The tribes and castes of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, Volume 1 (of 4)Crooke, William
History
The tribes and castes of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, Volume 1 (of 4)
Crooke, William
Caste -- India -- History; Hindus -- India; Tribes -- India -- History
[Occupational origin of the Râjputs.] 16. Still less homogeneous is the
mass of septs grouped under the name of Kshatriyas or Râjputs. We have
already seen how the Dravidian Gond races have been in quite recent
times enrolled as Râjputs. The Râja of Singrauli, in Mirzapur, nearly a
pure Kharwâr, has within the last generation or two come to rank as a
Benbansi Chhatri. Colonel Sleeman gives the case of an Oudh Pâsi, who
within the memory of man became a Râjput by giving his daughter to a
man of the Puâr sept. [22] The names of many septs again, such as the
Baghel, Ahban, Kalhans, and Nâgbansi suggest a totemistic origin which
would bring them in line with the Chandrabansi, who are promoted
Dravidian Cheros and other similar septs of undoubtedly aboriginal
race. Mr. Carnegy went perhaps too far in assuming a similar
development of many of the Oudh septs; but the traditions of many of
these, which will be found in the special articles dealing with them,
such as the Bhâlê Sultân, Bisen, Chandel, Gaur, Kânhpuriya and
Bandhalgoti, afford significant evidence that their claims to blue
blood must be accepted with caution. The same inference arises from the
fact, of which evidence is given elsewhere, of the impossibility of
drawing the line between the Jât and Râjput of the Western Districts,
and the Bhuînhâr and Chhatri of the East: in fact many of the septs of
the latter claim indifferently to belong to both races, and some, like
the Bisen, have an admitted Kurmi branch.
17. Among the Râjputs, again, this process of assimilation of lower
races has been undoubtedly encouraged by the prevalence of female
infanticide which renders it impossible for the poorer members of the
race to obtain legitimately born brides. This has naturally led to
cohabitation with women of inferior castes and the creation of definite
classes of illegitimate Râjputs, such as the Gaurua of the Central and
the degraded Chauhâns of the Upper Ganges-Jumna Duâb. A recent report
on the outbreak of dacoity in the Agra and Rohilkhand Divisions shows
that many of the perpetrators of these outrages were half-bred Râjputs,
whose mothers were drawn from criminal or nomadic tribes like the Nat,
Beriya, Sânsiya and the like, and the association of Râjput youths with
women of this class has brought them into the companionship of their
gypsy male relatives and driven them into a life of crime.
18. It is needless to say that the records of our courts swarm with
examples of the association of men of the Râjput class with women of
the lower races, and in this stratum of village society there is not
even a pretence of moral continence. The effect of this state of things
is obvious and requires no further illustration.
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