Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s4.2

c48.s4.2

§ 61. **Grain-parchers and Confectioners** (1,645,200). Both these are important functionaries in town life in Bengal and upper India, but are in comparatively little request south of the Vindhya, where the diet and rules connected therewith are different. The origin of these castes is not clear, except in the Panjāb, where both the Bhaṛbhūñjā, or grain-parcher, and the Bhaṭhiārā, or public cook, are of the Jhīnvar, or water-bearing caste. The Bhaṭhiārā is only found in the Muslim tracts, except in the larger cities, since the Brāhmanic rules of living do not admit of the common oven. The grain-parcher is of more mixed origin. In the north, one of the sub-castes is connected with the Kayasth, and the same relationship appears in the communities of Bihār and the Dekkan. On the other hand, the Bhaṛbhūñjā is often held to be only an elevated branch of the Kahār, a view that coincides with the known facts further west, and is corroborated by the existence of sub-castes connecting the community with the Goṅṛhī, a fishing caste of quite a different part of the country, and with the Kāndū, the sweetmeat maker. In Bihār, in fact, the Bhaṛbhūñja, is considered to be a sub-caste of the Kandū. Towards Agra, however, the latter takes a higher place, and is almost equal to the Banya, exclusively engaged in the traditional pursuit of confectionery; but of its numerous sub-castes, some, like the Goṅṛhī, work in stone, and others parch grain, like the Bhaṛbhūñja. It seems probable, therefore, that both the castes originated amongst the fishing and porter community, and have been reinforced by occupational subdivisions formed locally to meet a demand for their services. The Ḥalvāī, another caste of confectioners, is entirely distinct, and, in upper India, is often Muslim. It is a composite body with a good many endogamous sub-castes. One of these shares the name of the Gōḍīyā, or Gūṛīā, the confectioner caste of Orissa, though without any other connection. In Bengal, the Mayarā caste is like the Kāndū of the north, recruited from various bodies and is subdivided, accordingly, into both Brāhmanic gōtra and totemistic exogamous sections. Some of those castes have betaken themselves to husbandry, but in that capacity, curiously enough, they will have nothing to do with the cultivation of the sugarcane or the preparation of molasses, the stock-in-trade of the rest of the caste. In connection with this group of castes it may be remarked that the upper and middle classes of Brāhmanical society, wherever the caste-system is strictly maintained on the northern Indian model, are prohibited from eating anything but parched grain or sweetmeats when on a journey away from their domestic cooking-place; and this rule may have a good deal to do with the consideration which is allowed to communities of such mixed or dubious origin as those which purvey these convenient provisions.