Note 61 — B

Banjâras of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh. 11. The Banjâras of these Provinces have been classified at the last Census under the heads of Chauhân, Bahrûp, Guâr, Jâdon, Panwâr, Râthaur, and Tunwar. Of these, all, except the Bahrûp and Guâr, are well-known Râjput septs, and, as we have seen in the case of the Dakkhin Banjâras, the tribal tradition points to a Râjput origin. There is also a general tradition that they at one time held considerable territories in Oudh and the other submontane districts. Thus they are said to have been very early settlers in Bareilly, whence they were expelled by the Janghâra Râjputs.61 In Kheri62 the Jângrê Râjputs acquired Khairagarh from their allies the Banjâras. In Bahrâich63 they were finally expelled from the Sijauli Pargana by the Chakladâr Hakîm Mehndi about 1821 A.D. In the Nânpâra Pargana of the same district they were finally coerced by Rasûl Khân, the Afghân, in 1632 A.D.64 In the Dûn65 they have a story that they attended to the commissariat of the Pândavas after their exile from Hastinapur, and were the founders of the town of Deoband, in the Sahâranpur District. In the Banjâra Tola of the town of Gopamau, in the Hardoi District, there are some Banjâras who call themselves Sayyid Salâri, and say that they are descended from the followers of the Saint.66 On the other hand, those in Madras describe themselves as the descendants of Sugriva, the monkey chieftain who was the ally of Râma.67 There can be no reasonable doubt that they are a very mixed race, composed of various elements, as is the case in Central India, where Sir Alfred Lyall speaks of them as “made up of contingents from various other castes and tribes, which may have at different times joined the profession.”68 The Census report gives the most important local sub-castes as—in Muzaffarnagar the Dhankûta, or “rice pounders,” and the Labâna; in Aligarh, the Nandbansi; in Etâwah, the Jât; in Pilibhît, the Labâna; in the Tarâi, the Bhukiya (who take their name from their leader Mitthu Bhukiya), Guâl, Kotwâr, Labâna, and Râjput; in Kheri, the Guâr, Kora, and Mujhar; and in Bahrâich, the Mujhar.