Rajputs: Eastern Hills
This article is an extract from PANJAB CASTES SIR DENZIL CHARLES JELF IBBETSON, K.C. S.I. Being a reprint of the chapter on Lahore : Printed by the Superintendent, Government Printing, Punjab, 1916. |
Rajputs: Eastern Hills
The last, and in many respects the most interesting' group of Rajput tribes that I have to discuss, are those of the Kangra and Simla Hills and the sub-montane tract at their foot between the Beas and the Jamua. Not only are the Hill Rajputs probably those among all the peoples of thu Panjab who have occupied from the most remote date their present abodes, but they have also retained their independence long est. Often invaded, often defeated, the Rajas of Kangra Hills never really became subjects of the Musalman ; and it was reserved to Ranjit Singh to annex to his dominions the most ancient principalities in Northern India. Thus the Kangra Hills are that portion of the Panjab which is most wholly Hindu, not merely by the proportion which the number of real or nominal Hindus bears to the total population, but still more because there has never been any Musalman domination, which should either loosen the bonds of caste by introducing among the converted people the absolute freedom of Islam in its purity, or tighten them by throwing the still Hindu population, deprived of thi Rajput rulers, more wholly into the hands of their priests. It is here then that we may expect to find caste existing most nearly in the same state as that in which the first Musalman invaders found it when they entered the Panjab, It is certainly here that the Brahman and Kshatriya occupy positions most nearly resembling those assigned them by Manu.
The constitution of Rajput society in these hills will best be explained by the following extract from Mr. Barnes^ Kangra Report, and by the further extracts which I shall make under the head Thakar and Rathi. The extracts are long ; but the matter is so important as bearing upon the whole question of caste, that I do not hesitate to give them. Mr. Barnes writes : —
Any member of a royal house, whether belonging to the Dogar circle of municipalities across the Ravi, or to the jalandhar circle on this side of the river, is essentially Rajput. Those also with whom they condescend to marry are included under this honourable category. The name 1. as.sumed by many other races in the hills; Rut by the general feeling of the country the appellation of Rajpiit is the legitimate right of those oidy to whom I have here restricted it.
The descendanis of all these noble houses are distinguished by the honorary title of ' Mians When accosted by their inferiors they receive the peculiar salutation of ' Jai Dya,' oirered to no other caste.* Among themselves the same salutation is interchanged ; and as there are endless
gradations even among the Mians, the inferior lirst repeats the salutation and the courtesy is
usually retm'ued. In former days great importance was attached to the Jai Dya : uuautho
rized assumption of the privilege was punished as a misdemeanour hy heavy fine and imprison
ment. The Raja could extend the honour to high-born Rajputs not strictly belonging to a Royal
clan, such, for instance, as the Sonkla or the Manhas. Any deviation from the austere rules
of the caste was sufficient to deprive the offender of this salutation, and the loss was
tantamount to excommunication. The Rajputs delight to recount stories of the value of
this honour, and the vicissitudes endured to prevent its ahuse. The Raja Dhian Singh, the
Sikh Minister, himself a Jamwal Mian, desired to extort the Jai Dya from Raja Blur Singh,
the fallen chief of Nurpur. Ho held in his possession the grant of a jagir valued at Rs. 25,000,
duly signed and sealed hy Ranjit Singh, and delayed presenting the deed until the Nurpur
chief should hail him with this coveted salutation. But Bhir Singh was a Raja by a long line
of ancestors, and Dhian Singh was a Raja oidy by favour of Ranjit Singh. The hereditary
chief refused to compromise his honour, and preferred beggary to affluence rather than
accord the Jai Dya to one who by the rules of the brotherhood was his inferior. The derivation
of the phrase is supposed to be Jai, victory, and Del, king ; being synonymous, when used
together, to the national expression of Vive le Roi, or ' the king for ever.'
