The Sud

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This article is an extract from PANJAB CASTES SIR DENZIL CHARLES JELF IBBETSON, K.C. S.I. Being a reprint of the chapter on The Races, Castes and Tribes of the People in the Report on the Census of the Panjab published in 1883 by the late Sir Denzil Ibbetson, KCSI Lahore: Printed by the Superintendent, Government Printing, Punjab, 1916. Indpaedia is an archive. It neither agrees nor disagrees with the contents of this article. Secondly, this has been scanned from a book. You can help by sending the corrected version to the Facebook page, Indpaedia.com. All information used will be duly acknowledged.

The Sud

Caste No. 75

The Suds are almost entirely confined to the lower hills, and the districts that lie immediately under them as far west as Amritsar. Their head -quarters are at Ludhiana and the neighbouring town of Machhiwara, and they are, I believe, unknown outside the Panjab. They are almost wholiy mercantile in their pursuits though occasionally taking service as clerks, and occupy a social position markedly inferior to that of either the Banya or the Khatri, They wear a. Janeo or sacred thread made

' Mr. Bcamcs gives Wuhora as the true form of the word. I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. Gordon Walker, Settlement Officer of Ludhiana, for much of the information recorded below. of three instead of six strands, and many of them practise widow-marriage. With the exception of a few who are Sikhs they are almost all Hindu, but are, in comparison with the other mercantile castes, very lax in the observance of their religion. They indulge freely in meat and wine, and in habits, customs, and social position resemble very closely the Kayaths. The tribe is apparently an ancient one, but I can obtain no delinite informa tion as to its origin. Various fanciful derivations of the tribal name are current, for the most part of an opprobrious nature. I attempted to make inquiries from some leading Suds; but the result was the assembling of a Panchayat, the ransacking of the Sanskrit classics for proof of their Kshatriya origin, and a heated discussion in the journal of the Anjuman.

They are divided into two main sections, the Uchandia or Sud of the hills and the Newandia or Sud of the plains. I find however that some of the Suds of Hushyarpur trace their origin from Sarhind. They also dis tinguish the Suds who not do practise widow-marriage from those who do, calling the former khara, and the latter and their offspring gola, doglda (hybrid) or chichan- These two sections, of which the latter corresponds exactly with the Basa and Gata Banyas already described, do not intermarry. The Suds forbid marriage in all four gots, and here again show how much less their tribal customs have been affected by their religion than have those of the Banyas and Khatris. They are of good physicpie, and are an intelligent and enterprising caste with great power of combination and self-restraint ; and they have lately made what appears to be a really successful effort to reduce their marriage expences by general agreement. The extensive sugar trade of Ludhiana, and generally the agricultural money-lending of the richest part of that district, are almost entirely in their hands. They are proverbially acute and prosperous men of business, and there is a saying : If a Sud is '^across the river, leave your bundle on this side.The husbandman of the villages is a mere child in their hands.

SeeThe Bhabra