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
[The Muhammadan Dhuniyas.] 3. These were recorded in the general Census
Report under only one main sub-caste, the Mansûri, who take their name
from a tribal saint, Khwâja Mansûr, of whom they can give no account,
save that he was a faqîr of wondrous piety, who had the power of
working miracles. He is believed to have been a native of Rûm or
Constantinople, and to have accompanied the Dhuniyas when they entered
the country in the train of the early Muhammadan invaders. To the east
of the Province they call themselves Sunni Muhammadans, but they have
retained in their domestic ceremonies many of the forms of the Hindu
ritual of the lower castes from which most of them are probably
converts. Thus they collect the sacred earth (matmangara) at marriages,
carry out the night watch (ratjaga) before marriage, and there is a
distinct survival of marriage by capture in the observance by which the
bride, when the bridegroom arrives at the house for the marriage, is
furnished with a small stick with which she gives him two or three
slight blows on the head as he enters the door. The marriage service is
read by the Qâzi if the parties are well-off; by the Dafâli if they are
poor. At death if there is an educated Muhammadan present he reads the
Fâtiha; but this is not indispensable. They are usually worshippers of
the Pânchonpîr, and they have one special usage, known as the Piyâla or
“cup,” when on a Tuesday in the month of Aghan the men and women go to
the riverside and offer up some spirits and sweetmeats to Sahjamâi, one
of the quintette of the Pânchonpîr; this is consumed by the Dafâli who
acts as priest. They spend the whole night by the river listening to
the songs sung in honour of the goddess by the Dafâli.
4. The complete Census Returns show 152 sections of the Muhammadan
branch of the tribe. Many of them are local terms, such as the
Ajudhyabâsi, Audhiya, Bahrâichi, Baksariya, Gangapâri, Mathuriya,
Purabiya; others are taken from well-known castes or septs, such as the
Baheliya, Banjâra, Bargûjar, Chauhân, Dhângar, Gaur, Gorakhi, Gûjar,
Kharebindi, Madâri, Mukeri, Naddâf, Panwâr, Pathân, Râjput, Râthaur,
Râwat; others are purely Muhammadan in form as Ansâri, Châryâri,
Jalâli, Khwâja-mahar, Khwâja-mansûri, Khwâja-Muhammadi, Khwâja-Sarâi,
Muhammad Hanfi, Muhammadi, Momîn, Sayyid, Shâhmansûri, Shaikh Shiah,
Sunni, Turkiya, and Usmâni.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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