Distribution of the Benawas according to the Census of 1891.
| District. | Number. |
| Dehra Dûn | 3 |
| Sahâranpur | 2,347 |
| Muzaffarnagar | 2,620 |
| Meerut | 1,620 |
| Bulandshahr | 24 |
| Mathura | 63 |
| Agra | 31 |
| Farrukhâbâd | 10 |
| Mainpuri | 8 |
| Bareilly | 451 |
| Bijnor | 655 |
| Morâdâbâd | 755 |
| Shâhjahânpur | 32 |
| Pilibhît | 8 |
| Bânda | 8 |
| Lalitpur | 4 |
| Benares | 5 |
| Ghâzipur | 212 |
| Gorakhpur | 84 |
| Basti | 1,134 |
| Tarâi | 293 |
| Râê Bareli | 45 |
| Sîtapur | 13 |
| Faizâbâd | 62 |
| Bahrâich | 10 |
| Sultânpur | 201 |
| Partâbgarh | 5 |
| Bârabanki | 32 |
| Total | 10,735 |
[[242]]
Benbans.—(“Of the stock of Râja Vena.”)—A small sept of Râjputs in Mirzapur and Rîwa. The sept is interesting as an example of the development in quite recent times of a new Râjput sept. There seems to be little doubt that only a couple of generations ago they were Kharwârs, a purely Dravidian tribe, and have developed into Râjputs since they obtained the chiefship of that part of the country. The present Râja has now married into a respectable Chandel family, and his claim to be a pure bred Râjput will doubtless soon cease to be disputed.
Beriya,[124] Bediya.—A caste of vagrants found in various parts of the Province. They are very closely allied if not identical with the Sânsi, Kanjar, Hâbûra, Bhântu, etc. In Bengal the term is applied to a number of vagrant, gypsy-like groups, of whom it is difficult to say whether they can properly be described as castes. Of these Bengal Beriyas a very full account has been given by Bâbu Rajendra Lâla Mitra.[125] According to him, they show no tendency to obesity, and are noted for “a light, elastic, wiry make, very uncommon in the people of this country. In agility and hardiness they stand unrivalled. The men are of a brownish colour like the bulk of Bengâlis, but never black. The women are of lighter complexion, and generally well formed; some of them have considerable claims to beauty, and for a race so rude and primitive in their habits as the Bediyas, there is a sharpness in the features of their women which we see in no other aboriginal race in India. Like the gypsies of Europe, they are noted for the symmetry of their limbs; but their offensive habits, dirty clothing, and filthy professions, give them a repulsive appearance, which is heightened by the reputation they have of kidnapping children and frequenting burial grounds and places of cremation. Their eyes and hair are always black, but their stature varies much in different individuals. They are a mixed race, and many outcastes join them. Some of them call themselves Mâl, and live by snake-catching and sale of herbs. Though known as Bediyas, they keep distinct, and do not intermarry or mix with the pure Bediyas, who, unlike European gypsies, keep themselves distinct. They seldom build houses, and take to [[243]]agriculture, but wander about with a few miserable wigwams. Like all gypsies, they dress like the people of the country. They cook in a pipkin in common. Their women and children eat promiscuously, except when placed among Bengâlis, when the women eat separately. They eat whatever they can get, and nothing comes amiss to them, whether it be a rotten jackal or a piece of beef or mutton.
2. “Familiar with the use of bows and arrows, and great adepts in laying snares and traps, they are seldom without large supplies of game and flesh of wild animals of all kinds. A variety of birds they keep dried for medical purposes; mungooses, squirrels, and flying foxes they eat with avidity as articles of luxury. Spirituous liquors and intoxicating drugs are indulged in to a large extent, and chiefs of clans assume the title of Bhangi or drinkers of hemp (bhang) as a mark of honour.” They practise all the usual gypsy trades. “In lying, thieving, and knavery he is not a whit inferior to his brother of Europe, and he practises everything that enables him to pass an easy life without submitting to any law of civilized Government or the amenities of social life. The women deal in charms for exorcising the devil, love phylters, palmistry, cupping with buffalo horns, administering moxas and drugs for spleen and rheumatism. She has a charm for extracting worms from carious teeth by repeating indecent verses. They are the only tattooers. At home she makes mats of palm leaves, while her lord alone cooks. Bediyas have no talent for music; Nats and Banjâras have. Firdausi says this was the reason they were exiled to Persia. Bediya women are even more circumspect than European gypsies. If she does not return before the jackal’s cry is heard in the evening, she is subject to severe punishment. It is said that a faux pas among her own kindred is not considered reprehensible. Certain it is that no Bediyâni has ever been known to be at fault with any one not of her own caste. They are fond husbands, kind parents, affectionate children, and unswerving friends. Attachment to their nationality is extreme, and no Bediya has ever been known to denounce his race. Whenever a Bediya is apprehended by a police officer, his clansmen do their best to release him, and if condemned to imprisonment or death, they invariably support his family. He is a Hindu or Musalmân according to the population he lives in. Some are Deists, some Kabîrpanthis, or Sikhs; some take the disguise of Jogis, Faqîrs, Darveshes, Santons, etc. [[244]]Hence he is called Panchpîri. His dead are usually buried, and his marriage contract is solemnized over country arrack without the intervention of priests, the only essential being the consent of the elders of the clan. Marriage is restricted to his own clan; but kidnapped children brought up in camp are not prohibited. He is very sparing of ceremony; in reply to the exhortations of the bride’s relatives to treat her kindly, he simply declares,—‘This woman is my wedded wife,’ marking her head at the same time with red lead. The bride replies,—‘This man is my husband.’ Incestuous marriages are believed to be common among them. It is said that all Bediyas, whether professing Hinduism or Muhammadanism, worship Kâli. Like the gypsies, they never go to court. Their chiefs (sardârs) have supreme power, and manage their affairs with the help of tribal councils (panchâyat). The punishments are fine, stripes with a shoe, expulsion from caste. The fines are spent in liquor. The chief is generally hereditary, and he is invested with authority over his clansmen, wherever they may be located. This is possible, as the Bediya, though a vagrant, is much attached to his birthplace, and often returns there.”
