few Brahmo households exist, the males and females of which have become Brahmos and Brahmikas, but a few faint-hearted individuals, Brahmos in Dacca, are Hindus at their homes. There is reason for anticipating that the whole caste will very soon become Brahmos. The Kayaths have time on their side, and are confident that Brahmoism is the destined religion of the Hindus, and that the Crescent will go down before the hosts of Deism. Great rejoicings were lately made on the occasion of the conversion of Zahiruddin of Sunnargaon, a student of the Dacca college. He was secretly made a Brahmo, and named Jai Narayana. Subsequently he became a "Prakash," or perfect Brahmo, receiving the title of Jala Dhar Babu, which entitled him to eat and drink with the Kayaths.

Throughout the eastern districts of Bengal there is a very numerous body of natives called Ghulam, or slave, Kayaths, and also known as Shiqdar, or Bhandari. Their existence as an adjunct, or graft, of the Kayath stock is both interesting and peculiar, and would appear to explain the obscure and hetero-geueous character of the main stem. The Ghulam Kayaths are descended from individuals belonging to clean Sudra castes, who sold themselves, or were sold, as slaves to Kayath masters. It is stoutly denied that anyone belonging to an unclean tribe was ever purchased as a slave, yet it is hard to believe that this never occurred. The physique of the low and impure races has always been better than that of the pure, and on account of their poverty and low standing a slave could at any time be more easily purchased from amongst them. However this may be, it is an undoubted fact that any Ghulam Kayath could, and can, even at the present day, if rich and provident, raise himself by intermarriage as high as the Madhalya grade, and obtain admission among the "Bhadra-lok," or gentry of his countrymen.

For the following translation of a deed of sale I am indebted to the late Babu Brijo Sundar Mittra, a scion of one of the oldest and most respected Kayath families of Dacca:�

"I, Ram Kisto Pal, son of Tula Ram Pal, and grandson of Ram Deva Pal, do hereby execute this deed of sale.

"Owing to the debts incurred at my marriage, and which I am unable to pay, I, in my proper mind, and of my own free will, sell myself to you on my receiving a sum of Purojonodoho-masi1 rupees twenty-five, and I and my descendants will serve you as slaves as long as we are given subsistence allowance and clothing, you, your sons, and grandsons shall make us work as slaves, and have power to sell, or make a gift of us to others. On these conditions I execute this bond.

"Dated 19th Kartik, 1201 B.S. (November, 1794)."

Although slavery is illegal, and has been so for many years, the buying and selling of domestic slaves still goes on, and it may be safely said that there is hardly a family of any distinction which has not several Bhandaris on its establishment. The life of the Nafr, or Shahna, as the slave is called in other parts of the country, is most congenial to the Bengali. With rare exceptions he is kindly treated, and in return he regards the welfare and happiness of each member of the family as inseparable from his own. Owing to the deaths of their masters many thousands are scattered throughout Bengal, who are found working at all trades, and do not consider themselves degraded by holding a plough or wielding a mattock. In Bikrampur they are often boatmen, while in Dacca Kayaths are employed as confectioners, coolies, brasiers, shopkeepers, and venders of Pan and Indian hemp.

Brahmans, Baidyas, Sahas, and Banyas possess slaves, but none of these castes have ever permitted their servants to rise in rank, or assume an equality with their masters. It is suggested by the Kayaths that the Ghulam Kayaths of the present day are the descendants of the tribe resident in Bengal before the advent of the Kanauj families; but this conjecture is erroneous, for not only are individuals being added even now to the servile branch, but admissions such as that of Ram Kisto Pal, the subject of the deed of sale (who was a Teli by caste), can be proved by existing documents.

The honorary titles borne by the Kayath families are numerous. The most common are Biswas, Bhumika, Dhali, Majumdar, Qanungo, Mahalla-nawiz, Pattadar, Shiqdar, Niyogi, Mustaufi, and Mushrif. Besides these official distinctions, the Rajas of Chandradwip conferred others, such as Dasta-dar, Thakurta, and Muncif, which are borne by Guha and Ghose families at the present day, From these titles we learn that formerly the Bengali Kayath wielded other weapons than the pen, and that while some fought in the ranks as shield-bearing (Dhali) soldiers, others commanded as brigadiers (Dastadar).

In olden times the most famous Kayath family in Bengal was the "Banga Adhikari," which gave for many generations the Qanungoes, or finance ministers, to the province. Their residence was in Dacca so long as the seat of government was there, and a bazar near their mansion is still named Rai Bazar. A private idol, known as Sama Rai, has for two centuries been maintained by the rent of a piece of land. Early in the eighteenth century the family removed to Murshidabad, where its representatives still reside.

