13. The Gosain caste.
The majority of the Gosains are, however, now married and form an ordinary caste. Buchanan states that the ten different orders became exogamous groups, the members of which married with each other, but it is doubtful whether this is the case at present. It is said that all Giri Gosains marry, whether they are mendicants or not, while the Bhārthi order can marry or not as they please. They prohibit any marriage between first cousins, but permit widow remarriage and divorce. They eat the flesh of all clean animals and also of fowls, and drink liquor, and will take cooked food from the higher castes, including Sunārs and Kunbis. Hence they do not rank high socially, and Brāhmans do not take water from them, but their religious character gives them some prestige. Many Gosains have become landholders, obtaining their estates either as charitable grants from clients or through moneylending transactions. In this capacity they do not usually turn out well, and are often considered harsh landlords and grasping creditors.
[1] This article contains material from Mr. J. C. Oman’s Mystics, Ascetics and Saints of India, Sir E. Maclagan’s Punjab Census Report, 1891, and Dr. J. N. Bhattachārya’s Hindu Castes and Sects (Calcutta, Messrs. Thacker, Spink and Co.).
[2] Elaeocarpus.
[3] Mr. Marten’s C.P. Census Report (1911), p. 79.
[4] Orphéus, p. 137.
[5] Oman, Mystics, Ascetics and Saints, p. 269.
[6] Bhattachārya, Hindu Castes and Sects, p. 380.
[7] Bhattachārya, ibidem, and Oman, Mystics, Ascetics and Saints, pp. 160, 161.
[8] Buchanan, Eastern India, i. pp. 197, 198.
[9] Nesfield, Brief View of the Caste System, p. 86.
[10] J. C. Oman, Cults, Customs and Superstitions of India (London, T. Fisher Unwin), p. 11.
[11] Mystics, Ascetics and Saints of India, pp. 156, 157.
[12] Sir E. Maclagan, Punjab Census Report (1891), p. 112.