Names derived from other towns. 5. Among existing towns and cities within the Province, Amethi, Azamgarh, Bahrâich, Ghâzipur, Gorakhpur, Hamîrpur, Jalesar, Mainpuri (in connection with its Chauhâns), Partâbgarh, Râjpur, Râmnagar, Râmpur, Fatehpur, Sikri (if the theory be correct that the name of the Sakarwâr sect is derived from it), Jaunpur (in remembrance of its Sharqi Kings), give their name to many sections. But the great capitals like Delhi and Agra, probably owing to their comparatively recent origin, have left little trace, and Lucknow is not found at all; while Cawnpur (Kânhpur) gives its name to an important Râjput sept, and many sections of less important tribes.
Names derived from places outside the province. 6. Many of these local names are taken from places outside the Province. From Bengal we have Baksar, Bhojpur, Gaur (if the old Bengal capital has anything to say to the many tribes and sections of the name), Hâjipur, Patna; from the Panjâb, Panjâbi, Lâhauri and Multâni; from the North, Naipâli, Janakpuri, Kashmîri; from the far West, Bhatner, Gujarât, Indaur, Jaypur, Jodhpur, Mârwâr, Osi, and Pâli are all found; from Madras we have Karnâtak; from Persia, Shirâzi.
Names derived from ancient tribes. 7. It is a curious fact that so few of the tribes mentioned in the Mahâbhârata and in mediæval lists, such as those of the Vishnu Purâna, have left their trace in the tribal [[clxiv]]nomenclature. Panchâla, the great kingdom which extended north and west of Delhi, and from the Himâlaya to the Chambal, has disappeared. The Abhîras, in name at least, are represented by the Ahîrs: the Ambashthas by one very doubtful legend with the Amethiya Râjputs: the Gahvaras or Girigavaras with the Gaharwâr Râjputs: the Haihayas with the Hayobans: the Kambojas with the Kambohs: the Kaivartas with the Kewats: the Khasakas or Khasikas with the Khasiya Râjputs: the Kulindas possibly with the Kunets: the Mâlavas with the Mâlavis: the Malas with the Mals: the Nishâdas with the Nikhâd section: the Takkas with the Tânk Râjputs: the Tomaras with the Tomars: the Yâdavas with the Jâdons. But of the Angas of Bhâgalpur, the Aparakâshis near Benares, the Bahlîkas, the Bahîkas, the Bahayas, the Bhojas, the Kûrus, the Mekâlas, the Sâkas, Salwas, Surasenas, Yamunas, there is perhaps no trace in the existing caste lists. The fact seems to be that these were nations or tribes, and it was on the break up of their tribal organization that the existing castes arose. As Dr. Robertson Smith showed, the same state of things existed in early Arabian History.[27]
Eponymous titles. 8. Next to these names derived from the local areas occupied by tribes, septs, and sections, we have the eponymous titles derived from the worthies of the ancient days. Thus Vatsa seems to give his name to the Bachgoti, Râja Vena to the Benbans: the Rishi Bhâradwaja constantly appears, [[clxv]]while Vasishtha is absent. Râja Durga is represented in the Durgbansis; and we meet constantly with Garga, Gautama, Parâsara, Raghu, and Sandila. Later in history come saints and holy men like Kabîr, Lâlbeg, Madâr, Malûkdâs, and Nânak. Akbar, Humâyun and Shâhjahân have disappeared, and perhaps the only monarchs of the Delhi line who have survived in the caste names are Shêr Shâh and Salîm Shâh, who give their name to two divisions of the Bhathiyâras. A sub-caste of the Chhîpis take their name from Todar Mal, the famous minister of Akbar.
Names derived from Râjput septs. 9. Much of the caste nomenclature is taken from that of the famous Râjput septs who employed or protected the menial peoples. No names recur more often among the sections of the inferior castes than Chauhân, Gaharwâr, Gahlot, Bargûjar, Râthaur, Kachhwâha, Jâdon and Tomar, which possibly represent the serfs and helots attached to them.
Occupational titles. 10. Next comes the great mass of occupational titles, the Bardhiya, “ox-men;” Bedbâf, “cane twisters;” Bâzigar, “acrobats;” Beldâr, “spademen;” Bhainsaha, “buffalo-men;” Bhusiya, “chaff men;” Chiryamâr, “fowlers;” Chobdâr, “mace-bearers;” Dhâlgar, “shield makers;” Dhankûta, “grinders of paddy;” Dhânuk, “bowmen;” Dharkâr, “rope twisters;” Dhelphor, “clod breakers;” Dhenkuliya, “those who work the water lever;” Dhobi, “the washermen;” Dholi, “drummers;” Gadariya, “shepherds;” Ghosi, “those that shout after the cattle;” Guâla, “cow-keepers;” Hardiya, “turmeric growers;” [[clxvi]]Jauhari, “jewellers;” Jonkâha, “leech men;” Julâha, “thread makers;” Kamângar, “makers of bows;” Khâlranga, “dyers of hides;” Kingriya, “violin players;” Kisân and Koeri, “ploughmen;” Kûnchhand, “makers of weavers’ brushes;” Kuppêsâz, “leather vessel moulders;” Lakarhâr, “the workers in wood;” Lohiya, “the dealers in iron;” Luniya, “the saltmen,” and Labâna, “the salt carriers;” Machhimâra, “the fish-killer;” Manihâr, “the jeweller;” Pahlwân, “the wrestler;” Pattharâha, “the stone workers;” Pâwariya, “the singer on a mat;” Piyâzi, “the growers of onions;” Singiwâla, “the cupper;” and Sirkiband, “the people who live under a thatch.”
