The tribes and castes of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, Volume 2 (of 4)Crooke, William
History
The tribes and castes of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, Volume 2 (of 4)
Crooke, William
Caste -- India -- History; Hindus -- India; Tribes -- India -- History
[Social customs.] 4. They eat goat’s meat and the flesh of deer and
similar animals, except when they have been regularly initiated or have
taken the vow of a Bhagat. All high castes can eat pakki from their
hands, and Kahârs and Nâis will eat kachchi. They will not eat kachchi
cooked by any caste but their own, and will take pakki cooked by any
Brâhman, Kshatriya, or Vaisya. According to Mr. Hoey [30] there are in
Lucknow “three classes of grain parchers. The poorest are those who
merely parch grain for those who bring it. They receive one paisa per
ser on expensive grain and a quarter paisa per ser on cheap grain. A
stage above these are grain-parchers, who buy grain and store it and
sell parched grain. These are termed Charbanfarosh. Above both of these
is a much more comfortable class who buy rice in the autumn and store
it. They make lâi, chiura, and khîl, which are in daily demand, and
also in special demand at the Diwâli and on occasion of fairs, etc.
There are some Bhurjis especially well-off who have their oven in the
immediate neighbourhood of large grain markets. Merchants who import
grain treat these very liberally, and think nothing of flinging down a
couple of sers of grain and taking in exchange half a ser of parched
grain (chabena).” The work they do, and particularly the heavy part of
it, which consists in sweeping up dry leaves for fuel, tends to lower
them in popular estimation. It is a favourite curse to wish an enemy
that he may some day come to stoke the kiln of a grain-parcher, and a
common proverb is Bharbhûnjâ kî larkî kesar kâ tîkâ—the grain-parcher’s
slut with saffron on her forehead.”
DISTRIBUTION OF BHARBHÛNJAS AND THEIR SECTIONS ACCORDING TO THE CENSUS OF 1891.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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