A Mian, to preserve his name and honour unsulhed, must scmpulously observe four fundamental maxims -.—first, he must never drive the plough ; secondly, he must never give his daughter in marriage to an inferior, nor marry himself much below his rank ; thirdly, he must never accept money in exchange for the betrothal of his daughter ; and lastly, his female household must observe strict seclusion. The prejudice against the plough is perhaps the most inveterate of all ; that step can never be recalled. The offender at once loses the privileged salutation ; he is reduced to the second grade of Rajputs ; no Mian will marry his daugliter, and he must go a step lower in the social scale to get a wife for himself. In every occupation of life he is made to feel his degraded position. In meetings of the tribe and at marriages the Rajputs undetiled by the plough will refuse to sit at meals with the Ral Bah, or plough driver, as he is contemptuously styled ; and many, to avoid the indignity of exclusion, never appear at public assembhes. This prejudice against agriculture is as old as the Hindu religion ; and I have heard various reasons given in explanation of it. Some say it is sacrilegious to lacerate the bosom of mother-earth with an iron plough-share j others de clare that the offence consists in subjecting sacred oxen to labour. The probable reason is that the legitimate weapon of the Kshatria, or military class, is the sword ; the plough is the insignia of a lower walk in life, and the exchange of a noble for a ruder profession is tantamount to a renuncia lion of the privileges of caste.
The giving one's daughter to an Inferior in caste is scareely a more pardonable offence than agriculture. Even Ranjrt Singh, in the height of his prosperity and power, felt the force of this prejudice. The Raja of Kangra deserted his hereditary kingdom rather than ally his sisters to Dhian Singh, himself a Mian of the Jammu stock, but not the equal of the Katoch prince. The Rajputs of Kargarh, in the Nurpur pargauah, voluntarily set lire to their houses and immolated their female relatives to avoid the disgrace of Ranjit Singh's alliance ; and when Mian Padma, a renegade Pathania, married his daughter to the Sikh monareh, his brethren, un deterred by the menaces of Ranjit Singh, deprived him and his immediate connexions of the Jai Dya, and to this day refuse to associate with his descendants. The seclusion of their women is also maintained with severe strictness. The dwellings of Rajputs can always be recognised by one familiar with the country. The houses are placed in isolated positions, either on the crest of a hill which commands approaches on all sides, or on the verge of a forest sedulously preserved to form an impenetrable screen. when natural defences do not exist, an artificial growth is promot ed to alford the necessary privacy. In front of their dwellings, removed about fifty paces from the house, stands the ' mandi ' or vestibule, beyond whose precincts no one unconnected with the household can venture to intrude. A privileged stranger who has business with the master of the house may by favour occupy the vestibule. But even this concession is jealously guarded, and only those of decent caste and respectable character are allowed to come even as far as the ' mandi.' A remarkable instance of the extremes to which this seclusion is carried occtirred under my own experience. A Katoch's house in the JMandi territory accidentally caught fire in broad day. There was no friendly wood to favour the escape of the women, and rather than brave the public gaze they kept their apartments and were sacriliccd to a horrible death. Those who wish to visit their parents must travel in covered palanquins, and those too poor to afford a cou veyance travel by night, taking unfrequented roads through thickets and ravines.
It is melancholy to see with what devoted tenacity the Rajput clings to these deep-rooted prejudices. Their emaciated looks and coarse clothes attest the vicissitudes they have undergone to maintain their fancied purity. In the quantity of waste land which abounds in the hills, a ready livelihood is offered to those who will cultivate the soil for their daily bread; but this alternative involves a forfeiture of their dearest rights, and they would rather follow any pre
- Hence the word Jaikari commonly used to denote first-class Rajputs in the hills.
carious pursuit than submit to the disgrace. Some lounge away their time on ttic tops of the mountains, spreading nets for the capture of hawks ; many a day they watch in vain subsisting on berries and on game accidentally entangled ini their nets; at last when fortune grants them success they despatch' the prize to their friends below, who tame and instruct the bird for the purpose of sale. Others will stay at home, and pass their time in sporting either with a hawk, or, if they can afford it, with a gun : one Rajput beats the bushes, and the other carries the hawk ready to he sprung after any quarry that rises to the view. At the close of the day, if they have been successful, they exchange the game for a little meal, and thus pro long existence over another span. The marksman armed with a gun will sit up for wild pigs returning from the fields, and in the same manner barter their flesh for other necessaries of life. However the prospect of starvation has already driven many to take the plough, and the number of seceders daily increases. Our administration, though just and liberal, has a levelling ten dency ; service is no longer to he procured; and to many the stern alternative has arrived of tak ing to agriculture and securing comparative comfort, or enduring the pangs of hunger and death. So long as any resource remains the fatal step will be postponed, but it is easy to foresee that the struggle cannot be long protracted ; necessity is a hard task-master, and sooner or later the pressure of want will eventually overcome the scruples of the most bigoted.
