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
Those Western Bhoksas do not at any time live in houses
built on poles, as is stated to be the case with those opposite
Kumâun.”
[Eastern Bhoksas—Religion.] 11. This division of the Bhoksas has been
so far Hinduised that some of them employ Gaur Brâhmans in their
marriage and funeral ceremonies. Some are Sikhs, and the wife follows
the religion (path) of her husband, and the children that of their
father. One of the Tarâi Parganas is called Nânakmatha, after the great
Sikh Guru, and there is a Sikh shrine there as well as at Dehra and
Srinagar. But they have their own indigenous medicine men (padhân).
They pay special devotion to the death goddess known as Bhawâni or
Devi, whose functions are the same as those of the Thâru goddess,
Kâlika. They have also two local saints, Sarwar Lakhi and Kâlu Sayyid,
of whom Dr. Stewart could learn nothing. Sarwar Lakhi is evidently the
famous Sakhi Sarwar Sultân, also known as Lakhdâta or the giver of
lakhs. His real name was Sayyid Ahmad, and he flourished about the
middle of the twelfth century. His principal shrine is at Nagaha, in
the Dehra Ghâzi Khân District. He is said to have been a disciple of
Bâba Nânak: he is the patron of athletes, and especially of wrestling.
[63] Kâlu Sayyid may have some connection with Kâli Sinh, the Panjâb
snake godling. [64] But he is more probably identical with the deity
known to the Baheliyas as Kâlu Bîr, to the Banjâras as Kâlu Deo, and to
the Kahârs, as Kâlu Kahâr. One story is that he was born of a Kahâr
girl, who by magical charms compelled King Solomon to marry her, with
the result that she bore a son, Kâlu Bâba, who is worshipped
extensively by Kahârs, Chamârs, Sainis, Gadariyas, and other low castes
in the form of a fetish stick decorated with peacocks’ feathers. The
last Census shows 266,191 votaries of this godling. Sarwar Lakhi has a
shrine at the entrance to the main pass through the Siwâlik hills into
the Pâtli Dûn, and all wayfarers, as they pass, of whatever race,
tribe, or creed, make offerings to his shrine.
[Eastern Bhoksas—Witchcraft.] 11. Like many isolated jungle tribes,
they have acquired a reputation for sorcery and witchcraft. In fact,
Bhogsa or Bhoksa, is the name for a sorcerer in Garhwâl. “Some are even
said to be able to assume the form of a wild animal, and thus
accomplish the destruction of an enemy. Sudarsan Sâh rid Garhwâ of
sorcerers in the following manner:—He called all the Bhogsas together
under pretence of needing their assistance in some ceremony, and
promised them all sorts of rewards should he succeed, and so induced
them to come themselves and bring all their books with them. When all
were assembled that had any pretensions to power as sorcerers, he
caused them to be bound hand and foot, and thrown with their books and
implements into the river.” [65]
DISTRIBUTION OF THE BHOKSAS ACCORDING TO THE CENSUS OF 1891.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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