Personal or contemptuous titles. 11. Then we have names derived from personal peculiarities or used in a contemptuous sense. The sweeper is Mehtar or “prince,” and Bhangi, “the rascal who intoxicates himself with hemp:” in the same range are Barpagwa, “he that wears the broad turban;” Kabûtari, “she that flirts like the pigeon;” Kâlkamaliya, “they that wear black blankets;” Kâmchor, “the loafer;” Kanphata, “he with the torn ears;” Kodokhânê, “they who eat the kodo millet;” and Maskhân, “the eaters of flesh.” Like these are the titles of Khalîfa for a cook or tailor, Jamadâr for a sweeper, and so on.[28] [[clxvii]]
Totemistic titles. 12. Incidentally some reference has been elsewhere made to totemism in connection with the origin of exogamy. From the details which are given in the following pages, and need not be repeated here, it will be seen that there are undoubted survivals of totemism among some of the Dravidian and menial tribes. These take the form of section names obviously derived from those of animals, plants, trees, and the like, the destruction, eating or even touching of which by members of the section whose names are thus derived is prohibited by a rigid tribal sanction. Though the evidence for the existence of totemism among at least one part of the population of this part of India seems sufficient, it will be seen that it now-a-days lurks only among the most primitive tribes. The fact seems to be that, like so many usages of the kind, it has been carried away by the flood of Brâhmanism which has overflowed the land. There is a constant tendency for tribes as they rise in the social scale to adopt the Brâhmanical gotras, because it is a respectable fact to belong to one of them. Thus all the stricter Hindu castes, like Banyas, Khatris, and even Kâyasths, recognise the gotra. The fiction of common descent from the eponymous ancestor naturally disappears, and among such people the gotra has no higher significance than the pedigree worked up to order in the Herald’s College, which ranks the novus homo through the use of a common crest and coat-of-arms with the great houses of Cavendish, Russel, or Howard. [[clxviii]]
The family and the sept. 13. We have seen that it is in the groups or camps of the vagrant tribes like the Beriya, Hâbûra and Sânsiya, that we must look to find what is perhaps the most primitive form of human association, and that the family was almost certainly not the primitive unit, but the sept. The family, in short, arose out of the sept when the stage arrived at which paternity and the incidents connected with it came to be recognised. But of the real tribal form of caste in which the association is based on actual or assumed community of blood through a common ancestor, we find little or no trace, except as Mr. Ibbetson[29] showed to be the case among the Pathâns and Bilûches of the western frontier, who are foreigners in this part of India. But even here the fiction of common descent is being gradually weakened by the wholesale admission of outsiders into the fraternity, who do not even pretend to be able to establish a genealogical connection with the original founder of the sept. Here, too, the differentiation of industries is leading to a distinction, even among the members of the association linked together in theory by the bond of blood. In theory any Pathân, Mughal or Sayyid may marry any girl of his tribe; but if he falls in social position or adopts any degrading occupation his difficulty in marrying into a respectable family is as difficult as it would be in Germany or even in some grades of English society for a parvenu to marry into a family whose claims to rank are undisputed. [[clxix]]
Distinctions of the occupational type. 14. To return to the occupational type of caste, there is here, as Mr Ibbetson[30] has already pointed out, a further distinction. There is the true occupational caste like the Nâi, Chamâr, or Bhangi, and there is the trade-guild association, which is much more flexible than the former, and is generally found in towns, and bears a Muhammadan name, like the Darzi, Âtishbâz, or Nâlband. This form is most unstable at the present day, and one of the main difficulties of the classification of caste statistics lies in the fact that from one decennial period to another new groups are constantly organizing themselves by a process of fission from other groups. Thus the Bâghbân, or gardener, is an offshoot of the Kâchhi, the Sangtarâsh or stone-cutter, from the Gonr, or others who engage in similar industries, the Mewafarosh, or fruit-seller, and the Sabzifarosh, or seller of herbs, from the Kunjra or greengrocer. Here, in fact, we can stand and watch the creation of new so-called castes before our eyes. And the process is facilitated by the creation of new religious groups, which base their association on the common belief in the teaching of some saint or reformer. Most of these sects are connected with the Vaishnava side of Hinduism, and are devoted to the solution of much the same religious questions which beset the searcher after truth in western lands. All naturally aim at the abolition of the privileges and pretensions of the dominant Brâhman Levite, and the establishment of a purer and more intellectual form of public worship. [[clxxi]]