The leading Kulin Kayath family of Dacca is the family of Bose, or, as they prefer calling themselves, Bose-Thakurs, of Bose-nagar in Bikrampur. The founder of the house was Devi Das Bose, Qanungo of the Nawarah Mahall, whose Muharrir, or clerk, was Krishna Jivana Majumdar, father of the celebrated Rajah Raj Bullabh. An old building at Bose-nagar still bears an inscription put up by the builder, Devi Das, with the date A.H. 1087 (1676).1

The oldest and most respected house among the Bangaja Kayaths, however, is that of Chandradwip. For seventeen generations the family has dwelt in Baqirganj, and its head has always been the Samaj-pati or president of the caste.2

''1 Mr. J.D. Ward, C.S. suggests the following reading and interpretation: Pura (full), jana, or gana, daha (ten), masha. Each rupee was to value ten full machas. A "masha" equalled 17 3/8 grains, and a rupee ten mashas.''
=Notes=

Karral

2017-11-29T12:16:17Z

Karni

2017-11-29T12:14:32Z

Kapali

2017-11-29T12:12:29Z

Kantha Brahman

2017-11-29T12:10:40Z

Kansari, Kansya-Kara

2017-11-29T12:07:54Z

Kandho

2017-11-29T12:04:25Z

Kanaujiya Brahmans

2017-11-29T12:02:32Z

Kamar, Karmakara

2017-11-29T11:59:05Z

Kacharu

2017-11-29T04:37:23Z

Jat- Jogi

2017-11-29T04:35:15Z

Jogi

2017-11-29T04:33:37Z

Phuntsog:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
|colspan="0"|<div style="font-size:100%">
This article was written in 1916 when conditions were different. Even in<br/>1916 its contents related only to Central India and did not claim to be true <br />of all of India. It has been archived for its historical value as well as for<br/>the insights it gives into British colonial writing about the various communities<br/>of India. Indpaedia neither agrees nor disagrees with the contents of this <br/> article. Readers who wish to add fresh information can create a Part II of this <br/> article. The general rule is that if we have nothing nice to say about <br/> communities other than our own it is best to say nothing at all. <br/>

Readers will be able to edit existing articles and post new articles directly <br/> on their online archival encyclopædia only after its formal launch.

See [[examples]] and a tutorial.</div>
|}

[[Category:India|J]]
[[Category:Communities|J]]
[[Category:Name|Alphabet]]
[[Category:Name|Alphabet]]
From '''The Tribes And Castes Of The Central Provinces Of India '''

By R. V. Russell

Of The Indian Civil Service

Superintendent Of Ethnography, Central Provinces

Assisted By
Rai Bahadur Hira Lal,
Extra Assistant Commissioner

Macmillan And Co., Limited, London, 1916.

''' NOTE 1: The 'Central Provinces' have since been renamed Madhya Pradesh. '''

NOTE 2: While reading please keep in mind that all articles in this series have been scanned from the original book. Therefore, footnotes have got inserted into the main text of the article, interrupting the flow. Readers who spot these footnotes gone astray might like to shift them to their correct place.

=Jogi =

== Jogi, Yogi==
The well-known order of religious mendi- r . The cants and devotees of Siva. The Jogi or Yogi, properly so ^a called, is a follower of the Yoga system of philosophy founded by Patanjali, the main characteristics of which are a belief in the power of man over nature by means of austerities and the occult influences of the will. The idea is that one who has obtained complete control over himself, and entirely subdued all fleshly desires, acquires such potency of mind
and will that he can influence the forces of nature at his pleasure.

The Yoga philosophy has indeed so much sub- stratum of truth that a man who has complete control of himself has the strongest will, and hence the most power to influence others, and an exaggerated idea of this power is no doubt fostered by the display of mesmeric control and similar phenomena. The fact that the influence which can be exerted over other human beings through their minds in no way extends to the physical phenomena of inanimate nature is obvious to us, but was by no means so to the uneducated

tion of the
senses or

Hindus, who have no clear conceptions of the terms mental and physical, animate and inanimate, nor of the ideas con- noted by them. To them all nature was animate, and all its phenomena the results of the actions of sentient beings, and hence it was not difficult for them to suppose that men could influence the proceedings of such beings. And it is a matter of common knowledge that savage peoples believe their magicians to be capable of producing rain and fine weather, and even of controlling the course of the sun.

1 The Hindu sacred books indeed contain numerous instances of ascetics who by their austerities acquired such powers as to
compel the highest gods themselves to obedience. Abstrac- The term Yoga is held to mean unity or communion with God, and the Yogi by virtue of his painful discipline auto- and mental and physical exercises considered himself divine. hypnotism. „ ^& acj ept acquires the knowledge of everything past and future, remote or hidden ; he divines the thoughts of others, gains the strength of an elephant, the courage of a lion, and the swiftness of the wind ; flies into the air, floats in the water, and dives into the earth, contemplates all worlds at one glance and performs many strange things.

" 2 The following excellent instance of the pretensions of the Yogis is given by Professor Oman : 3 " Wolff went also with Mr. Wilson to see one of the celebrated Yogis who was lying in the sun in the street, the nails of whose hands were grown into his cheeks and a bird's nest upon his head. Wolff asked him, ' How can one obtain the knowledge of God?' He replied, 'Do not ask me questions; you may look at me, for I am God.'

