Note 39 — A

Origin of the tribe. 2. On the tribe to the east Mr. Risley writes39:—“The traditions of the caste bear a highly imaginative character, and profess to trace their descent from the god Krishna, whose relations with the milk-maids of Brindâban play an important part in Hindu mythology. Krishna himself is supposed to have belonged to the tribe of Yâdavas, or descendants of Yadu, a nomadic race, who graze cattle and make butter, and are believed to have made an early settlement in the neighbourhood of Mathura. In memory of this tradition, one of their sub-castes, in the North-Western Provinces, is called Yadu, or Jâdubansi, to the present day. Another story, quoted by Dr. Buchanan, makes out the Guâlas to be Vaisyas, who were degraded in consequence of having introduced castration among their herds, and members of the caste who are disposed to claim this distinguished ancestor may lay stress upon the fact that the tending of flocks and herds is mentioned by the authorities among the duties of the Vaisya order. Taken as a whole, the Guâla traditions hardly can be said to do more than render it probable that one of their earliest settlements was in the neighbourhood of Mathura, and that this part of the country was the centre of distribution of the caste. The large functional group known by the name Guâla seems to have been recruited not merely by the diffusion along the Ganges valley of the semi-Aryan Guâlas of the North-Western Provinces, but also by the inclusion in the caste of pastoral tribes who were not Aryans at all. These, of course, would form distinct sub-castes, and would not be admitted to the jus connubii with the original nucleus of the caste. The great differences of make and feature which may be observed among Guâlas seem to bear out this view, and to show that whatever may have been the original constituents of the caste, it now comprises several heterogeneous elements. Thus, even in a district so far from the original home of the caste as Sinhbhûm, we find Colonel Dalton remarking that the features of the Mathurâbâsi Guâlas are high, sharp and delicate, and they are of a light brown complexion. Those of the Magadha sub-caste, on the other hand, are undefined and coarse. They are dark-complexioned, and have large hands and feet. Seeing the latter standing in a group with some Sinhbhûm Kols, there is no distinguishing one from the other. There has, doubtless, been much intermixture of blood. These remarks illustrate both the processes to which the growth of the caste is due. They show how representatives of the original tribe have spread to districts very remote from their original centre, and how at the same time people of alien race who followed pastoral occupations have become attached to the caste, and are recognized by a sort of fiction as having belonged to it all along.”