Note 9 — KHAIRWĀR

In the Central Provinces there is a group known as Sūrajvansi or Descendants of the Sun, or Janeodhāri, ‘Those who wear the sacred thread.’ This is the aristocratic division of the caste, to which the chiefs and zamīndārs belong, and according to the usual practice they have consolidated their higher position by marrying only among themselves. Other groups are the Duālbandhi, who say that they are so called because they make a livelihood by building the earthen diwāls or walls for houses and yards; but in Mīrzāpur they derive the name from duāl, a leather belt which is supposed to have been the uniform of their forefathers when serving as soldiers.9 The Pātbandhi or silk-makers, according to their own story, are thus named because their ancestors were once very rich and wore silk; but a more probable hypothesis is that they were rearers of tasar silk cocoons. The Beldār or Matkora work as navvies, and are also known as Kawarvansi or ‘Descendants of the Kawars,’ another tribe of the locality; and last come the Khairchūra, who take their name from the khair tree and are catechu-makers.