Occupation. 12. The Audhiyas are well known as a dangerous criminal tribe. They deal largely in counterfeit coin and false jewelry: they never commit crimes of violence. They wander over Northern India as Faqîrs, their journeys commencing generally in June and ending in April; but they are sometimes two or three years away. It is said that if a member of the caste is imprisoned he is excommunicated. They bring home cash only, and dispose of the plunder to agents at different large cities. In the districts where they reside they are perfectly well behaved. They are well-to-do, and to all appearance respectable in their habits. Their women are well-dressed, with plenty of ornaments on their persons. They have no apparent means of support. They neither cultivate land nor trade; and all that appears on the surface is that most of the men and boys go off after the rains and return at the end of the cold weather. If asked how they support themselves, they reply, by begging. Convictions have been obtained against them at Jabalpur, Benares, Patna, Mongir, [[91]]Calcutta, Gwâlior, Sâgar, Murshidâbâd and Nadiya. They are not under the Criminal Tribes Act, but special Police have been quartered on them in Fatehpur. These have recently been removed. In 1890 there were ascertained to be 375 Audhiyas resident in Cawnpur, and 159 in Fatehpur. The majority of the adult males continue to absent themselves from time to time for the purpose of thieving and uttering false coin in distant places. The Audhiyas are not shown separately in the last Census returns, in which they have probably been included with the Ajudhyabâsi Banyas.
Awadhût.—(Sans. Avadhûta “discarded, rejected.”)—A Saiva sect who practise celibacy and make their living by begging. They wear as little clothes as they can, and let their hair (jata) grow long. They crouch over a fire in cold weather. Their life is one of the hardest led by mendicants of this class.
Âzâd.—A Persian word signifying “free, uncontrolled,” connected with the Sanskrit jâta, a class of Muhammadan Faqîrs, so recorded at the last Census. There are two classes of Muhammadan ascetics, the regular or Ba-shara, who follow the rules of Islâm as regards praying, fasting, alms-giving and pilgrimage; and the irregular or Be-shara, who, though nominally Musalmâns, do not accommodate their lives to the principles of any religious creed. The former are known as Sâlik, or “travellers,” and the latter as Âzâd, “free,” or Majzûb, “abstracted.” Dr. Herklots says that the regular Âzâd class “shave their beards, moustaches, eye-brows and eyelashes; in short, the hair in every part of the body, and lead lives of celibacy. They have no inclination for reading prayers daily. If they get anything to eat, be it good or bad, they partake of it. They have no fixed place of abode; the generality of them travel and subsist on alms.”[70] [[92]]
Distribution of the Âzâd Faqîrs according to the Census of 1891.
| District. | Number. |
| Agra | 5 |
| Farrukhâbâd | 27 |
| Mainpuri | 62 |
| Etâwah | 8 |
| Etah | 293 |
| Shâhjahânpur | 201 |
| Cawnpur | 2 |
| Fatehpur | 10 |
| Allahâbâd | 223 |
| Jâlaun | 1,188 |
| Benares | 29 |
| Gorakhpur | 19 |
| Azamgarh | 174 |
| Lucknow | 255 |
| Unâo | 113 |
| Râê Bareli | 56 |
| Sîtapur | 454 |
| Kheri | 49 |
| Bahrâich | 93 |
| Sultânpur | 201 |
| Partâbgarh | 78 |
| Bârabanki | 890 |
| Total | 4,430 |
[[93]]
[1] Based on enquiries in Parganas Dudhi and Agori of Mirzâpur. [↑]