THE TRIBES AND CASTES OF THE NORTH-WESTERN PROVINCES AND OUDH. BY W. CROOKE, B.A., BENGAL CIVIL SERVICE. IN FOUR VOLUMES. VOL. I. CALCUTTA: OFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF GOVERNMENT PRINTING, INDIA. 1896. PREFACE. Much has been already written about the Tribes and Castes of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh. The long series of such books begins with the famous “Supplementary Glossary” of Sir H. M. Elliot. Then comes Mr. Sherring’s valuable account of the people, principally based on enquiries in Benares. For Oudh we have Sir C. A. Elliott’s “Chronicles of Unâo,” Mr. Benett’s “Clans of Râê Bareli,” and Mr. Carnegy’s “Notes.” Besides these there is a large body of literature on the subject, such as Mr. Growse’s “Mathura,” Mr. Atkinson’s Chapters in the “Himalayan Gazetteer,” General Cunningham’s “Archæological Reports,” General Sleeman’s “Rambles and Recollections” and “Journey in Oudh,” Mr. Greeven’s researches about sweepers, and a great mass of miscellaneous memoirs included in the Settlement Reports, District Gazetteers, “Indian Antiquary,” “Calcutta Review,” and other periodical literature. The notes in the present book will show how much I am indebted to the researches of my predecessors in the same line of enquiry. It is again fortunate that a long series of valuable books has been devoted to the races on the boundaries of these Provinces; for it must be remembered that these frontiers are purely geographical and not ethnical. Thus we have a large mass of information collected by Mr. Risley, Mr. O’Donnell and Dr. Buchanan Hamilton for Behâr, by Colonel Dalton for Chota Nâgpur, by Mr. Hislop for the Central Indian tribes, by Colonel Tod and Sir J. Malcolm for Râjputâna, and by Mr. Ibbetson and Mr. Maclagan for the Panjab. Of all these authorities it will be seen that I have made ample use.