Note 56 — B

The Banjâras of the Dakkhin. 2. Before considering the tribe as found in these Provinces, it may be well to put together some of the information about them obtainable from the Dakkhin, where they retain much more of their primitive manners and customs than the small branch which remains in these Provinces, where they have been much modified by association with other races. The chief authority for the Dakkhin branch is the report of Mr. Cumberlege, District Superintendent of Police at Wun, in the Berârs.56 He explains that the Banjâras of the Dakkhin fall into three grand Hindu tribes, Mathuriya or “those from Mathura”; Lavâna who probably derive their name from being carriers of salt (Sans. lavana), and Châran (Sans. chârana, “a wanderer, pilgrim;” châra, “a spy”). “The three Hindu tribes all trace their descent from the great Brâhman and Râjput races of Upper India, and, as usual, ascribe their tribe segregation to some irregular marriage of a legendary kind contracted by their first ancestors. In these stories Guru Nânak, the Sikh Prophet, usually figures as the opportune miracle-worker and spiritual adviser. No doubt these stories of descent are founded on fact. It is most probable that some irregular marriage, made by adventurous wanderers into distant countries, did first cut off these branches from the parent stock, and plant them apart as distinct communities. From Mr. Cumberlege’s memoir it may be conjectured, however, that the emigration which settled the Banjâra upon Dakkhin soil took place when these grain carriers came down with the Mughal armies early in the seventeenth century.” (As a corroboration of this it may be noticed that the first mention of Banjâras in Muhammadan history is in Sikandar’s attack on Dholpur in 1504 A.D.57) “In fact they seem to have derived their whole origin and organisation from the long wars of the Delhi Emperors in the South, and the restoration of peace and prosperity is breaking them up. Neither their trade nor their tribal system can survive another generation of British predominance. Wherefore some account of their more striking peculiarities has at least the interest that attaches to a picture of things which we shall never see again.”