Sahasra Audichya.—(A thousand men of the north.) A subdivision of Gujarāti Brāhmans who are said to have accepted presents from Rāja Mulrāj of Anhalwāra Pātan at a sacrifice, and hence to have suffered some degradation in rank. Audichya probably signifies coming from Oudh.
Sahra.—Synonym of Savar.
Sāhu.—(A trader.) An honorific title of Bania. A synonym for Sunār in Sambalpur. A subdivision of Uriya Brāhmans. A section of Khadra, Kolta, Sundi and Teli.
Sahukār.—Title of Bania. See Sāhu.
Sain.—Synonym for Fakīr.
Saiqalgār.—From Arabic saiqal, a polisher. Synonym for Siklīgar.
Sais.—The title by which grooms or horse-keepers are usually known. The word Sais, Colonel Temple states,[79] is Arabic and signifies a nobleman; it is applied to grooms as an honorific title, in accordance with the common method of address among the lower castes. Other honorific designations for grooms, as given by Colonel Temple, are Bhagat or ‘Saint,’ and Panch, ‘Arbitrator,’ but neither of these is generally used in the Central Provinces. Another name for Saises is Thanwār, which means a person in charge of a stable or place where a horse is kept. Grooms from Northern India are usually of the Jaiswāra division of Chamārs, who take their name from the old town of Jais in Oudh; but they drop the Chamār and give Jaiswāra as their caste. These men are thin and wiry and can run behind their horses for long distances. The grooms indigenous to the Central Provinces are as a rule promoted grass-cutters and are either of the Ghasia (grass-cutter) or the Kori and Mahār (weaver) castes. They cannot usually run at all well. It is believed that both the Jaiswāras and Mahārs who work as grooms have taken to marrying among themselves and tend to form separate endogamous groups, because they consider themselves superior to the remainder of the caste. A Sais will frequently refuse to tie up a dog with a rope or lead him with one because he uses a rope for leading his horses. This taboo is noticed by Sir B. Fuller as follows: “Horses in India are led not by the bridle but by a thick cotton leading-rope which is passed over the headstall, and such a rope is carried by every Indian groom. I asked my groom one day to tie up with his leading rope a dog that would not follow. He absolutely refused, and I discovered that the rope was the fetish of his caste and was formerly adored and propitiated in the course of an annual caste festival. To touch a dog with it would have been sacrilege.”[80]
Saitwāl.—A subcaste of Jain Banias.
Saiyad.—One of the four Muhammadan tribes, which is supposed to comprise the descendants of the Prophet.
Sakadwīpi.—A tribe of Brāhmans taking their name from Sakadwīpa, the country of the Sakas. The Sakas were a Central Asian tribe who invaded India before the commencement of the Christian era, and Sakadwīpa is said to be the valley of the Kābul river.