2. These two leaders, Gopi and Sopi, are said to have come into Oudh shortly after the commencement of the Christian era. The former obtained the Pargana Gopamau, in Hardoi, and a descendant of the latter took possession of Pataunja, near Misrikh, in Pargana Nîmkhâr, of Sîtapur District. “This is the reputed residence of the Dryad Abbhawan, who is alleged to have given supernatural assistance to the Châwar chief, her favourite, who thenceforth took the name of Ahban. At any rate Pataunja became a centre of secular and religious power. A tribe of Kurmis and a gotra of Tiwâri Brâhmans have called themselves after Pataunja—a fact which tends to indicate that, although now a mere village, it was formerly the capital of a state possessing some independence.”[30] The Ahban race rose afterwards to great prosperity; “how great it is impossible to state, for of all Chhatri clans they are the most mendacious, and many plans for the advancement of individuals have been foiled by this defect of theirs. The sept labours under a superstitious aversion to build houses of brick or line wells with them.

3. Of the Ahbans General Sleeman writes[31]:—“No member of the Ahban tribe ever forfeited his inheritance by changing his creed; nor did any of them, I believe, change his creed except to retain his inheritance, liberty, or life, threatened by despotic and unscrupulous rulers. They dine on the same floor, but there is a line marked off to separate those of the party who are Hindus from those who are Musalmâns. The Musalmâns have Musalmân names, and the Hindus have Hindu names, but they still go under the common patronymic name of Ahban. The Musalmâns marry into Musalmân families, and the Hindus into Hindu families of the highest class, Chauhân, Râthaur, Raikwâr, Janwâr, etc. Their conversion took place under Muhammad Farm ’Ali, alias Kâlapahâr, to whom his uncle Bahlol, king of Delhi, left Bahrâich as a separate inheritance a short time before his death, which occurred in 1488 A.D. This conversion stopped infanticide, as the Musalmân portion of the tribe would not associate with the Hindus who practised it.” [[39]]

4. In Sîtapur they generally supply brides to the Tomar and occasionally to the Gaur septs, while they marry girls of the Bâchhal, Janwâr, and occasionally of the Gaur. In Kheri their daughters many Chauhâns, Kachhwâhas, Bhadauriyas, Râthaurs, and Katheriyas, and their sons marry girls of the Janwâr, Punwâr, Bais Nandwâni or Bâchhal septs. In Hardoi their gotra is Garga, and they give brides to the Sômbansi, Chauhân, Dhâkrê and Râthaur septs, and take brides from the Dhâkrê, Janwâr, Kachhwâha, Râikwar and Bâchhal.

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

District. Number.
Agra 1
Farrukhâbâd 125
Shâhjahânpur 116
Pilibhît 52
Bânda 1
Ballia 16
Lucknow 333
Râê Bareli 30
Sîtapur 998
Hardoi 2,413
Kheri 1,331
Bahrâich 71
Sultânpur 3
Partâbgarh 2
Bârabanki 520
Total 6,012

Aheriya.[32]—(Sans. akhetika, a hunter.) A tribe of hunters, fowlers, and thieves found in the Central Duâb. Their ethnological affinities have not as yet been very accurately ascertained. Sir H. M. Elliot describes them as a branch of the Dhânuks, from whom they are distinguished by not eating dead carcases, as the Dhânuks do. They are perhaps the same as the Hairi or Heri of the Hills, a colony of whom Bâz Bahâdur settled in the Tarâi as guards, where they, and some Mewâtis settled in a similar way, became a pest to the country.[33] At the same time Mr. Williams describes the Heri in Dehra Dûn as aborigines and akin to the Bhoksas, with whom in appearance and character the Aheriyas of [[40]]Aligarh and Etah seem to have little connection. They are almost certainly not the same as the Ahiriya or Dahiriya of the Gorakhpur Division, who are wandering cattle-dealers and apparently Ahîrs.[34] In Gorakhpur, however, there is a tribe called Aheliya, said to be descended from Dhânuks, whose chief employment is the capture of snakes, which they eat. There is again a tribe in the Panjab known as Aheri, who are very probably akin to the Aheriyas of the North-West Provinces.[35] They trace their origin to Râjputâna, and especially Jodhpur and the prairies of Bikâner. “They are vagrant in their habits, but not infrequently settle down in villages where they find employment. They catch and eat all kinds of wild animals, pure and impure, and work in reeds and grass. In addition to these occupations they work in the fields, and especially move about in gangs at harvest time in search of employment as reapers, and they cut wood and grass and work as general labourers on roads and other earthworks.” Mr. Fagan describes them in Hissâr as making baskets and winnowing fans and scutching wool. He thinks that the Jodhpuriya section, who appear to have been the ancestors of the tribe, may possibly have been Râjputs, and the other Aheris are probably descended from low castes who intermarried with them. In default of any distinct anthropometrical evidence, the most probable theory seems to be that the Aheriyas of these Provinces are connected with the Bhîl and their congeners, the Baheliya, who are a race of jungle hunters and fowlers. In Aligarh, they distinctly admit that in former times, owing to a scarcity of women in the tribe, they used to introduce girls of other castes. This, they say, they have ceased to do in recent years, since the number of their females has increased. This may, perhaps, point to the prevalence of infanticide in the tribe; but in any case it is very probable that a tribe of this character should become a sort of Cave of Adullam for every one who was in debt, and every one that was in distress or discontented.