The Beriyas of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh. 3. The Beriyas of these Provinces are in a much more degraded condition than their brethren in Bengal. At the last Census they recorded themselves under three main sub-castes—Chauhân and Raghubansi, the titles of well known Râjput sub-divisions, and Kâmchor or “loafers.” But in the Central Duâb, like so many of the tribes of the same social rank, they pretend to have seven sub-castes. By one enumeration these are given as Khâlkhur, Chhâhari, Bhains, Gunnar, Nâritor, Rattu, and Kachhâr. Another list adds Mahish. The complete returns show 250 sections of the Hindu, and 12 of the Muhammadan branch. These are of the usual type, many taken from the names of existing castes, such as Bais, Banya, Bangâli, Chauhân, Chhatri, Gaur, Ghosiya, Janwâr, Kachhwâha, Kânhpuriya, Raghubansi, Râwat, Teli, and Thâkur; others of local origin like Amrapuriya, Baiswâri, Bhadauriya, Deswâl, Jaiswâr, Mainpuriya, Multânwâri; others again common to them and similar vagrant and prostitute tribes, such as Brijbâsi, Dhânuk, Gandharb, Gidhmâr (“kite-killers”), Jangali, Kuchbandhiya, Kapariya, Karnâtaki, Nat, Paturiya, Râjnat, and Tawâif. They believe themselves indigenous in the Central Duâb, and profess to have some unexplained connection, like their kinsmen the [[245]]Hâbûras, with the old ruined city of Nohkhera, in the north of Pargana Jalesar, in the Etah District. All the camps (gol) which frequent that part of the country meet there during the rainy season, and hold tribal councils at which marriages and all matters affecting the caste are settled. Regular marriages seldom occur among them, because nearly all the girls are reserved for prostitution, and the men keep concubines drawn from any fairly respectable caste. So far is this the rule, that in Farrukhâbâd, it is alleged that if a man marry a girl of the tribe, he is put out of caste; and in Etâwah, if a man marry a girl who has been prostituted, he is obliged to pay a fine to the tribal council. This is a good example of what Sir John Lubbock[126] calls “Communal marriage.” “In many cases,” he says, “the exclusive possession of a wife could only be legally acquired by a temporary recognition of the pre-existing communal rights.” While, however, concubinage is a tribal institution, connections with a woman of the menial tribes, such as Chamâr, Bhangi, Kori, or Dhânuk, are prohibited; and a man offending in this way is expelled from the caste. The only ceremony in selecting a concubine is the presenting to her a suit of clothes, and eating with her and the clansmen. There seems, however, to be an increasing tendency towards the more respectable form of marriage, and some of them not only profess to have a law of exogamy to this extent that they will not give their boys to, or take a bride from, a family with which within memory they have been allied by marriage, but they also pretend to allow the levirate under the usual restrictions, and permit widow marriage. When they do marry in the caste continence is compulsory on the wife, and her husband can put her away for infidelity proved to the satisfaction of the tribal council.
Domestic ceremonies. 4. During pregnancy the mother generally vows that if she gets over her confinement in safety, she will have the head of the child shaved at some shrine. She is attended at delivery by the Chamârin midwife, and after that by the women of her family. All Beriyas do the chhathi or sixth day ceremony after delivery; some do the barahi or twelfth day rite as well, and if the child be a boy, feed the tribesmen. Adoption is common among them; usually a sister’s son [[246]]is adopted. There is no ceremony except the distribution of sweets to the kinsmen, and the formal announcement that the adoption has taken place. There is no initiation rite for males; but when a girl reaches puberty, and is prostituted for the first time, the money she earns is spent in drinking and in feeding the other unmarried girls of the tribe, while Satya Nârâyana is worshipped, and verses in honour of him are recited. In a marriage of a virgin girl of the caste, which is very unusual, they follow the orthodox form; when they get hold of some other woman or of a widow there is no ceremony except feeding the clansmen, and until this is done the husband cannot eat the food cooked by her.
5. The caste is in the intermediate stage between burial and cremation. In Farrukhâbâd they touch the left foot of the corpse with fire and then bury it. In Etâwah they cremate the dead and collect the ashes, which they put into an earthen pot, and then bury this in the ground, raising over it a small earthen platform. When they can afford it, they offer at this place some cakes in honour of the dead, which they subsequently consume themselves. They do not employ the Mahâbrâhman; all the death ceremonies are done by the sister’s son or son-in-law of the deceased. They have no regular srâddha; but once a year, on any convenient date, they offer up cakes in the name of their dead ancestors in general, and invite a few of the brethren to a feast.
Religion. 6. Their tribal deities are Devi, Kâliji, and Jwâlamukhi. Many of them also worship a deity called Sayyid, which they understand to represent Muhammad, the prophet. Others visit the shrine of Madâr Sâhib. They seem to depend more on ancestor worship than on any other form of belief. They hardly employ Brâhmans at all except for giving omens at marriages, and it is, of course, only the very lowest Brâhmans who serve them.