Next to the royal clans in social importance are those races with whom they are connected by marriage. The' honour of the alliance draws them also within the exclusive circle. It is not easy to indicate the line which separates the Rajputs from the clans immediately below him, and known in the hills by the appellation of Rathi; the Mian would restrict the term (Rajput) to those of royal descent ; the Rathi naturally seeks a broader definition, so as to include his own pretensions. Altogether, I am inclined to think that the limit I have fixed will be admitted to be just, and those only are legitimately entitled to rank as Rajputs who are themselves the mem bers of a royal clan, or are connected in marriage with them. Among these (second-class) tribes the most eniinent are the Manhas, Jurial, and Sonkla Rajputs. The two former are indeed branches of the Jammuwal clan, to which they are considered but little inferior. They occasional ly receive the salutation of Jai Dya, and very few of them engage in agriculture. Another class of Rajputs who enjoy great distinction in the hills are the descendants of ancient petty chiefs or Ranas whose title and temire generally preceded even the Rajans themselves. These petty chiefs have long since been dispossessed, and their holdings absorbed in the larger principalities which I have eumerated. Still the name of Rina is retained, and their alliance is eagerly desired by the Mians. All these tribes affect most of the customs of Rajputs. They select secluded spots for their dwellings, immure their women, are very particular with whom they marry or betroth in marriage, but have generally taken to agriculture. In this particular consists their chief dis tiuction from the Mians.
On this Mr. Lyall notes that there are now-a-days not many even of the better Rajput famihes who do not themselves do every kind of field work other than ploughing. He also points out that the Rajputs of the second grade might more properly be called Thakars of the first grade. For the ab sence of any definite line of demareation between Rajput and Thakar, see the extracts quoted under the head Thakar (section 459) . Finally I may state that throughout the Hill States, the Rajputs of proximate descent from ruling chiefs entered themselves in the present Census as Kshatriyas, to distinguish themselves from mere Rajputs. I have taken two figures together. The Raj puts of the sub-montane of Hushyarpur, Jalandhar, and Ambala differ little if at all from those of the Eastern Plains who have already been described. The following Kangra proverbs illustrate Mr. Barnes' description of the Hill Raj puts : It is bad to deal with a Rajput ; sometimes you get double value, and sometimes nothing at all : and A Rajput's wedding is like a fire of maize stalks ; great rolling of drums, and very little to eat. Abstract No. 82 on the next page* gives the figures for the several tribes
roughly grouped by locality, those of the higher hills coming first, then those
of Hushyarpur, and then those of Jalandhar and Ambala. Many of these are mere local clans named after their principal seats. It is probable that all these royal famihes sprang from a common stock, but all traces of what that stock was seem to be lost in obscurity. Unfortunately the Settlement Reports give little or no information regarding these tribes or clans ; while Mr. Coldstream s report, from which I had hoped for much information, is wholly silent on the subject. The figures for tribal divisions of tho Rajputs of the Hill States appear to be exceedingly imperfect. Indeed the divisions themselves do not seem fo be very clearly marked. Mr. Barnes writes : —
Each class comprises mmicrong sub-divisions. As the family increased, individuals left the court to settle on some estate in the country, and their descendants, though still retaining the -' generic appellation of the race, are further distinguished by the name of the estate withwhich they are more immediatily identified. Sometimes, thoughnot so frequently, the designation of the ancestor furnishes a surname for his posterity. Thus among the Pathanias orNurpur Mians There are twenty-two recognised suh-divisions ; the Golerias are distributed into thirteen distinct tribes ; the Katoch clan has four grand divisions, each of which includes other subordinate de nominations. A Rajput interrogated by one who he thinks will understand these refined distinc tions, will give the name, not of his clan but of his patronymic. To a stranger he gives no detail, but ranges himself under the general appellation of Kshatriya or Rajput.