[[File: jogi.png| |frame|500px]]

"It is certainly not easy at the present day," Professor Oman states,4 " for the western mind to enter into the spirit of the so-called Yoga philosophy ; but the student of
religious opinions is aware that in the early centuries of our
era the Gnostics, Manichaeans and Neo-Platonists derived
their peculiar tenets and practices from the Yoga-vidya of
India, and that at a later date the Sufi philosophy of Persia drew its most remarkable ideas from the same source. 5 The
1 This has been fully demonstrated 3 Quoting from Dr. George Smith's by Sir J. G. Frazer in The Golden Life of Dr. Wilson, p. 74. Bough. J i Ibidem, pp. 13-15. 2 Colebrooke's Essays. 6 Weber's Indian Literature, p. 239.

great historian of the Roman Empire refers to the subject in the following passage

: " The Fakirs of India and the monks
of the Oriental Church, were alike persuaded that in total abstraction of the faculties of the mind and body, the pure spirit may ascend to the enjoyment and vision of the Deity. The opinion and practice of the monasteries of Mount Athos will be best represented in the words of an abbot, who flourished in the eleventh century : ' When thou art alone
in thy cell,' says the ascetic teacher, ' Shut thy door, and seat thyself in a corner, raise thy mind above all things
vain and transitory, recline thy beard and chin on thy
breast, turn thine eyes and thy thoughts towards the middle
of the belly, the region of the navel, and search the place of the heart, the seat of the soul.

At first all will be dark and
comfortless ; but if you persevere day and night, you will
feel an ineffable joy ; and no sooner has the soul discovered
the place of the heart, than it is involved in a mystic and
ethereal light.' This light, the production of a distempered fancy, the creature of an empty stomach and an empty
brain, was adored by the Quietists as the pure and perfect essence of God Himself." 1 " Without entering into unnecessary details, many of
which are simply disgusting, I shall quote, as samples, a few
of the rules of practice required to be followed by the would-be Yogi in order to induce a state of Samadhi— hypnotism or trance—which is the condition or state in which the Yogi is to enjoy the promised privileges of Yoga.

The extracts are from a treatise on the Yoga philosophy by Assistant Surgeon Nobin Chander Pal." J " Place the left foot upon the right thigh, and the right foot upon the left thigh ; hold with the right hand the right
great toe and with the left hand the left great toe (the hands coming from behind the back and crossing each other) ; rest the chin on the interclavicular space, and fix the sight
on the tip of the nose.
" Inspire through the left nostril, fill the stomach with
the inspired air by the act of deglutition, suspend the
1 Gibbon's Decline and Fall of'the Roman Empire, chap, lxiii. 2 Republished in the Theosophist.

breath, and expire through the right nostril. Next inspire through the right nostril, swallow the inspired air, suspend the breath, and finally expire through the left nostril.
" Be seated in a tranquil posture, and fix your sight on the tip of the nose for the space of ten minutes. " Close the cars with the middle fingers, incline the head a little to the right side and listen with each ear attentively to the sound produced by the other ear, for the space of ten
minutes. " Pronounce inaudibly twelve thousand times the mystic syllable Om, and meditate upon it daily after deep inspira-
tions. " After a few forcible inspirations swallow the tongue, and thereby suspend the breath and deglutate the saliva for two
hours.

" Listen to the sounds within the right ear abstractedly
for two hours, with the left ear.
"Repeat the mystic syllable Om 20,736,000 times in silence and meditate upon it. " Suspend the respiratory movements for the period of twelve days, and you will be in a state of Samadhi." Another account of a similar procedure is given by Buchanan : 1 " Those who pretend to be eminent saints
perform the ceremony called Yoga, described in the Tantras.
In the accomplishment of this, by shutting what are called
the nine passages (dwdra, lit. doors) of the body, the votary
is supposed to distribute the breath into the different parts
of the body, and thus to obtain the beatific vision of various gods.

It is only persons who abstain from the indulgence
of concupiscence that can pretend to perform this ceremony,
which during the whole time that the breath can be held in the proper place excites an ecstasy equal to whatever woman
can bestow on man." 3. Breath- It is clear that the effect of some of the above practices
g"
t ^rough is designed to produce a state of mind resembling the nostril. hypnotic trance. The Yogis attach much importance to the
effect of breathing through one or the other nostril, and this
1 Eastern India, ii. p. 756.

is also the case with Hindus generally, as various rules con-
cerning it are prescribed for the daily prayers of Brfihmans. To have both nostrils free and be breathing through them at the same time is not good, and one should not begin any business in this condition. If one is breathing only through the right nostril and the left is closed, the condition is pro- pitious for the following actions : To eat and drink, as diges-
tion will be quick ; to fight ; to bathe ; to study and read
; to ride on a horse ; to work at one's livelihood.

A sick man should take medicine when he is breathing through his right nostril. To be breathing only through the left nostril is propitious for the following undertakings : To lay the foundations of a house and to take up residence in a new house ; to put on new clothes ; to sow seed ; to do service or found a village ; to make any purchase. The Jogis prac- tise the art of breathing in this manner by stopping up their right and left nostril alternately with cotton-wool and breath- ing only through the other.

