Note 126 — B (continued 3)

The Beriyas of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh. 3. The Beriyas of these Provinces are in a much more degraded condition than their brethren in Bengal. At the last Census they recorded themselves under three main sub-castes—Chauhân and Raghubansi, the titles of well known Râjput sub-divisions, and Kâmchor or “loafers.” But in the Central Duâb, like so many of the tribes of the same social rank, they pretend to have seven sub-castes. By one enumeration these are given as Khâlkhur, Chhâhari, Bhains, Gunnar, Nâritor, Rattu, and Kachhâr. Another list adds Mahish. The complete returns show 250 sections of the Hindu, and 12 of the Muhammadan branch. These are of the usual type, many taken from the names of existing castes, such as Bais, Banya, Bangâli, Chauhân, Chhatri, Gaur, Ghosiya, Janwâr, Kachhwâha, Kânhpuriya, Raghubansi, Râwat, Teli, and Thâkur; others of local origin like Amrapuriya, Baiswâri, Bhadauriya, Deswâl, Jaiswâr, Mainpuriya, Multânwâri; others again common to them and similar vagrant and prostitute tribes, such as Brijbâsi, Dhânuk, Gandharb, Gidhmâr (“kite-killers”), Jangali, Kuchbandhiya, Kapariya, Karnâtaki, Nat, Paturiya, Râjnat, and Tawâif. They believe themselves indigenous in the Central Duâb, and profess to have some unexplained connection, like their kinsmen the Hâbûras, with the old ruined city of Nohkhera, in the north of Pargana Jalesar, in the Etah District. All the camps (gol) which frequent that part of the country meet there during the rainy season, and hold tribal councils at which marriages and all matters affecting the caste are settled. Regular marriages seldom occur among them, because nearly all the girls are reserved for prostitution, and the men keep concubines drawn from any fairly respectable caste. So far is this the rule, that in Farrukhâbâd, it is alleged that if a man marry a girl of the tribe, he is put out of caste; and in Etâwah, if a man marry a girl who has been prostituted, he is obliged to pay a fine to the tribal council. This is a good example of what Sir John Lubbock126 calls “Communal marriage.” “In many cases,” he says, “the exclusive possession of a wife could only be legally acquired by a temporary recognition of the pre-existing communal rights.” While, however, concubinage is a tribal institution, connections with a woman of the menial tribes, such as Chamâr, Bhangi, Kori, or Dhânuk, are prohibited; and a man offending in this way is expelled from the caste. The only ceremony in selecting a concubine is the presenting to her a suit of clothes, and eating with her and the clansmen. There seems, however, to be an increasing tendency towards the more respectable form of marriage, and some of them not only profess to have a law of exogamy to this extent that they will not give their boys to, or take a bride from, a family with which within memory they have been allied by marriage, but they also pretend to allow the levirate under the usual restrictions, and permit widow marriage. When they do marry in the caste continence is compulsory on the wife, and her husband can put her away for infidelity proved to the satisfaction of the tribal council.