Rajputs: Eastern Hills=
The last, and in many respects the most interesting' group of Rajput tribes that I have to discuss, are those of the Kangra and Simla Hills and the sub-montane tract at their foot between the Beas and the Jamua. Not only are the Hill Rajputs probably those among all the peoples of thu Panjab who have occupied from the most remote date their present abodes, but they have also retained their independence long est. Often invaded, often defeated, the Rajas of Kangra Hills never really became subjects of the Musalman ; and it was reserved to Ranjit Singh to annex to his dominions the most ancient principalities in Northern India. Thus the Kangra Hills are that portion of the Panjab which is most wholly Hindu, not merely by the proportion which the number of real or nominal Hindus bears to the total population, but still more because there has never been any Musalman domination, which should either loosen the bonds of caste by introducing among the converted people the absolute freedom of Islam in its purity, or tighten them by throwing the still Hindu population, deprived of thi Rajput rulers, more wholly into the hands of their priests. It is here then that we may expect to find caste existing most nearly in the same state as that in which the first Musalman invaders found it when they entered the Panjab, It is certainly here that the Brahman and Kshatriya occupy positions most nearly resembling those assigned them by Manu.
The constitution of Rajput society in these hills will best be explained by the following extract from Mr. Barnes^ Kangra Report, and by the further extracts which I shall make under the head Thakar and Rathi. The extracts are long ; but the matter is so important as bearing upon the whole question of caste, that I do not hesitate to give them. Mr. Barnes writes : —
Any member of a royal house, whether belonging to the Dogar circle of municipalities across the Ravi, or to the jalandhar circle on this side of the river, is essentially Rajput. Those also with whom they condescend to marry are included under this honourable category. The name 1. as.sumed by many other races in the hills; Rut by the general feeling of the country the appellation of Rajpiit is the legitimate right of those oidy to whom I have here restricted it.
The descendanis of all these noble houses are distinguished by the honorary title of ' Mians When accosted by their inferiors they receive the peculiar salutation of ' Jai Dya,' oirered to no
other caste.* Among themselves the same salutation is interchanged ; and as there are endless
gradations even among the Mians, the inferior lirst repeats the salutation and the courtesy is
usually retm'ued. In former days great importance was attached to the Jai Dya : uuautho
rized assumption of the privilege was punished as a misdemeanour hy heavy fine and imprison
ment. The Raja could extend the honour to high-born Rajputs not strictly belonging to a Royal
clan, such, for instance, as the Sonkla or the Manhas. Any deviation from the austere rules
of the caste was sufficient to deprive the offender of this salutation, and the loss was
tantamount to excommunication. The Rajputs delight to recount stories of the value of
this honour, and the vicissitudes endured to prevent its ahuse. The Raja Dhian Singh, the
Sikh Minister, himself a Jamwal Mian, desired to extort the Jai Dya from Raja Blur Singh,
the fallen chief of Nurpur. Ho held in his possession the grant of a jagir valued at Rs. 25,000,
duly signed and sealed hy Ranjit Singh, and delayed presenting the deed until the Nurpur
chief should hail him with this coveted salutation. But Bhir Singh was a Raja by a long line
of ancestors, and Dhian Singh was a Raja oidy by favour of Ranjit Singh. The hereditary
chief refused to compromise his honour, and preferred beggary to affluence rather than
accord the Jai Dya to one who by the rules of the brotherhood was his inferior. The derivation
of the phrase is supposed to be Jai, victory, and Del, king ; being synonymous, when used
together, to the national expression of Vive le Roi, or ' the king for ever.'
