Occupation and social status. 7. The Beriya, as we have seen, supports himself to a large extent by prostituting his women. His women loaf about villages and procure information about valuable property for their male relations. He is a pilferer and petty thief, and will steal crops from fields and any uncared-for property which he can find lying about. He makes almost a speciality of stealing the clothes and brass vessels of men who labour in the fields, and a camp of these people is such a pest in a neighbourhood that they would meet with short shrift from [[247]]the villagers if they were not protected by some landowners, who intrigue with their women, and by goldsmiths and others, who receive stolen property from them. They have also been known to commit more serious crime and attack camel carts and wedding parties at night. They usually begin the attack on a travelling party with a shower of stones, and if this fail to compel them to abandon their goods, they assail them with their bludgeons. In Farrukhâbâd the Gunnar sub-caste carry the regular Kanjar spud (khanti,) with which they dig out young jackals and pass them off as wolf cubs for the sake of the Government reward. They have a vague tradition that they were once Râjputs, and were forced to take to their present means of living by the Muhammadans after the siege of Chithor. But their appearance and physique certainly indicate that they are a branch of the Indian gypsy race, and closely allied to the Sânsiya and his kinsfolk. The women who are prostitutes salute with the word salâm; those who are married use Râm! Râm! When they take an oath they turn to the river and swear by mother Ganges. They are steady believers in the demoniacal theory of disease. When a person falls sick they call in a wizard (syâna), who smokes a huqqa, and with a few incoherent words waves a broom over the patient, and thus scares the ghost. When a patient is attacked by the Evil-eye, they put some thorns of the babûl (acacia arabica) in an earthen pot face downwards; then a shoe is waved over it, and they call out—“Evil glance! leave the sick man!” They eat mutton, goat’s flesh, and pork; not beef, fowls, fish, vermin, or the leavings of other people. But there is reason to believe that when in camps by themselves they are much more catholic in their diet. No respectable caste will eat from their hands, they will eat both kachchi and pakki from the hands of all but the very lowest menials.

Distribution of the Beriyas according to the Census of 1891.

District. Chauhân. Kâmchor. Raghubansi. Others. Muhammadans. Total.
Sahâranpur … … … … 11 11
Meerut … … … … 6 6
Bulandshahr … … … … 3 3[[248]]
Aligarh … … … 7 1 8
Mathura … … … 2 … 2
Agra 59 140 … 926 96 1,221
Farrukhâbâd 24 8 25 662 22 741
Mainpuri … 32 49 600 … 681
Etâwah 26 … … 779 … 805
Etah 1 39 … 156 … 196
Bijnor … … … 9 1 10
Morâdâbâd … … … 10 … 10
Cawnpur 57 … … 1,033 … 1,090
Fatehpur 90 … … 631 … 721
Bânda 54 … … 190 … 244
Hamîrpur 53 … … 368 … 421
Allahâbâd 7 … … 1,015 2 1,024
Jhânsi 14 … … 113 … 127
Jâlaun 4 … … 38 … 42
Lalitpur 1 … … 147 4 152
Mirzapur 19 … … … … 19
Jaunpur … … … 108 … 108
Ghâzipur … … … … 4 4
Gorakhpur … … … 19 … 19
Basti 4 … … 83 701 788
Azamgarh … … … 89 … 89
Lucknow … … … 192 9 201
Unâo 171 … … 90 12 273
Râê Bareli 794 … … 676 1 1,471
Hardoi … … … 90 … 90[[249]]
Faizâbâd 227 … … 455 2 684
Gonda … … … 30 … 30
Bahrâich 48 … … 105 7 160
Sultânpur 773 … … 709 2 1,484
Partâbgarh 516 8 … 537 … 1,061
Bârabanki 856 … … 452 9 1,317
Total 3,798 227 74 10,321 893 15,313

Berwâr, Birwâr.—A Râjput sept found in the Districts of Ghâzipur, Azamgarh, and Faizâbâd. In Ghâzipur they say that they are emigrants from the neighbourhood of Delhi, and take their name from Bernagar, their leading village. They are supposed to have come under the auspices of the Narauliyas, whom they assisted to expel the Cheros.[127] In Azamgarh they are said to be both Râjputs and Bhuînhârs, and not to rank high among either. Each set ignores the origin of, or any connection with, the other. The Bhuînhârs can only say that they came from the westward. They Chhatris say they are Tomars, and were led from Bernagar, near Delhi, to Azamgarh, by a chief named Garak Deo, who lived between 1393 and 1512 of the Sambat era (1536–1455 A.D.). In Faizâbâd they call themselves Bais of Dundiyakhera. The Chhatri and Bhuînhâr branches are of the same origin, as at marriages and other feasts they refuse to take from their hosts or offer to their guests broken cakes of pulse (bara). The origin of the custom is said to be that at a feast where a number of the Berwars had been invited by another clan, their treacherous hosts, on the pass-word bara khanda chalâo (khanda means “a sword” as well as “broken”), slaughtered the Birwârs. Their name is possibly connected with this custom.[128] The Brâhman ancestor of the sept is said to have come from Kanauj; but its different [[250]]branches are not unanimous as to his name or pedigree, or how they came to Azamgarh.[129]