If a man comes to a Brahman to ask him whether some business or undertaking will succeed, the Brahman breathes through his nostrils on to his hand ; if the breath comes through the right nostril the omen is favourable and the answer yes ; if through the left nostril the omen is unfavourable and the answer no. The following account of the austerities of the Jogis 4. Sdf- during the Mughal period is given by Bernier : ' " Among the vast number and endless variety of Fakirs or Dervishes, and holy men or Gentile hypocrites of the Indies, many live in a sort of convent, governed by superiors, where vows of chastity, poverty, and submission are made. So strange is the life led by these votaries that I doubt whether my description of it will be credited. I allude particularly to the people called 'Jogis,' a name which signifies 'United to God.' Numbers are seen day and night, seated or lying on ashes, entirely naked ; frequently under the large trees near
talabs or tanks of water, or in the galleries round the Deuras or idol temples. Some have hair hanging down to the calf of the leg, twisted and entangled into knots, like the coats of our shaggy dogs. I have seen several who hold one, and some who hold both arms perpetually lifted above the head,
1 Travels in the Mughal Empire, Constable's edilion, p. 316.
torture of
the Jogis.

the nails of their hands being twisted and longer than half my little finger, with which I measured them. Their arms are as small and thin as the arms of persons who die in a
decline, because in so forced and unnatural a position they
receive not sufficient nourishment, nor can they be lowered so as to supply the mouth with food, the muscles having become contracted, and the articulations dry and stiff. Novices wait upon these fanatics and pay them the utmost respect, as persons endowed with extraordinary sanctity. No fury in the infernal regions can be conceived more horrible
than the Jogis, with their naked and black skin, long hair,
spindle arms, long twisted nails, and fixed in the posture
which I have mentioned.

" I have often met, generally in the territory of some Raja, bands of these naked Fakirs, hideous to behold. Some have their arms lifted up in the manner just described ; the frightful hair of others either hung loosely or was tied and twisted round their heads ; some carried a club like the
Hercules, others had a dry and rough tiger-skin thrown over
their shoulders.

In this trim I have seen them shamelessly walk stark naked through a large town, men, women, and girls looking at them without any more emotion than may be created when a hermit passes through our streets. Females would often bring them alms with much devotion, doubtless believing that they were holy personages, more chaste and discreet than other men.
" Several of these Fakirs undertake long pilgrimages not only naked but laden with heavy iron chains, such as are put about the legs of elephants.

I have seen others who, in con- sequence of a particular vow, stood upright during seven or eight days without once sitting or lying down, and without any other support than might be afforded by leaning forward against a cord for a few hours in the night ; their legs in the meantime were swollen to the size of their thighs. Others, again, I have observed standing steadily, whole hours together, upon their hands, the head down and the feet in the air. I might proceed to enumerate various other posi- tions in which these unhappy men place their body, many of them so difficult and painful that they could not be imitated by our tumblers ; and all this, let it be recollected,
[[File: jogi1.png| |frame|500px]]

is performed from an assumed feeling of piety, of which there is not so much as the shadow in any part of the
Indies." The forest ascetics were credited with prophetic powers, 5. Resort and were resorted to by Hindu princes to obtain omens and ^^.^ ' oracles on the brink of any important undertaking. This custom is noticed by Colonel Tod in the following passage describing the foundation of Jodhpur : x " Like the Druids of
the cells, the vana-perist Jogis, from the glades of the forest
{yanct) or recess in the rocks (gopha), issue their oracles to those whom chance or design may conduct to their solitary
dwellings.

It is not surprising that the mandates of such beings prove compulsory on the superstitious Rajput ; we do not mean those squalid ascetics who wander about India
and are objects disgusting to the eye, but the genuine Jogi, he who, as the term imports, mortifies the flesh, till the wants
of humanity are restricted merely to what suffices to unite matter with spirit, who had studied and comprehended the
mystic works and pored over the systems of philosophy, until the full influence of Maia (illusion) has perhaps un- settled his understanding ; or whom the rules of his sect have condemned to penance and solitude ; a penance so severe that we remain astonished at the perversity of reason which can submit to it.

We have seen one of these objects, self- condemned never to lie down during forty years, and there remained but three to complete the term. He had travelled much, was intelligent and learned, but, far from having contracted the moroseness of the recluse, there was a benignity of mien and a suavity and simplicity of manner in him quite enchanting. He talked of his penance with no vainglory and of its approaching term without any sensation. The resting position of this Druid (vana-perisC) was by means of a rope suspended from the bough of a tree in the manner of a swing, having a cross-bar, on which he reclined. The first years of this penance, he says, were dreadfully painful ; swollen limbs affected him to that degree that he expected death, but this impression had long since worn off. To these, the Druids of India, the prince and the chieftain would resort for instruction. Such was the ascetic who re-

commended Joda to erect his castle of Jodhpur on the ' Hill of Strife' (Jodaglr), a projecting elevation of the same range on which Mundore was placed, and about four miles south
of it." 6. Divisions About i 5,ooo Jogis were returned from the Central Pro- of the vinces in 191 I. They are said to be divided into twelve Panths or orders, each of which venerates one of the twelve disciples of Gorakhnath.

But, as a rule, they do not know the names of the Panths. Their main divisions are the Kanphata and Aughar Jogis. The Kanphatas,1 as the name denotes, pierce their ears and wear in them large rings
{inuudra), generally of wood, stone or glass ; the ears of a novice are pierced by the Guru, who gets a fee of Rs. 1-4. The earring must thereafter always be worn, and should it be broken must be replaced temporarily by a model in cloth
before food is taken. If after the ring has been inserted the ear tears apart, they say that the man has become useless, and in former times he was buried alive. Now he is put out of caste, and no tomb is erected over him when he dies.

