Mendicants.—Men of religion living on charity, wandering fakírs, are common sights, and beggars are met with in the cities, who sometimes exhibit their deformities with unnecessary insistence.
Kashmírís.—According to the census return the number of Kashmírí Musulmáns, who make up 60 p.c. of the inhabitants of the Jhelam valley, was 765,442. They are no doubt mostly descendants of various Hindu castes, perhaps in the main of Hill Brahmans, but Islám has wiped out all tribal distinctions. Sir Walter Lawrence wrote of them: "The Kashmírí is unchanged in spite of the splendid Moghal, the brutal Afghán, and the bully Sikh. Warriors and statesmen came and went; but there was no egress, and no wish ... in normal times to leave their homes. The outside world was far, and from all accounts inferior to the pleasant valley.... So the Kashmírís lived their self-centred life, conceited, clever, and conservative."
The Hindu Kashmírí Pandits numbered 55,276.
Tribes of Jammu.—Agricultural Brahmans are numerous in the Jammu province. Thakkars and Meghs are important elements of the population of the outer hills. The former are no doubt by origin Rájputs, but they have cast off many Rájput customs. The Meghs are engaged in weaving and agriculture, and are regarded as more or less impure by the higher castes.
Fig. 32. Blind Beggar.
Gújars.—Gújars in the Mahárája's territories are almost always graziers. In 1911 they numbered 328,003.
Dard Tribes of Astor and Gilgit.—The people of Astor and Gilgit are Dards speaking Shina and professing Islám. Sir Aurel Stein wrote of them: "The Dard race which inhabits the valleys N. of (the Inner Himálaya) as far as the Hindu Kush is separated from the Kashmírí population by language as well as by physical characteristics.... There is little in the Dard to enlist the sympathies of the casual observer. He lacks the intelligence, humour, and fine physique of the Kashmírí, and, though undoubtedly far braver than the latter, has none of the independent spirit and manly bearing which draw us towards the Pathán despite all his failings. But I can never see a Dard without thinking of the thousands of years of struggle they have carried on with the harsh climate and the barren soil of their mountains[3]."