Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s3.2
Indische Paläographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s3.2
- Language
- German
c48.s3.2.1
**Bards and Genealogists** (782,500). These ancient professions are usually found more or less linked together, and in India the connection is peculiarly intimate. From the earliest times chants in praise of the founders and heroes of the clan have been recited to tickle the ear of the ruling Chief when sitting in formal assembly or heading a procession through his streets. Still more essential were they in battle, to encourage the fighting members of the community to emulate or excel the deeds of their ancestors. The annals of such enterprise with the personality of the principal performers became, naturally, the special study of those whose duty it was to set them to verse and directly connect them with the patrons before whom they have to be recited. The Bard, therefore, developed into a sort of Herald, and as his office, like all others in India, tended to become hereditary, the pedigree of those he served was transmitted in all its ramifications from father to son, with that marvellous accuracy of memory which is marked feature of the Brāhmanic intellect. The importance of such knowledge can hardly be overrated in a country where the licit and the prohibited degrees of affinity which form the basis of all arrangements of marriage or adoption, are the subject of most minute and complicated regulation throughout the community from top to bottom. In the course of time, therefore, the genealogist more or less split off from the bard, and took the higher rank at Court.
c48.s3.2.2
His functions are chiefly exercised among the Rājputs, but in the Panjāb some of the Jāṭ clans, and in Gujarāt some of the leading Kaṇbī families, utilise his services. As a rule, each of the ruling and leading families keeps its own genealogist. The rest of the community is divided into circuits, assigned respectively to a certain member of the fraternity, who annually visits each family in order to learn what domestic occurrences have taken place since his previous visit. In modern times every one of these incidents is entered by him in his register. Such is the reputation of the genealogist for accuracy and knowledge that this register is accepted as final in any question of affinity or relationship, and even before such "vahī" were customary, no Rājput ever thought of disputing the decision of the genealogist upon these points. The principal caste coming under this head is the Bhāṭ, sometimes called Bharōt in Gujarāt and Rājbhāṭ in Bengal. A question has been raised whether the caste takes its origin from Brāhmans who in old days secularised themselves in order to act as Court poets and panegyrists, or whether the function devolved upon a member of the Rājput clan to which the Bhāṭ was attached. There is evidence on both sides. In every tract in which the Bhāṭ is found, the community contains two sections, of which the Brahma Bhāṭ is the higher.
c48.s3.2.3
In Rājputāna, the Brahma, or Birm Bhāṭs are treated as Gaur Brāhmaṇs, and in the east of Oudh, that sub-caste of Brāhman which is native to the locality, actually performs the duties of bard, and sometimes of genealogist. Again, the person of a Bhāṭ has always been considered inviolable, like that of Brāhman. On the other hand, a Brāhman is never known to drop his exogamous subdivision by Gōtra, whilst the Bhāṭ are subdivided according to Rājput custom. The inviolability of the Bhāṭ, too, may be attributed not only to the character of herald or privileged messenger or forerunner of Chiefs, but to the inexpiable guilt of destroying the only recognised authority upon pedigree, and the apprehension of the vengeance or reprisals that would infallibly follow such an outrage. It is true that the Bhaṭrāzu of the Telugu country are subdivided into the Brāhmanical gōtra, but this branch of the caste is an exotic, introduced, under the name of Māgadha, through Orissa and probably from Bihār, in the course of invasions of the Āndhra region from the north, and has not kept up either its traditions or its occupation amongst the once military Dravidian castes to which it was attached. On the other side, there is the fact that the Bhāṭ is a distinctively Rājput institution, and, except for the colonies in Telingāna and eastern Bengal, is only found where Rājput influence is supreme.
c48.s3.2.4
Even in Gujarāt, where the Bhāṭs are numerous, all their sections trace their origin to some part of Rājputāna, and, as a rule, the Bhāṭs in regular employ dress as Rājputs and have Rājput names. In regard to the distribution of the work of the caste, the Brahma-Bhāṭ usually takes upon himself the duties of poet and reciter whilst the others look after the pedigree. In upper India, too, the former do not take up permanent posts, but are engaged for the occasion. In Rājputāna itself, the male Bhāṭ, it is said, undertakes the care of the pedigree of the male line, and his wife that of the female. In these days, the Bhāṭ does not enjoy by any means the same position as of yore, though a good reciter has still a high value, and in Gujarāt, a popular genealogist has considerable influence as counsellor in the households of his clients. Even in the west, however, the Bhāṭ has been obliged to leave his traditional profession to a great extent for trade and cultivation, like the Bhaṭrāzu of the south. In eastern Bengal, where the caste is exotic, it ranks much lower than in upper or western India, though it wears, as elsewhere, the sacred thread. The Bhāṭ there still practises the profession of genealogist, and each member of the fraternity has his circuit which he visits annually.
c48.s3.2.5
At other times he is in request only in connection with marriage ceremonies, in which he takes the part of herald between the two houses concerned, and acts also as go-between in the preliminary stages of the family arrangement. But in the eastern districts, the Bhāṭ has been reduced even to the trade of making leaf-umbrellas. Some of the Rājputāna Bhāṭ acquire herds of cattle and carry salt, grain and piece-goods to localities remote from the railways.