It is said that a man cannot become a Kanphata all at once, but
must first serve an apprenticeship of twelve years as an Aughar, and then if his Guru is satisfied he will be initiated as a Kanphata. The elect among the Kanphatas are known
as Darshani. These do not go about begging, but remain
in the forest in a cave or other abode, and the other Jogis go
there and pay their respects ; this is called darshan, the term
used for visiting a temple and worshipping the idol. These men only have cooked food when their disciples bring it to them, otherwise they live on fruits and roots. The Aughars
do not pierce their ears, but have a string of black sheep's wool round the neck to which is suspended a wooden whistle
called nadh ; this is blown morning and evening and before
meals.

2 The names of the Kanphatas end in Nath and those of the Aughars in Das. 7. Hair When a novice is initiated all the hair of his head is
clothes
shaved, including the scalp-lock. If the Ganges is at hand the Guru throws the hair into the Ganges, giving a great
feast to celebrate the occasion ; otherwise he keeps the hair
in his wallet until he and his disciple reach the Ganges and
1 Maclagan, /.c p. 115. 2 Ibidem, I.e.

then throws it into the river and gives the feast. After this the Jogi lets all his hair grow until he comes to some great shrine, when he shaves it off clean and gives it as an offering to the god. The Jogis wear clothes coloured with red ochre like the Jangams, Sanniasis and all the Sivite orders. The reddish colour perhaps symbolises blood and may denote that the wearers still sacrifice flesh and consume it.

The Vaish- navite orders usually wear white clothes, and hence the Jogis call themselves Lai Padris (red priests), and they call the Vaishnava mendicants Sita Padris, apparently because Sita is the consort of Rama, the incarnation of Vishnu. When a Jogi is initiated the Guru gives him a single bead of rudraksha wood which he wears on a string round his neck. He is not branded, but afterwards, if he visits the temple of Dwarka in Gujarat, he is branded with the mark of the conch-shell on the arm ; or if he goes on pilgrimage to the
shrine of Badri-Narayan in the Himalayas he is branded on the chest. Copper bangles are brought from Badri-Narayan and iron ones from the shrine of Kedarnath.

A necklace
of small white stones, like juari-seeds, is obtained from the temple of Hinglaj in the territories of the Jam of Lasbela in Beluchistan. During his twelve years' period as a Brahmachari or acolyte, a Jogi will make either one or three parikramas of the Nerbudda ; that is, he walks from the mouth at Broach to the source at Amarkantak on
one side of the river and back again on the other
side, the journey usually occupying about three years.

During each journey he lets his hair grow and at the end of it makes an offering of all except the choti or scalp-lock to the river. Even as a full Jogi he still retains the scalp- lock, and this is not finally shaved off until he turns into a
Sanniasi or forest recluse. Other Jogis, however, do not
merely keep the scalp-lock but let their hair grow, plaiting it with ropes of black wool over their heads into what is called the jata, that is an imitation of Siva's matted locks. 1 The Jogis are buried sitting cross-legged with the face 8. Burial, to the north in a tomb which has a recess like those of Muhammadans. A gourd full of milk and some bread in a wallet, a crutch and one or two earthen vessels are placed in

the grave for the sustenance of the soul.

Salt is put on the body and a ball of wheat-flour is laid on the breast of the corpse and then deposited on the top of the grave. 9 . The Jogis worship Siva, and their principal festival is Festivals. ^e Shivratri, when they stay awake all night and sing songs in honour of Gorakhnath, the founder of their order. On the Nag-Panchmi day they venerate the cobra and they take about snakes and exhibit them. 10. Caste A large proportion of the Jogis have now developed
j
Ub
". into a caste, and these marry and have families. They are divisions. J J divided into subcastes according to the different professions they have adopted. Thus the Barwa or Garpagari Jogis ward off hailstorms from the standing crops ; the Manihari
are pedlars and travel about to bazars selling various small
articles ; the Rltha Bikanath prepare and sell soap-nut for washing clothes ; the Patbina make hempen thread and gunny - bags for carrying grain on bullocks ; and the
Ladaimar hunt jackals and sell and eat their flesh.

These Jogis rank as a low Hindu caste of the menial group. No good Hindu caste will take food or water from them, while they will accept cooked food from members of any caste of respectable position, as Kurmis, Kunbis or Malis. A person belonging to any such caste can also be admitted into the
Jogi community.