A Mian, to preserve his name and honour unsulhed, must scmpulously observe four fundamental maxims -.—first, he must never drive the plough ; secondly, he must never give his daughter in marriage to an inferior, nor marry himself much below his rank ; thirdly, he must never accept money in exchange for the betrothal of his daughter ; and lastly, his female household must observe strict seclusion. The prejudice against the plough is perhaps the most inveterate of all ; that step can never be recalled. The offender at once loses the privileged salutation ; he is reduced to the second grade of Rajputs ; no Mian will marry his daugliter, and he must go a step lower in the social scale to get a wife for himself. In every occupation of life he is made to feel his degraded position. In meetings of the tribe and at marriages the Rajputs undetiled by the plough will refuse to sit at meals with the Ral Bah, or plough driver, as he is contemptuously styled ; and many, to avoid the indignity of exclusion, never appear at public assembhes. This prejudice against agriculture is as old as the Hindu religion ; and I have heard various reasons given in explanation of it. Some say it is sacrilegious to lacerate the bosom of mother-earth with an iron plough-share j others de clare that the offence consists in subjecting sacred oxen to labour. The probable reason is that the legitimate weapon of the Kshatria, or military class, is the sword ; the plough is the insignia of a lower walk in life, and the exchange of a noble for a ruder profession is tantamount to a renuncia lion of the privileges of caste.
The giving one's daughter to an Inferior in caste is scareely a more pardonable offence than agriculture. Even Ranjrt Singh, in the height of his prosperity and power, felt the force of this prejudice. The Raja of Kangra deserted his hereditary kingdom rather than ally his sisters to Dhian Singh, himself a Mian of the Jammu stock, but not the equal of the Katoch prince. The Rajputs of Kargarh, in the Nurpur pargauah, voluntarily set lire to their houses and immolated their female relatives to avoid the disgrace of Ranjit Singh's alliance ; and when Mian Padma, a renegade Pathania, married his daughter to the Sikh monareh, his brethren, un deterred by the menaces of Ranjit Singh, deprived him and his immediate connexions of the Jai Dya, and to this day refuse to associate with his descendants. The seclusion of their women is also maintained with severe strictness. The dwellings of Rajputs can always be recognised by one familiar with the country. The houses are placed in isolated positions, either on the crest of a hill which commands approaches on all sides, or on the verge of a forest sedulously preserved to form an impenetrable screen. when natural defences do not exist, an artificial growth is promot ed to alford the necessary privacy. In front of their dwellings, removed about fifty paces from the house, stands the ' mandi ' or vestibule, beyond whose precincts no one unconnected with the household can venture to intrude. A privileged stranger who has business with the master of the house may by favour occupy the vestibule. But even this concession is jealously guarded, and only those of decent caste and respectable character are allowed to come even as far as the ' mandi.' A remarkable instance of the extremes to which this seclusion is carried occtirred under my own experience. A Katoch's house in the JMandi territory accidentally caught fire in broad day. There was no friendly wood to favour the escape of the women, and rather than brave the public gaze they kept their apartments and were sacriliccd to a horrible death. Those who wish to visit their parents must travel in covered palanquins, and those too poor to afford a cou veyance travel by night, taking unfrequented roads through thickets and ravines.
It is melancholy to see with what devoted tenacity the Rajput clings to these deep-rooted prejudices. Their emaciated looks and coarse clothes attest the vicissitudes they have undergone to maintain their fancied purity. In the quantity of waste land which abounds in the hills, a ready livelihood is offered to those who will cultivate the soil for their daily bread; but this alternative involves a forfeiture of their dearest rights, and they would rather follow any pre
- Hence the word Jaikari commonly used to denote first-class Rajputs in the hills.
carious pursuit than submit to the disgrace. Some lounge away their time on ttic tops of the mountains, spreading nets for the capture of hawks ; many a day they watch in vain subsisting on berries and on game accidentally entangled ini their nets; at last when fortune grants them success they despatch' the prize to their friends below, who tame and instruct the bird for the purpose of sale. Others will stay at home, and pass their time in sporting either with a hawk, or, if they can afford it, with a gun : one Rajput beats the bushes, and the other carries the hawk ready to he sprung after any quarry that rises to the view. At the close of the day, if they have been successful, they exchange the game for a little meal, and thus pro long existence over another span. The marksman armed with a gun will sit up for wild pigs returning from the fields, and in the same manner barter their flesh for other necessaries of life. However the prospect of starvation has already driven many to take the plough, and the number of seceders daily increases. Our administration, though just and liberal, has a levelling ten dency ; service is no longer to he procured; and to many the stern alternative has arrived of tak ing to agriculture and securing comparative comfort, or enduring the pangs of hunger and death. So long as any resource remains the fatal step will be postponed, but it is easy to foresee that the struggle cannot be long protracted ; necessity is a hard task-master, and sooner or later the pressure of want will eventually overcome the scruples of the most bigoted.
