Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s3.5

c48.s3.5

The only other caste which it is necessary to mention under this head is that of the Ḍūm or Mīrāsī of the Panjāb. The members of this community are both minstrels and genealogists. Their Brāhmanic name of Ḍūm may have some relation to the former accomplishment, as the Ḍom are, as stated in the preceding paragraph, to some extent, musicians. But the Ḍūm as they exist in the present day are far above the Ḍom alike in appearance, position and attainments, though still amongst the lower classes out of communion with the peasantry and artisans. They are almost all Muslim, and the name of Mīrāsī is derived from the Arabic for inheritance and may thus be taken to refer to their work as genealogists. In this capacity they are much below the Bhāṭ, and officiate chiefly in the families of the lower agricultural population and for the impure castes. Some Jāṭ families employ them, but the accredited genealogist for that race, strange to say, is the Saṅsī, a criminal vagrant tribe of the province, whilst the families ambitious of a rise in society engage, as above remarked, the Jāgā Bhāṭ. The musical attainments of the Mīrāsī are considerable. Some only sing, others play the flute, pipe, lute, cymbals and different sorts of drum. Their women also dance and sing occasionally, but only for the delectation, it is said, of patrons of their own sex. Those who are genealogists in permanent employ of a definite circle of clients hold their office hereditarily, and do not associate or intermarry with those similarly engaged among the impure castes. The profession is by no means unremunerative, especially where agricultural prosperity connotes the necessity of an improved family tree. Even in the open market, the Mīrāsī is a popular and well-paid feature of every fair and large wedding. Unfortunately, the Mīrāsī, like the Bhāṭ in the eastern parts of India, is a shameless blackmailer, and the refusal or inadequate requital of his demand is followed by often witty and invariably outspoken burlesques of the genealogy of the ill-advised recusant. In eastern Bengal, the Bhāṭ, who there resembles the Mīrāsī rather than his own namesake of Rājputāna, is said to vary his stock ridicule of the manners and customs of Europeans with depreciatory references to the ancestry of any local magnate whose purse-strings may have been drawn too tightly on the Bard's last visitation.