Bhadauriya.—An important sept of Râjputs who take their name from the village of Bhadâwar, near Ater, south of the Jumna. The eastern branch have some traditions which point to a Meo origin;[130] but according to Sir H. M. Elliot[131] they are a branch of the Chauhâns; but the Chauhâns are disposed to deny this relationship, now that for motives of convenience the two tribes have begun to intermarry. They are divided into the six clans of Athbhaiya, Kulhiya, Mainu, Taseli, Chandraseniya, and Râwat. He further remarks:—“The high claims which have been put forward in favour of the family are somewhat unreasonable, and were indeed entirely needless, as its respectability for many years past has been unquestionable. Bhatûla, or bread made from the grain of arhar, chana, and mûng, is notorious for its hardness, and is, therefore, seldom eaten by those who can afford to grow or purchase the better grains. It is said to have been the cause of the elevation of the Bhadauriyas, and the story, absurd as it may appear, is commonly believed in the neighbourhood of Bhadâwar, and is not denied by the Bhadauriyas themselves. One of the Bhadauriya chiefs, Gopâl Sinh, went to pay his respects to the King, Muhammad Shâh. The chief had very large eyes, so much so, as to attract the attention of the King, who asked him how he obtained them. The chief, who was a wit, replied that in his district nothing but arhar was grown, and that from the constant practice of straining at swallowing bhatûla, his eyes had nearly started out of his head. The King was pleased at his readiness, and bestowed upon him other Parganas in which he could grow the finer grains. The immediate cause of their aggrandisement is obscure, but it is as likely to have been a pair of large eyes as the capture of a fort. It is clear that their political importance lasted no longer than for a few years at the beginning of the last century; that their illustrious lineage even now invests them with consideration in the eyes of the surrounding Râjas, who allow the Bhadauriya to sit higher than themselves; who receive from him the investiture, or rather impress of the tilak, who confess that he alone can cover with grain the lingam at Batesar (the Râna of Gohag having tried twenty-one [[251]]maunds in vain); and that, though influential, they are not of that high importance which they would arrogate to themselves. It is to be feared also that they are much addicted to infanticide; so that when we take all these circumstances into consideration, there seems some reason to acknowledge that the indiscriminate bounty of the British Government might perhaps have been more worthily bestowed.” The last Census Returns give some colour to the supposition that infanticide prevails among them. There are 16,312 males to 12,715 females.

2. Of the clans above enumerated the Chandraseniya, Kulhiya, Athbhaiya, and Râwat marry girls of the Chauhân, Kachhwâha, Râthaur, Chandel, Sirnet, Panwâr, Gautam, Raghubansi, Gaharwâr, Tomar, and Gahlot septs. The Taseli intermarry with Râjputs of rank inferior to these. The high class Bhadauriyas give their daughters to the Chauhân, Kachhwâha, and Râthaur septs.

Distribution of the Bhadauriya Râjputs according to the Census of 1891.

District. Number.
Sahâranpur 4
Meerut 54
Aligarh 62
Mathura 54
Agra 4,034
Farrukhâbâd 1,490
Mainpuri 1,936
Etâwah 5,387
Etah 239
Bareilly 398
Budâun 300
Morâdâbâd 165
Shâhjahânpur 1,130
Pilibhît 257
Cawnpur 2,533
Fatehpur 933
Bânda 169
Hamîrpur 116
Allahâbâd 421
Jhânsi 371
Jâlaun 596
Lalitpur 36
Benares 363
Ballia 232
Gorakhpur 68
Basti 19[[252]]
Azamgarh 93
Lucknow 162
Unâo 521
Râê Bareli 1,417
Sîtapur 1,112
Hardoi 609
Kheri 1,266
Faizâbâd 50
Gonda 340
Bahrâich 516
Sultânpur 910
Partâbgarh 366
Bârabanki 298
Total 29,027

Bhagat.—(Sanskrit, bhakta, “a worshipper.”)—A term usually applied to men of any caste who take a vow of abstinence from meat, wine, etc. This they usually do as they advance in life, and wear a necklace of beads as a mark of the vow. It is also applied to a Sâkti sect, not Vaishnavas, as the ordinary Bhagats are, who are worshippers of Devi. Some of them eat meat, but abstain from wine. To the west of the province they are chiefly devotees of the Bajesri Devi of Kângra, whose temple was plundered by Mahmûd of Ghazni and Fîroz Tughlaq. At Jwâlamukhi, in the same District, is another and equally famous temple, where jets of gas proceeding from the ground are kept ever burning, and the crowds of pilgrims provide a livelihood for a profligate community of Gusâîns and Bhojkis. “The days most holy to Devi are the first nine days of the moon in the months of Chait and Kuâr. Some persons will fast in the name of Devi on the eighth lunar day (ashtami) of every month, and perform special ceremonies on that day. Sometimes they will light lamps of flour, and when a Brâhman has read the Devipâtha, will prostrate themselves before the lamps. Sometimes it is customary to distribute rice and sweetmeats on this day to unmarried girls; and goldsmiths will often close their shops in honour of the day. The greatest Ashtamis of all, however, are those in the months above mentioned; and of the two [[253]]great yearly festivals, the Naurâtra is the greatest, following as it does immediately after the completion of the annual srâddha or commemoration of the dead. It is the custom in some parts of the country for worshippers of Devi on the first day of this festival to sow barley and water it, and keep a lamp burning by it, and on the eighth day to cut it and light a sacrificial fire (homa), breaking their fast next day.”[132]

2. The name is also applied to a class of dancing girls in the Agra Division.