Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s1.4.3

c48.s1.4.3

Owing to this caste-imposed restriction, probably, it may be noted that wherever the Brāhman has settled otherwise than as a part of a large general community, he is the centre of a well-defined system of predial servitude, his land being cultivated for him by hereditary serfs of undoubtedly Dasyu descent. This is the case with the Māsṭhān of Orissa and Gujarāt, and with the Haiga or Havīka of Kanara, and the Nambūtiri of the Malabar coast, all of whom have settled in fertile country. Where the pressure of circumstances is very severe, as in the desert States of Rājputāna, the Brāhman cultivator not only does the whole of his own work, including ploughing, but even sells his labour to other more fortunate occupants. A military career may appear to be somewhat alien to the traditions and inclinations of a sacerdotal class, nevertheless in the vicinity of the Ganges it has proved by no means unattractive to the Brāhman peasantry. The Bhūīnhār, or Bābhan, of the south eastern parts of the upper valley, are credited by some with Brāhman ancestry, which endowed them with enough of the Kṣatriya qualities to enable them to push forward in advance of the main body of their race, and to hold against the Kōl, or other previous possessor, the land they still occupy.