Now India swarms with the analogues of the English gipsy; so much so as to make it likely that the latter is found as far from his original country as Wales and Norway, simply because he is a vagabond, not because he is an Indian.
Of the chief of the tribes in question a good account is given by Mr. Balfour. This list, however, which is as follows, may be enlarged.
1. The Gohur are, perhaps, better known under the name of Lumbarri, and better still as[197] the Brinjarri, the bullock-drivers of many parts of India, but more especially of the Dekhan. They are corn-merchants as well. Their organization consists of divisions called Tandas, at the head of which is a Naek. Two Naeks paramount over the rest, reside permanently at Hyderabad, on the confines of the Mahratta and Telugu countries. The bullock, Hatadia, devoted to the God Balajee, is an object of worship. In a long line of Brinjarri met by Mr. Pickering,[59] one of the females was carrying a dog, which neither a Hindú nor a Parsi would have done. Many of them are Sikhs. There are, certainly, three divisions of the Gohuri—the Chouhane,[60] the Rhatore, and the Powar, and probably—
The Purmans are another branch of them; consisting of about seventy-five families of agriculturists on the Bombay islets.
2. The Bhowri, called also Hirn-shikarri and Hern-pardi, though Bhowri is the native name, are hunters. They also fall into subordinate divisions.
3. The Tarremúki; so-called by themselves, but known in the Dekhan as Ghissaris, or Bail-Kumbar, and amongst the Mahrattas, as Lohars, are blacksmiths.[198]
4. The Korawi, fall in tribes which neither eat with each other, nor intermarry, viz.:—
a. The Bajantri, who are musicians.
b. The Teling—basket-makers and prostitutes.
c. The Kolla.