Bahnon kī bharrr ...
or ‘Proud as a Sheikh, obstinate as a Pathān, royal as a Turk, buzzing like a Bahna.’ This refers to the noise of the cotton-cleaning bow, the twang of which as it is struck by the club is like a quail flying; and at the same time to the Bahna’s loquacity. Another story is that a Bahna was once going through the forest with his cotton-cleaning bow and club or mallet, when a jackal met him on the path. The jackal was afraid that the Bahna would knock him on the head, so he said, “With thy bow on thy shoulder and thine arrow in thy hand, whither goest thou, O King of Delhi?” The Bahna was exceedingly pleased at this and replied, ‘King of the forest, eater of wild plums, only the great can recognise the great.’ But when the jackal had got to a safe distance he turned round and shouted, “With your cotton-bow on your shoulder and your club in your hand, there you go, you sorry Bahna.” It is said also that although the Bahnas as good Muhammadans wear beards, they do not cultivate them very successfully, and many of them only have a growth of hair below the chin and none on the under-lip, in the fashion known as a goat’s beard. This kind of beard is thus proverbially described as ‘Bahna kaisi dārhi’ or ‘A Bahna’s beard.’ It may be repeated in conclusion that much of the ridicule attaching to the Bahnas arises simply from the fact that they follow what is considered a feminine occupation, and the remainder because in their ignorance they parody the rites of Islām. It may seem ill-natured to record the sayings in which they are lampooned, but the Bahnas cannot read English, and these have an interest as specimens of popular wit.
[1] This article is partly based on a paper by Munshi Kanhya Lāl of the Gazetteer office.
[2] Sir B. Robertson’s C.P. Census Report (1891), p. 203.
[3] Punjab Census Report (1881), paras. 646, 647.
[4] Nāsik Gazetteer, pp. 84, 85.
[5] Crooke’s Tribes and Castes, art. Bahna.
[6] The word Achera is merely a jingle put in to make the rhyme complete. Kachera is a maker of glass bangles.