Their social customs resemble those of the cultivating castes of the locality. They permit widow- marriage and divorce and employ Brahmans for their cere- monies, with the exception of the Kanphatas, who have priests of their own order. 11. Beg- Begging is the traditional occupation of the Jogis, but glng ' they have now adopted many others. The Kanphatas beg and sell a woollen string amulet (ganda), which is put round
the necks of children to protect them from the evil eye. They beg only from Hindus and use the cry ' Alakh,' ' The
invisible one.'

l The Nandia Jogis lead about with them a deformed ox, an animal with five legs or some other mal- formation. He is decorated with ochre-coloured rags and cowrie shells. They call him Nandi or the bull on which Mahadeo rides, and receive gifts of grain from pious Hindus, half of which they put into their wallet and give the other
1 Crooke's Tribes and Castes, ait. Kanphata.
ii OTHER OCCUPATIONS—SWINDLING PRACTICES 253
half to the animal. They usually carry on a more profitable business than other classes of beggars. The ox is trained to give a blessing to the benevolent by shaking its head and raising its leg when its master receives a gift.1

Some of the Jogis of this class carry about with them a brush of peacock's feathers which they wave over the heads of children
afflicted with the evil eye or of sick persons, muttering texts. This performance is known as jharna (sweeping), and is the commonest method of casting out evil spirits. Many Jogis have also adopted secular occupations, as 12. other has already been seen. Of these the principal are the °jo C n u s pa' Manihari Jogis or pedlars, who retail small hand-mirrors,
spangles, dyeing-powders, coral beads and imitation jewellery, pens, pencils, and other small articles of stationery. They also bring pearls and coral from Bombay and sell them in the villages.

The Garpagaris, who protect the crops from hailstorms, have now become a distinct caste and are the subject of a separate article. Others make a living by juggling and conjuring, and in Saugor some Jogis perform
the three-card trick in the village markets, employing a con- federate who advises customers to pick out the wrong card. They also play the English game of Sandown, which is known as ' Animur,' from the practice of calling out ' Any more ' as a warning to backers to place their money on the
board before beginning to turn the fish.
These people also deal in ornaments of base metal and 13. Swind- practise other swindles. One of their tricks is to drop a p"fctices ring or ornament of counterfeit gold on the road. Then they watch until a stranger picks it up and one of them goes up to him and says,

" I saw you pick up that gold ring, it belongs to so-and-so, but if you will make it worth my while I will say nothing about it." The finder is thus often deluded into giving him some hush-money and the Jogis decamp with this, having incurred no risk in connection with the spurious metal. They also pretend to be able to con- vert silver and other metals into gold.

They ingratiate themselves with the women, sometimes of a number of households in one village or town, giving at first small quan- tities of gold in exchange for silver, and binding them to
1 Crooke's Tribes and Castes, art. Jogi.

secrecy.

Then each is told to give them all the ornaments which she desires to be converted on the same night, and having collected as much as possible from their dupes the Jogis make off before morning. A very favourite device some years back was to personate some missing member of a family who had gone on a pilgrimage. Up to within a
comparatively recent period a large proportion of the pilgrims who set out annually from all over India to visit the famous shrines at Benares, Jagannath and other places perished by the way from privation or disease, or were robbed and mur- dered, and never heard of again by their families.

Many
households in every town and village were thus in the position of having an absent member of whose fate they were uncertain. Taking advantage of this, and having obtained all the information he could pick up among the
neighbours, the Jogi would suddenly appear in the character of the returned wanderer, and was often successful in keeping
up the imposture for years.
1

and there are various sayings about him: 2 Jogi Jogi laren, khopron ka dam, or ' When Jogis fight skulls are smashed,' that is, the skulls which some of them use as begging-cups, not their own skulls, and with the implication that they have nothing else to break ; Jogijitgatjani nahhi, kapre range, to kya hua, ' If the Jogi does not know his magic, what is the use of his dyeing his clothes ? ' Jogi ka larka kfielega, to
sdnp se, or, ' If a snake-charmer's son plays, he plays with a
snake.'
1 Sleeman, Report on the Badkaks, Temple and Fallon's Hindustani Pro- PP- 332, 333- verbs. 2 These proverbs are taken from

This singular race, found all over Eastern Bengal, is more numerous in Tipperah and Noakhally than Dacca, being everywhere reviled by the Hindus, without any satisfactory reason. The only grounds given by natives for abusing and ill-treating Jogis are that the starch of boiled rice (Mar) is used by them in weaving, while the Tanti use parched rice starch (Kai), and that they bury their dead.

In Bengal three different varieties of Jogi are met with, namely�

Jogi, Bengali weavers,
Jat Jogi, Hindustani snake charmers,
Sannyasi Jogi, religious mendicants.

Jogi, or Yogi, literally means one who practices the Jog, i.e. religious abstraction, or in a lower sense a pretender to superhuman faculties, while the designation is popularly given to any naked Hindu devotee.

In the census returns, the Jogi and Patwa are classified as one and the same, but in Dacca, the latter is always the name of a Muhammadan trade. The weaver Jogi caste in Bengal is computed to include 426,543 individuals, 306,847, or 71 per cent. of the whole number, being distributed throughout the nine eastern districts. Like many outcast races, the Jogi has been driven into the outlying tracts of the province, and at the present day are massed in Silhet (82,038), Tipperah (66,812), Mymensingh (39,644), Noakhally (33,038), and Chittagong (32,314). In Dacca they only muster 16,410 persons.