Next to the royal clans in social importance are those races with whom they are connected by marriage. The' honour of the alliance draws them also within the exclusive circle. It is not easy to indicate the line which separates the Rajputs from the clans immediately below him, and known in the hills by the appellation of Rathi; the Mian would restrict the term (Rajput) to those of royal descent ; the Rathi naturally seeks a broader definition, so as to include his own pretensions. Altogether, I am inclined to think that the limit I have fixed will be admitted to be just, and those only are legitimately entitled to rank as Rajputs who are themselves the mem bers of a royal clan, or are connected in marriage with them. Among these (second-class) tribes the most eniinent are the Manhas, Jurial, and Sonkla Rajputs. The two former are indeed branches of the Jammuwal clan, to which they are considered but little inferior. They occasional ly receive the salutation of Jai Dya, and very few of them engage in agriculture. Another class of Rajputs who enjoy great distinction in the hills are the descendants of ancient petty chiefs or Ranas whose title and temire generally preceded even the Rajans themselves. These petty chiefs have long since been dispossessed, and their holdings absorbed in the larger principalities which I have eumerated. Still the name of Rina is retained, and their alliance is eagerly desired by the Mians. All these tribes affect most of the customs of Rajputs. They select secluded spots for their dwellings, immure their women, are very particular with whom they marry or betroth in marriage, but have generally taken to agriculture. In this particular consists their chief dis tiuction from the Mians.
On this Mr. Lyall notes that there are now-a-days not many even of the better Rajput famihes who do not themselves do every kind of field work other than ploughing. He also points out that the Rajputs of the second grade might more properly be called Thakars of the first grade. For the ab sence of any definite line of demareation between Rajput and Thakar, see the extracts quoted under the head Thakar (section 459) . Finally I may state that throughout the Hill States, the Rajputs of proximate descent from ruling chiefs entered themselves in the present Census as Kshatriyas, to distinguish themselves from mere Rajputs. I have taken two figures together. The Raj puts of the sub-montane of Hushyarpur, Jalandhar, and Ambala differ little if at all from those of the Eastern Plains who have already been described. The following Kangra proverbs illustrate Mr. Barnes' description of the Hill Raj puts : It is bad to deal with a Rajput ; sometimes you get double value, and sometimes nothing at all : and A Rajput's wedding is like a fire of maize stalks ; great rolling of drums, and very little to eat. Abstract No. 82 on the next page* gives the figures for the several tribes
roughly grouped by locality, those of the higher hills coming first, then those
of Hushyarpur, and then those of Jalandhar and Ambala. Many of these are mere local clans named after their principal seats. It is probable that all these royal famihes sprang from a common stock, but all traces of what that stock was seem to be lost in obscurity. Unfortunately the Settlement Reports give little or no information regarding these tribes or clans ; while Mr. Coldstream s report, from which I had hoped for much information, is wholly silent on the
subject. The figures for tribal divisions of tho Rajputs of the Hill States appear to be exceedingly imperfect. Indeed the divisions themselves do not seem fo be very clearly marked. Mr. Barnes writes : —
Each class comprises mmicrong sub-divisions. As the family increased, individuals left the court to settle on some estate in the country, and their descendants, though still retaining the -' generic appellation of the race, are further distinguished by the name of the estate withwhich they are more immediatily identified. Sometimes, thoughnot so frequently, the designation of the ancestor furnishes a surname for his posterity. Thus among the Pathanias orNurpur Mians There are twenty-two recognised suh-divisions ; the Golerias are distributed into thirteen distinct tribes ; the Katoch clan has four grand divisions, each of which includes other subordinate de nominations. A Rajput interrogated by one who he thinks will understand these refined distinc tions, will give the name, not of his clan but of his patronymic. To a stranger he gives no detail, but ranges himself under the general appellation of Kshatriya or Rajput.
