The Hindus belong mostly to the Jammu province, where nearly half of the population professes that faith. The people of Kashmir, Baltistan, Astor and Gilgit, Chilas and Hunza Nagar, are Musalmans. The Ladakhis are Buddhists. ~Religions in Panjab.~--The distribution by religions of the population of the Panjab and its native States in 1911 was: Muhammadans 12,275,477 or 51 p.c. Hindus 8,773,621 or 36 p.c. Sikhs 2,883,729 or 12 p.c. Others, chiefly Christian (199,751) 254,923 or 1 p.c. [Illustration: Fig. 36. Map showing distribution of religions.] The strength of the Muhammadans is in the districts west of the Bias and the Sutlej below its junction with the Bias. 83 p.c. of the subjects of the Nawab of Bahawalpur are also Muhammadans. In all this western region there are few Hindus apart from the shopkeepers and traders. On the other hand the hill country in the north-east is purely Hindu, except on the borders of Tibet, where the scanty population professes Buddhism. While Hinduism is the predominant faith in the south-east, quite a fourth of the people there are Musalmans. Sikhs nowhere form a majority. The districts in the eastern part of the Central Plains where they constitute more than one-fifth of the population are indicated in the map. In six districts, Lahore, Montgomery, Gujranwala, Lyallpur, Hoshyarpur, and Ambala the proportion is between 10 and 20 p.c. [Illustration: Fig. 37. Raghunath Temple, Jammu.] ~Growth and Decline in numbers.~--There was a slight rise in the number of Muhammadans between 1901 and 1911. Their losses in the central districts, where the plague scourge has been heaviest, were counterbalanced by gains in the western tract, where its effect has been slight. On the other hand the decrease under Hindus amounts to nearly 15 p.c. The birth-rate is lower and the death-rate higher among Hindus than among Musalmans, and their losses by plague in the central and some of the south-eastern districts have been very heavy. A change of sentiment on the part of the Sikh community has led to many persons recording themselves as Sikhs who were formerly content to be regarded as Hindus. It must be remembered that one out of four of the recorded Hindus belongs to impure castes, who even in the Panjab pollute food and water by their touch and are excluded from the larger temples. Since 1901 a considerable number of Chuhras or Sweepers have been converted to Islam and Christianity. [Illustration: Fig. 38. Golden Temple, Amritsar.]