Until the last few years the Bengali Jogis were all weavers, but now the cloth (Dhoti and Gamcha) manufactured by them is gradually being displaced by English piece goods, and the Jogi finds it difficult to earn a livelihood by weaving. A few who took to agriculture being outcasted, formed a new subdivision, called Halwah Jogis. In Tipperah the burning of lime has been adopted as an occupation by some, but they, too, have been excommunicated. Others, again, take service under Government, as work as goldsmiths. Recently a shudder ran through the Hindu community when a Jogi was elevated to the bench, but many have already outlived this prejudice, and, except among the upper strata of society, no objections are now raised. The Jogi has peculiar difficulties in having his children educated, as no other boy will live with his son, who is consequently obliged to hire lodgings for himself, and engage servants of his own. The race, however, is ambitious, and recognises the value of education, but being poor, the higher branches of learning are beyond their reach.

The Jogi uses a much more cumbrous loom than either the Tanti or Julaha, but employs the same comb, or "Shanah," while his shuttle, "Nail,"1 is peculiar to himself. The women are as expert weavers as the men, the preparation of the warp being exclusively done by them.

Jogis are a contented people, laughing at the prejudices of their neighbours. When they enter the house of any of the clean castes, a very rare occurrence, all cooked food, and any drinking water in the room, are regarded as polluted, and thrown away, but, strange to say, the Sudra barber and washerman work for them. The Jogi, too, is intolerant, eating food cooked by a Srotriya Brahman, but not that prepared by any Patit, or caste, Brahman, or by a Sudra, however pure. The Sannyasi Jogi eats with the weaving Jogi, but a Bairagi will only touch food given by the Adhikari. Furthermore, the Ekadasi Jogi will eat with the Sannyasi if he is a Brahman observing the Sraddha on the eleventh day.

In the burial of their dead all Jogis observe the same ceremonies. The grave (Samadhi, or Ahsan), dug in any vacant spot, is circular, about eight feet deep, and at the bottom a niche is cut for the reception of the corpse. The body, after being washed with water from seven earthen jars, is wrapped in new cloth, the lips being touched with fire to distinguish the funeral from that of a Muhammadan. A necklace made of the Tulasi plant is placed around the neck, and in the right hand a rosary (Japa). The right forearm, with the thumb inverted, is placed across the chest, while the left, with the thumb in a similar position, rests on the lap, the legs being crossed as in statues of Buddha. Over the left shoulder is hung a cloth bag with four strings, in which four cowries are put. The body being lowered into the grave, and placed in the niche with the face towards the north-east, the grave is filled in, and the relatives deposit on the top an earthen platter with balls of rice (Pinda), plantains, sugar, Ghi, and betel-nuts, as well as a "Huqqa" with its "Chilam" (bowl), a small quantity of tobacco, and a charcoal ball. Finally, from three to seven cowries are scattered on the ground as compensation to "Visa-mati" for the piece of earth occupied by the corpse. Women are interred in the exact same way as men.

The bag with its four cowries, and the position of the body are noteworthy. With the cowries the spirit pays the Charon who ferries it across the Vaitarani river, the Hindu Styx; while the body is made to face the north-east because in that corner of the world lies Kailasa, the Paradise of Siv.

''1 Sanskrit Nala, a tube, a shuttle.''

The one title common to all the Jogi tribe is Nath, or lord.

The majority worship Mahadeo, or Siv, but a few Vaishnavas are found among them.

Although all Jogis observe the funeral ceremonies just mentioned, they have separated into two great divisions, the Masya, the more numerous in Dacca, who perform the Sraddha thirty days (Masa) after death; and the Ekadasi, who celebrate it after eleven (Ekadasan) days. The former abound in the southern parts of Bikrampur, Tipperah, and Noakhally, the latter in the north of Bikrampur, and throughout the Dacca district generally. No intermarriages take place between them, and each refuses to taste food cooked by the other, although they drink from each other's water vesssels.

==1.Masya Jogis==
They are the more interesting of the two, having adhered more strictly to the customs of their ancestors than the Ekadasi The following account of their origin is given: In the Vrihad Yogini Tantra, their chief religious work, it is written that to Mahadeo were born eight passionless beings (Siddhas), who practised asceticisms, and passed their lives in religious abstraction. Their arrogance and pride, however, offended Mahadeo, who assuming his illusive power, created eight female energies, or Yoginis, and sent them to tempt the Siddhas. It was soon apparent that their virtue was not so impregnable as they boasted, and the issue of their amours were the ancestors of the modern Masya Jogis.

Another account is that a Sannyasi Avadhuta, or scholar, of Benares, who was an incarnation of Siv, had two sons, the elder by a Brahman woman, becoming the progenitor of the Ekadasi Jogis, the younger by a Vaisya woman of the Masya; but it is probable that this legend has been invented to account for the fact that the two divisions perform the obsequial rites at different dates.

The Masya Jogis have no Brahmans who minister to them, but a spiritual leader, Adhikari, elected by the Purohits, is invested with a cord, and styled Brahman. In Tipperah and Noakhally the cord is still worn, but in Dacca of late years it has been discarded. The Adhikari of the Masya Jogis in Dacca is Mathura Ramana, of Bidgaon, in Bikrampur, a very illiterate man, who can with difficulty read and write Bengali. The post has been hereditary in his family for eight generations, and nowadays it is only in default of heirs that an election is held. It is a curious circumstance that the Adhikari bestows the Mantra on the Brahmans of the Ekadasi, and occasionally on Sannyasi Jogis, although neither acknowledge any subjection to him. The Adhikari has no religious duties to perform, as each household employs a Purohit to minister at its religious ceremonies. The Purohit is always a Jogi, inducted by the Adhikari, and subordinate to him. He is often a relative, or marries a daughter of his master. The Adhikari, again, has his Purohit, without whose ministration neither he nor any member of his family can marry or be buried.

