Note 6 — Glossary

Arora, Rora.—An important trading and mercantile caste of the Punjab, of which a few persons were returned from the Nimār District in 1901. Sir D. Ibbetson was of opinion that the Aroras were the Khatris of Aror, the ancient capital of Scinde, represented by the modern Rori. He described the Arora as follows:6 “Like the Khatri and unlike the Bania he is no mere trader; but his social position is far inferior to theirs, partly no doubt because he is looked down upon simply as being a Hindu in the portions of the Province which are his special habitat. He is commonly known as a Kirār, a word almost synonymous with coward, and even more contemptuous than is the name Bania in the east of the province. The Arora is active and enterprising, industrious and thrifty.... ‘When an Arora girds up his loins he makes it only two miles from Jhang to Lāhore.’ He will turn his hand to any work, he makes a most admirable cultivator, and a large proportion of the Aroras of the lower Chenāb are purely agricultural in their avocations. He is found throughout Afghanistan and even Turkistan and is the Hindu trader of those countries; while in the western Punjab he will sew clothes, weave matting and baskets, make vessels of brass and copper and do goldsmith’s work. But he is a terrible coward, and is so branded in the proverbs of the countryside: The thieves were four and we eighty-four; the thieves came on and we ran away; and again: To meet a Rāthi armed with a hoe makes a company of nine Kirārs (Aroras) feel alone. Yet the peasant has a wholesome dread of the Kirār when in his proper place: Vex not the Jāt in his jungle, nor the Kirār at his shop, nor the boatman at his ferry; for if you do they will break your head. Again: Trust not a crow, a dog or a Kirār, even when asleep. So again: You can’t make a friend of a Kirār any more than a sati of a prostitute.”