Note 147 — B (continued 3)

25. This, however, does not exhaust the tribal organisation of the sweepers of these provinces. Thus, in Kheri, they are reported to be divided into two endogamous groups, with various exogamous sections. In the first group are the Mehtar, Bhangi, Lâl Begi, Chaudhari, and Rangreta. The second group consists of the Hathîlê, Râwat, Domra, Dhabâê, and Bânsphor. Most of these names have been already discussed. But in connection with the Rangreta section Mr. Ibbetson’s remarks147 may be quoted:—“The terms Mazhabi and Rangreta denote Chûhras who have become Sikhs. The Mazhabis take the pahul or formula of initiation, wear their hair long, and abstain from tobacco, and they apparently refuse to touch night-soil, though performing all the other offices hereditary to the Chûhra caste. Their great Guru is Tegh Bahâdur, whose mutilated body was brought back from Delhi by Chûhras, who were then and there admitted to the faith as a reward for their devotion. But though good Sikhs as far as religious observance is concerned, the taint of hereditary pollution is upon them; and Sikhs of other castes refuse to associate with them even in religious ceremonies. They often intermarry with the Lâl Begi or Hindu Chûhra. They make capital soldiers, and some of our regiments are wholly composed of Mazhabis. The Rangreta are a class of Mazhabi apparently found only in Ambâla, Ludhiâna, and the neighbourhood, who consider themselves socially superior to the rest. The origin of their superiority, I am informed, lies in the fact that they were once notorious as highway robbers. But it appears that the Rangretas have very generally abandoned scavengering for leather work, and this would at once account for their rise in the social scale. In the hills Rangreta is often used as synonymous with Rangrez to denote the cotton dyer and stamper; and in Sirsa the Sikhs will often call any Chûhra whom they wish to please, Rangreta, and a rhyme is current, Rangreta, Guru ka beta, or “the Rangreta is the son of the Guru.”