Distribution of the Bâchhal Râjputs according to the Census of 1891.
| District. | Hindus. | Muhammadans. | Total. |
| Sahâranpur | … | 10 | 10 |
| Muzaffarnagar | 13 | … | 13 |
| Meerut | 125 | … | 125 |
| Bulandshahr | 1,680 | 102 | 1,782 |
| Aligarh | 402 | … | 402 |
| Mathura | 1,701 | 215 | 1,916 |
| Agra | 197 | 1 | 198 |
| Farrukhâbâd | 643 | … | 643 |
| Mainpuri | 904 | … | 904 |
| Etâwah | 111 | … | 111[[99]] |
| Etah | 252 | … | 252 |
| Bareilly | 431 | … | 431 |
| Bijnor | 74 | … | 74 |
| Budâun | 2,341 | … | 2,341 |
| Morâdâbâd | 185 | … | 185 |
| Shâhjahânpur | 7,794 | 119 | 7,913 |
| Pilibhît | 298 | … | 298 |
| Cawnpur | 28 | … | 28 |
| Fatehpur | 31 | … | 31 |
| Allahâbâd | 5 | 1 | 6 |
| Jâlaun | 8 | … | 8 |
| Benares | 1 | … | 1 |
| Jaunpur | … | 90 | 90 |
| Tarâi | 6 | … | 6 |
| Gorakhpur | … | 70 | 70 |
| Lucknow | 205 | … | 205 |
| Unâo | 390 | … | 390 |
| Râê Bareli | 749 | 109 | 858 |
| Sîtapur | 2,285 | 267 | 2,552 |
| Hardoi | 1,287 | 30 | 1,317 |
| Kheri | 1,496 | … | 1,496 |
| Faizâbâd | … | 264 | 264 |
| Gonda | 1 | … | 1 |
| Bahrâich | 382 | 22 | 404 |
| Sultânpur | 129 | 1 | 130 |
| Partâbgarh | 657 | 1 | 658 |
| Bârabanki | 611 | 62 | 673 |
| Total | 25,422 | 1,364 | 26,786 |
[[100]]
Badhak; Badhik.—(Sans. Vadhaka, a murderer.)—A vagrant criminal tribe of whom the last census shows only a small number in Mathura and Pilibhît. But there can be little doubt that these returns are incorrect, or the present Badhiks have been classed in some other way. They appear to be closely allied to the Bâwariyas and Baheliyas. According to the earliest account of them by Mr. Shakespeare[10] they were originally outcastes of Musalmân as well as Hindu tribes, the majority, however, being Râjputs.
The Gorakhpur Colony. 2. Of the Gorakhpur colony Mr. D. T. Roberts writes in a note prepared for the recent Police Commission:—“The notorious dakaits known as Badhiks were suppressed like the Thags by the capture and imprisonment of all their leaders. This done, a colony of them was settled on waste land belonging to Government in the Gorakhpur District in 1844. They evinced for a long time the greatest repugnance to honest work, and even now a good portion of the lands held by them are sublet at higher rates to other castes. The larger proportion of their holdings are let at very low rates, but some land is taken up by them at the current rates of the neighbourhood. The net profits of the estate on which they are located are paid over to the family of the original dakait leader. Surveillance, which at one time may have been very strict, has been much relaxed of late years, but there is a constable or two posted over them; a register is kept, and they require permission from the Magistrate before they can leave the District. Dakaiti has long been given up by them, or rather was never resumed at the colony. In 1871 the Deputy Inspector-General of Police visited them, and found the colony in a very backward state. In consequence of his representations the District authorities began to take more interest in them, and they have been fairly well looked after since. The number then was 209, and the Deputy Inspector-General remarked:—“There is little doubt the tribe carries on thieving, but no cases for some time past have been brought home to them.” Twenty years later, it may be said, that they are not even suspected of thieving. Though not a very advanced or industrious community, they may now be instanced as a case of successful repression and reformation. Their number has not increased since 1871, and was, in 1890, 203 in all. One of their chief offences in the Gorakhpur colony used to be illicit manufacture of spirits.” [[101]]
Methods of crime. 3. One of their specialities used to be disguising themselves as Brâhmans and Bairâgis and associating with pilgrims returning from the Ganges, for whom they used to perform mock religious ceremonies, and then stupefy with datûra or thorn apple, and rob.[11] Their special deity is Kâli, to whom they offer goats as the Bâwariyas do. They eat game and vermin, such as foxes, jackals, and lizards. They believe that the use of jackal meat fortifies them against the inclemencies of winter.[12] They were in the habit of making plundering expeditions, and before starting, shares in the expected booty were allotted, a special share being given to the widow and children of any person killed or dying during the expedition. A writer in the Asiatic Journal[13] states that after the sacrifice they used to pray, “If it be Thy will, O, God! and thine, O Kâli! to prosper our undertaking for the sake of the blind and the lame, the widow and the orphan, who depend on our exertions, vouchsafe, we pray thee, the cry of the female jackal on our right.” One of the most famous exploits of Badhik dakaits was the murder of Mr. Ravenscroft, the Collector of Cawnpur, of which Colonel Sleeman gives an account.[14]
4. There can be very little doubt that the tribe is of mixed origin, and is on the same grade as the Kanjars, Sânsiyas, and similar vagrants. It constitutes, in fact, a sort of Cave of Adullam for the reception of vagrants and bad characters of different tribes.
Distribution of Badhiks according to the Census of 1891.
| District. | Number. |
| Mathura | 79 |
| Pilibhît | 46 |
| Gorakhpur | 1 |
| Total | 126 |
Bâghbân.—(Persian, a gardener.)—A class of cultivators in the Kheri District who grow vegetables. They are practically the same [[102]]caste as the Kâchhi (q.v.) and the Murâo. They claim to have three endogamous sub-castes—Kâchhi, Murâo, and Sâni, the last being derived from the Hindi sânna, to mix up, used in connection with their careful preparation of the soil. Their manners, customs, religion, etc., correspond in every way with those of the Kâchhis.