============+======== District. | Number. ~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~ Agra | 9 Fatehpur | 115 Lalitpur | 6 Benares | 27 Gorakhpur | 48 Basti | 257 Azamgarh | 4 Lucknow | 17 Râê Bareli | 129 Sîtapur | 35 Kheri | 11 Faizâbâd | 495 Gonda | 407 Sultânpur | 9,831 Partâbgarh | 3 Bârabanki | 42 ~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~ Total | 11,436 ============+======== Bândi.—A small tribe living as drummers and bird-catchers in the Himalayan Tarâi. Their chief business is catching birds for sale. They also make a living by catching birds and bringing them into cities where pious people, such as Jain Banyas, pay them to release a bird as an act of piety or as a charm to take away disease from a sick person. In their habits and occupation they resemble the Baheliya. The Census returns record four sections,—Gaur, Mathuriya, Odrain and Serain. DISTRIBUTION OF THE BÂNDI ACCORDING TO THE CENSUS OF 1891. ============+======= District. |Number. ~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~ Bareilly | 105 Morâdâbâd | 5 +~~~~~~~ Total | 110 ============+======= Bangâli, Bengâli.—A resident of Bengal, Vanga or Bang Desa. It is not quite clear whether some of these recorded in the census lists are not the familiar Bengâli Bâbu who has not been entered in his regular caste, Brâhman, Kâyasth, etc. At any rate there is a recognised tribe of vagrants known as Bengâli, Naumuslim Bengâli or Singiwâla, the last because they use a kind of horn in cupping. 2. From reports from the District Superintendents of Police at Sahâranpur, Meerut, and Aligarh, it appears that these people wander all over the Upper Duâb and the Panjab and Native States. They disclaim any direct connection with Nats, Kanjars, and similar vagrants; but they are obviously closely related. Among the Hindu branch there appear to be at least three exogamous sections, Negiwâla, Teli, and Jogeli. The Census returns show 54 sections of the Hindu and four of the Muhammadan branch, but it is impossible to say how many of these belong to the vagrant Bengâlis. The Hindu branch call themselves the descendants of one Siwâi Râm, Râjput, who was a Bengâli and elephant driver, and in the time of Aurangzeb learnt the art of bleeding and cupping from a native physician or Hakîm, and taught it to his descendants. The Muhammadan branch usually call themselves Lodi Pathâns from Bengal. They do not admit outsiders to their caste; marry in the usual form, if Muhammadans, through the Qâzi, but as might have been expected their religious practices are vague. The Muhammadans are said never to be circumcised, and they as well as the Hindus worship Devi and Zâhir Pîr.