Occupation. 4. They are principally dealers in provisions (khichari-farosh) and they have acquired some discredit as compared with their kinsfolk the Agarwâlas by not isolating their women and allowing them to attend the shop. They also specially deal in various sweet-smelling woods which are used in religious ceremonies, such as agara or aloe-wood and sandal-wood (chandana), besides various medicines and simples. The richer members of the caste are bankers, dealers in grain, etc., or pawnbrokers. All Banyas, but not Brâhmans, or Kshatriyas, will eat pakki from their hands; only low castes, like Kahârs or Nâis, will eat kachchi cooked by them, and they will themselves eat kachchi only if cooked by one of their own caste or by their Brâhman Guru. [[35]]

Distribution of the Agrahari Banyas according to Census, 1891.

District. Numbers.
Dehra Dûn 4
Meerut 26
Farrukhâbâd 1
Cawnpur 856
Fatehpur 5,708
Bânda 3,605
Allahâbâd 5,871
Benares 2,984
Mirzapur 6,354
Jaunpur 9,600
Ghâzipur 744
Ballia 11
Gorakhpur 6,106
Basti 17,256
Azamgarh 3,564
Lucknow 898
Unâo 42
Râê Bareli 7,439
Faizâbâd 9,713
Gonda 796
Bahrâich 88
Sultânpur 14,944
Partâbgarh 4,597
Bârabanki 21
Total 1,01,228

Ahar.—A pastoral and cultivating tribe found principally in Rohilkhand along the banks of the Râmganga and west of that river. These tracts are familiarly known as Aharât. Sir H. M. Elliot[27] says that they smoke and drink in common with Jâts and Gûjars, but disclaim all connection with Ahîrs, whom they consider an inferior stock, and the Ahîrs repay the compliment. Ahars say that they are descended from Jâdonbansi Râjputs; but Ahîrs say that they are the real Jâdonbansi, being descended in a direct line from Krishna, and that Ahars are descended from the cowherds in Krishna’s service, and that the inferiority of Ahars is fully proved by their eating fish and milking cows. It seems probable that the name and origin of both tribes is the same. The Collector of Mathura reports that the names Ahîr and Ahar appear to be used indiscriminately, and in particular in most cases the Ahîr clans of Bhatti, Deswâr and Nugâwat appear to have been recorded as Ahars. To the east of the Province Ahar appears to be occasionally used as [[36]]a synonym for Aheriya, and to designate the class of bird-catchers known as Chiryâmâr.

2. At the last census the Ahars were recorded under the main sub-castes of Bâchar, or Bâchhar, Bhirgudi, Deswâr, Guâlbans, and Jâdubans. In the returns they were recorded under no less than 976 sub-castes, of which the most numerous in Bulandshahr are the Nagauri and Rajauliya; in Bareilly the Alaudiya, Baheriya, Banjâra, Bharthariya, Bhusangar, Bhijauriya, Dirhwâr, Mundiya, Ora, Rajauriya, and Siyârmâr, or “Jackal killers;” in Budâun the Alaudiya, Baisgari, Bareriya, Bhagrê, Chhakrê, Doman, Gochhar, Ghosiya, Kara, Kathiya, Mahâpachar, Mahar, Murarkha, Ora, Rahmaniyân, Rajauriya, Sakariya, Sansariya and Warag; in Morâdâbâd the Alaudiya, Bagarha, Baksiya, Bhadariya, Bhosiya, Chaudhari, Janghârê, Mahar, Nagarha, Ora, Rajauriya, Râwat, Saila and Sakoriya; in Pilibhît the Bharthariya and Dhindhor. The analogy of many of these with the Ahîrs is obvious, and many of the names are taken from Râjput and other sources.

3. In manners and customs they appear to be identical with the Ahîrs. They have traditions of sovereignty in Rohilkhand, and possibly enjoyed considerable power during the reign of the Tomars (700 to 1150 A. D).[28]

Distribution of the Ahars according to the Census of 1891.

District.Sub-Castes.Total.
Bâchar.Bhirgudi.Deswâr.Guâlbans.Jâdubans.Others.
Meerut … … … … … 2,632 2,632
Bulandshahr … 1,953 2 78 1,420 1,765 5,218
Etah … 1,414 … … 298 102 1,814
Bareilly 5,291 335 2,040 360 649 36,083 44,758
Bijnaur … … … … … 3 3
Budâun … … 1,514 97 7 137,846 139,464
Morâdâbâd … 60 2,163 203 712 31,913 35,051
Pilibhît 2,419 221 74 3,789 767 5,447 12,717
Kumâon … … … … … 36 36
Tarâi 8 … 145 243 856 1,221 2,473
Total 7,718 3,983 5,938 4,770 4,709 217,048 244,166

[[37]]

Ahban.—(Probably Sans. ahi, “the dragon,” which may have been the tribal totem.) A sept of Râjputs chiefly found in Oudh. Their first ancestors in Oudh are said to have been Gopi and Sopi, two brothers of the Châwara race, which ruled in Anhalwâra Pâtan of Gujarât. Of the Châwaras or Chauras, Colonel Tod writes[29]:—“This tribe was once renowned in the history of India, though its name is now scarcely known, or only in the chronicles of the bard. Of its origin we are in ignorance. It belongs neither to the Solar nor to the Lunar race; and consequently we may presume it to be of Scythic origin. The name is unknown in Hindustân, and is confined with many others originating beyond the Indus to the peninsula of Saurâshtra. If foreign to India proper, its establishment must have been at a remote period, as we find individuals of it intermarrying with the Sûryavansa ancestry of the present princes of Mewâr when this family were the Lords of Ballabhi. The capital of the Châwaras was the insular Deobandar on the coast of Saurâshtra; and the celebrated temple of Somnâth, with many others on this coast, dedicated to Balnâth, or the Sun, is attributed to this tribe of the Sauras, or worshippers of the Sun; most probably the generic name of the tribe as well as of the peninsula. By a natural catastrophe, or, as the Hindu superstitious chroniclers will have it, as a punishment for the piracies of the prince of Deo, the element whose privileges he abused rose and overwhelmed his capital. As this coast is very low, such an occurrence is not improbable; though the abandonment of Deo might have been compelled by the irruptions of the Arabians, who at this period carried on a trade with these parts, and the plunder of some of their vessels may have brought this punishment on the Châwaras. That it was owing to some such political catastrophe, we have additional grounds for belief from the Annals of Mewâr, which state that its princes inducted the Châwaras into the seats of the power they abandoned on the continent and peninsula of Saurâshtra.” After describing their subsequent history Colonel Tod goes on to say:—“This ancient connection between the Sûryavansi chiefs and the Châwaras or Chauras of Saurâshtra is still maintained after a lapse of more than one thousand years, for, though an alliance with the Râna’s family is the highest honour that a Hindu prince can obtain, as being the first in rank in Hindustân, yet is the humble Châwara sought out [[38]]even at the foot of fortune’s ladder, whence to carry on the blood of Râma. The present heir-apparent of a line of one hundred kings, prince Jovana Sinh, is the offspring of a Châwara woman, the daughter of a petty chieftain of Gujarât.”