Note 69 — B

(3) “The Labâna Banjâras have also eleven gotras. They state that they are descended from Gaur Brâhmans, and came in Aurangzeb’s time from Rintambûr. They engage almost entirely in agricultural pursuits alone.” Of these people Mr. Ibbetson69 writes:—“These men are generally associated with the Banjâras. With the exception of Muzaffargarh and Bahâwalpur, they are almost wholly confined to the hill and submontane districts. They are the carriers and hawkers of the hills, and are merely the Panjâbi representatives of that class of Banjâras, already mentioned, who inhabit the submontane tracts east of the Ganges.” The Labânas of Gujarât are thus described by Captain Mackenzie:—“The Labânas are also a peculiar people. Their status among Sikhs is much the same as that of the Mahtams. They correspond to the Banjâras of Hindustân, carrying on an extensive trade by means of large herds of laden bullocks. Latterly they have taken to agriculture, but as an additional means of livelihood, not as a substitute for trade. As a section of the community they deserve every encouragement and consideration. They are generally fine, substantially built people. They also possess much spirit. In anarchical times, when the freaks and feuds of petty Governors would drive the Jâts or Gûjars to seek temporary abiding places away from their ancestral village, the Labânas would stand their ground, and perhaps improve the opportunity by extending their grasp over the best lands of the village, in which their shorter sighted and less provident lords of the manor had, in former periods, permitted them to take up their abode for purposes of commerce. Several cases of this kind came to light during settlement, and in most of them the strength and spirit of progress were as apparent in the Labânas as were the opposite qualities conspicuous in their Gûjar opponents. Their principal village is Tânda (which means “a large caravan of laden bullocks”) and is an instance of what I have above alluded to. Allowed by the Gûjar proprietors of Mota, they have got possession of the soil, built a town, and in every point of importance swamped the original proprietors. They have been recognised as proprietors, but feudatory to their former landlords, the Gûjars of Mota, paying them annually in recognition thereof a sum equal to one-tenth of the Government demand.” This tribe of Banjâras take their name from their business of carrying salt (lavana). Sir J. Malcolm70 says that the Banjâras and Labânas are Râjputs of various tribes, Râthaur, Jalaur, Panwâr, etc. “The Labânas who live in villages sometimes mix with other cultivators and sometimes have a village exclusively to themselves, are Sûdras, originally from Gujarât, a quiet inoffensive race differing widely from the Banjâras, though engaged in the same trade. The Labânas are also cultivators, but follow no other occupation. The Banjâras preserve both in dresses and usages a marked separation and independence. They often engage in great speculations on their own account, and are deemed honest in their dealings, though very ignorant and barbarous. They trust much to the bankers and merchants with whom they are concerned, and few keep accounts; but habit has made them very acute, and their memory is, from continual exercise, extremely retentive of the minutest particulars of their extended transactions.”