The great festival of tthe Masya Jogis is the Sivaratri, held on the fourteenth of the waning moon in Magh (January-February); but they observe many of the other Hindu festivals, such as the Janmashtami, and offer sacrifices beneath the "Bat" tree to the village goddess, Siddhesvari.

In all religious services they use a twig of the Udumbara, or Jagya dumur (Ficus glomerata), and regard with special reverence the Tulasi, Bat, Pipal, and "Tamala" (Diospyrus cordifolia).

They have Sthans, or residencies, at Brindaban, Mathura, and Gokula, but their chief places of pilgrimage are Benares, Gaya, and Sitakhund in Chittagong.

2.Ekadasi Jogis==
They possess a Sanskrit work called Vriddha Satatapiya, in which the Muni Satatapa relates how the divine Rishi Narada was informed by Brahma that near Kasi resided many Brahman and Vaisya widows, living by the manufacture of thread, who had given birth to sons and daughters the offspring of Avadhutas, or pupils of Nathas, or ascetics. The Rishi was further directed to proceed to Kasi, and, in consultation with the Avadhutas, to decide what the caste of these children should be. After much deliberation it was determined that the offspring of the Avadhutas and Brahman widows should belong to the Siva gotra; while the issue of the Vaisya widows should form a class called Nath, the former like the Brahmans being impure for eleven days, the latter like the Vaisya for thirty days. Both classes were required to read six Vedas, to worship their Matris, or female ancestors, at weddings to perform, each household for itself, the Nandi Sraddha in the name of their forefathers, and to wear the sacred cord.

It was farther enacted that the dead should be buried, the lips of the corpse being touched with fire by the son or grandson. It is from these Brahman widows that the modern Ekadasi Jogis claim to be descended, and being of that lineage, mourn for only eleven days, although they have never assumed the Brahmanical cord.

The Ekadasi have Brahmans of their own, called "Varna-Sarman," and addressed as Mahatama, who trace their origin from the issue of a Srotriya Brahman and a Jogi woman. In Bikrampur alone it is estimated there are at least a hundred of these Jogi Brahmans.

The majority of this division of Jogis are worshippers of Krishna, but a few who follow the Sakta ritual are to be met with. The Gosains of Nityananda admit Jogis into their communion, but those of Advayananda will not.

All Jogis in Eastern Bengal regard the family of Dalal Bazar, in the Noakhally district, as the head of their race, and very proud they are of the distinction which was conferred on that house. In the middle of last century Brijo Ballabh Rai, a Jogi, was Dalal, or broker, his brother Radha Ballabh Rai being Jachandar, or appraiser, of the English factory of Char Pata, on the Meghna. The son of the former developed the trade in Baftah cloth to so great an extent that the Company in 1765 bestowed on him the title and rank of a rajah, presenting him at the same time with a Lakhiraj, or rent free, estate. His grandson still enjoys the property, being respected not only by the Jogis throughout Eastern Bengal, but by all who know him and his family.

The mourning dress of the Jogis is a cotton garment called "Jala Kaccha," literally netted end, manufactured by them, and identical with that worn by other Hindus between the death of a relative and the Sraddha. In a corner of this raiment the Jogi ties a piece of iron, suspending it over his shoulder. On the eleventh day, when the funeral obsequies are about to be performed, the barber, cutting off the iron, gives it to the wearer, who throws it into water, then bathes, offers the Pinda to the manes of the deceased, and returns home.

The Jogi Brahmans are, with few exceptions, illiterate, but a few gain a livelihood as Pathaks, or readers of the epic poems. Jogis are the Mahants of the Kapila Muni shrine in the Sunderbuns, and officiate at the Varuni festival in Phalgun.1

All Jogis believe that good spirits are at death absorbed into the Deity, while the bad reappear on earth in the form of some unclean animal; but women, however exemplary they may have been in this world, are not cheered by any assurance of a future state, it being believed that death is for them annihilation.

Who, then, are the Jogis? Buchanan thought it probable that they were either the priesthood of the country during the reign of the dynasty to which Gopi-Chandra2 belonged, or Sudras dedicated to a religious life, but degraded by the great Saiva reformer Sankara Acharya,1 and that they came with the Pal Rajas from western India. In Rangpur he found the Jogis living by singing an interminable cyclic song in honour of Gopi-Chandra. This is all the information collected by that shrewd and trustworthy observer, and since the beginning of the century no fresh facts have been added.

After repeated interviews with the Adhikari and Jogi Brahmans their history is still uncertain. A tradition, however, survives in Bikrampur, that their ancestors were Brahmans, who, forgetting the Gayatri, or sacred verses, were degraded.

''1 "J.A.S. of Bengal," vol. xxxis, 238.''

''2 Ibid., vol iii, 534.''
=Notes=

Jogi

2017-11-29T04:30:00Z

Phuntsog:

Jauhari

2017-11-29T04:25:52Z

Jaliya

2017-11-29T04:20:41Z