Note 17 — A

Agarwâlas and Chamârs. 8. Between the Agarwâla, who is perhaps, in appearance, the best bred of the tribes grouped under the name of Banya, and the dark non-Aryan Chamâr, it is difficult to imagine any possible connection, but it is curious that there are legends which indicate this. Thus it is said that an Agarwâla once unwittingly married his daughter to a Chamâr. When after some time the parents of the bridegroom disclosed the fact, the Agarwâla murdered his son-in-law. He became a Bhût and began to trouble the clansmen, so they agreed that he should be worshipped at marriages. Hence, at their weddings they are said to fill a leather bag with dry fruits, to tie it up in the marriage shed, to light a lamp beneath it, and to worship it in the form of a deity called Ohur, which is supposed to save women from widowhood. A similar story is told at Partâbgarh:—“I have heard it alleged (and the story is current, I believe, in parts of the Panjab) that once upon a time a certain Râja had two daughters, named Chamu and Bamu. These married and each gave birth to a son, who in time grew up to be prodigies of strength (pahalwân). An elephant happened to die on the Râja’s premises, and being unwilling that the carcase should be cut up and disposed of piecemeal within the precincts of his abode, he sought for a man of sufficient strength to carry it forth whole and bury it. Chamu’s son undertook and successfully performed this marvellous feat. The son of Bamu, stirred no doubt by jealousy, professed to regard this act with horror and broke off all relations with his cousin and pronounced him an outcaste. Chamârs are asserted to be descendants of the latter and Banyas of the former, and hence the former in some parts, though admitting their moral degradation, have been known to assert that they are in reality possessed of a higher rank in the social scale than the latter.”17 The story is worth repeating as an instance of some of the common legends regarding the original connection of castes. Why the Chamârs should have selected in the Agarwâla Banyas the most unlikely people with whom to assert relationship, it is very difficult to say. Agarwâlas are also said at marriages to mount the bridegroom secretly on an ass which is worshipped. If this be true, it is probably intended as a means of propitiating Sîtalâ mâi, the dreaded goddess of small-pox, whose vehicle is the ass.