The tribes and castes of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, Volume 1 (of 4)

KORWA.
BY W. CROOKE, B.A., BENGAL CIVIL SERVICE.
IN FOUR VOLUMES. Vol. I. CALCUTTA: OFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF GOVERNMENT PRINTING, INDIA. 1896. Price Rupees Six.
Much has been already written about the Tribes and Castes of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh. The long series of such books begins with the famous “Supplementary Glossary” of Sir H. M. Elliot. Then comes Mr. Sherring’s valuable account of the people, principally based on enquiries in Benares. For Oudh we have Sir C. A. Elliott’s “Chronicles of Unâo,” Mr. Benett’s “Clans of Râê Bareli,” and Mr. Carnegy’s “Notes.” Besides these there is a large body of literature on the subject, such as Mr. Growse’s “Mathura,” Mr. Atkinson’s Chapters in the “Himalayan Gazetteer,” General Cunningham’s “Archæological Reports,” General Sleeman’s “Rambles and Recollections” and “Journey in Oudh,” Mr. Greeven’s researches about sweepers, and a great mass of miscellaneous memoirs included in the Settlement Reports, District Gazetteers, “Indian Antiquary,” “Calcutta Review,” and other periodical literature. The notes in the present book will show how much I am indebted to the researches of my predecessors in the same line of enquiry.
For the races of the plains I have based my account of them on a series of notes collected throughout the Provinces by a number of independent enquirers, both official and non-official, whose services were made available by the District Officers. The work could not have been even attempted without much cordial co-operation on the part of District Officers and a large body of native gentlemen to whose generosity in devoting some of their scanty leisure to this investigation it is impossible for me to do full justice. At the opening of each article I have been careful to name the gentlemen to whose aid I am indebted.
No one can undertake with a light heart such an enquiry as this connected with a population aggregating nearly forty-eight millions of souls; and, at the outset had I been fully aware of the difficulty of such a survey, I should have hesitated to undertake a work which has been carried out all through side by side with the multifarious duties of a District Officer. I shall be quite satisfied if the following pages supply a useful basis for further investigation; and, as the most satisfactory recognition of my work, I can only ask all interested in the matter to favour me with any corrections and criticisms which may tend to a greater degree of completeness and accuracy. I have avoided, as far as possible, the discussion of topics which are likely only to cause pain to sections of the people whose pretensions to a higher rank or origin are, to say the least, disputed.