6. Bishnois in the Central Provinces.
In northern India the members of different castes who have become Bishnois have formed separate endogamous groups, of which Mr. Crooke gives nine; among these are the Brāhman, Bania, Jāt, Sunār, Ahīr and Nai Bishnois. Only members of comparatively good castes appear to have been admitted into the community, and in the Punjab they are nearly all Jāts and Banias. In the Central Provinces the caste forms only one endogamous group. They have gotras or exogamous sections, the names of which appear to be of the titular or territorial type. Some of the gotras, Jhuria, Ajna, Sain and Ahīr,[3] are considered to be lower than the others, and though they are not debarred from intermarriage, a connection with them is looked upon as something of a mésalliance. They are not consulted in the settlement of tribal disputes. No explanation of the comparatively degraded position of these septs is forthcoming, but it may probably be attributed to some blot in their ancestral escutcheon. The Bishnois celebrate their marriages at any period of the year, and place no reliance on astrology. According to their saying, “Every day is as good as Sankrānt,[4] every day is as good as Amāwas.[5] The Ganges flows every day, and he whose preceptor has taught him the most truth will get the most good from bathing in it.”