EXPLANATORY NOTES.
“Sait.”—This is a Sanscrit word for a banker, and is pronounced “Seth.” The word “Chetty” is derived from this, as applied to “Tamil” traders in Burmah and the Straits Settlements. Those who take up purely financial matters are astute men of business; lending money at exhorbitant rates of interest they get many of the farmers into complete subjection to them. They are wise enough to keep in with the people generally, and often build masonry tanks and dig wells for general use. Sometimes in the very hot weather they will employ a high caste Brahmin to provide drinking water to passing travellers, and will keep them in their pay for a whole hot season.
The natives of the district have their saying about this, as they have about every class, and it runs as a proverb from mouth to mouth:
Paisah ourrâh cheez
Sub noo kurdhâh yar uzeez.
TRANSLATED THUS:
Money is a great and rare article, and quite a marvel,
For it makes everyone claim for you the strongest friendship.
“Banjāra.”—Derived either from the Sanscrit word “Banj,” meaning Trade, or from the Persian word “Brinj,” Rice, and “Ar,” Carrying.
The Banjāras are wandering tribes, leading a sort of gipsy life. They possess many valuable pack animals, and carry their own grain, and that also of farmers, from one part of the country to another. As a rule they are well-to-do.
They are divided into several “Gôts,” or original races, some of them children of the stock of “Thurkee,” “Baidh,” and “Subanna,” and many claim “Gour Brahman” as their ancestor. Nearly every community has a Chief, or “Naik,” or “Tanda,” who lives a life of asceticism, and to whom they yield implicit obedience. Some Banjāras are known to engage in gang robberies, but this is rare with most of the tribes.
They are to be found both amongst the Mahomedans and Hindus. Amongst a particular class of them “bull worship” is said to exist. When sickness occurs the sick man is led to the feet of the bullock “Hatadiya,” devoted to the god “Balaji,” a Hindu deity of Gujerat. On this animal no burden is ever laid, but he moves steadily at the head of the convoy, and the place he lies down on when tired, that they make their halting-place for the day.
At his feet they make their vows when difficulties overtake them; and in illness, whether of themselves or cattle, they trust to his worship for a cure.—Crooke.
They are believed to have been originally the grain-carriers for the old Moghul armies, and had many privileges given to them in consequence. Distance and climate do not stand in the way of their conveying grain from one part of the country to the other, and being held in fear by other natives, they are never molested or interfered with. They are gradually dying out, as the traffic in grain is being carried on by other means.
“Faithful Dog.”—Dogs play a prominent part in the Folk-tales of most countries, and in India they have ever been the cherished companions of many tribes. With the Banjāras they are the sentinels of their encampment; as it is so well known they are equally so to the Bedouins in the desert. It is believed by many that they are in touch with the spirits of their dead, and a sure protection from evil influences.
There are many legends and omens about them in the district, too numerous to mention here.
It is not lucky for a dog to lie on its back.
It is not lucky for a dog to be given to howl.
It is lucky for a strange dog to follow one home.
And so on.
When the natives see the wild dog in the jungles, (and they are still existing there) they marvel at the triumph that man has had over them, to bring them from such a fierce and savage state to be so close a friend and companion.
Crooke says there is an old bit of folk-lore from the Mirzapoor district, where the merchant kills his faithful dog near a tank.
Our thoughts will also take us to the old Welsh tradition of Prince Llewellyn’s hound, still kept in memory in the name of the village, Beddgelert, or grave of “Gelert.”
These are but further instances of the common groundwork of all folk-lore.
There are two breeds of the Banjāra dogs known in the district. They are not unlike the “Gudhi” dogs bred in the Kangra district, but devoid of their woolly and shaggy coat. The ears with one of the breeds are carried erect, and they stand over two feet in height. They are devoted to their individual master, and remain attached to him till death. They seem to anticipate his every wish and thought, and almost to assume a certain likeness to him.
An unfaithful dog is spoken of as:
Khandhâh peendhâh saeent-dha ghur
Vungh Bhonkdhâh kassâe dha ghur.
THUS TRANSLATED.
He eats and drinks at his master’s house,
But he barks for and protects the butcher’s shop.