The Aligarh tradition. 2. In Aligarh they seem to be known indifferently by the names of Aheriya, Bhîl, or Karol. They call themselves the descendants of Râja Piryavart, who (though the Aheriyas know nothing about him) is probably identical with Priyavrata, who was one of the two sons of Brahma and [[41]]Satarûpa. According to the mythology he was dissatisfied that only half the earth was illuminated at one time by the sun’s rays; so he followed the sun seven times round the earth in his own flaming car of equal velocity, like another celestial orb, resolved to turn night into day. He was stopped by Brahma, and the ruts which were formed by his chariot wheels were the seven oceans; thus the seven continents were formed. The Aheriyas say that the son of the solar hero, whose name they have forgotten, was devoted to hunting, and for the purpose of sport took up his abode on the famous hill of Chitrakût, in the Bânda District. Here he became known as Aheriya, or “sportsman,” and was the ancestor of the present tribe. Thence they emigrated to Ajudhya, and, after the destruction of that city, spread all over the country. They say that they came to Aligarh from Cawnpur some seven hundred years ago. They still keep up this tradition of their origin by periodical pilgrimages to Chitrakût and Ajudhya.

Tribal council. 3. They have a tribal council (panchâyat), constituted partly by election and partly by nomination among the members or the tribe. They decide all matters affecting the tribe, but are not empowered to take up social questions suo motu. They have a permanent, hereditary chairman (sarpanch). If the son of a deceased chairman happen to be a minor, one of the members of the council is appointed to act for him during his minority. At the same time, if the new chairman, on coming of age, is found to be incompetent, he may be removed, and a new candidate selected by the votes of the council.

Marriage rules. 4. They have no exogamous or endogamous sub-divisions. The marriage of first cousins is prohibited, and a man cannot be married in a family to which during memory a bride from his family has been married. Difference of religious belief is no bar to marriage, provided there has been no conversion to another faith, such as that of Christians or Muhammadans. They can have as many as four wives at the same time, and may marry two sisters together. An apparent survival of marriage by capture is found in the ceremony which follows marriage when the newly-married pair are taken to a tank. The wife strikes her husband with a thin switch of the acacia (babûl). She is then brought into the house, where the relations of her husband give her presents for letting them see her face (munh-dikhâi). The senior wife rules the household, and those junior to her have to [[42]]do her bidding. They live, as a rule, on good terms, and it is only under very exceptional circumstances that separate houses are provided for them. The age for marriage varies from seven to twenty. Any marriage is voidable at the wish of the parties with the approval of the tribal council. The match is arranged by some relation of the youth with the help of a Brâhman and barber. When the parties are grown up, their wishes are considered, but in the case of minors the match is arranged by their friends or guardians. There is no regular bride price; but if the girl’s father is very poor the friends of the boy assist him to defray the cost of the marriage feast. In other cases the girl’s father is supposed to give something as dowry (jahez). As to the ownership of this there is no fixed rule; but it is understood that the presents which the bride receives at the munh-dikhâi ceremony, above described, become her private property. Leprosy, impotency, idiocy, or mutilation occurring after marriage are considered reasonable grounds for its annulment; but if any physical defects were disclosed before the marriage, they are not held to be a ground for dissolving the union. Charges of adultery are brought before the tribal council, and, if proved, a divorce is declared. Divorced women can marry again by the karâo form; but women divorced for adultery, though such a course is possible, are seldom remarried in the tribe. Children born of a father or mother who are not members of the tribe are called lendra, and are not admitted to caste privileges.

Widow marriage. 5. When a man desires to marry a widow, he provides for her a suit of clothes, a set of glass bangles (chûri) and a pair of toe-rings (bichhua). The council is assembled and the woman is asked if she accepts her suitor. If she agrees, an auspicious day is selected by the advice of a Brâhman, and the new husband dresses her in the clothes and ornament and takes her home. After this he gives a feast to the brotherhood. In this form of marriage, known as karâo or dhareja, there is no procession (bârât), and no walking round the sacred fire (bhanwar). The levirate is enforced unless the younger brother of her late husband is already married, in which case the widow may live with an outsider. If she marries a stranger she loses her right to maintenance from the estate of her first husband, and also the guardianship of his children, unless they are of tender age. There is no trace of the fiction that children of the levir are attributed to his deceased brother. [[43]]