Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s5.1
Indische Paläographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s5.1
- Language
- German
c48.s5.1.1
community for the plough and for milking. These, for the most part, are either stationary, or, when they move, merely camp for a few months of the dry season on recognised grazing grounds not far from their village. The Cāraṇ, mentioned in connection with the duties of Bard and Genealogist, is, undoubtedly a nomad in some of its sections, and, in this respect, it shares the habits of the Banjārā, to whom it is probably akin. The latter, with its branch known as the Lavāṇā, Lambhāni, Lambāḍi or Labāṇā, is the great bullock-dealer and carrier by pack-animal for the whole of upper India, and colonies of it have settled in the Dekkan and as far south as Mysore. The use of bullocks as a means of transport is an ancient custom in India but it received its great impetus from the Muslim invaders, who engaged large gangs of Banjārā to accompany their forces from north to south. Similarly, the British armies in their earlier campaigns trusted to the Banjārā trains for their commissariat and forage supplies, and found the Nāik, or gang-leaders, fully up to the work and worthy of confidence. It is not certain how the Banjārā came to be settled in Rohilkhaṇḍ and its neighbouring Tarāi, but their own tradition is that they belong to northwest Rājputāna, and were driven out of their native country. They also once settled in Oudh, but were displaced by Rājputs. In their present capacity, however, they emerged into notice from their Tarāi home.
c48.s5.1.2
The titles of their subdivisions, which are very numerous, indicate in some instances, a desert origin, a hypothesis which is borne out by their appearance. They are usually a tall, sinewy race, their women especially being remarkable for their powerful physique. Their dress, too, is that of the west rather than of Hindūstān, and one of their sub-castes bears the distinctively western appellation of Cāraṇ. The Lavāṇa, again, another section, indicates by its connection with salt a trade from the coast or Sāmbhar lake. The colonies above referred to appear to have been left in the south after expeditions by various Muslim leaders across the continent to the Dekkan and Karnatic. The settlers seem to have made no attempt to regain the north, but acquired land, and to some extent adopted the vernaculars of their neighbours. It is said, however, that the primitive customs and beliefs of the tribe are more carefully maintained by the Dekkan than by the North-country Banjāra. Other branches are found in Central India and the Panjāb. One section has been converted to Islam, under the name of Turkiyā, a title which has led, by one of the humours of the Census, to its being numbered amongst the Osmanli and other Turks, though the farthest region to which it ascribes its origin is Mūltān. In the Panjāb, too, a good many Banjārā are called Sikhs, but this refers to the creed of Nānak, rather than to the more exclusive doctrines of Guru Govind.
c48.s5.1.3
Nānak, indeed, is one of the names most revered amongst the Banjārā even as far as the Dekkan. In upper India some of the tribe have settled down to trade and money-lending. The Vanjārī of the Marāṭhā country, too, are to a great extent cultivators, and for some generations have been scarcely distinguishable from their Kunbī neighbours. The traditional calling of the tribe has been greatly curtailed by the extension of railway communication, but a good business is still done, especially where it can be combined with the rearing and sale of stock to the peasantry, as in Oudh and upper India generally. In the tracts where the gangs are organised for travel, the old system of Ṭāṇḍā, or gang-circuits is retained, and no Ṭāṇḍā is allowed to journey over the sphere allotted to another. In the Dekkan, indeed, the partition is said to be not unconnected with predatory excursions by the lower class of Banjārā. The Lavāṇā, under its various designations, is sometimes treated as a separate caste, and is not often found alongside of the Banjārā. But it appears to be nothing more than one of the older divisions of the main community, which has kept to the west and south. In the Karnatic, for instance, the title Banjārā is unknown, and the Lambāḍi, or Lambhāni, occasionally called Sūkali, pursues its avocation alone, though on a lower plane than his comrade in the north. He maintains, however, his reputation as a cattle-doctor, as well as that of an expert in sorcery and witchcraft.
c48.s5.1.4
This last attribute is acquired, it is said, in the course of a wandering life, exposed to all weathers in jungles and other unhealthy localities. Strange diseases make their appearance only to be accounted for by the agency of witchcraft, and the old women of the Ṭāṇḍā, accordingly, go in considerable risk of their lives. In compensation, perhaps, the Banjārā is the only caste in which the women are said habitually to take the big walking-staff to their husbands. There is a small caste, the Thōrī, which performs in the lower Himālaya the duties of carriage undertaken in the plains by the Banjārā or Lavāṇā. They are connected with the latter, and apparently ply their trade in the same tracts in north Rājputāna, of which tract they say they are natives. But there is another caste of the same name which is allied to the Ahēṛī, if not identical with them, and these are altogether lower in rank and pursuits, being mostly fowlers, or at best, mat-makers, along the Indus. In Central India and the north Dekkan, even as far as Mysore, there are still a few bands of the once noted Peṇḍhārī freebooters, now engaged like Banjārā in the carrying trade. Originally, the Peṇḍhārī were no more than a collection of all sorts of foreign Muslim disbanded from the Delhi army, and linked together for the common purpose of raiding villages and travellers. They are now a small caste by themselves, and give little or no trouble to the police.
c48.s5.1.5
They have a Chief who rules a small State in Mālvā, but there is no longer any bond between him and the wandering gangs.